Tear Jerker / The Loud House

Lynn: We're officially the worst siblings ever.

Leni: Poor Lily. She'll probably grow up super gloomy, dress in black, and listen to sad music all the time.

— "The Crying Dame"

Wait, you thought The Loud House is just a slice-of-life comedy? Think again!

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Main series:

Season 1

Left in the Dark

• Lincoln's heartbroken reaction to missing his show at the end.

Heavy Meddle

• Lincoln's passionate screed against his sisters after he gets a black eye because of their meddling—you can tell that his anger has probably been building up for a while.

Making the Case

• Lincoln's sisters chewing him out for posting a video of their embarrassing moments. This line especially counts:
  Lucy: I have no brother. (slams the door, then reopens it) I know I say that a lot, but this time, I MEAN IT! (slams the door again)

Driving Miss Hazy

• Leni being dejected when she fails her driver's license again, lamenting that she'll have to drive a lawnmower forever.

Picture Perfect

• The sisters thinking that Lincoln doesn't like them the way they are. While they're mostly angry, there's a clear undercurrent of genuine hurt.
  Lori: Okay, guys. Let's all put on perfect smiles for Lincoln's perfect picture, because heaven forbid we be our ACTUAL, LITERAL SELVES!
  • "White Hare" makes this even worse in retrospect, where it's revealed that for all that they rag on him, his sisters think Lincoln is perfect just the way he is and shouldn't have to change himself. So it was probably doubly hurtful for them to think that Lincoln didn't feel the same about them.

Changing the Baby

• Lily's older siblings being lonely because no one shares their interests. Luckily for Lincoln, he realizes he has Clyde. Also, while it's not shown in the episode, Luna has Chunk, Luan has Giggles, Lynn has Margo, and Lucy has Haiku.

Overnight Success

• Clyde admitting that sometimes he feels lonely being an only child.

Ties That Bind

• Lincoln and his sisters believing that their parents don't want them around anymore and want to kick them out. Sure, the whole argument was actually about neckties, but their reactions are still genuinely painful.
  • Luna's reaction to her mother saying that "the musical one" makes her ears bleed.
    Luna: Way harsh, Mom...
  • Lucy actually gasping when Dad considers getting rid of "the dark one".
  • Lily going into a Troubled Fetal Position when she hears Mom say that "the littlest one is just crying to be thrown out".
    • Lori also going into a fetal position and on the verge of tears when she overhears Mom saying "I didn't even like the first one".
  • Luan, while dressed as a mime, sheds a Single Tear when she hears her parents thinking of getting rid of "the funny one".
  • Lincoln's heartbroken expression when he hears his father saying he'll get rid of "the one with the white hair", and says "I'm not even sure if it's mine".
• Lincoln deciding to give his prized possessions to his sisters, thinking he's the one that's going to be kicked out.
  Lincoln: Lily, this is Bun-Bun. He needs two hugs a day, and...try to keep his ears clean.

Butterfly Effect

• Even though it didn't happen, you can't help but feel sorry for Lola when she becomes hideous and wants to run away to avoid being reminded of her old self.
  • In general, Lincoln's reaction to seeing his family fall apart as a result of his mistake.
    Lincoln: (to Luna) Don't you leave, too! THE FAMILY'S FALLING APART!
  • Also, the imaginary Lisa giving up science, Luan giving up comedy and believing the world is hopeless because of the news, and Luna being angry for some reason and messing up her hotel room.

The Green House

• All the sisters crying over a polar bear. Even if it is Played for Laughs, their faces ALONE can get the waterworks going.

Along Came a Sister

• Both times that Frank is thought to be dead.

For Bros About to Rock

• Luna's heartbroken reaction when Lincoln tells her that she's embarrassing him and is gonna ruin his first concert.
  Lincoln: All you're doing is embarrassing me! Our sisters warned me about you!
  Luna: What are you talking about?
  Lincoln: They said you ruined all their first concerts, just like you're ruining mine now.
  Luna: (heartbroken) Ouch. Message received. If that's the way you feel...goodnight, Royal Woods Mall. Luna Loud has left the building... (sadly leaves)

Toads And Tiaras

• Lana giving up and believing that something is wrong with her when her "tomboyish" habits slip out during the Prim And Proper beauty pageant.
  Lincoln: Lana, what is the problem? We went over everything in Gil's book, and the companion DVD, and the podcast! How are you still not getting it?
  Lana: I'm sorry, Lincoln. No matter what I do, I can't be prim and perfect like these girls. Maybe there's something wrong with me.

