Tear Jerker / Heroes

• "Unexpected": Isaac's horror when he realizes that he fatally shot Simone.
• "Company Man": Noah hugs Claire goodbye before asking Rene to dig as deep as he can into Noah's memories to erase any trace of Claire in order to keep her away from the Company.
• ".07%": Isaac accepting his death.
• "The Hard Part": Gabriel desperately wants his mother's approval, only for her to reject him when he demonstrates his power and she tries to kill with scissors. He accidentally stabs her in the heart wrestling the scissors away. This only solidifies his descent into evil.
  • And before that, he desperately begs her to tell him that it's okay to be normal. Virginia doesn't get it and it only worsens his despair.
• "Four Months Later...": Kaito's death and Ando's shock.
  • Nathan and Angela are unable to cope with Peter's disappearance with Nathan descending into alcoholism and the family money severely diminished.
• "Kindred": D.L. has died and Niki, being unable to cope with his death, decides to leave Las Vegas and take a job with the Company, leaving Micah in the care of D.L.'s relatives in New Orleans. Micah puts flowers on his father's gravestone before they leave for New Orleans.
• "The Kindness Of Strangers": Nathan and Heidi divorced, and he's unable to see his kids for more than a passing greeting.
• "Four Months Ago...": D.L.'s sudden death and the look of horror on Niki's face. Especially since it's shown that D.L. had become an accomplished firefighter.
• "Cautionary Tales": Noah is shot in the eye as his family helplessly looks on.
  • Elle's backstory, as Noah recalls the experiments she was put through as a child.
  • Hiro's grief surfaces as his initial refusal to eulogize his father, although he later does.
• "Powerless": After freeing Monica from a burning building, Niki is unable to save herself and the building explodes as Monica and Micah helplessly look on.
  • Maya's realization that her brother is dead.
• "The Second Coming": You have to feel for Peter as he waits anxiously for news on Nathan's condition after Nathan is shot.
  • Claire, after Sylar takes her ability.
• "The Butterfly Effect": The look on Elle's face when she discovers her father is dead.
• "One of Us, One of Them": Micah sees Tracy for the first time and hugs her, believing her to be Niki. It's absolutely heartbreaking to see Micah's face when he realizes that she's not his mother, back from the dead.
• "I Am Become Death": Alternate Future Gabriel's son is killed by Company agents. The look on his face is heartbreaking and in his anger and grief, his nuclear radiation ability spirals out of control and he explodes, taking out a huge portion of the state with him.
• "Angels and Monsters": Stephen Canfield's suicide because he's tired of the Company's attempts to capture him.
• "Villains": Angela, with the help of Linderman, realizes that Arthur has been manipulating their kids and mind-wiping her.
• "The Eclipse, Part 2": Noah's revelations about Elle and the Company finally breaks Sylar. He kills Elle and what's even more heartwrenching is that she closes her eyes and doesn't even scream as he cuts into her head, as if accepting her death.
  Elle: [in a small voice] You're hurting me.
  Sylar: I know.
• "Our Father": Hiro seeing his mother before she died, and seeing her die in his arms after absorbing the catalyst for the abilities formula from her.
  • Sylar looks absolutely heartbroken as he sets Elle's body on fire and then schools himself back in killer mode when Arthur Petrelli calls.
• "Dual": Meredith loses control of her ability and begs Claire to leave her before she explodes. Especially since Meredith is Claire's biological mother.
  Claire: I love you, mom.
• "Into Asylum": Peter and Angela are in hiding inside a church, and Peter pleads to God to cut him a break and his inability to help.
• "Cold Snap": Matt comforts Daphne in her final moments before she dies with a romantic dream sequence to Paris and the moon.
  Daphne: Do one more thing for me?
  Matt: Anything.
  Daphne: Fly me to the moon.
  • After getting called out on her behavior by her own long-lost nephew, Tracy decides to freeze herself and a parking garage so that Micah can escape the mooks coming after them.
• "1961": Angela's short-lived reunion with her sister.
• "Strange Attractors": Noah and Tracy's efforts to help a young special are all for naught as he's murdered by the local police. Tracy breaks down when she discovers his body.
• "Thanksgiving": Peter and Angela start to cope with Nathan's death and Sylar's escape.
• "The Fifth Stage": The entire part of Peter learning to accept Nathan is truly dead.
• "Shadowboxing": Parkman is willing to commit Suicide by Cop just so Sylar's havoc spree would stop.
  • The real reason Emma dropped out of medical school: She still feels horribly guilty over the death of her nephew because she couldn't hear his cries for help.
• "The Art of Deception": Lydia's death. Edgar's face when he sees her body is heartwrenching.
  • Sylar's horror, upon realizing that Matt has trapped him in his worst nightmare.
• "The Wall": Noah's catalyst for his career path: a telekinetic killed his first wife in a botched home invasion.
• "Brave New World": Noah begs Claire to save herself when the two are trapped in an underground trailer with the air supply running out.
  • Hiro's reunion with Old Charlie.