Tear Jerker / Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

aka: Lois And Clark

• In "Man of Steel Bars", Clark has no choice but to leave Metropolis because he can't take not being allowed to use his powers to help people while beginning to believe he's the cause of the intense heat wave. Later, he tells Lois he's leaving the Daily Planet. Lois believes that Clark idolizes Superman and feels just as bad as he does, and she tries to talk him out of leaving, but Clark has made up his mind. He kisses Lois and says "goodbye."
  • Even Cat Grant tries to comfort Lois.
• Poor Clark nearly having a panic attack early in "I'm Seeing Through You," as a Superman-crazy crowd starts chasing him. The episode goes even further in that Clark starts to feel invisible to those around him as Superman's popularity grows. It reminds one of the aftermath of a similar scene in The Man of Steel:
  Clark: They all wanted a piece of me.
• "That Old Gang of Mine":
  • When Clark gets shot and has to play dead to preserve his identity, Lois begins having a total breakdown, sobbing as one of Al Capone's goons takes away the body of her best friend. Later, she's shown walking through the Planet in a daze in old, ragged clothes. It's like her whole world's been taken away.
  • There's a subtle moment when Clark is shot, he doesn't immediately fall over and play dead, but a brief moment of Oh, Crap! as he realizes his life as he knows it is over.
  • Jimmy's tearful moment where Perry comforts him and assures him that yes, it's okay to be sad, and yes, things are going to be okay.
  • There's also Clark's talk with his parents about how his life as he knows it is over.
    Clark: Dad, Superman doesn't work at the Daily Planet. He doesn't go to ballgames with Jimmy and Perry. He doesn't listen to Lois go off on some weird tangent and secretly love it.
• Mayson's murder in "Lucky Leon." And the last thing she learned is Clark (the man she loves) is Superman (the man she dislikes).
• In "Home Is Where the Hurt Is", Superman is sick for the first time in his life, and Ma and Pa Kent are terrified for him.
• "Seconds": The death of Lois' clone.
  • The life of Lois's clone is pretty sad in and of itself. At first, she seems to just be a shallow villain who wants to take over Lois's life and take advantage of being married to Superman. However, we see a more vulnerable side to her as the episode progresses as she just wants someone to love her the way Clark loves Lois and is devastated when Clark tells he still loves Lois.
  • Lex reveals that she has a limited lifespan and that he will only help her if she gives him information to trade for it. She reveals that Clark is Superman and Lex tells her that he lied about being able to reverse her condition. The clone is both heartbroken and ashamed for betraying Clark.
• Lois meeting alternate!Clark, who's bullied by Lana Lang, never became Superman, and had his Lois disappear.
• In "The Night Before Mxymas", Mr. Mxyzptlk traps the world in a time loop where each time around, humanity would grow more depressed and pessimistic until they all crossed the Despair Event Horizon and destroyed themselves. An elderly rich man Superman saved from dying is grateful the first time around, but after a loop or two, he wishes he hadn't been saved.
  • It turns out the elderly man is subconsciously Driven to Suicide out of loneliness.
  • Possibly even worse is the scene where Mxyzptlk causes Jonathan Kent to have a heart attack.
• The very end of Season 3, where Lois is left all alone on Earth, apparently forever.
• In the closing scene of “Super Mann”, Perry has a talk with Lois, Clark, and Jimmy after having learned that Senator Black, a man he's known and admired since he was Jimmy's age, was arrested after being outed as one of the Nazi sleeper agent's, commenting that he's going to take the rest of the day off. After he leaves, Lois sadly ponders how many more might still be out there.
• In "Ultrawoman" Lois tells Clark about how she was too late to save people in Brazil from a mudslide because she was already helping a plane land in Paris. She can hear the cries of fear and help all over the world all the time and Clark has to tell her he's heard it every waking moment all his life and has had to get used to the idea of helping who he can, because no matter how much he wants to he cannot help everyone.

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