House Music

• Luna kicking her own father out of the family band, causing the poor guy to run off crying. This is serious business for him to take.
  • We also see the poor guy sobbing and feeling dejected at the Whirl-and-Twirl.
• You can't help but also feel sorry for Luna herself during her Heroic BSoD when she gets a musical block.

Save the Date

• According to Lori, Lincoln made Ronnie Anne cry when he insults her in the first scene. This leads to Bobby breaking up with her, which causes her to throw an emotional fit, binging on the couch and wearing her favorite Bobby sweater with her mascara running down her face. Suffice to say, she did not take it well at all.
  • Unfortunately, Lincoln accidentally insults Ronnie Anne again, making her tearfully storm off, as well as Bobby once again breaking up with Lori.
    Bobby: We're broken up again, babe. I mean, LORI.
    Lori: (cue hysterical sobbing)

Cereal Offender

• After doing everything in his power to save enough money to buy Zombie Bran and keep his sisters in line, Lincoln is eventually unable to prevent them from getting kicked out of the supermarket. Which not only denies him his new cereal, but also gets him in trouble with his mom. The look on his face says it all.
  • So does the look on the face of his elder siblings (Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn) who all feel like they should've known better, especially Luna, whom usually gets along fine with Lincoln and yet was the first to physically try to take his hard-fought cereal away from him.

The Waiting Game

• Lori being forced to work the night of the Romance Under the Sea dance where she and Bobby had been named queen and king of the evening, all to make up for all the free stuff Lincoln talked her into giving him. She doesn't even yell or scream, but merely leaves for work completely downtrodden, after having been so grateful to Lincoln for helping her get the job.
  • Further driving it home is the undersea gown hanging on her door, bought and paid for but not to be worn. Lincoln's surprise at seeing her in her work uniform not a minute later is nothing short of pure guilt. Thankfully, he decides to set things right by helping Lori pay her debts by working on her behalf, so Lori can go to the dance.

A Fair to Remember

• Lori finally breaking down in tears after Bobby has apparently dumped her for Lincoln, despite all her attempts to get him back. Yes, she tried to make him jealous by dating Clyde, but you still feel sorry for her at that moment.
  • This moment is what drives Lincoln to break off his friendship with Bobby. This makes Bobby so sad that he can't stop himself from crying, but Lincoln is able to convince him to go into the Tunnel of Love with Lori. Bobby's voice even starts breaking when he calls Lincoln "such a great bro" for looking out for Lori.
• It's a small thing, but Clyde doesn't even get to enjoy the fair because he's unconscious.

One of the Boys

• Just how callous and uncaring the Loud boys were with Lincoln, being even less respectful of his belongings and emotions than any of the girls are even at their absolute worst prior to this episode. Luke even pulls off something that Lincoln should have only been afraid of happening at school by people who hate him not one of his siblings, and especially not the counterpart to Luna, and the rest of the boys find this bullying hilarious. Even Leon.
  • It's also stated, to Lincoln's despair, that Luke flushed his beloved stuffed rabbit Bun-Bun. Harsh.

One Flu Over the Loud House

• The episode ends with all the Louds with the flu. All thirteen of them. ^note Seventeen, actually, because somehow, the pets, Charles, Cliff, Geo, and Walt, got sick too. Leni was trying to help the sick people, but she got sick, and Lincoln was trying to help his healthy sisters escape, but not only did they end up getting sick, but he also got sick too.

Season 2

11 Louds A Leapin'

• Turns out there's a very good reason the Loud's neighbor Mr. Grouse is such a Grumpy Old Man. He has a huge family too (in comparable size to the Louds) there's just one major difference. He hasn't seen them in five years. When Lincoln breaks this news to his sisters, they are all distraught. Lisa even bursts into tears (quite spectacularly, too) over this news.

