Okay, before I get into it… hi. Been a while. Yeah… sorry about that. I thought I had the capability of starting this blog when I did… and oh how wrong I was. But that is A-OKAY because guess what? I AM BACK! And guess what? You get 2 posts today! That’s right! Is this a soft reboot kinda? Sure, why not. You can call it that if you want.

That’s right, by the time you finish reading this post, the second post will be out and will have all the answers to your burning questions such as “Is Schwally okay?” “Where did he go?” “What’s he up to now?” and “Do you think a hot dog is a sandwich?”

So, you can wait until the next post to hear why I stopped posting or you can believe the following lie: The contents of this post are so sad, that it took me more than 190 days to actually type everything out…

Which brings me to this next point: how best to celebrate the return of your favorite blog? By writing a post that made me cry the entire time I was typing it out; that’s right, it’s time for my Top 10 Scenes from Movies or TV Shows that make me Sob Uncontrollably (No Matter what Mood I am in to Start With)!!! [I apologize for it being so sad, but I sprinkled in some funny/happy clips throughout as a small break. I will do a “Top 10 Scenes… that make me Laugh Uncontrollably” another time.]

Disclaimer and Warnings: Yes, this may make you cry, but it also talks about some pretty heavy topics. Trigger and content warnings for death, mental health, and suicide. Also, this post contains spoilers from many pieces of media including Doctor Who (only up until 2013), The Magicians, A Dog’s Way Home, A Dog’s Purpose, Marley and Me, Harry Potter (Book/Movie 5), Up, Turner and Hooch, The Lion King, and How I Met Your Mother. Also also, this is just my list inspired by scenes I have seen recently. Obviously there are many more scenes from movies and shows I cry at, but these are just a few of my more emotional ones (recent ones).

1. The Eleventh Doctor Regeneration (Doctor Who, Season 7 Episode ‘15’, The Time of the Doctor)

Yeah yeah, I’m starting out this list with my favorite show of all time, Doctor Who. BIG SURPRISE. For those who don’t know about Doctor Who, basically The Doctor (alien) and their companion (human) travel through time and space in a blue police telephone box (the old British ones). This show has been going on for 60 years – “how do they keep a show going for 60 years with the same characters?” Answer: they don’t – the characters and cast change all the time – and yet it’s still the same show. The Doctor (titular character) has the ability to regenerate their body when they are mortally wounded. There’s some canon about how many times The Doctor can regenerate, but the Doctor Who canon both exists and doesn’t exist. If you try and look into it, you’ll get confused.

Why am I telling you this, though? Well, when I first started watching the show, I started out watching Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor (technically, he’s the 13th, but also maybe more… see, it’s already confusing) and the 11th Doctor became my favorite, even after watching some of the others (David Tennant is up in my top, don’t worry). Matt Smith plays the character as an old soul trapped in a young body, while also acting like a child most of the time. Fair to say, when Matt Smith was leaving the show, his exit scene BROKE ME DOWN. I mean I was crying and crying, and now, whenever I watch his exit scene, I will always start crying. The clip is linked below (oh yeah, should have mentioned earlier, all of the scenes I will be talking about are linked).

Eleventh Doctor Regenerates:

Why this brings me to tears: The raw emotion Matt Smith shows, bringing back Karen Gillan (she played the first companion for this Doctor’s incarnation), the speech. THE SPEECH!!! The quote is SO relatable! I mean just “But times change, and so must I.  We all change, when you think about it. We’re all different people all through our lives. And that’s okay, that’s good, you’ve got to keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I will not forget one line of this. Not one day. I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.” UGH I want to cry just typing that out. We literally all become different people through our lives – graduating high school and going to college → graduating college and starting your career. We become different people based on who we are around and what we do with our lives. But we always hold onto our past selves that give us a reminder “of all the people that you used to be.”

2. Q’s Sacrifice (The Magicians, Season 4 Episode 13, No Better to Be Safe Than Sorry)

For this one, I am skipping all the way to season 4 of the show, and the very end of it. I love this show, and think it deserves more recognition. It is currently (as of August 2024) available to watch on Netflix. It is basically a more adult version of Harry Potter (grad school, adult topics, mental health) – it has it all. The main character, Quentin Coldwater, AKA Q, is shown, right from the first scene he’s in, to be struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. He finds his home and a new life to him at the magical school Brakebills, where his life transforms for the better and he makes lovers, has affairs, goes through some pretty traumatic experiences, but then we have the moment it all comes down to – the end of Season 4.

Quick version of the plot at the moment (just setting the stage) – we have Q, Alice, and Penny 23 in this place called the “Mirror World/Realm.” They have these two monsters contained in bottles and a mirror in the room they are in that is basically the void – in which once the bottles are thrown in, the monsters are safe from attacking the world. But, this other guy, Everett, wants to become a god by absorbing the monster’s power, so he tries to stop Q from throwing the bottle into the void (“seam”). The first scene below is why magic is forbidden in the realm – it becomes escalated and unpredictable. Penny 23 is a psychic, so he is able to see what Q wants to do in order for him to protect Alice, who Q loves. By using magic in this room, Q triggers an explosion that kills him. The scene is shown below.

