Tear Jerker / Warrior Nun

"I love you."

BEWARE OF SPOILERS.

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Season 1

1 - Psalm 46:5

• Sister Frances, a very unpleasant and cruel nun who looked after Ava before her death, has a very low opinion of her and she has no problem with speaking ill of the dead. Then, when the mortician counsels her to find it in her heart to forgive Ava for her sins (because Ava could no longer ask for it), the nun would rather be judged by God than forgive.
  • Frances' insistence that the mortician leaves the cause of death blank (presumably so that she can fill it out herself as suicide) makes an already harsh moment even Harsher in Hindsight after it's revealed in a later episode that she had murdered Ava.
• The death of Sister Shannon. Although we only know her for a few minutes, it's very clear that she was well-regarded and loved by her fellow sisters. Especially Mary, who took her death the hardest.

2 - Proverbs 31:25

3 - Ephesians 6:11

• Mother Superion pulls no punches at all when she chews Ava out for her suicide, and the latter's protests that she didn't kill herself don't spare her from the pure disgust in Mother Superion's eyes when she looks at her. She doesn't see the Warrior Nun in Ava; she sees an aberration, a coward and a sinner who doesn't deserve a second chance, Halo or otherwise.

4 - Ecclesiasticus 26:9-10

• Thinking that she was saving a woman from a creep, Ava is instead beaten senseless by the woman and her friends with sticks, stabbed and then left for dead. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished indeed.
  Ava: (narrating, bitterly) See what you get for being a hero?
• The flashback of the last day of Ava's life before she became the Halo Bearer. There she was, laughing and joking at Sister Frances' expense and she had no idea that she was being murdered.
• Ava, after she broke Sister Frances' neck for what she did and tried to do to her and a young boy she used to share a room with. As she is walking out of the orphanage in tears, her narration suggests that she is caught between labelling herself a murderer and reasoning it was in self-defence and the defence of her old roommate.

5 - Matthew 7:13

• "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Mary to Lilith. So why aren't they friends anymore? Because Shannon got the Halo and Lilith didn't; she didn't think that anyone else deserved it but her.
  Mary: And you wonder every day why you never got the Halo. It's eating at you, right? You are a better warrior than Shannon ever was. You are faster, stronger, smarter. But you're no leader. Shannon was because she had heart. You don't.
• Lilith's Heroic Sacrifice. Sure, she is a prideful bitch and she has no reason to do anything to protect Ava, but that didn't stop her from throwing herself in the Tarask's path and getting herself dragged down to Hell for her troubles. This goes a long way to show that, at the end of the day, Lilith is a brave and selfless soul.

6 - Isaiah 30:20-21

• So how did Mary end up with the OCS? Her mom got a life sentence in prison for killing her dad when Mary was eight and it didn't matter to the court that it was in self-defense because she was a black woman.
  Mary: My father was a violent man. And when she pulled that trigger, she ended both their lives.

7 - Ephesians 4:22-24

• Shannon is dead; Beatrice and Father Vincent have been reassigned; Mary is out of the OCS and Lilith is in Hell. It's finally official: the original Five-Man Band we started with at the beginning of the series is gone.
• Lilith's funeral, but especially Sister Camila worrying if she is in Heaven or was dragged down to Hell with the Tarask.

8 - Proverbs 14:1

• As Beatrice recounts the story of Sister Melanie, a lesbian who was interned at the concentration camp at Dachau before she became the Warrior Nun. As Beatrice is also gay and was taught to hate and fear who she is for most of her life, it is heartbreaking to see her read from the journal since she relates to Melanie so much.
  Beatrice: Of course I tried to fit in. But when you're punished just for being different, you begin to hate what you are. And what you love. What should make you happy...only brings you pain. Pain is what made me a Sister-Warrior.
• Lilith, staring at an old photo of herself with Mary and Beatrice as she reflects on the friendship she had lost with them both just before she was dragged to Hell. From the look on her face, it was probably the last time that she was truly happy.
• Ava revealing that her greatest fear is not so much the paralysis but rather the loneliness that came with it; being abandoned in a sickbed with nobody in her life. This goes a long way to show that what Ava is really afraid of is losing her friends and sisters.
• When Ava finally meets Sister Shannon (at least in spirit), her predecessor wastes little time making it clear that to be a Warrior Nun is to live a short, violent life where you are forced to watch everyone you love die one by one. For the mission.