Back in Black

• Poor Lucy really deserves a hug in this one. It's bad enough her sisters were WAY too eager to mold her into what they consider "normal", but then they flat-out admit they'd been wanting to since she was born. As if the kid wasn't insecure enough, this adds a whole new level of depressing implications.

Friend or Faux

• Lisa making Darcy cry when she makes the poor girl believe that she doesn't want to be friends anymore.

The Whole Picture

• Lincoln's genuinely dejected reaction when he learns there is no cloud backup of his photos, and that they are thus truly gone.

No Such Luck

• Sure, he brought it upon himself by deliberately feeding the rumor about his bad luck and he acts more annoyed and disbelieving that they actually believed it, but still, it’s not hard to feel sorry for Lincoln when his family bans him from the house itself and every activity they do, to the point that you might as well consider him the family outcast. The Bittersweet Ending (where they think he's good luck, but only when he's wearing the squirrel costume, along with the fact that his furniture was sold) doesn’t help either.

Pets Peeved

• All the Loud kids crying when their pets go missing.
  Lisa: (tearfully) Whilst I normally view animals as mere test subjects, those little guys are family!

L is for Love

• Minor, but there's Luna repeatedly feeling conflicted about letting her crush, Sam, know she has feelings for her, feeling like she wouldn't be interested in her, in large contrast to Luna's usual confidence. What makes matters slightly worse is the implied (in hindsight) Gayngst on display.
  • Of note is the scene on the bus, where Luna considers offering up her favorite guitar pick as a sign of her affections, only to put it away after she walks past.
    Luna: Dream on, Lunes. You're the owner of a lonely heart.

Loudest Mission: Relative Chaos

• The beginning of the episode has Bobby and Lori so upset at the thought of the former moving away that they both weep uncontrollably. This drives Lincoln and Ronnie Anne to exasperatedly pry them apart from each other.
• Another Inelegant Blubbering moment happens when Lori, after failing to convince Bobby to come back to Royal Woods, thinks she's lost him forever.
• Ronnie Anne and Bobby decided to stay with their relatives, the Casagrandes, after the former tried to convince her mother that she did not wish to stay and the latter revealed his surprisingly well-thought-out plan to maintain a Long-Distance Relationship with Lori.

Spell It Out

• Lucy becoming so melancholy after being ignored by everyone (and having her book where she writes her most inner thoughts destroyed by one of her siblings' carelessness). Is it any wonder she's the way she is?
  Lucy: Edwin, no matter what I do, my siblings walk all over me.

Future Tense

• When Lynn Sr. and Rita start worrying about their kids' futures after meeting a seemingly more accomplished family and start pressuring them into joining clubs. Granted, their motivations aren't so much "abandon your previous interests," as "become more well-rounded by getting good at areas you're weak in." But the kids don't like it, and, as is the norm for the family, the parents keep pushing the kids to do more to the point that they are entirely miserable, but keep going at it and ultimately stop having fun, and lose interest in things they had previously found fun, thankfully causing the parents to realize how overboard they've gone.

Lynner Take All

• Luan's genuinely hurt reaction to Lori telling her to after yet another repetition of her puns. It's quick, but it's the first time we've seen any of her siblings actually get hostile over her unfunny gags, and her reacting in any way to their lack of appreciation. The look on her face just screams heartbreak.

No Laughing Matter

• Just like "Lynner Take All", Luan is heartbroken when she overhears her siblings complaining about her antics. Not only that, but she decides her entire personality is nothing but junk, throwing away all of her joke-related possessions while sounding like she's trying to hold back tears and not only behaving in a stoic fashion but outright going out of her way to avoid anything and everything remotely funny. Her siblings are horrified, especially when they realize it's their fault.

Read Aloud

• Lola revealing that she doesn't want to read because it's too hard for her, and as revealed in a later scene, she indeed does struggle a lot while reading.

Not A Loud

• When Lincoln and Clyde test the theory that Lincoln was Switched at Birth and find a family with white hair, Clyde panics at the thought that Lincoln will have to move in with them and go to a different school. It's all Played for Laughs, but still, you can tell Clyde is terrified at the idea of losing his best friend.

Tricked!

