History TearJerker / TheSimpsons

** There's also when Skinner makes his spur-of-the-moment decision to pose as Agnes' son, having been sent home from Vietnam to deliver her the news he was MIA and presumed dead. Skinner's voiceover posits he thinks Agnes knew deep down he was not Seymour, but couldn't deal with the idea that her son was dead and accepted the fiction as fact instead.

->''"Your eyes need diapers!"''

'''Bart''': Right, I am a pawn.\\

** Just the matter-of-fact way she says it; there's no bitterness in her tone, she's an eight year old girl who's already resigned to the fact that her father barely acknowledges her existence.

* Bart having a heart attack in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E9TheHeartbrokeKid The Heartbroke Kid]]. What makes it even more difficult to watch if his family rushing over to him to see if he's okay. This scene can definitely hit home for those who've had or have a loved one who suffered a heart attack before.

* From "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E21LadyBouviersLover Lady Bouvier's Lover]]:" when Smithers helps Mr. Burns write a love letter to Marge's mother, he comes up with something very heartfelt. Mr. Burns asks Smithers how he was able to come up with such an amazing love declaration on the spot. Smithers reveals that he wrote [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove the exact same thing for Burns]]. Heartbroken that Mr. Burns doesn't remember (or possibly never even read) his love letter, Smithers runs away in tears.

* On "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsWhoShotMrBurns Who Shot Mr. Burns?]]" (part one), after Mr. Burns fires Smithers for disobeing his orders, Smithers becomes a drunken wreck. He even mentiones how Mr. Burns was the closest thing he had as a friend and sobs pitifully.

* On "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsWhoShotMrBurns Who Shot Mr. Burns?]]" (part two), depressed Smithers walks down streets as he tries to put his memories together and he then comes in conclusion that he was the one who shot Mr. Burns.

** Which gets blasted down when the episode featuring this speech gets hastily edited to make it look like Poochie was really an alien who returned to his home planet and died on the way back. In fact, ''that'' part is more heart-breaking than Homer's speech, as Homer poured his heart and soul into supporting something he liked, but no one else did ("[[IncrediblyLamePun rooting for the underdog]]," so to speak) and, in the end, it was all in vain.

** The bulk of the episode deals with a SharedDream between Homer and Marge in which they never experienced their first unplanned pregnancy, had more time to figure things out, and now live a happy and comfortable life with just Lisa and Maggie. Bart doesn't exist for them until they hit him with their car and end up taking him in while the police search for his family, since he has no memory of who he is or where he came from. Although confounded by his bad behavior at first, they grow increasingly attached to him as they begin to appreciate [[BlitheSpirit the fun and unexpectedness that his personality adds to their lives]]--and then the police come back for him, having decided that Homer and Marge can't keep him and that he needs to be put in an orphanage. As the police car is taking him away, Homer and Marge are hit by the realization of how much they care for him and chase after the car begging them not to take him.

* In "Bartless", Homer and Marge both have a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment: while they saw yet another 'Bart Simpson-like' prank in their eyes by vandalizing school library books, Mrs. Peyton and the librarian actually showed them that Bart actually inspired the younger children to want to read. Bart had actually said as such, but his own parents didn't believe him, leaving them to the realization that they've been unable to see any good in their son, and the real possibility that they hate him.

* In "Bartless", Homer and Marge both have a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment: while they saw yet another 'Bart Simpson-like' prank in their eyes by vandalizing school library books, Mrs. Peyton and the librarian actually showed them that Bart actually inspired the younger children to want to read. Bart had actually said as such, but his own parents didn't believe them, leaving them to the realization that they've been unable to see any good in their son, and the real possibility that they hate him.

** And then it turns out Marge was ''right'' and Bart had been plotting to use the bulldozer for a prank to turn the Springfield sign into the words "FIE". He also acts like doesn't care his mother is no longer being involved with him, until a lunch packed by her causes his conscience to act up.

* Bart having a heart attack in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E9TheHeartbrokeKid]]. What makes it even more difficult to watch if his family rushing over to him to see if he's okay. This scene can definitely hit home for those who've had or have a loved one who suffered a heart attack before.

* In "Poorhouse Rock" Bart begins to look up to Homer after spending a day with him at work and realizing that the job with which his father provides for the entire family is something he can see himself one day doing, making him aspire to become a nuclear safety inspector himself and achieve his own slice of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream. [[HalfwayPlotSwitch The rest of the episode is dedicated]] to [[{{Deconstruction}} crushing that humble dream]], brutally demonstrating that [[TheGenerationGap jobs like the one Homer has don't exist anymore]] and that [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome a kid like Bart doesn't have much to look forward to in a system that has eroded the middle class to vanishing point]], with all of his alternative suggestions for building a life for himself falling flat. When he's told that the only solution is to "burn it down," [[DespairEventHorizon he takes the phrase literally and sets his treehouse on fire]].

** A meta kind; the melanchonic soundtrack, consisting a violin and piano, that plays in the aforementioned scenes really drives the point home.

** When Homer and Marge first find out that he has 23 hours to live, they hug each other and sob into each other's shoulders. Bonus points go to Creator/DanCastellaneta, as [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct his acting is what makes this scene shine.]]

** When Homer and Marge first find out that Homer is dying, they hug each other and sob into each other's shoulders. The image is just saddening.