Category Archives: Daily Dose of Feelings

Daily Dose of Feelings #5

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There still has yet to be a show that can effectively tug at my heartstrings on a weekly basis the way the first few seasons of Grey’s Anatomy could. Births and deaths, patients and doctors, moments of pain and moments of love—this show was able to make me cry for so many reasons and for so many characters. And while every couple had (and I’m sure still has even though I stopped watching a long time ago) plenty of poignant moments, Meredith and Derek were the center of so much of what made this show incredible, including its heartwarming and heartbreaking moments.

The scene where Derek comes to visit Meredith after she almost dies in an explosion at the end of Season Two’s “As We Know It,” is the perfect mixture of heartwarming and heartbreaking. The longing in this scene is so palpable that it makes my chest ache even all these years later.

The tension is built so perfectly throughout this scene, with Derek coming to see Meredith even though he’s married to Addison, and then with Meredith telling him that she couldn’t remember their last kiss—her loneliness written across her face like the cut on her forehead. But the tears don’t start for me until Derek describes that last kiss for Meredith. I remember sobbing when this scene first aired, thinking about how romantic it was that he remembered every little detail of that final moment of happiness. Patrick Dempsey’s delivery of that speech is perfect; you can feel every emotion as it courses through Derek—happiness, love, regret, and longing. HIs little smiles throughout the scene still kill me in the best possible way.

Some television moments make you cry because of how badly you want two characters to find happiness, and this will always be one of those moments for me. The electricity in the air between Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo is almost unbearable; this is such a simple scene, but the two of them put so much emotion into it that it’s impossible not to feel a desire to see these two people find love with one another again.

Grey’s Anatomy is filled with big moments designed to inflict maximum damage on your tear ducts. But where the show really excelled in its early seasons was in small moments of genuinely palpable emotion. Meredith and Derek have always been the emotional core of this show, and that’s true because of the quiet power of scenes like this one.

Daily Dose of Feelings #4

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The summer before my senior year of college, I binge-watched all of Sex and the City. And while I discovered that I am definitely a Charlotte, Samantha was by far my favorite character. And never was she more brilliant than during her breast-cancer arc. That story provided some of the most heartfelt, honest, and realistic moments on a show that prided itself on its candor and its ability to tug at your heartstrings while it made you laugh.

My heartstrings have never been tugged harder while watching Sex and the City than when Samantha decided to shave her head after she started losing her hair. The powerful moment of such a strong character staring at her reflection, razor in hand, trying to accept the fact that she was now going to have to look like a sick person was emotional enough on its own.

And then Smith walked in.

Everyone has their favorite Sex and the City man, and Smith will always be mine. This scene solidified my love for him because he didn’t just talk the talk; when he said he wanted to be there for the woman he loves, he meant it. The grand gesture of shaving his head to try in some small way to relate to her better is beautiful, but what moves me the most is how matter-of-fact that gesture feels. The whole scene has this fantastic aura of reality—they feel like a real couple talking about the realities of cancer rather than actors reading clichéd lines about the illness.

Love isn’t always pretty and easy—life isn’t always pretty and easy. And I loved this scene for showing that, while both of those things may be true, the important thing is having someone who won’t run away—even when it’s scary and even if life freaks us out sometimes.

Daily Dose of Feelings #3

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When I think of television moments that make me cry from pure joy, there’s nothing better than Jim and Pam discovering that they’re going to be parents at the end of the “Company Picnic” episode of The Office. What begins as a heartfelt moment of reflection from Michael Scott about his relationship with Holly perfectly transitions into a moment of complete bliss from the couple Michael was obviously thinking of and hoping to emulate.

The Office: Company Picnic.

This scene was the first one that made me fear breaking the rewind button on my DVR—and it’s all because of John Krasinski’s face. The decision to use no sound in the moments when they first found out about Pam’s pregnancy was genius. It forced us to focus on their reactions, and Krasinski is the king of reaction shots. The complete surprise on his face was adorable, but the tears started flowing for me when he hugged Pam. I love how real it still feels after so many re-watches; when he holds her, it’s such a genuinely beautiful moment. It feels like you’re watching a private moment between these two characters, and that only adds to the emotional power of the scene.

And once Jim calls Dwight back, I lose it every time. The little crack in his voice, the tears in his eyes, and the gloriously shocked look on his face when he finally faces the camera say it all. There’s no need to directly say what’s going on in the scene; we can see it, and, more importantly, we can feel it. There’s no better example of the “show, don’t tell” mantra of great storytelling.