• Seeing the damage Hank and Hawk caused, and how miserable the Loud sisters are because the bullies took all their candy.
  • Because her family went all out to give Lucy a scary Halloween, Lucy was ecstatic, although her face and demeanor never change. As a result, despite that face and demeanor never changing, Lucy's disappointment and sadness at no one coming to try her corn maze really come through, anyway. It just tugs the heartstrings.
  • In a similar vein, Lisa, who's normally very stoic, is also distraught, especially when she laments that Halloween is clearly ruined. The sisters then sadly head inside their house, with Lily, being a baby, dejectedly crawling alongside them.

The Crying Dame

• Lily's sadness at losing Fenton the Feel Better Fox. She goes into a full Heroic BSoD, always having a sad look on her face and doing nothing at all. She doesn't even cry until she sees the baby picture of Lori with Fenton. It's clear that as annoying as everybody else thought Fenton was, Lily really loved Fenton.
  • What makes it worse is that it's unlikely Lily even knew her family found Fenton annoying. She's only 15 months old, after all.

Season 3

White Hare

• Sure, it was All Just a Dream, but seeing Warren make a complete fool out of himself to impress a new girl by following his sisters' bad advice and how miserable he is afterwards can still be quite sad.
• While the issue may have been resolved in the end, the fact remains that, in matters concerning girls, Lincoln lost the ability to trust his sisters—his own family. It must have eaten the girls up inside to know they lost their brother's trust and had no one to blame but themselves.

Insta-gran

• Lucy had three pet spiders, but Myrtle, not knowing they were Lucy's pets, killed them.
• The reveal that the reason Myrtle is so smothering is because she never had a family, but really wanted one, and she doesn't really have any friends.

City Slickers

• Lori crying into Bobby's chest when her day in the city doesn't go over as well as she planned.

Fool Me Twice

• Luan breaks down crying when she thinks she and her family are moving out from Royal Woods. It's an April Fools' prank, but still.

Head Poet's Anxiety

• Luan's misplaced, but understandable jealousy towards Lucy when the latter tells the former that she's been asked to perform at the Royal Woods Theater, an opportunity that Luan has been working years for, to be the youngest person to ever perform there.
  Luan: Maybe they'd seat us behind someone with big hair, so I won't watch my sister steal my dreams.

The Mad Scientist

• The scene where Lisa cries while trying to fall asleep at the institute without her family around to help her lets us know that, although she's a Child Prodigy, she's still a four-year-old girl.

Missed Connection

• The premise of the episode is that Bobby and Lori run into some of the realistic difficulties of maintaining a Long-Distance Relationship. After a misunderstanding over the phone leads to an awkward conversation, Bobby and Lori are left in tears, worrying that they're losing their connection.
• Later in the episode, after numerous attempts to get together gone wrong, Bobby and Lori are left in such utter despair they hysterically weep in each other's arms until Flip exasperatedly calls them "snot faces."

Breaking Dad

• This episode has Lynn Sr. go to the Cowbella Festival while leaving his baby daughter Lily with Mr. Grouse. But when he gets home, Lynn Sr. sees Lily referring to Mr. Grouse as "Dada" (because Mr. Grouse is wearing her dad's sweater). Believing that Lily has forgotten him, Lynn Sr. resolves to spend the next day bonding with her, but all his efforts to do so end with Lily saying, "Dada" upon seeing Mr. Grouse. Towards the end of the episode, Lynn Sr. is reduced to Inelegant Blubbering, and unlike many of his other crying moments, it's not Played for Laughs. Thankfully, Lily recognizes her father when Mr. Grouse gives him his sweater back.

Middle Men

• This episode reveals that Lynn Jr. was constantly bullied in her first year of middle school. This convinced her that she needed to act tough like everyone else. All the times that Lynn was mean to one of her siblings was just her pretending to be...all because of a bad school life. Even though she can be a jerk jock sometimes, she really needs a hug in this episode.
  • And Lynn was genuinely trying to help Lincoln with her advice and is clearly devastated she caused the exact opposite.

Really Loud Music

• Michelle and Doug forcing Luna to abandon her rocker girl image in order to turn her into a pop star. She even gets a really sad song titled "What Have I Done?" about how this completely goes against who she is, even though she was so desperate to make it big. Nika Futterman makes the song sound positively heartbreaking.

