Heartwarming / Rugrats (2021)

• In "Goodbye Reptar," Stu and Drew discover that their dad has a (sort-of) girlfriend named Celeste—Lou insists to his sons that he and Celeste are Just Friends and reminds them that he hasn't gone on a date since their mom, Trixie, passed away. But Stu encourages him start dating again (with Drew quickly joining in), arguing that his and Drew's mom would be happy to know that he's moved on.
  • Stu's support of Lou dating again is very sweet, especially since back in the original series, he initially didn't approve of Lou's relationship with Lulu, who eventually became Lou's second wife.
  • Celeste also ends up bonding with Angelica, especially after Celeste reveals that she's a Cynthia-fan like Angelica is. Celeste also encourages Angelica to give Chuckie his Reptar-doll, which Celeste had found outside the house (it fell out of Chuckie's backpack when his dad dropped him off for the sleepover at Tommy's house).
• "Traditions":
  • Angelica mistakes the Baby Jesus prop that Betty stored in the Pickles' closet as a Christmas present for herself and takes a liking to it. When she overhears from the adults that the Baby Jesus has gone missing and that the nativity pageant can't go on without it, she worries that she'll be on the naughty list unless she can make things right, so she sends the babies to return the Baby Jesus. When Tommy tries to do so, he gets attacked by a goat. When Angelica sees this, she proves that she cares for her baby cousin by scaring off the goat, then telling Tommy that she owes him for getting him into her mess because he's been such a good cousin to her.
  • Boris' speech about the true meaning of Hanukkah at the end.
    "These candles will burn not just to remember the light in the temple, but to remind us of what we don't know. They light our darkness, allow us to see things we could not see before, and thanks to my grandson, I have seen something old in a new light. It reminds me that no matter what our religion, no matter our color, no matter who we choose to be our partners, the one common thread that we all share is the need for love and respect, so let's never let the light of love stop burning."
• In "The Big Diff", Angelica convinces Tommy and Chuckie that they can't be best friends with each other because of how different they are. The two toddlers try to dress and act like each other, but it doesn't work, so they decide to go their separate ways. Near the end of the episode, when the two decide to go back to being themselves, they dig up a time capsule that their fathers, Stu and Chas buried when they were kids. Seeing the photo makes the two toddlers realize that their fathers were best friends as kids despite all of their differences, and decide that their own friendship should last as long as theirs. Sure enough, Stu and Chas discover their old time capsule and decide to play with the things they buried again.
• "Captain Susie":
  • When Susie confesses her fear of giant worms to the others and admits that she was worried about what they would think of her because of that, the others Susie that they don't think any less of her because of her fear, saying she's their friend no matter what.
  • Lou (with his friend, Graham, and Susie's mom, Lucy, in tow) joins a yoga session in the park hosted by Celeste—Lou (who's stated to have been practicing yoga for at least thirty years) keeps messing up during the session, and by the end of it, he's really embarrassed about what happened and is worried about what Celeste thinks of him. Celeste assures Lou that she still likes him and makes it clear that she wants to pursue a relationship with him (by way of asking him to meet with her for coffee).
• "The Bubbe and Zayde Show" reveals that EVERY DAY Didi's parents facetime with Tommy, putting on puppet shows for him. Which is LOVES. And later when they see how much his friends love the shows they decide to change the call time to a bit later so his friends can be there to watch too.
• In "Final Eclipse," the members of the Final Eclipse convention know EXACTLY what's happening when the babies climb up on stage and start growling at them—they think the guy in the Lord Crater costume is the real bad guy and are trying to defeat him. They urge the performer to play along, he does, and the entire convention breaks out into a collective "awwww." They helped the babies feel like heroes by playing along with them, and it made a great show for the attendees, too.
• The ending of "Tot Springs Showdown" in its entirety. Charlotte and Judith have stopped being insecure about their ages and reveal to everyone that they're respectively 40 and 70 years old, Didi reveals to everyone that she's pregnant with her second child, and after disowning Simon, her older cousin for attempting to ruin Charlotte's birthday by sabotaging her cake, Angelica makes Tommy her official deputy, saying Tommy's the only cousin for her.
• In "Bottles Away", Tommy's bottle gets washed away by a wave and he and his friends go on an adventure where they pretend to be pirates to get it back. Around this time, Didi considers weaning Tommy off his bottle so he can drink from a sippy cup like his friends and she can hand his bottle down to his new baby brother. Tommy spends much of the episode determined to get his bottle back despite his friends sharing their stories of when they started drinking from sippy cups. When Tommy finally gets his bottle back from a sea monster (really Stu's octopus-shaped kite), Tommy realizes that he no longer needs his bottle, as he defeated the sea monster without it, and decides to hand it down to his new baby brother.
