YMMV / Clone High S1E10 "Litter Kills: Litterally"

• Accidental Aesop: Perhaps the only episode of the show to actually be a Very Special Episode. JFK's emotional meltdown over Ponce's death is taken so seriously that it goes from being a scathing parody of Tonight, Someone Dies and becomes a (mostly) sincere episode about grief.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • The cleaning montage in which happy memories of Ponce are superimposed over the scene, including the shot of him gagging while bleeding to death.
  • A man who just lost his teenaged foster son being fired while mourning? Not funny. A janitor being fired because the kids who cleaned up the school in honor of his deceased teenage foster son did such a good job that they don't need him any more? Now it's funny. Scudworth then twisting the knife by blithely telling Glen that now he'll "have more time to spend with his family"? Now it's just mean. The teens seeing this and subverting the Green Aesop by concluding that "littering is okay in moderation" because it helps some people keep their jobs? That's some kind of twisted genius!
• Harsher in Hindsight: Granted, he was much older than a teenager, but like his character in the show, Luke Perry died very young (in his case, from a massive stroke at 53).
• He Really Can Act: Again, it's done to sell the comedy, but Chris Miller really sells JFK's complete devastation over Ponce's death, especially the crying scenes, which are downright uncomfortable in their accuracy to how a young person would grieve.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Gandhi gets mistaken for a prisoner because he was wearing orange warmups. But they were just a fashion statement, meaning Gandhi thinks Orange Is the New Black!
• Misaimed Fandom: Keep in mind that this episode is supposed to be funny.
• Tear Jerker: This is widely considered the only episode of the show that's genuinely sad. While it's obviously done to sell the comedy of spoofing teen shows that introduce new characters just to kill them for cheap drama, JFK's grief is played so devastatingly straight that it becomes actual drama.
  • JFK going to church to mourn Ponce, where he devolves into Berserker Tears and winds up in a Troubled Fetal Position, all while yelling (presumably) at God "You took him!" Again, it's obviously a parody of how unsubtle these scenes are when played straight, but it's still a young person trying to make sense of a senseless tragedy.
  • When Abe comes to sit with him on the thinking dock, JFK's eyes are extremely baggy, indicating that he's been crying for days.
  "You know the last thing Ponce said to me? He said... 'I. Hate. You.'"
  • Abe coming to Joan for advice, looking similarly exhausted. The dialogue is still full of silly, convoluted metaphors, but Abe breaking down in front of Joan while she kisses his head is probably the most sincere scene in the whole show. For once, Joan isn't trying to get Abe to notice her feelings for her, she's just comforting her friend, who is genuinely upset.
  Joan: "When we cast our love into the sea of human emotion, sometimes what we catch... is in fate's hands."
  Abe (tearing up): I never asked to be a fisherman in such a sea as this.
  Joan (whispers): Then you know what you must do.
  (Abe cries. Joan gently kisses his forehead.)