Racing Hearts

• The looks on both Luna and Sam's faces when they agree that they don't have anything in common and that they should just break up.

Everybody Loves Leni

• Leni's many failed attempts to balance out her time spent with Miguel and Fiona with Jackie and Mandee's only results in both sides coming to openly hate each other and resenting Leni for supposedly neglecting them. Feeling guilty, Leni skips her favorite sale and stays home binging so as not to offend her friends any further. It's bad enough that she almost cries before her friends call to demand where she is. It's only after this that they all realize what bad friends they've been to Leni.

Pasture Bedtime

• Liam looks sad when the other boys admit they went to Girl Jordan's party. The others then look guilty and one of them wonders if they're still friends. Thankfully, he says yes.

Crimes of Fashion

• Leni coming home in tears after she got fired from her clothing store job because her manager accused her of stealing. Anyone who got fired from a job that they loved, especially if it was for something they didn't do, can relate to poor Leni.

Season 4

Any Given Sundae

• Lily crying when a bird knocks over her sought-after sundae before she can even have a taste. Thankfully, she gets to have ice cream anyway.

A Grave Mistake

• The Royal Woods Elementary School mascot, Ricky the Rooster, is said to be dead, causing the entire school to plan a funeral for his death. And Luna’s song “Ricky the Rooster” only makes it more emotional.
  • Unfortunately, Lincoln and Luna screw up the funeral, resulting in Ricky's body getting catapulted and everyone getting furious at them.

Geriantics

• The whole subject of the episode is pretty heavy. It's about Lisa realizing Pop-Pop won't live to see her when she's old and trying to prolong his life, but the only way she can do that is inconvenient for him, so she has to accept that he won't live as long as she wants. What makes this worse is that this was the last episode in which Pop-Pop is voiced by his original voice actor, Fred Willard, who died of cardiac arrest at the age of 86.

A Mutt Above

• Lana crying when Charles doesn't want to get dirty, even going so far as saying, "What have I done?!"

Community Disservice

• Poor Meli is so socially awkward she cries in the bathroom for at least an hour.
• Lola calling herself gross while apologizing to Meli.

Game Off

• After being scolded by Lincoln for losing the progress in his game, Lana just slowly walks away, looking like she's on the verge of tears. She knows she screwed up, but she was hoping that Lincoln would not be so hard on her when he finds out. But he did and was, and she looks back at him with a mixture of heartbreak and remorse.
  • Another thing to take into account is that, besides Lucy, Lana is Lincoln's younger sibling who looks up to him the most. That was probably the reason why she was desperate to make sure that he didn't, so this wouldn't tarnish their relationship.

Don't You Fore-get About Me

• Leni's sadness at the thought of not having her big sister nearby, one whom she has always looked up to and shared a bedroom with for many years is a completely understandable feeling that many have had to cope with as a part of life. While Lori assures Leni that she will always make time for her no matter what and call her frequently, it's still a huge change for both girls to have to cope with. And that's to say nothing of their nine other siblings who will soon have to come to terms with not having Lori around as often as they're accustomed to.

Season 5

Schooled!

• Lori finally makes the move to college, only to find herself struggling to adapt to life at Fairway University. After moving from floor to floor trying to find a dorm where she is accepted, she begins to question her decision to leave home. The stress of the situation, even with Bobby's love and encouragement proves too much and she drives back home in tears, saying she's not ready to leave. Her parents are understandably caught off guard by this turn of events.

Strife of the Party

• After Lana finds out that Lola sabotaged all of her efforts to plan their seventh birthday party for fear that she'd ruin it, Lana furiously chews her out for her dishonesty and is brought to tears that Lola didn't trust her to plan their own birthday. She then leaves the scene on the bicycle their Aunt Ruth had sent them both as a present, not wanting to be part of the festivities anymore. Lola is immediately hit with guilt and resolves to make things right.

Season's Cheatings

• Lincoln spends so much time trying to convince one of his sisters to get him his Rip Hardcore backpack that he forgets to buy Lola a gift. Nothing goes right: the mall closes right when he arrives and Burpin Burger runs out of coupons for gifts. His guilt-ridden Imagine Spot of Lola's reaction is what sells it:
  Imagine Spot Lola: What do you mean, you didn't get me anything? (cries uncontrollably)
• When Chandler offers him two earrings for Lola, Lincoln makes the ultimate sacrifice by exchanging them with his Rip Hardcore backpack.

