Tear Jerker / I ♡ Arlo

Arlo the Alligator Boy tearjerking moments
Original film | I ♥ Arlo

Friendship Couch

• Arlo is...not exactly excited about living by himself in his new home. Even when he's neighboring Bertie, he spends the whole episode almost desperate for everyone else's attention. At first it works with the housewarming party, but then it's over, and he's back where he started. The weight of it all causes him to start crying by himself, naturally.
  Arlo (choking on tears): I guess I am still a dumb swamp baby.
  • "The Way" begins with both Arlo and Bertie singing about how lonely they feel...right before Bertie smashes her couch through his wall.

Be the Turtle

• Alia's cheerful demeanor instantly deflating when Tony calls her a lost cause.
  • Later, she declares herself as such before hiding her head in her hoodie.
• Alia breaking down in tears over her inability to remain focused. Thankfully, Arlo is great at picking her back up.
  • In general, her Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny! tendencies, while definitely funny at times, are extremely detrimental to her. It's not hard to interpret her struggle as an metaphor for people with actual ADHD and/or those on the autistic spectrum.

The Shedding

• Arlo hiding in the dumpster with his shed skin, disheartened by how everyone sees it (and possibly himself as well) as horrifying. Heck, even the skin itself looks downcast in this moment.
  Arlo: Here's where we belong, skin. We will make a home among the gross (lips start to tremble) and discarded...just like us.

Community Garden

• Bertie slowly losing her private place to the community garden, made even worse by how it was all Arlo's idea (even if he had the best of intentions). As the episode goes on, her flowers get killed by the others (unintentionally yes, but still), and her demeanor sinks with each one. By the end of the song, her whole batch is destroyed except for one, which she solemnly takes away to her home.
• Arlo gets to Bertie's room after she leaves the garden, and finds her under the bed, depressed from losing her spot.

Blow Out

• Furlecia being so thoroughly Married to the Job that she has no time for herself. No matter how much she tries to deny it, it's completely destroying her inside and out to the point where she just breaks down on the floor when she loses her hair and Thao runs off from her disastrous blow-out.

In the Blue With You

• Arlo getting increasingly sad as Ansel repeatedly does everything except bond with his son, instead showering him with lavish yet meaningless stuff that only rich people would like. By the time he gets put in a scuba suit, he just sinks to the bottom of the ocean, grimly singing the titular song.
• Well not totally sad, it's a little disheartening when Arlo and Ansel are able to talk about what's going on, and Ansel realizes that just hanging out with him is "enough" for Arlo. The man spent so much time and effort into getting into the high class' good graces, he forgot the joys of the simpler things.

Jeromio, Jeromio

• The reason why Jeromio is in a serious funk is he misses the swamp, but Arlo just couldn't keep his mouth shut every time he tried to explain.

Swamp Itch

• It's kind of funny like the rest of the episode, but one can't help but feel sorry for Ansel when he completely loses his patience trying to take care of a now crazed Arlo
  Ansel (after letting out a loud frustrated squawk): RAISING AN ALLIGATOR! RAISING A BOY! Nobody can tell me how to raise an ALLIGATOR BOY! (throws his phone and book away before collapsing onto the floor) Argh! Parenting is hard! What kind of a father am I if I can't even take care of my son when he needs me most?
• When Ansel attempts to cook his son dinner, he briefly wonders what his parents fed him. We see a flashback of Ansel all alone in a field asking for food, getting no response, and chewing on a rock. It's Played for Laughs, sure, but it heavily implies that his parents weren't there for him very often. It might have also contributed to the bitterness he felt as a kid most of the time.
  Ansel (in the most innocent tone): Mommy, I’m hungry.
  (Nothing.)

Stay Cool

• As Ansel's yacht is being assaulted by Peggy, Arlo ties himself to the ship, unable to stand the guilt of failing to watch over it like he promised he would.
  • After the ship sinks, he's completely miserable over his perceived failure. Thankfully, Ansel bought a new one anyway.
• Arlo calling Ansel by name instead of "Dad", in case he disowns him again.

Get Lost!

• After the Rat King steals the bus and Bertie's notebook, stranding the gang in New York City, Bertie's anger boils over for the first time, and she comes inches away from lashing out at her friends for taking her there in the first place and distracting her from writing her song. She then decides to go into the streets alone.
  • "Just Another Night in New York", the song sung by Bertie as she comes to terms with herself. It's pretty much her own "Wash the Hurt Away", with even more depressing and darker visuals, though it does have a better ending.

Goin' It Arlone

• Arlo attempts to fix Ol' Bessie the Ferris wheel by himself...and to say the result is catastrophic would be an understatement. The wheel ends up rolling off its base and destroys almost everything Arlo and his friends worked so hard to build, including the fountain, Furlecia's home, and Tony's pizzeria, the latter of which he mourns over. Suffice to say, the others find Arlo below the boardwalk. The page image? That's him.
  Arlo: I'm-I'm-I'm sorry guys. I wanted to surprise dad and make everything perfect, but I just ruined it all. You can all go back to whatever's left of your lives now. I'm just gonna stay here. But when my dad shows up, can you tell him — (face scrunches up before his eyes fill up with tears) — can you tell him I'm sorry for ruining Ol' Bessie?

Alro

• It's mostly Played for Laughs, but Arlo's tough-guy persona while looking for his package visibly distresses Bertie a lot. It gets to the point where he accuses her of stealing it, prompting her to leave after telling him how disappointed she is in him.
• Tony is still extremely cross about Arlo destroying his pizzeria in the last episode.
• Arlo ends up getting into an interrogation with himself. It's funny at first, but then Arlo slowly begins to realize that he ended up alienating just about everybody. It leaves him completely depressed until Bertie comes back with the package.

The Uncondemning

• "Back To You", in which Arlo sings about how much he wants to reunite with Edmée, even imagining himself rushing up to hug her before the dream dissipates.
• Arlo realizing all this is a result of him concentrating so much on Seaside and its Uncondemning preparations that he forgot to pay attention to Edmée, and fears she won't like him anymore once he tells her he forgot everything.
• Arlo's swirling red/gold eyes when under the Bog Lady's control. You can't help but feel worried for the bewitched alligator boy with no way out of her grasp, transitioning to the episode's Darkest Hour.
• Upon realizing the Bog Lady taking over the swamp was all his fault for leaving the swamp in the first place, Arlo can't help but apologize to Edmée. Naturally, she still knows he did the right thing anyway and even if he did leave, the swamp will be part of him.
  Arlo: (on the verge of tears) Oh, Edmée... I NEVER should've left the swamp! I NEVER should've left YOU!
• In the end, Edmée's shack ends up having to be blown up in order to defeat the Bog Lady. Then again, Edmée did it with gusto, but it's still a bit sad to see Arlo's old home as a flaming wreck. Arlo's reaction upon seeing his childhood home get destroyed is worth it.
• Even though Arlo saves the swamp, accepts Seaside as a true home and everyone celebrates, there is still one problem from the movie that has not yet been resolved: the whereabouts of Arlo's Missing Mom. This is never brought up once in the series (for now), but it's worth thinking about.
• A minor one: In some points of the final song, Arlo mentions this might be the last song, which could be this if the show is not renewed.