YMMV / Stray Bullets

• Heartwarming Moments: A rarity in a series this dark, but they do pop up from time to time:
  • During Other People, Virginia runs away after an argument with Beth. She accidentally witnesses Bobby's mother Janet having an affair, and a humiliated Janet suggests that she and her lover kill the child to make sure nobody finds out about it. At the last moment, Beth arrives and rescues Virginia, showing that she really does care about her, even if they fight sometimes.
  • The eventual backstory given for why Beth is so devoted to Nina. After her mom Victim Blamed Beth for an incident where she was almost raped, Beth punched her in the face and ran away from home. One day she met Nina, and despite the two girls barely knowing each other, Nina offered to let Beth stay at her house so she wouldn't have to live on the street. It's no wonder that Beth will do anything to keep her safe.
  • At one during the latter half of Sunshine & Roses, Orson meets Chandra, the stripper who helped him pull off the heist at Harry's club a while back. It turns out that her betrayal led to Scott disfiguring her face, which also ended her career as a dancer. She's initially acts bitter towards Osron, but relents after he apologizes. The two bond and have a good time together while smoking some pot, and the issue ends with Orson giving her his cut of the stolen money as a way of making up for ruining her previous life.
• Tearjerker:
  • Orson and Nina's deaths and Beth's reactions to them.
  • The entirety of the child abduction plot in Dark Days. Virginia's final diary entry (written when she thought Ron was about to kill her), where she begs whoever finds the book to let Bobby's parents know she's sorry for dragging him into this nightmare, is especially heartrending.
  • The scene in Killers where Virginia finds Aunt Jane crying in her sleep. Though she normally puts on a brave face, Jane blurts out that she's tired of living and just wants to see her dead son again.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: The deaths of many major characters, the general Crapsack World, and the fact that nothing ever seems to get better for anyone make it hard to care about the plot. The "Dark Days" arc gets hit with this particularly hard, as it deals with two very young characters being kidnapped by a child molester, who imprisons them for weeks.

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