History TearJerker / TheSandman2022

* Morpheus's reaction to seeing Jessamy being messily shot to death in front of him by Alex. Jessamy was there for [[UndyingLoyalty over a decade]] without Morpheus's knowledge, and when he finally sees her he seems genuinely touched and happy she's still with him, looking delighted for the first time on screen. Then his expression turns to shock and grief moments after. Nearly a century later, her death still affects him to the point where he remains in captivity much longer than he has to partly because he could not forgive her murderer, and then initially refuses to take on a new raven to replace her afterward.
* Alex's reaction to killing Jessamy. Only doing so to impress his father -who threatened to ''beat him to death'' if the boy didn't prove his loyalty by killing Dream's bird (who has evaded such attempts for ''years'' by the way)- only to be berated by his father instead. The poor boy is too dazed to acknowledge the proffered trashcan as he carries Jessamy's remains upstairs, presumably to bury her.
* Even when Roderick lies dead on the floor and can't harm him anymore, Alex is jolted out of communicating with Dream when a guard asks what his father would say.

* When Morpheus arrives back in the Dreaming after being imprisoned for a century, he's horrified to discover his home has become a barren wasteland and that almost all the residents have left (especially when compared to the beautiful, vibrant land we saw at the beginning). He sounds genuinely hurt that most of his subjects had little faith he would return, with some even believing not that he ''couldn't'' come back but that he ''chose'' to stay away.

* When Lucienne suggests going to his siblings for help finding the tools, Dream points out that all of them knew about his being imprisoned, yet none of them tried to help him. The look on his face says it all.
* When Dream realizes he needs to absorb something he has created to regain a portion of his power, he's genuinely sorrowful to learn that the only option is Gregory, a gargoyle who has become family to Cain and Abel. Even with all that's at stake, Dream respects Gregory's autonomy and does not demand he sacrifice himself, instead asking him for his help. Both Cain and Abel are heartbroken when saying goodbye to him, and Dream himself agrees that, no, it's ''not'' fair. All Lucienne can do during this scene is look on sadly, clearly feeling sympathy for everyone involved.

* Johanna asks Dream if he has any ex-girlfriends. He does not answer, but the look on his face shows that he is upset. It doesn't help that any viewer who has read the comics knows that Dream has had 5 known ex-lovers by this point, and none of those relationships ended well.
* Johanna attempts to reconcile with Rachel, whom she abandoned without a word instead of properly breaking up with her. At first it goes very well -- until it turns out that 'Rachel' is a vision caused by Dream's sand, who rebukes Joanna before crumbling into dust, and Johanna sees the heart-breaking truth of the real Rachel, delirious and fatally emaciated. ''And it's her fault'' for leaving Rachel with a dangerous artefact, as Dream points out. In the midst of her selfishness Johanna just didn't want to see Rachel get hurt, like so many other people she's loved, but in the end she essentially caused her death.

* Purely to torture his guest, Squatterbloat deliberately goes out of his way to force Dream past the cell of his ex-lover, Nada. She calls out to him, raw hope in her eyes that he has come to rescue her, only for Dream to admit that though he still loves her, he has not forgiven her. Despite this crushing news, Nada still clings to hope that Dream will free her one day. Matthew is appropriately horrified that Dream condemned someone he loves to Hell for millenia just because she "defied" him.
* When Morpheus asks ''"What power would Hell have if those here imprisoned were not able to dream of Heaven?"'', Lucifer looks for a second like they're about to burst into tears -- no doubt remembering their days as the beautiful and beloved Samael.

* Bette spends most of the day being utterly ignored by the man she has a crush on until John Dee influences her to be more honest about what she wants. She boldly invites Marsh to dinner and then to her room afterwards, and is devastated when Marsh is forced to be graphically honest about his secret relationship with her 21-year old son.
* Mark unwittingly snapping that Judy doesn't have poor reception, but that Donna is just ignoring all of her messages. Judy glares at him, growls, "Fuck you, dude" and nearly storms out of the diner. While she later admits to Bette that she had actually hit Donna during their fight, she's worried about her exes safety.
* While also horrifying, the fact that everyone in the diner winds up dead as a result of John Dee's actions. Especially since some of the characters are more sympathetic than their comic book counterparts (e.g. Bette not being homophobic but rather wanting Judy to be in a less volatile relationship than the one she has with Donna).
* In the wake of the massacre, Bette is left as the only survivor. In the last few minutes, she's had to destroy her novel, mutilate herself, watch her friends kill themselves, and even lost Judy - who she was falling in love with. In the wake of this, she can only look at John and ask - in a voice that sounds like she's about to break down in tears - ''"How is this a better world?"''