Q’s Sacrifice:

However, it goes further. After sacrificing himself, we see Q arrive in the Underworld where he talks with his old friend Original Penny (confusing timelines…). The next scene could be triggering for some users, but this is where I start crying the most. When Q starts to go over what he did, he asks a very tough question, “Did I do something brave to save my friends or did I finally find a way to k*ll myself?” This broke me, and still does. By seeing Q’s transformation through his time with his new life, this quote hurts so badly to hear and I cry every time I see it. As ScreenRant puts it, “This storyline would already be tragic, but it becomes extremely dark when examining the implications. From the very first episode, The Magicians presents Quentin as a person living with depression who experiences suicidal ideation. After his death, Quentin questions whether he really sacrificed himself or found a way to die by suicide. The heaviness of the question and the answer’s ambiguity make this one of the show’s darkest moments.”

Underworld:

Continuing from this scene, we get his funeral scene, where we get flashbacks of his special moments with all his friends. They all loved each other and Q was the one who brought them all together and ultimately improved their lives as well. The following rendition of them singing an acoustic version of Take On Me may be one of the most beautiful versions of this song I have ever heard. 

Funeral:

Note: Suicide is never the answer. If you’re experiencing suicidal ideation, please call 988 to reach the national suicide and crisis lifeline.

3. Bella finds her way back home (A Dog’s Way Home)

A happy one! And yes, it’s a dog one too – “what? A happy dog scene that will make you cry?” Correct! And the dog is still alive at the end :). A Dog’s Way Home is about a dog named Bella who finds her human Lucas. They tragically get separated and Bella goes on a 400+ mile journey and after 2 years finally reunites with her human. This is based on a book, though I have not read it yet. I don’t think I need to say much else, here’s the scene!

Bella finds Lucas:

Defending Bella:

4. Bailey’s tragic death (A Dog’s Purpose)

And, we’re back to sad, sorry. This time, we are looking at the passing of a dog, Bailey, the Boss Dog. If you’ve never seen A Dog’s Purpose, I would give it a watch – but make sure you keep a packet of tissues nearby; the first time I saw this movie, I sobbed so loudly, other moviegoers turned around to ask if I was okay. Yeah… not a highlight. The dog Bailey gets reincarnated many times as different dogs being best friends with many people, but ultimately finds Ethan, his human. Josh Gad does a wonderful job voicing Bailey and Bailey’s passing scene shown below still makes me choke up. I hope to find my own dog soon :’).

 Bailey Passes On:

5. Marley and Me

Continuing on the theme of dogs, we have Marley and Me. This movie is so funny. A couple adopts this yellow Labrador named Marley and Marley becomes a HANDFUL. I will include some funny clips below, but Marley gets into many MANY shenanigans including destroying furniture, frisbees, and hanging out the car door window walking on the road (while his human played by Owen Wilson is holding his rear out the window) (this scene always makes my mom and me laugh so hard). But at the end of the movie, Marley does pass on, and it is terribly sad. Before I start crying more when typing this, just go watch the scene and see for yourself.

Marley Passes On:

Ending Scene:

Funny Clips to brighten the mood:

6. Sirius Black’s Death (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [Book/Movie 5])

Another clip that needs very little introduction – the death of Harry Potter’s godfather, Sirius Black. What makes this scene so powerful to me are a few key things. First, this is the first time we really see Harry and Sirius fighting side-by-side. And Sirius calls Harry by his dad’s name, JAMES! Wow! The look on Harry’s face when Sirius said this, the smile – I had the same expression on my face too when watching that. And then… *sniffle* and then he gets… UGH SIRIUS COME BACK!!! Harry’s scream, too, that was blocked out is just incredible acting and full of emotion. The POWER this scene holds. Woah.

Sirius Black Passes On:

7. That scene from Up

You know the scene already, right? I mean, c’mon. It’s Up. Need I say more? Yeah, it’s THAT scene, ya know the one with the song “Married Life”? The montage of Ellie and Carl growing up, getting married, getting their lives started, having amiscarriage, and Ellie’s passing. The ups and the downs. The music. Seeing their whole lives in a few minutes. AHHHHHHH still gets me. Needs no other introduction.

The Montage (Married Life):

8. Turner and Hooch

Back to dogs because I love dogs so much. And now we also get Tom Hanks too! Tom Hanks plays a cop/detective (named Turner) in this film that gets ownership of a French Mastiff named Hooch after Hooch’s owner dies in a murder. Like Marley, Hooch causes lots of trouble for his new owner and through all this trouble, Turner loves this animal and they become the best of buds. Hooch helps Turner solve crimes and basically becomes a cop himself. In the end of the movie, however, Hooch gets shot and uses his last strength to save the life of Turner, and you can watch that scene below. To brighten the mood, I also included a few extra scenes of Hooch’s madness including the very ending scene where we see Turner and his new dog (basically a baby Hooch).

