Tear Jerker / The Office (US)

Season 2

• In "Dundies," everyone has spent the entire night dreading and mocking Michael's Dundie awards, both behind his back and to his face, while he has spent the entire episode excited. During the actual event, no one laughs, no one smiles, everyone clearly wants to go home, and random strangers at the bar boo Michael and throw trash at him. He's so sad that he just hands out an award (saying he had more but he won't give them), thanks anyone who listened, and starts to walk away.
• In "Booze Cruise", it looks like Jim is finally going to tell Pam how he feels. Then Roy interrupts by announcing that he wants to set the date for his and Pam's wedding. Jim's expression is gut wrenching, and he's so heartbroken that he breaks up with his girlfriend in a near-catatonic state. You get the feeling that the cameraman is beginning to feel bad for him, since he's constantly zooming into Jim's face.
• In "Halloween," the whole episode focuses on Michael's struggle to fire someone. Anyone. And he goes through tons of candidates, and the episode is full of bait and switches. However, he finally settles on Devon. After a particularly hard-to-watch scene of Michael firing him, the episode ends with Michael heading home depressed as he cheerfully narrates over the footage talking about his previous year's costumes. The last scene involves him handing out candy to trick-or-treaters as he pretends to be happy. As bad a boss he is, he seems to be at his absolute worst when he has to let someone go.
• In "Christmas Party", Micheal's barely hidden contempt for Phyllis' hand-crafted gift is hard to watch, with Phyllis at several points looking like she's holding back the urge to cry. In addition, for all her coldness and haughtiness, it's hard not to feel sorry for Angela as her carefully planned party is completely ruined, especially when she breaks down in tears in one talking head and is reduced to screaming in impotent rage after seeing Kelly attempt to seduce her secret lover Dwight.
• In "Boys and Girls," Jan discusses ambitions with all the office women; Pam wants a house with a terrace to plant flowers, and a job where she can use her art skills. Jan offers to put in a good word for her on a graphic design internship in New York, but when Pam tells Roy about it, he tells her to forget about it. Pam explains all this to the camera along with the terrace (it's from a children's story she read, and something about it stuck with her). But what are dreams worth? "It's impractical. I'm not gonna try to get a house like that. Um, they don't even make houses like that in Scranton...so, I'm never gonna..." Pam has to stop herself from crying.
  • It gets worse when she finally does go to art school and gives up after failing, making Roy correct (but still a jerk) in hindsight.
• In "Take Your Daughter to Work Day", Michael spends the day bonding with his employees' kids and decides to show them a video of his appearance on a local children's show when he was their age. The video plays in the conference room and everyone sees young Michael telling the puppet host that when he grows up, he wants to be married with a bunch of kids "so no one can say no to being my friend". The employees are stunned while the kids ask Michael whether he's accomplished his goal. Realizing he's nowhere close to achieving his dream, Michael gets depressed and retreats into his office.
• "Conflict Resolution". Jim telling Pam that he accidentally complained of her planning her wedding during work hours (he didn't know that it would be written down and immediately took it back). Pam won't even look at him as Jim tries to explain.
  • Made worse because the whole episode, Pam thought Angela was the one who complained, damaging their fragile friendship.
• The big season 2 reveal of Jim's feelings for Pam. He finally tells her, and she apologizes repeatedly as she rejects him, saying "I can't." Jim seemingly brushes it off, but wipes a tear from his cheek as he walks away. Pam tells her mother over an office phone (it seems that she's questioning if she's in love with him as well) and Jim appears. He kisses her before she can say anything. Cut to the Season 3 premiere episode, where he asks her if she's still going to marry Roy and she replies yes. Cue lingering shot of Jim pulling his hands away from hers. Sorry, it's a little dusty in here...

Season 3

• In "Branch Closing", where Michael Scott learns that the entire Scranton branch is closing, and that he's getting fired.
• In "Initiation" Dwight takes Ryan on his first sales call, which unfortunately involves a bunch of bizarre/traumatising tasks that eventually cause Ryan to leave. Dwight picks him up and apologises, confiding in him that he didn't get along with Jim and he had hoped things would be different. Dwight actually seems to realise that he was out of line in his actions and offers a genuine apology, he comes across as very lonely in this scene.
• Michael in all off "A Benihana Christmas." It's pretty clear that he does not know how to cope with Carol's breakup at all, with his half assed attempt at getting the Benihana waitress to go with him to Jamaica being more pathetic than cute. All of his actions reek of sheer desperation as he struggles to get over Carol. Anyone who went through a breakup or rough patch, especially during the holidays, can empathize with him.
• In "Back From Vacation", where Pam helps resolve a fight between Jim and Karen before going out in the hallway to cry on her own. Turns into a Heartwarming Moment when Dwight comes out to console her.
• In "Safety Training", Michael tries to fake a suicide to prove that being in an office is dangerous. However, eventually he actually gets depressed and starts thinking about really jumping.
  • A reason for his depression was his abusive relationship with Jan, which ends up being a big focus of "Women's Appreciation".
• In "Beach Games", where Pam calls Jim out for not hanging out with her as much since he arrived from Stamford. At this point, it's not even about her feelings for him. She just wants her friend back.
• Certainly doubles as a Heartwarming Moment, but Michael showing up for Pam's art show at the last minute, after (almost) everyone else from the office failed to come (including Jim). It's a Tear Jerker in-universe as well.
  Michael: That is our building.
  [beat]
  Michael: And we sell paper.