A Flipmas Carol

• The Ghosts of Christmas Present show a pretty dismal series of events: Cheryl and Meryl's Christmas tree collapses, to their displeasure, the McBrides' inflatable yard decorations deflate, to their despair, Mr. Grouse has trouble turning on his lights, the Louds' Christmas dinner is gross, and Lynn is stewing about having to work on Christmas. To top it all off, this series of events is shown as a montage set to a slow "Silent Night".

Friday Night Fights

• Lisa crying after Lynn gets angry with her for using her statistics to cause Lynn’s team to lose even worse than before.
  Lisa: Mathematics have failed me...and I have failed my sister.

Camped!

• At the beginning of the episode, Lynn Sr. is so disconsolate about his childhood camp closing that he sobs like a little child right in front of his children. It makes them feel so sorry for him they resolve to make him feel better by taking him to the camp one last time.

Diss the Cook

• The reason why Chef Pat held a grudge against the Louds was because she believed that Rita held a graduation party but didn't invite her. The two were best friends all throughout High School, but Chef Pat truly thought Rita had snubbed her out of nowhere, which (as shown in the flashback) left her very upset.
  • Following on from this, the subsequent revelation that Rita did leave Chef Pat an invitation, but it had been misplaced. Once Chef Pat finds the invitation in an old library book, she immediately feels guilty for her actions and apologizes, before sadly admitting that she really wanted to attend the party. Her tone heavily implies she thought about it ever since that fateful day and she feels she's missed out. Even Lincoln and Lynn, whom she had antagonized for the whole episode, feel sorry for her.
    Chef Pat: The sad thing is, I really wish I had the chance to go to your Mom's graduation party. That was a once in a lifetime event. (walks away with a defeated sigh)

Season 6

Time Trap!

• After the Loud kids accidentally ruin their parents' wedding while trying to prevent them from receiving a vase, they end up in an alternate reality in which they were never born. On the one hand, Mr. Grouse is more cheerful and relaxed, Flip runs a decently managed and MUCH cleaner convenience store, and Rita and Lynn Sr. are having the time of their lives traveling the world. On the other hand, Rita and Lynn Sr. are now a pair of Child Haters, Lincoln’s friends have befriended Chandler and are now a group of rude bullies, and Chunk is working at a junkyard.

Season 7

Bye Bye Birthday

• Lucy has a breakdown after she laments that she's missed out on all the fun things her family did for her birthday. Her usually stoic demeanor completely disappears for a moment as she realizes what a big mistake she's made.

  Lucy: I only remembered the birthday stuff I didn't like and not the really cool things my family did to make me feel special. And now, I just missed all of it. (sobs) What have I done!?

Doll Day Afternoon

• After spending the entire episode trying to save Mr. Coconuts from a mysterious "Puppet Napper" who turned out to be the dummy's original maker/father, Calvin Coconuts, who lost him years earlier during a show in Royal Woods in which a crow snatched the dummy out of his hand and was accidentally dropped in the Louds' front yard, where he was found by a young Luan, Luan herself realizes the right thing to do would be to return Mr. Coconuts (or Calvin Jr.) to his rightful owner. Given that not only Luan is usually so cheerful and optimistic, but also formed such an attachment to Mr. Coconuts, seeing her nearly driven to tears as she gives up her beloved wooden companion is truly gut-wrenching. The emotional music used to score the scene makes it even sadder to watch.

Spin-off media:

Subpages

• The Casagrandes
  • The Casagrandes Movie

Other

The Loud House Movie

• The entirety of "Ordinary Me" for Lincoln. He is left out of the commotion when the town cheers for his sisters. And it gets worse: he actually breaks down crying, banging his head on the counter. It's one of the few times over the franchise that we see Lincoln so distraught.
  • He does it again after Morag frames him for wrecking Loch Loud by way of a hypnotized Lela, making the people believe it was his fault. And then when he realizes that he doesn't deserve to be the Duke, he sadly asks his family with big, sad, eyes:
    Lincoln: Can we go home now?

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