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Season One
- In the first episode, Sergeant Nicholas Brody is reunited with his family after eight years in captivity. He hugs his wife and two children in turn. His wife, Jessica, tells him his mother died four years prior to the reunion. Doubles with Mood Whiplash considering that his wife, Jessica, was in bed with Mike, Nicholas's best friend, when the call came in that her husband, presumed dead, is alive.
- Issa's death. It also provides a powerful motivator for Brody's actions.
- Seeing Carrie break down when the CIA operatives start to take down her Abu Nasir timeline is really sad.
- At the end of the first season finale, Carrie chooses to be subjected to electro-shock therapy. Saul tries to tell her not to do it, but she cries as she tells him she is doing it of her own will.
Season Two
- In 'State of Independence,' there's Carrie's attempted suicide via overdose.
- The pedestrian Finn Walden runs over in "Q&A." And then her death in "A Gettysburg Address."
- The wide shot of Saul as the only living human being in the midst of dozens of body bags at the end of "The Choice" is difficult to watch on two fronts. Not only is Saul shown as being all alone, the exact phrase Carrie used in an argument earlier in the episode, it becomes extremely Harsher in Hindsight given the Newtown, Connecticut elementary school massacre that took place two days prior to the episode's original airing (it was not pulled, but did get a content warning before hand).
- Saul in the season 2 finale when Carrie is believed dead after the explosion at the CIA. We as the audience know she's alive, but that doesn't stop the look on Saul's face when he's told she hasn't been found from being heartbreaking.
Season Three
- Saul throwing Carrie under the bus in the Congressional hearings, after an article is leaked about Carrie and Brody's affair. He doesn't mention her name, but he gives out enough details about her bipolar disease and her affair with Brody that Congress can add two and two together. The sad part is when the camera cuts back to Carrie's tear-stained, disbelieving face as the one person she thought she could always rely on betrays her in such a public manner.
- We learn that between seasons, Dana tried to kill herself in the aftermath of the Langley bombing.
- Circumstances of the Brody family in general. They've been cut off from government benefits since Brody is now a traitor and are living hand-to-mouth, with Jessica trying to make it back into the workplace after being a housewife for nearly twenty years. They're stalked by the press, had death threats and bricks thrown through their windows, and both kids had to be pulled out of school. Jessica mentions that her mother had to reverse-mortgage her own house just to pay for Dana's treatment after her suicide attempt. Brody's on the run, and his family are the ones being punished for his sins.
- In 3.03, Brody's taken to a slum in Caracas, Venezuela and is basically told by the man who brought him there that it's the last place he's going to find himself. Refusing to accept that (and the heroin the local doctor keeps trying to ply him with), he escapes to the local mosque, hoping to find refuge there. The Imam recognizes him and he's nearly captured, before his benefactors bust in and rescue him. The episode ends with Brody locked in a hole like the one in Iraq, and after the most demoralizing Breaking Speech, he silently reaches for the heroin...
- This episode also runs parallel to Carrie's situation: she's being held in a psych ward after the previous episode's events. Like Brody, she wants to get out of the place she's found herself in, but it's more than obvious that she's still recovering. In one scene, out of pure frustration, she bangs her head against the bathroom mirror and accidentally cuts herself. One of the nurses finds her, and Carrie breaks down in tears as she begs her not to tell, like a frightened child.
- Dana telling her father not to see her again.
- Nicholas Brody's death. After so many mistakes and misguidance, finally manages to redeem himself, which costs him his life in an extremely emotional death scene.
