Zelda's gripe with both her workplace and her abusive husband. Her job would be bad enough as is if only she could come home to a loving husband who appreciated her, but no.
Elisa, sitting with the weakening Asset and knowing that their time together is limited, drifts into an Imagine Spot 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.
You went away and my heart went with you
I speak your name in my every prayer
If there is some other way to prove that I love you
I swear, I don't know how
You'll never know if you don't know now
The death of 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 Nightmare Fuel.
The Asset’s expression when 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.
Giles' resigned sadness when he finds the Asset has gruesomely killed and eaten one of his pet cats, his only companions — he can't even bring himself to be angry with the Asset, who is after all only doing what animals do, but he's understandably shocked and heartbroken. The Asset for his part clearly realizes he's done something seriously wrong, cautiously reaching out to the surviving cats and approaching Giles to apologize in his own nonverbal way.
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. 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 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.
There is much to be said as well about how the story displays and examines the level of isolation and sadness of the characters, even when they seem to be surrounded by people (who, actually, don't understand each other). It's a feeling many of us have felt at least once and can relate to.
