History TearJerker / TheShapeOfWater

* Elisa, sitting with the weakening Asset and knowing that their time together is limited, drifts into an ImagineSpot [[spoiler:where she sings "You'll Never Know." This turns into a black-and-white, Golden Age of cinema number, with she and the Asset joyfully dancing together. It slowly fades back to the real world, the rain, Elisa signing her heart out, and the last, bittersweet line of the song.]]

* The death of [[spoiler:Dr. Hoffstetler, aka Dmitri. He's betrayed by his fellow Russians, shot in the stomach and through his cheek, only to be saved at the last minute by Strickland, who then tortures him by pressing into his bullet holes and electrocuting him with a cattle prod to find out who took the Asset.]] Doubles as NightmareFuel.
* The Asset’s expression when [[spoiler:he signs to Elisa their shared “You. Me. Together.” to try and get her to come with him into the ocean. It’s obvious he doesn’t want to leave her behind, but she shakes her head and tearfully signs that he has to go alone, she can’t come with him. His response is a mixture of sadness, some pain and betrayal, but mostly defeat and acceptance—and it’s a fish face that all this is readable on, mind you. Elisa’s tears make it that much more heart-wrenching.]]

* Elisa pleading her absolutely ''furious'' case to Giles when he condescendingly brushes off her pleas to help her free the Asset. Practically shaking, she tells him how the Asset is the saddest thing she's ever seen and the only one to ever see her for who she is, rather than what she lacks. When he ''still'' refuses, she slams on the wall one last time to get his attention, then tells him that if they do nothing, their friendship is nothing. He simply leaves her alone in the hallway. [[spoiler:And then comes back later in the day to offer whatever help she needs.]]
* Compare and contrast: A cleaning woman with an other-worldly creature who eventually get over language barrier and understand one another, to national top-secret teams of specialists from America against its Soviet counterpart [[spoiler: who go "we don't know what the Asset can do, but destroy it anyway just so that the Americans/Soviets don't know about it." Not even realizing that their rival is just as blind and is carrying out the exact same orders. The "monster" in the beginning narration does not refer to the Asset, its us humans who can be so damn needlessly destructive even though we know so little about the world, let alone the person next to ourselves]].

* Zelda's gripe with both her workplace and her abusive husband. Her life style is a sobering cycle of working her butt off, only to come home to a man who [[UngratefulBastard neglects to appreciate her hard work or even her kindness]].