Girl Meets World/Tear Jerker

• In "Girl Meets Flaws", Farkle stops coming to class after being told he's a nothing who doesn't deserve friends or have the right to be confident in himself. It shatters him so badly he even stops wearing his beloved turtlenecks and hides in the janitor's closet. When he tells Riley what the bully said, she can't even form words, just hugs him tight.
  • This is revisited in "Girl Meets Rileytown", which is especially heartbreaking as the girl who won the Spirit Award has her spirit yanked away from her by endless bullying via text. She pushes her best friend Maya away, won't confide in anyone, and when she finally does she breaks down in tears.
• The end of "Girl Meets Gravity." Mrs. Svorski passed away and left the bakery to Topanga. Riley, who didn't know the old lady as well as Topanga or Auggie, is giving a speech at the funeral about how even if no one is in your direct orbit, they're still an important person who touches the lives of those around you. Cory is so shaken by the death that he calls Mr. Feeny to ensure that his old mentor is still around. No one lasts forever. 
• Ava Morgenstern's home life once the show reveals more about her parents. Her mother is verbally abusive to her father, Ava takes after her, and then in the season three premier her parents split up. The normally vivacious and bratty girl is quite devastated by this. Maya then offers Ava no small amount of comfort, saying that it's not her fault, with a broken voice throughout. The second that's done, a crying Maya runs to Riley for comfort.
  • The gang's first day in high school wasn't all sunshine either. It was so bad that Farkle outright said that he was losing faith in Riley who'd tried so very hard to make their first day a good one. 
• Maya's backstory and home life, especially in season one. Her father walked out on her and her mother, and her mother Katy is working nonstop at a diner with almost no time to spend with her daughter. Katy, on the other hand, is content to let her daughter low-key resent her and think she's simply neglectful all so she can work her ass off to pay for Maya's education and birthday presents. Luckily, things do get better when Katy takes a job at the newly-christened "Topanga's" bakery so she can spend more time near her daughter.
  • In season two, Maya gets in touch with her father so she can close that chapter of her life by forgiving him. In the end, though, Cory realizes she needed to forgive herself for thinking she drove him away. 
• "Girl Meets Brother" has quite a few poignant moments when you realize just how badly that Auggie feels that his big sister ignores him in favour of Maya and how eager he was to spend time alone with her. Very much Truth in Television as so many younger siblings at that age are often overlooked by their older counterparts.
• Shawn's return brings so many:
  • Why did he stop hanging around Cory and Topanga? He felt like an outsider when they started a family.
  • That longing look on his face as he asks Cory what it's like to be a father.
  • Him and Maya talking about their awful childhoods.
  • The series looked at the cast of Boy Meets World and showed that they all, even Eric Matthews, built good lives for themselves and went places. All but Shawn. Thankfully, this is mended by the third season when he marries Katy Hart and adopts Maya, but it was a long time coming.
• Farkle's great-grandfather is a Holocaust survivor and was very likely the Sole Survivor of his family.
• "Girl Meets Yearbook" is so full of this. After feeling like the butt of jokes in the yearbook, Riley and Farkle completely reimagine themselves leaving Maya to all but beg for them to be who they really are. Maya then decides to imitate Riley to try and force her friend back to normal but a few Freudian Slips on Lucas' part convince her to remain as Riley, trying to dream of a better home life for herself.
  • The nail that convinces her to keep Riley's persona? The class admitting that they'd miss Riley if she left, but not so much for Maya.
  • Lucas has his own moments in the episode as he watches his best friends slip away from him as he desperately tries to talk some sense into them.
• Smackle telling Riley and Maya she has Asperger's Syndrome and how she's struggled with it since she was five years old. This is a very relatable moment for anyone on the Autism Spectrum who's never felt like they fit in with or could relate to people.
  • Earlier in the episode, Smackle says Farkle would make a better fit for Einstein Academy due to his intelligence, but when she spends a day at John Quincy Adams and sees how much Riley and co care for Farkle, she realizes that's where he belongs. The look on her face and her tone of voice as she admits this is heartbreaking...and so is her admission that she doesn't understand friendship and wishes she did.
• "Girl Meets a Christmas Maya." Not just the main plot, where Maya has a hard time accepting that things are going well and she has a new family now, but the subplot where Riley's Secret Santa idea seems to be a bust. Everyone feels hurt or offended by the gift they were given, and Riley feels awful because she just wanted everyone to be happy. Though it's sorted out by the end when everyone explains the meaning behind their gifts, and a play put on by the group helps Maya overcome her anxiety about her new life.
• Riley admitting to Farkle that she still has feelings for Lucas, even though she encouraged him and Maya to be together. For the second time in the series she breaks down crying. Season two really brings Riley's insecurities and the negative parts of her "I just want to make everyone happy" nature to light.