* Dream informing Death that the one Roderick was trying to capture wasn't him, but her. Death pauses for a long beat before saying she knew. Death then tells Dream he could have tried to call for her, as if feeling guilty that she was part of the reason Dream was captured for over a century. She even tells him how worried she was over his disappearance.
* Sam, the newlywed who drowns, is extremely distraught when he realizes he's dead, all but begging Death to at least let him tell his wife the passcode to his phone so she can at least have access to the information for their trip. She can't do this because he's already dead, and seems genuinely regretful about it.
* A young man the two Endless come across was shot in the chest.
* One of the deaths that Dream and Death see is what appears to be a homeless woman who may have died from an overdose.
* All of the deaths that Death shows up for are tragic, but one of the saddest is a baby who's only a few months old and dies of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Death sombrely apologises to them for how little time they got to live, and is clearly eager to leave before the poor mother learns what happened to her child...

** In that same scene, Dream's expression after one watches episode 11; chances are that he was thinking of how the baby's parents will have to feel the same grief that he and Calliope felt after losing Orpheus.
* During one of their meetings of the century, Hob, who was once [[RichesToRags wealthy has now become a beggar]]. Haggard, dirty and angered. Dream calmly listens as Hob yells about how he not only lost his fortune, he lost his wife, his unborn child, and his twenty year old son had died in a bar fight. Just the previous century, Hob had declared that his life can go nowhere but up. How wrong he was.
* Hob doesn't think the printing press will catch on- but he's fairly certain that the slave trade will be profitable. Even the usually-aloof Dream advises him to [[EveryoneHasStandards rethink his career choices]].
--> '''Hob:''' You're giving me advice? After four-hundred years? What happened to, "live your life as you choose"? \\

* Hob forms a genuine bond with Dream, enough to suggest the two of them might be friends -- only for Morpheus to become [[FriendshipDenial offended at the concept]] and storm out. A hundred years later, Hob waits for Dream at the same pub as per their agreement... but this time, he doesn't show. This leaves Hob's downcast and clearly convinced that he's ruined their relationship with his assumptions -- not realizing that [[DramaticIrony Dream was still imprisoned at the time]]. Moving [[DrowningMySorrows from beer to scotch]], Hob strikes up an amiable chat with the bartender... only to find out that the pub that he and Dream have been meeting at for the last few centuries is being shut down, cutting him off from Dream even further.
* The grief-stricken expression on Dream's face when he finds the pub condemned and abandoned, clearly believing that he'll never be able to find Hob again. And then becomes heartwarming when a line of graffiti leads him to a nearby pub where he finally reunites with Hob and clearly acknowledges him as a friend.

* After seeing his mother in his dreams for years thanks to Gault taking on her form, Jed learns from Rose that in real life she died very recently; he never got to truly see her again.

* When Dream confronts Desire over their involvement in trying to get him to spill family blood "with all that would entail", he is mostly furious, but there is also a very strong sense of sadness and disbelief. [[note]] The episode doesn't spell out what those consequences would be, but comic readers know that killing family makes you vulnerable to the Kindly Ones, who are one of very few forces in the universe that can truly kill one of the Endless. [[/note]] While Dream knew their relationship was bad, he clearly had no idea that Desire was genuinely trying to get him killed, and is deeply hurt that his sibling would do that.
* When Lyta is asked what her baby's name shall be, Jed repeats the Corinthian's line about people only ever using your name when you're in trouble, and maybe as long as you dont have one you can't ever fall into trouble. When it cut's back to Lyta's face, she has a hidden stare of panic, seemingly remembering Dream's words that he will one day come for her child.

* The cat who wanted to be a mother to her kits, only for them to be taken away from her. Tossed into a bag with a brick, and then thrown into a lake to drown. She recalls hearing them mewling and struggling, until she didn't anymore. While the cat lays in front of the fireplace, her owners presume she was ''glad'' not to have her kits.
* Calliope's entire situation is this and nightmare fuel as she is held captive by two different authors and dehumanized for the ideas they need.

** Erasmus locked her up and raped her to gain inspiration for decades. He dismissed her pain by reducing her to an object - calling her a cow at one point. He promised her that she'd be free before he died, but as soon as he no longer had use for her, he quickly drops her into another man's hand, gleefully pointing out that all writers are liars when Calliope brought up his promise.
** Just when she thought that Ric might be different, might set her free - he does the same thing as Erasmus anyway.
** Broken, she prayed to her mothers for help only to be told that even they can't help her and that her prayers were wasted. They only left her with some cryptic information regarding Dream.
** Even when she prayed for Dream, she knew there's very little chance he might come, so it comes as a relief that he does and he does it not because he's feeling possessive but because Ric and Erasmus had hurt her.

* The fact that Morpheus doesn't want Matthew to help him at first. Jessamy's death is clearly still affecting him decades after it happened.