Hooch gets Shot:

Hooch Passes On:

Funny Scenes:

9. That scene from The Lion King

Again, if I say “Hey you know that sad scene from the Lion King?” You will ultimately tell me “Yeah, Mufasa’s death” and you would be correct. OBVIOUSLY. You must’ve seen the movie many times by now, so I’ll stop rambling on and just show the scene. If you haven’t seen The Lion King (the ORIGINAL), please go watch it.

Mufasa Passes On:

Simba finds Mufasa:

10. Marshall finding out his dad died (How I Met Your Mother, Season 6 Episode 13, Bad News)

Alright and we come to the final one on the list – How I Met Your Mother. Throughout the episode Bad News, on screen you can see a countdown through the whole episode (in the clip below you can see 2 and 1). This is all counting down to, as the episode is aptly named, bad news. Here’s the thing – Jason Segel, the brilliant actor who portrays Marshall Eriksen, has no idea what his wife (Lily Aldrin, played by Alson Hannigan) was going to say when she stepped out of the cab in the scene. The crew just told Jason to react to whatever news Lily was going to tell him. Marshall and his dad have a really close father-son relationship, so by hearing the news and his reaction – I just, I just couldn’t hold back my tears. Even on my rewatches, now, I see the numbers counting down – I know what’s coming, so I already start to get teary when the numbers get low. The second scene below is from Marshall’s dad’s funeral. It is all about Last Words (as that episode is named), and how important they can be. Everyone in Marshall’s family has deep meaningful memories as their last words with the father, except Marshall, until he hears the pocket dial his dad accidentally sent him…

Marshall’s Dad Passes On:

The Pocket Dial:

All cried out yet? Yeah, me too. If you’re not, I have 2 more Doctor Who clips as Honorable Mentions down below. Don’t worry I will make some more cheery posts next time and moving forward. This post idea just came to me recently and I wanted to type all this out.

Anyways, I’ll leave that at that for now and check out the next post which is up right now for some of my general life updates! See you there! (If you have any scenes that you love to cry to, feel free to leave them in the comments below!)

Schwally, out!

Honorable Mention #1: Vincent Van Gogh sees his legacy (Doctor Who)

This episode, Vincent and the Doctor, is one of the best episodes of television, period. Mini plot summary: The Doctor takes Amy (companion) to a Van Gogh art gallery and they notice a monster that shouldn’t be in one of the paintings. They go back in time and help Vincent defeat this “monster,” but the monster wasn’t actually evil at all, just scared and alone. This episode does a phenomenal portrayal of how mental health and depression can take a toll on a person. At the end of the episode, the Doctor and Amy take Vincent to the present where they show him the gallery, ultimately his legacy, and they show him just how much appreciation he got as an artist after he passed, something he never got during his lifetime. The emotion here that Vincent shows, seeing that he is appreciated by others, is something that will get me teary. After Amy and the Doctor drop Vincent back in his own time, Amy thinks that they changed his life so much that he wouldn’t end up taking his own life a little while later. Feeling optimistic that his life was much longer and there would be many more paintings in the gallery, Amy goes back to see that nothing ended up changing (besides the monster being gone from that one painting). “Time can be rewritten” is a common phrase in the show, but doesn’t mean that time will change all that much. The Doctor knows this and knows that Vincent’s life would end the same way and the gallery would remain the same as well. The end quote is super valuable “The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. Hey. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don’t necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant. And we definitely added to his pile of good things. And, if you look carefully, maybe we did indeed make a couple of little changes.”

Van Gogh Sees His Legacy:

Amy and The Doctor Make A Difference:

Honorable Mention #2: The 10th Doctor Wipes Donna’s Memories (Doctor Who)

Okay, for all those 10th Doctor fans, here is ONE for you. Out of the MANY options I could’ve chosen for this Doctor (Rose and 10 being separated, Time Lord Victorious, 10 getting shot by Dalek, etc.), I chose the one where Donna gets her memory wiped. Donna is the Doctor’s BFF and she saves the entire universe. But in order to do that, she had to take a Time Lord’s mind into her own, which was too much for a human brain to hold onto for too long. So, the Doctor had to wipe her mind to save her life. He had to take away every memory of him and their adventures together. In the first scene below, at the end we see the Doctor dragging Donna’s body to Wilf (RIP Bernard Cribbins), and that scene with him on the ground brings me down too. Then we see Donna wake up in the next scene and as the Doctor says bye to her, she just blanky tells him bye without giving him another glance. He still holds all their memories together close to his heart, but she has no idea who he is. That would BREAK me.

The Donna Mind Wipe:

Donna Doesn’t Remember The Doctor:

Other mentions: Toy Story 3 ending, Ian not saying hi to his father in Onward (but realizing Barley has been an acting-father for him), Riley running away in Inside Out, Elemental, the ending race in Luca, 

I do not own the rights to any of the movies, tv shows, or clips of any of the media presented in this post. All scenes are taken from Youtube.