9 - 2 Corinthians 10:4

• It is pretty heartbreaking to see the usually frigid Lilith break down in tears in Mary's arms, and it's not hard to see why: she was dragged to Hell by a Tarask; somehow came back from the dead to find that her friends, her sisters, had been mourning her; it appears that she is slowly changing into a demon and she is also losing her mind. It's clear that she is now a shadow of her proud former self.

10 - Revelation 2:10

• The look of hopelessness on Ava's face when she offers the Halo back to Adriel. She knows that doing so would either kill her or return her to a quadriplegic, but either outcome didn't matter to her because she knew that she wouldn't be leaving the tomb either way after the Halo leaves her possession.
• Jillian, forced to watch as her son Michael goes through the Ark. She had been working tirelessly to build the Ark in order to save her dying son, but now that the day had finally come she couldn't bear to see him go and it broke her heart when he ran through the portal.
  • To make matters worse, the last thing he says is to ask her to come with him. And she was about too-it just closes before she could get through.
• The fact that Father Vincent, the man who'd been in Ava's corner from day one, had been using her in order to facilitate his master Adriel's release from his prison. This also extends to the betrayal the other girls must have felt when his true loyalties are revealed. Especially with Mary, who had his back from day one, only for him to kill her best friend and play everybody else like puppets.

Season 2

1 - Galatians 6:4-5

• Jillian has completely committed to finding her son, resulting in her suffering burns from using herself as a guinea pig for testing the gate.
• Mother Superion and Camila watch as the lights go out on the OCS global map, signaling to them that their entire order is being wiped out.

2 - Colossians 3:9-10

• The scene with Lilith and her mother. It's pretty clear that Lilith's mother only cares about the high expectations she had placed upon her daughter — to become the Warrior Nun — and couldn't care less about her actual daughter now that Lilith has been passed over for the Halo. No wonder Lilith was so strongly opposed to Ava being the Halo Bearer during Season One.
  Lilith: I wasn't passed over for the Halo, mother. I-
  Mrs Villaumbrosia: Oh no? May I see it, then?
  Lilith: (stunned into silence) You make it sound as if I failed.
• Three words: "We've lost Mary."
  • For context, Lilith informs everyone through the OCS necklace communicators that Mary is dead. Mother Superion and Camilla erupt into tears while Ava and Beatrice collapse into each other's arms, both of them crying. It's utterly heartbreaking to watch, especially given the fact that both parties were fervently worried for Mary, as seen in the last episode.
  • Beforehand, Beatrice and Ava argued after Ava accidentally exposed herself as the Warrior Nun to the Samaritans. She eventually vents about how none of this has been easy for her, a reminder that months ago, Ava was still a teenager who hardly knew about any of this.

3 - Luke 8:17

• Ava and Father Vincent's confrontation. She tearfully asks him if he betrayed Shannon and Mary for power, to which he says it's for truth. It's heartbreaking to see Vicent, one of the only people who was kind to Ava when she first joined the OCS in Season 1, proceed to kick the ever-loving shit out of Ava without mercy.

4 - Corinthians 10:20-21

• Father Vincent's admission that he loved Sister Shannon, the same as the rest of the OCS — and he still murdered her because he needed a Warrior Nun who could easily be controlled and manipulated into releasing Adriel. It's infuriating and heartbreaking to hear, and foreshadows the inner torment Vincent is going through.
• Beatrice walking through the fog of fear and getting met by a hallucination of Ava, who antagonizes her. It's tragic that even with how close the two have gotten, it's heavily implied that a part of Beatrice deep down fears Ava will see her as a monster because of her feelings.

5 - Mark 10:45

• Although Camila knows Beatrice is in love with Ava and is quick to reassure her there is no shame in loving another woman, she nonetheless offers Beatrice a bit of advice that makes her come to an upsetting realization:
  Camila: It's easy to fall in love with a Warrior Nun. It's loving a Warrior Nun that's the hard part. They're never yours. They never last.
• Beatrice's anguished reaction to seeing Ava fall 13 stories after her Halo deactivates mid-levitation. Complete with her tearfully holding Ava's limp body and begging her not to die.
  Beatrice: Ava! No! Please! I know the world is hard and unforgiving, and I know that Warrior Nuns die. Please don't leave me. I don't want you to die.