• The birth of Dil at the end of "Gramping". Tommy decides to go on one last adventure to find Bigfeet after Angelica convinces him that once his new baby brother is born, his adventuring days will be over, and as Lou and Bob sing a heartwarming song about how the best adventures are the ones yet to come, Tommy tells Dil that he found what he was looking for; him. He also tells him that they're going to have a lot of adventures together because he's going to be his brother and his friend forever. Also, unlike in The Rugrats Movie, Dil never attempts to hurt Tommy in the hospital, instead just listening as Tommy declares that they are family.
• "Rattled", while being a bit stressful for Tommy, is sweet that Dil's favorite thing is Tommy and he just wants to play with HIM.
• While in the original show Grandpa Lou had very little interaction with Angelica, to the point that it would be easy to forget she was his granddaughter, in the reboot they have a much closer relationship, with Angelica often happily greeting him, Lou being more affectionate, and the two of them doing things together like Lou trying to teach her how to meditate or Angelica helping him bake in the kitchen.
• Didi's parents deciding to move to California and have a food cart in "The Blob From Outer Space" so they can be closer to their grandchildren.
• Early on in "Miss Match", Dil starts crying for no particular reason, the kids having no luck with calming him down. That's until Kimi comes over and soothes him by speaking French around him, which even makes him laugh at one point. It's not like Kimi minds as she clearly has a fondness for playing with babies.
  • Even if it was a ploy to get out of watching and dealing with Dil for the former, the fact that Angelica and Susie work together to help Chas and Kira admit their feelings for each other is very sweet.
• "Baby Talk" crosses this with Tear Jerker. In the reboot, children lose the ability to understand babies when they turn 5. Susie's cousin Edwin having just turned that age finds he can't understand her anymore. We are given a flashback to the final time the two ever spoke to each other before this, going on one last adventure; it is absolutely precious. Edwin realizes that even though he can't understand his baby cousin anymore, it doesn't mean they can't still be friends and play together.
• During "The Long Playdate", Chuckie and Kimi have been trying to find common ground to with each other. It's not until towards the end of the episode, where they accidentally get locked in the Ice Rink's Snack Bar where Chuckie recounts a similar time when he was trapped in a closet. Kimi gets intrigued by the story and the two laugh along until they're rescued. Bonus points for when Kimi remembers one specific moment from the story as she, Chuckie and Tommy eat snacks at the very end.
  • Chas and Kira's growing romance deserves a mention too. Sure, they're both awkward, but watching them having fun and getting to know each other more is wonderful to see.
  • A small mention goes to Chuckie being calm after him and Kimi get stuck in the snack bar. While he admits that he was scared, no more than usual, he doesn't panic before telling the aforementioned story to pass the time.
• Surviving Dil has Dil attempt to say his first word in baby talk: Brother. Though it does come off more as 'bubba'
  • How it comes about: after telling Dil he can't go on adventures with them anymore (because he keeps messing up) Dil manages to save the adventure and Tommy and his friends celebrate. This leads Dil to repeatedly reach for Tommy and cry out 'brother'!
• "Reptar's Mama" crosses this with Tear Jerker. The babies pretend they're in an episode of Reptar in Space where he's spending time with his mother Reptilda. Chuckie was wanting the day to be perfect for the two, but mishaps keep happening. Yet, despite that, the two were able to salvage the situation and still have a fun day with each other. Even when she had to leave, she gives Reptar a tinfoil heart to remind him of their time together and that she'll always be with him even when she's gone.
  • Chuckie is initially distraught that the day was over and they didn't to do everything they wanted, thinking Reptar will miss his mom like he occasionally does. At the same time, Chuckie says he enjoys thinking about his mom, Melinda, which makes him (mostly) happy. This is followed up by a short flashback sequence that reveals his Reptar toy was the last gift she gave him before she passed away. Then comes the little speech Chuckie makes afterwards.
    Chuckie: "My mama might not be here anymore, but when I talk to Reptar, I feel like she can hear me. Maybe she can see me too."
    (The babies look up into the sky before piling into a group hug)
    Tommy: "If she can, I bet she liked today."
    Chuckie: "I do too."
    Lil: "It was the bestest day ever."
  • Within the same episode, the adults were excited to head out to a lake house, which was the first time Chas had been there since Melinda passed away. It's clear to everyone that they still miss her. Despite it not being the exact same one as before, the adults still make it work (and the kids totally loved the backyard despite not having a swing set).
  • Meanwhile, Stu is very distraught about not getting his top secret chili recipe out of his locked briefcase. His attempts to recreate it wasn't successful either. Like the previous examples, the adults band together to make it work by creating a new chili recipe, which ends up being just as good as the original recipe (yet nobody seemed to have written it down).
• In "The Heist", Stu and Didi decide to donate Dil's mobile to an auction being held at Angelica's preschool, since its tune is getting on their nerves. When Tommy finds out, he is horrified, as he knows that the mobile helps Dil fall asleep at night. When he and his friends plan to take the mobile back before it gets sold, Kimi is initially against this idea. However, when Tommy explains the reason why he wants to get the mobile back, she supports his decision. When the babies successfully get the mobile back, Stu and Didi find out, but decide to keep it a little longer, since it makes Dil happy.