Daily Dose of Feelings #2

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Television comedies make me cry just as often as (if not more often than) dramas. There’s something uniquely moving about seeing characters so often associated with silliness and laughter presented in emotionally vulnerable states, both happy and sad. In my opinion, there’s no better example of this than the episode of Friends featuring Chandler’s speech to the woman he and Monica were hoping would choose them as adoptive parents for her baby (or babies, as it turned out).

I remember watching this scene at my grandparents’ house when it first aired and trying not to let anyone see me tearing up. It was one of the first times I remember watching a television moment and thinking I want a husband like that. The sincerity in Matthew Perry’s performance absolutely floors me to this day.

You can keep your big Ross and Rachel kisses; to me, Chandler telling Erica, “My wife…She’s a mother without a baby,” will always be the most romantic moment Friends ever gave us. It’s such an honest, real depiction of a husband supporting his wife through something that affects so many married couples.

To see sarcastic Chandler Bing stripped of all pretenses and telling a relative stranger through tears how much it kills him to not be able to give his wife a baby is such a great example of a character’s journey adding to the emotional power of a scene. We watched Chandler grow up, become a husband, and, finally, in this moment, become a father-to-be. And we watched it happen organically, realistically, and—in this scene especially—emotionally. When Chandler and Monica celebrate his happy news, it feels truly earned.

Like yesterday’s Sawyer and Juliet vending machine reunion, this is a scene with emotional staying power. Years later, it still puts a lump in my throat and makes me hope for a husband who loves me like Chandler loves Monica.

“God bless you, Chandler Bing!”

Daily Dose of Feelings #1

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The idea for this feature (and the idea for yesterday’s discussion of the emotional power of television) came from a recent YouTube excursion to rewatch some scenes from the series finale of Lost. One thing led to another, and I ended up sitting on my couch, crying my eyes out over one scene in particular—a scene that I’ve continued to watch for the last two weeks on a near-constant repetitious loop.

Fifty (or more) viewings later over the course of three years, the reunion between Sawyer and Juliet at the hospital vending machine still hits me the same way it did that May night when I saw it for the first time.

Even if you’ve never watched Lost, even if you have no idea who these characters are or what they mean to each other, I dare you to watch this video and remain unmoved. I’ve watched a lot of television in my almost-25 years on this Earth, and this is by far the most beautiful scene I’ve ever watched.

The background is relatively simple (for Lost at least): Sawyer and Juliet were happy and in love, and he was ready to propose before she was violently torn from his grasp by electromagnetic forces on the island, eventually dying in his arms. In this scene, both of them are wandering around a kind of “spiritual waiting room” in which they have no memory of their past life until they meet their “constant,” the person who wakes them up to the reality of their lives (and deaths). In this case, Sawyer and Juliet are each other’s constant—each other’s soulmate.

There are no words for how much this scene still fills me with a sense of pure relief and happiness. It truly feels like you’re watching two people with so much history of joy and pain finding each other after a lifetime apart. The chemistry between Josh Holloway and Elizabeth Mitchell in this scene is the standard by which I judge all other actors’ chemistry because they make me feel every intense emotion as it sweeps through them—from initial attraction to the pain of horrific memories to the speechless joy of holding one another again.

Holloway and Mitchell were truly breathtaking in this moment. I love how she falters a little when she remembers falling to her death, but what I love most is that this time he’s there to keep her from falling—and he’s not letting the chance to hold her slip through his fingers ever again. When he says “I got you, baby,” as his voice cracks, I feel like someone is stepping on my chest while simultaneously making my heart grow 15 sizes. There’s something so gorgeously intimate about it, so real. And when Juliet cries and laughs at the same time you can feel her relief like it’s your own—a relief mirrored in Sawyer’s smile, a smile so bright and so hopeful it’s like nothing we’ve seen him express before.

And don’t even get me started on the kiss. Her giddy anticipation. His passionate intensity. The most mature, honest, and beautiful love story on Lost got its happy ending—all to the sounds of Michael Giacchino’s perfect score.

In the immortal words of Juliet, “It worked.” The goal of this reunion was to remind us just how epic this love story had become and just how good these two actors were together—while making us cry buckets of tears. I’d say it worked perfectly.