6 - Isaiah 40:31

• Duretti's death. Sure he was an ass in the first season, but the second greatly shows his genuine desire to protect his institution. It only results in him getting framed as a liar and killed brutally on live television.

7 - Psalms 116:15

• Jillian learns that Michael intended to kill himself to destroy Adriel at the cathedral. Imagine getting your son back after trying so damn hard to find him and the only reason he's even back is to become a suicide bomber.
• Beatrice shutting herself off from Ava after the botched mission. The worst part comes when Ava actually offers to run away with her back to the Alps together to the life they had a few days ago, no doubt an indirect Love Confession, only to look utterly and completely heartbroken when Beatrice refuses.
  • Beatrice specifically writes it off as her emotions interfering with the mission. Imagine how internalized her self-hatred must be to think that saving the woman she loves is some selfish act. She retreats so much back into the shell that had been cracked after meeting Ava that she ends up sounding more hardened than her Season 1 self.
  • Ava tearfully suggesting that Beatrice can teach her how to dance. Why is it a tearjerker? Think back to the first episode of the season, to the two partying in the bar in the Alps. Ava is admitting that she found Beatrice's inexperienced dancing beautiful.
  • One of the more subtle, but still tear-jerking examples comes when Ava says that there is always something they can do. Beatrice's response?
  Beatrice: There is nothing else you can do.
• After Ava makes contact with Adriel through Vincent's Divinium tattoos, he is left badly hurt. His arms are covered in sores and burns, blood and liquid Divinium leaking from the wounds. It's pretty clear that he is fighting through what is probably agony for him. When asked if he is alright, what's his response? "I deserve this."
  • In the next episode, he explicitly states that he will do his best to pay his debt to the OCS until he can no longer breathe. The guilt and regret he must have from betraying his friends has to be immeasurable.

8 - Jeremiah 29:13

• Jillian and Michael having a moment before he goes off to commit a Heroic Sacrifice. He gives a gutwrenching and bittersweet speech about how there will always be a piece of him in existence and that he'll never stop loving his mother.
• The kiss between Ava and Beatrice is adorable... until you realize it's the only piece of happiness they'll get before Ava sacrifices herself. In fact, they both seem to realize that as they silently cry while kissing.
  • Ava's parting words to Beatrice after their kiss: "In the next..." Usually, it would be, "In this life or the next," so this shows at that moment that Ava had zero hope of ever seeing Beatrice again, at least "in this life". You can almost see Ava's heart breaking right then and there before she phases through the floor.
  • During their kiss, Beatrice uses her thumb to wipe away Ava's tears.
  • While it can also be seen as a Heartwarming Moment, it's tragic to see Beatrice, the textbook definition of the perfect Sister Warrior, second only to maybe Lilith, throw the mission away and try to subdue Ava to prevent her from sacrificing herself. Even after their fight from the last episode, it's clear now that the only thing she wants is to be with Ava.
• Michael getting unceremoniously and brutally killed as he tries to distract Adriel. His last expression just screams "I'm sorry" to Ava before he falls dead.
• Ava's apparent death. Using the last of the Halo's strength, she summons a horde of Tarasks that kill Adriel, but she's left heavily wounded by Divinium. Seeing no other way, Beatrice and Lilith help her into the Arc and send her into the unknown dimension that Reya rules over. The whole scene is gut-wrenching as Ava is clearly not ready to go, having only recently gotten her life back.
  • Her final words before she goes through? "I love you." to Beatrice. Beatrice's response after Ava is already through the Arc? "I love you."
    • Fans have already come to the conclusion that Ava didn't need to hear Beatrice say that she loves her, but Beatrice needed to hear it from Ava. It makes sense when you realize the moment the two started to bond was thanks to Beatrice confessing about how her parents raised her to hate herself for being a lesbian. In what seemed to be their last moments together, all Ava cared about was making sure that Beatrice knew she was loved.
  • Beatrice is holding onto Ava tightly, even as she's about to go through the portal. Ava has to eventually say the most painful thing possible: "Let me go."
  • After Ava goes through the Arc, it's clear that Beatrice is on the verge of a complete breakdown. She starts hyperventilating and crying, as if Ava's absence is only now truly weighing on her, crumpling to sit in the middle of the empty Arc as the episode ends.

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