Season 4

• Dwight's completely heartbroken face every time Andy tries to ask Angela out. And his Broken Tears when she says yes.
• Everything that happens to Michael during "The Deposition."
• An offhand line from Karen reveals that she took Jim breaking up with her pretty hard.
• Jim intricately plans to propose to Pam, but Andy steals the spotlight from him.
  • What makes this harsher is that Jim's lightbulb moment to make the proposal came when he realised that a lot of significant moments in his and Pam's relationship happened at their office building. Even though he does propose to her in the next season, he doesn't propose to her at the office because of this moment.
• The whole Sprinkles sub-plot in "Fun Run". Angela is utterly devastated at the loss of her feline friend, especially when she learns that Dwight killed her. Anyone who has ever lost a beloved pet can DEFINITELY relate.
• In "Money", Jim hears a strange moaning, wailing noise in the middle of the night whilst staying at Schrute Farms with Pam. It's Dwight, crying about his break-up with Angela whilst holding her cherub figurine.
  • It gets even MORE heartbreaking when you take into account the fact that Angela had previously asked Dwight to return the figurine that she'd accidentally left behind- only for Dwight to insist that she'd already taken it. In other words he didn't want to give up his one remaining link to his "Monkey".
• Kevin's interview after getting his parking space back in "Goodbye, Toby". It's a brief moment, but it hits unexpectedly hard.
  Kevin: After Stacy left, things... did not go well for a while. And it was hard to see—... ...it's just nice to win one.
• On rewatching the show, the ending of "Money", a genuinely nice moment in which Jan thanks Michael for being the only one who never turned his back on her, promising to stay by his side and finishing with the question "So, where is this train taking us?", becomes this, since it won't be long before their relationship quickly and spectacularly crashes and burns.

Season 5

• Holly and Michael's breakup in "Employee Transfer", when Michael openly cries a couple of times. Turns into a Heartwarming Moment when Darryl (who, only a few minutes earlier, had been about ready to throw Michael and Holly out of the truck due to their non-stop lovey-dovey antics.) cheers him up.
• "Stress Relief Part 2" really beats the crap out of Michael. He finds out that he causes a lot of stress in the office, so he encourages everyone to attend a "Michael Roasting" that will allow them to say whatever they feel about him. He goes fine through the first couple of people, but slowly starts to deteriorate after Dwight insults him. After everyone is done, he takes the stage and slowly says that he would like to say a few things about everyone there. Instead, he goes silent and stumbles off the stage, silently crying. Everyone is silent, but you know that they feel terrible.
  • From the same episode, Pam's parents separate which is later confirmed to end for them in divorce. Though well-meaning, it was Jim's words that pushed Pam's father to finally give up and the look on his face when he hears that it was partially his fault is heartbreaking.
• Dwight's quiet confession to Phyllis when Andy gives him his and Angela's "Save the Date" card.
  Dwight: Why is she marrying Andy?
• Andy’s reaction to learning about Dwight and Angela’s affair is brutal, especially given that this character with noted anger management issues is in full Tranquil Fury mode really highlights how devastated he is.
  • On the plus side, his handling of the situation - subtly trapping Dwight with his car - shows he's at least grown somewhat and that his therapy actually took; it could have gone much, much worse.
• The cold open for "Casual Friday" has Kevin bringing in a huge pot of chili to share with everyone, lugging it upstairs since the elevator's out of order... and then he drops it. The look of stunned disbelief on his face, followed by him frantically grabbing a clipboard to try and scoop it back in, is almost painful to watch. Kevin's narration, where he says it's his own special family recipe and how proud he is of all the hard work he put into it, doesn't help at all.

