Red Right Hand: CRY
*He is not a secret agent. Not at all.



Inspired by my colleagues at CBR, I've decided to take their idea and give it a predictable tweak. So rather than Six Comics That Made Me Cry, here's Six TV Episodes That Made Me Get A Little Misty.

These may be a little spoilery, so don't read past the title if you haven't actually seen it.

Detective Crosetti's dead. Found out in the water. And it was very probably suicide. Religiously, he's going to hell. Departmentally, he's not getting a police funeral.

Pembleton has problems with both. He's losing his faith in God and won't go to the church for the service, but when the funeral procession makes it's way (on foot, New Orleans style) past the station house, Pembleton's standing out front, along, at attention in his dress blue and crisp white gloves, giving Crosetti the last salute he deserves. Screw the church. Fuck the department. Don't have faith in things, have faith in people.

2. DOCTOR WHO: "Family of Blood"
Doctor Who, believe it or not, can do this. Because it is so fucking well written and benefits from dwelling in the darkness that seems to be required and expected of modern science fiction. I decided, though, to only highlight one from this series and it's good one, because it keeps kicking you when you're down. And that's "Family of Blood."
At the end, the Doctor sees the life he'll never get, the one he gave up. He says good bye to the woman he could love, but invites her to join him on his journeys and perhaps rediscover John Smith in him. She says no.

Then he visits the boy who's life he eventually saved in World War I with the gift of a the end of that boy's life, at a veteran's remembrance in the our present, he remains in the distance as Martha pins a poppy on his lapel...and the look of wonder, recognition and comfort in that old man's face...sniff.

Picard gets the life he never had, but it never really happened...not to him. Zapped by a space probe from a dead world, Picard learns about their civilization in the best way possible, by living the rest of his life in it.

His life was a happy one, but his planet is dying

4. HOUSE: "Wilson's Heart"
If you've lost someone, or even just fear it...there's a certain element of unexpectedness. Maybe someone's died in a car accident and they're just ripped away. Even when someone has a terminal illness, it goes on for a bit, and though you knew it was coming, when they finally still seems sudden. It's easy and painful to put oneself in Wilson's situation. You're in love with this woman. You get her, she gets you. It works. And she's going to die. Not like she's going to die sometime soon...she's going to die in the next five minutes. You have five minutes.

After losing someone, you think that you'd give anything for five more minutes. Those five minutes are going to hurt.

Okay, last sci-fi one. I promise.

This is one of the best kind of story. it's intensely personal and emotional and explores character so well, though entirely impossible means. This one's though time travel and possible futures. Jake Sisko spends the rest of his life, from teenager to old age (older Jake played so fucking perfectly by Tony Todd) trying to save his father, who after an accident, is hurtling through time.

His father, Captain Ben Sisko, periodically and tantalizingly, has appeared to Jake. For a minute or two, they're together again. Maybe this time, he'll stay. He'll be free of the time anomaly, but then he vanishes.

Jake realizes he's tethered to Jake though time and that the only way he'll break free is if Jake dies. Ben appears to Jake one last time and Jake has given himself a lethal hypospray and advises Ben to dodge the accident that happened decades ago. Elderly Jake dies in the arms of his father.

This is Michael Taylor. This guy, you may know from Battlestar Galactica, is the shit.

I recall, some years ago, there was a TV guide poll as to the best episode of all the Star Trek series. Surprisingly...or maybe not...this one came out on top.

6. OZ: "A Day in the Death..."
Though, yeah, he killed a guy, you can't help but to empathize with Cyril, who is scheduled to doe tonight. Why, because since he committed that crime, he suffered a brain injuries and know has the mind of an eight year-old. He doesn't even understand that he's going to be executed. And his loving brother (and fellow inmate), Ryan, can't do a fucking thing about it.

You got one? That you'll admit to?

And as a bonus...not TV, but watch this. This can be used as, like, a cry weapon or something.
©2020 Michael Patrick Sullivan