For over nine years, Everybody Loves Raymond lit up TV screens with its signature humor. Based on the comedy of Ray Romano, the series aired from 1996 to 2005 and is still widely regarded as one of the most hilarious sitcoms of its era.
Almost a decade and a half after Everybody Loves Raymond stopped airing new episodes, it lives on in reruns and is as hilarious as ever. Every sitcom offers its share of less-than-hilarious moments, though. Some more than others; Friends had very few poignant moments, while How I Met Your Mother was so riddled with upsetting, emotional scenes that it became regarded as a dramedy.
Everybody Loves Raymond, like every sitcom, broke a few hearts during its nine-season run. Being a show that focused completely on the Barone family and their everyday life, the sadder moments on the show were usually quite emotional.
Let’s take a look at the 10 times this beloved series broke our hearts.
WHEN FRANK AND MARIE SHARE A TOUCHING MOMENT
Frank and Marie’s marriage is unusual by today’s standards, and they have at least one argument every episode. The majority of Frank and Marie’s issues and bickering are played for comedic purposes, but on rare occasions, one of them goes too far.
Sometimes, this leads to a touching moment. Whenever Frank and Marie are being emotionally intimate together, Everybody Loves Raymond manages to tug at its audience’s heartstrings.
MARIE AND DEBRA’S FOUR-EPISODE LONG FIGHT
Marie and Debra’s bickering is a major part of the show. The plots and/or subplots of most episodes usually have to do with one of their fights or issues with each other. The payoff for this usually ends up with the two of them (sort of) making up, but in the season 6 episode “Mother’s Day” this was not the case.
This episode was the first of four in which Debra and Marie engaged in an emotional, extremely drawn-out fight. They took turns giving each other the silent treatment and Everybody Loves Raymond flirted with a more poignant side to this relationship during those episodes.
THE DANCING EPISODE
In an extremely fun and entertaining episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, the whole gang (including Amy) are holed up at Frank and Marie’s house during a neighborhood-wide blackout. This episode is not only hilarious, but it has a lot to offer emotionally.
One of the focuses in this episode was Frank and Debra’s relationship. In a moment where Frank and Debra are dancing, she comments that she didn’t think he could be this fun, which surprisingly hurts Frank’s feelings. The two eventually make amends, and the entire episode is equal parts funny, heartwarming, and heartbreaking.
AMY AND ROBERT’S TUMULTUOUS RELATIONSHIP
Robert went many seasons being Raymond’s unfortunate, painfully lonely brother who longed for a wife and family of his own. His journey was one of the more complex on the series, and it shifted when Debra introduced him to Amy McDougall.
Robert and Amy would go on to become happily married, but the road to this payoff was a rough one, with the two being a notorious on-again-off-again couple for several seasons.
“A LOVELESS MARRIAGE!?”
In an episode where the family starts to notice that Marie is struggling with her vision, she hilariously dons a ridiculous-looking pair of glasses and is given a new lease on life. Marie begins to see things that she hasn’t before, mainly several of her family members’ “glaring flaws”.
She causes them to get self-conscious, but her nitpicking evokes a different reaction in Frank. In an emotional moment, Marie tells Frank that she now sees she’s in a loveless marriage, causing Frank to lose it, screaming, “a loveless marriage?!” in one of the most emotional scenes in the series.
ROBERT’S EXISTENTIAL CRISIS
Robert was always portrayed as being a down-on-his-luck kind of guy, forever longing for a different life and desperately envying Raymond’s good fortune. Not only did Robert have a dysfunctional marriage and messy divorce, but he was never the favored child in the Barone family.
After some bad break-ups, Robert reevaluates his situation and becomes extremely depressed. He confides in Marie that he believes he’ll be alone forever, which is completely heartbreaking.
RAYMOND TELLS ROBERT TO GET A LIFE
On the topic of Robert, his relationship with Raymond was always a complicated one, since Robert envied his young brother so much. Robert loved Raymond’s kids and enjoyed being their uncle, but in one episode, Raymond becomes jealous and gets tired of “Uncle Robert”.
Robert just wants to take his niece and nephews to the zoo, but Raymond harshly tells him to “get his own life”.
FRANK REVEALS HIS PAST
Frank had always been an unapologetically gruff, crass, and sarcastic character. He rarely - if ever - showed affection or emotional vulnerability to his loved ones, because this was a concept he considered to be utterly ludicrous.
In one episode, though, Frank reveals that he got hit all the time as a kid. This heartbreaking revelation is made all the more profound when Robert states, “but you never hit us”.
ROBERT’S LUCKY SUIT
Robert’s career in Everybody Loves Raymond was primarily the sergeant of a police department, but there was one episode where Robert set his sights on a position in the FBI. Being extremely nervous about his interview, Robert insists on wearing his “lucky suit”.
But Marie has other ideas. While ironing Robert’s suit, she puts a very noticeable burn hole in it. Whether she did this on purpose or not remains unknown, but Marie did not want Robert to get a job at the FBI because the thought of this stressed her out. This episode offers some emotional insights to Robert and Marie’s relationship.
RAYMOND’S BRUSH WITH DEATH
The series finale of Everybody Loves Raymond was arguably the most emotional, tense episode of the series. The show presented a good balance of comedy with many touching moments, but the episode was obviously a sad one for fans of the show and the cast and crew themselves.
The plot of the series finale revolves around Raymond’s surgery to get his tonsils removed, in which he momentarily stops breathing, evoking panic in the family. Everyone envisions what like would be like without Raymond in an emotionally charged scene, and the Barones ultimately realize how lucky they are to have each other.