Season 7

• When Michael leaves the office for the last time in "Goodbye, Michael". In fact, the entire episode, though hilarious, was one big tear jerker.
  Jim: You know what I think we should do? I think we should just save the goodbyes for tomorrow. At lunch.
  • And the previous episode, "Michael's Last Dundies". Michael' response to "Seasons of Love" (and what look like genuine tears from Steve Carell- who apparently was NOT told about the song beforehand) is one of the hardest scenes in the show to watch without blubbering.
  • At the end of the episode, Pam, who had almost missed Michael entirely, dashes into the airport to say goodbye to him. The image on this page is of her watching as his airplane leaves to Colorado. She almost tearfully says to the camera that Michael didn't seem sad, but full of hope and eager to see Holly.
    • That inaudible exchange between them? According to Jenna Fischer, that was her saying goodbye to Steve Carell out of character. What's more, Fischer has also shared that she wished the scene didn't have to end and kept holding onto Carell because she didn't want to let him go. Hey, who put a bowl of onions in here?
  • As noted above, Steve Carell's departure was a major tear jerker for the cast. Several of them have said that the actor's last week of shooting was basically one big, long sob fest.
    • As one might imagine, the filming of "Goodbye, Michael" was especially brutal- Carell has described it as "emotional torture".
• As Holly's father's mental state deteriorates due to dementia, she approaches Phyllis to ask about how she knew when it was time to put her own mother into a nursing home. Phyllis replies in a very sympathetic tone, that if Holly is waiting for the day when her parents are going to tell her they can't take care of themselves anymore, it's not going to happen. The clear implication of what she's trying to tell her is that if Holly is asking, she already knows it's time. It's a heartbreaking and very real moment that hits close to home for those with aging parents and grandparents.

Season 9

• In a deleted scene from Season 9, Pete helps Erin set up her online account. When sorting through a list of security questions, Pete reads them aloud and all of them revolve around family details. Given that Erin is an orphan, these questions clearly hit hard.
• In "Work Bus" Andy tells Nellie that she'd be a horrible foster parent (based on an application that, unbeknownst to Andy, Erin helped her fill out.) When he goes to the back of the bus to apologize to Nellie he hears crying and thinks that it's her, but when he goes to look, it's Erin in a sobbing mess with Nellie comforting her.
• In "The Target," Angela discovers that her husband is cheating on her with Oscar. After an entire episode spent trying to hire a hitman and, later, someone to take out his kneecaps, Angela tearfully shouts at him, "You were supposed to be my friend!" Oscar can do nothing but apologize as she runs off.
• At the end of "Customer Loyalty" Jim and Pam have a serious fight over the phone over his being away working in Philadelphia. After Pam breaks down and cries she looks into camera and asks "What am I doing wrong Brian?" and after nine years we finally see the documentary crew filming their lives. Brian the boom operator puts down the mike and goes over to comfort Pam telling her "Nothing. It's a tough situation." and asks his colleagues to turn off the cameras.
• Towards the end of "Moving On," we have an incredibly touching/heartbreaking moment between Dwight and Angela in which they come to terms with the bleak outlook of their relationship, what with Angela being married to Senator Lipton. It's quite reminiscent of Jim and Pam's conversation in "Casino Night."
  Dwight: Stand by your man...it's what I'd want if you were mine.
• At the end of "Paper Airplanes", Jim must once again leave to go to Philadelphia, leaving Pam to take care of the kids all by herself. As Jim is leaving he turns back to wave at Pam, but she isn't looking. Just after he steps out the door looking pretty dejected, Pam turns around to watch him go but sees he has already left. Its not a big moment but its heartbreaking to realise just how out of sync these two have gotten by this point .
• In the penultimate episode 'A.A.R.M.', after almost an entire season's worth of miscommunication and unhappiness between Jim and Pam due to Jim's second job in Philadelphia, Pam worries that she is "not enough" for him. In response, he recruits the documentary crew to help him put together a montage of all their best relationship moments, and finally gives her the confessional Christmas card that wrote to her seven seasons earlier when she was still with Roy and Jim was quietly pining for her. All of this is set to Snow Patrol's "Open Your Eyes."
  Jim: "Not enough" for me? You are everything.
• Pam's speech in the series finale, explaining what she hopes people will gain from watching her story.
• Andy's speech about how he's still going to be missing "his old pals," but now his old pals are all the friends he made working in the Scranton office. Watch that scene, and it's clear he's choking up with emotion. What isn't clear is if you're watching Ed Helms play Andy Bernard, or if you're watching Ed Helms and he's not acting at all. Shooting that final episode after so many seasons was hard on everyone.
  Andy: (Holding back tears) "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them...someone should write a song about that."
• Erin being reunited with her birth parents in the finale. Her slow realisation and then running out to hug her birth parents.
  • Everyone else's reaction to this. Also how they all realised before Erin did and were waiting for her to figure it out herself. Phylis was also crying at this.
• Pam gets raked over the coals in the finale during the Fan Q&A. Everyone who has questions for her judges her and scolds her for ever doubting Jim. Add in her own concerns about forcing Jim to give up his dream job and Pam is left utterly miserable and feeling like the worst wife in the world.

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