Tear Jerker / The People v. O. J. Simpson

• In the first episode, after Nicole and Ronald have been murdered and as the police are investigating the crime scene and they listen to her answering machine, one of the messages is the voice of O.J. and Nicole's young daughter, Sydney, on the verge of tears and desperately begging her mother to call her back.
  • Also earlier we just saw the police as they access the murder scene and Nicole's house, where we find the two grade-school aged kids peacefully asleep and unaware of the horrors that occurred outdoors, their lives have just changed in one evening.
  • Then later when they walk into the funeral, shielded by their maternal grandparents and relatives away from the paparazzi and reporters.
• Robert Kardashian being forced to talk his friend of twenty years down, outright begging, from shooting himself over the phone.
• As the Bronco pulls up to the O.J.'s house, his son runs out and screams for O.J. to get in the house and not to kill himself. He has to be restrained and dragged back in by two deputies.
• O.J. at first holds Robert's outstretched hand while pressing the gun into his forehead, and eventually is swayed by Robert reminding him about his soon-to-be orphaned children, and pleading with him not to desecrate the room where Kim sleeps.
• In "100 Percent Not Guilty", Marcia Clark meets with Ron Goldman's parents. Fred Goldman's sheer, smoldering rage at how his son has been reduced to a minor character in someone else's tragedy is pretty hard to watch.
  • And considering the already known outcome of the trial, seeing Marcia promise the Goldman family that they will receive justice only for the already distraught Fred Goldman to reply "you better" only twists the knife on this tearjerker and easily notches it up to a Harsher in Hindsight scene.
• Your mileage may vary, but watching David Schwimmer's performance as Robert Kardashian can come across as one. He starts the series horrified at the murder of Nicole and Ron, and equally as horrified at the prospect of his friend OJ wanting to commit suicide or even go to prison…only to become a shell-shocked wreck as the series goes on when it becomes clear to him that maybe, just maybe, one of his dearest and closest friends was capable of a truly terrible crime.
  • The scene where he confesses his worries to his ex-wife Kris is especially affecting, since this one thing they see eye-to-eye on and they're worried about their family's safety. O.J. wasn't just Robert's friend but Kris' as well, and they're both horrified a man they've known for twenty years could do something so reprehensible.
    Robert (sobbing): He was my friend!!!'
    (Kris breaks down crying too and embraces Robert)
  • It's also heartbreaking to watch him in "Conspiracy Theories" as he asks Cochran and Cowlings "if OJ didn't do it, why has no one been able to propose a plausible alternative suspect or theory?" He's clearly begging the others to come up with something, and just falls deeper into despair when they can't give him an answer.
• At the beginning of "The Race Card", the flashback where we see Cochran being pulled over by a racist cop simply for driving in an affluent white neighborhood, is made to step out of his vehicle and being handcuffed right in front of his daughters for protesting his treatment, and only avoids arrest (or worse) because he is able to show his credentials as an attorney. All of this happens on a busy street where dozens of passersby get to witness his humiliation. Cochran is a Knight Templar lawyer who is willing to manipulate, lie and use absolutely ruthless courtroom tactics to achieve his goals of furthering the civil rights of black people... but given the kind of treatment he has endured all his life, treatment countless other African Americans have experienced, it's not hard to see why.
• In "Marcia Marcia Marcia", Marcia deals with a ridiculous amount of sexism from both the Dream Team, her ex-husband, and the public, but briefly manages to rise above it... and then she finds out that her asshole first ex-husband (not her current ex-husband) has sold nude photos of her to the tabloids. Yes, Marcia is egotistical and had a habit of making poor decisions regarding the case and her life, but shit.
  • The moment of her finding out what her ex did and breaking down in tears is enough for even the stoic and by-the-book Judge Ito to take sympathy on her, prematurely ending court for the day without another word.
• Goldman family bursting into tears and Clark coming apart in her office after the verdict is announced.
• The press conference that Garcetti, Clark, and Darden have to give afterwards. Darden tries to speak with composure, only to break down in tears and stop his speech mid-sentence. He then walks away from the podium and embraces the Goldmans.
• Marcia revealing to Chris why she was so willing to take the case against O.J., and one of the reason why she is so focused on prosecuting spousal abuse cases in general - she was raped when she was 17 by a waiter. She tried to suppress the trauma of it afterwards, but she found that her feelings and anger about it came flying out of her when it came time to work her first rape case. As a result, she realized that she had an ingrained sense of "vengeance for victims" that she had always thought a jury would share with her. Chris, who has been listening with a sorrowful look on his face this whole time, finally breaks his silence.
  Chris: What happened to the waiter?
  Marcia: Same thing that happened today.
• After the trial, Darden gives Cochran a blistering speech, telling him he's done nothing for black people, except getting one rich and famous guy off the hook. While Cochran does shrug it off later, for a brief moment, he does feel crestfallen at the idea that he changed nothing.
• The final scene of the series, if one is sympathetic to Simpson. O.J. has returned home and celebrates with his family, but discovers his neighbors now hate him, his golf club won't let him back in, finds most of the party guests are just attention seekers who came to revel in his current notoriety, and is finally abandoned by Robert Kardashian after O.J. gives a speech about finding "the real killers".
  • Capped off with the final image of the series: O.J., having wandered into his backyard to escape the party, stares up at the marble statue of himself. Sounds of people cheering "O.J.! O.J.!" from his football days echo through his mind, but his face shows only sadness. Whatever legacy he might've had as a football player is gone, replaced by one of a murderer who escaped justice.
• The finale credits show a split screen of each major character and their real-life counterpart and listing what became of them. It all ends with a split screen of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.
• Another real life case of Harsher in Hindsight is Robert trying to get through to his kids the hollow nature of fame for its own sake considering how fame has often been a doubled-edged sword for them.