Heartwarming / Clone High

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There is an underlying sweetness to this Cult Classic that's made it so endearing to its dedicated fanbase.

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Season 1

• Even despite Abe's social awkwardness and less-than-favorable popularity, Cleo genuinely seems to like and show interest in him even before they started dating which is quite unusual for a vapid Alpha Bitch like her. She had no problem inviting him to JFK's party despite JFK's initial objection, and seems to still like him even after he’s deemed a "loser" for bringing non-alcoholic beer to the party, sending a nice note to him afterwards (well, nice in Abe’s eyes). Also, even with her manipulative tendencies in mind, the first episode did establish that she sees Abe in a positive light, saying that he’s a much nicer guy than JFK. She also shows moments of caring about Abe in later episodes, even if they're brief.
• As absurd as the image is of a robot butler frequently offering helpful life advice to a clone of Joan of Arc, Joan and Mr. Butlertron's relationship is genuinely heartfelt (all to make the joke funnier, of course). In their first interaction, Joan even gives him a big hug.
• It's minor, but a clone of Adolf Hitler makes a few blink-and-you'll-miss it appearances in crowd scenes. However, he wears an armband with a peace sign on it as opposed to a swastika. His clone father may have been a terrible person, but it looks like he's determined not to follow in his footsteps, and to be kind and tolerant.
  • Other clones seem to have inherited positive traits from their "clone parents": Abe (though he often fails) wants to try to settle conflict and be a peacemaker, Jesús Christo is kind and tries to be helpful to others, Van Gogh is a talented artist, and George Washington Carver loves science and experiments (especially with peanuts).
• After trying and failing to win the affection of the students with Mr. B's "magic" sweater vest, Scudworth has a genuine heart-to-heart with Gandhi, telling him to stand up for himself in the face of everyone who ostracized him for his ADD. While the dialogue is characteristically silly, the emotions are completely sincere.
  "There's always hope, Gandhi. When life gives you lemons, you clone those lemons and make... super lemons. So go down to that awareness fare, stand up for what's right, and bring me back a funnel cake!"
  • Even with the punchline that Mr. B's sweater vest really is magic, it's clear that it's still not what helped either of them connect with the students. It was, as Mr. B said himself, listening with compassion (instead of killing them).
  • In the same episode, Joan becomes convinced that she's finally hearing the voice of God, and seeks out Jesús Christo for advice. He kindly stops in the middle of shop class to listen to her concerns, then reassures her that "God has a plan for all of us. A painful, painful plan." True, his advice turns out to be basically useless, but it's the thought that counts.
  • After Joan leaves, Jesús accidentally stabs himself in the hand with the nail gun. Julius Caesar cautions him to be more careful. Given that Jesús's clone father died under the Roman authorities, that's a nice touch.
• Mr. B saving Scudworth's dinner with his bosses (after Scudworth had told him to hide in the kitchen so as not to embarrass him), Scudworth happily introduces him to the Board of Shadowy Figures as "My but- no... my friend." Like the teen drama parodies, it's mean to spoof sitcoms that play scenes like this straight, but it's only funny because it's genuinely sweet.
• JFK's adoptive gay dads. While they may embody stereotypes, their personalities clash, and they don't always agree on how to raise JFK, it's clear that they genuinely love each other and care about their son. Indeed, they seem to have the most stable non-platonic relationship in the series.
  • All the adoptive parents we see (with the exception of Cleo's mother) really do fall under this:
    • Abe was raised by your traditional American nuclear family, and while we don't see his mother and father much, they at least try to raise him properly, even when discipline is needed. It's especially notable in "Raisin The Stakes", when they try their hardest to get through to their son and get him off of raisins (even if they turn out to be a fake drug).
    • Joan was raised by Toots, a blind Jazz musician. It's telling that despite being raised by a handicapped single parent, she's probably the most well adjusted of the trio
    • Finally, Ghandi was raised by a stereotypical Jewish couple, who, for all of their kvetching and overbearing parenting, just want him to grow up right.
• Despite its best efforts at irreverence, "Litter Kills: Literally" is widely agreed to be the only episode of the show to actually be a Very Special Episode, turning a satire of the Tonight, Someone Dies trope into a sincere episode about grief.
  • Ponce saying he hates JFK isn't heartwarming, but the fact that he immediately tries to take it back shows he really does value their friendship.
  • Joan kissing Abe on the forehead when she sees how frustrated he is. For once, she's not trying to get Abe to notice her feelings for him, she's just comforting her friend.
  • Abe sitting with and comforting an emotionally exhausted JFK on the thinking dock.
    • While it's probably one of the more irreverent jokes in the whole show, JFK sounds like he means it when he says, "I'm a Kennedy! I'm not accustomed to tragedy!" He very likely doesn't: he wasn't raised by the actual Kennedy family, and has no personal connection with his long-dead relatives; he grew up in a supportive home, with loving adoptive parents, and probably doesn't have any real understanding of the tragedies of his clone father outside of history books.
  • Earlier, Cleo comforting JFK through his grief by hugging him, even while on a date with Abe. A genuinely sweet act by her with no manipulative undertones. Just a friend comforting a friend.
  • After all the buildup hinting that the prisoners wanted to gang-rape Gandhi, it turns out they were actually planning to throw him a welcome party. It gets better: when he tells them a friend of his died, they help console him; and when he says he wants to break out so he can pay his respects, they immediately agree to help him. They even help clean up the litter.
  • The idea that Ponce convinced everyone to litter so that his janitor foster dad wouldn't be out of a job.
• "My Son" from "Raisin The Stakes", where Abe hits his head and has a vision of the original Lincoln. Sure, it may just be a hallucination (and the song itself is actually a loose parody of "It's A Boy" from The Who's "Tommy"), but it still feels like it might have been real, and tells Abe something he needed to hear.
  Abe: Where am I?
  Lincoln: Inside of you. Inside of me, too.... You were my clone conception. Now, you'll lead us to redemption! For you are my son!
• Abe's kitschy "love coupon book", which he gifts Cleo with in the "Snowflake Day" episode, is basically the cutest thing ever.
  • Also, the homeless girl (who is definitely not Mandy Moore) taking Joan back to the ruins of her old burnt-out house, showing her that a community of homeless people have taken up residence there — and are having a lively holiday celebration of their own. Black Humor? Certainly. But it's also rather sweet.
• Cleo's brief crisis of conscience when she learns that Joan never had a mom. After the initial Overly Long Gag of Cleo being shocked about it, she decided to take Joan under her wing and give her a makeover.
  • The following scene of Cleo and Joan happily going on a shopping spree together during the "Makeover" song. The gag of them robbing a bank to pay for an expensive makeover wouldn't be nearly as funny if they weren't so sisterly about it.
• In the finale, Joan confessing to JFK that she used him to make Abe jealous — and JFK telling Joan that he actually does like her when she's being herself. While it's possible that he was lying so Joan would sleep with him, some viewers noted that this wouldn't be in-character for JFK (who normally tells girls up front that he wants to sleep with them), making it more likely that he was being genuine.
  JFK: You're a real knock-out Betty, Joan. And an even better Betty when you're not being a slutty whore.
  • Also, JFK gave his other dates, the Brontë sisters, to the Three Stooges. Not only is it a nice gesture, but it shows that he wanted to be with Joan, and her alone.
  • And then Abe ditching Cleo to find Joan and tell her that he loves her back.
  • At the same time, Ghandi and Marie Curie deciding to become a couple, and excitedly running hand-in-hand to tell the others.
  • Scudworth reconciling with John Stamos.

Season 2

Let's Try This Again:

• For once in her life, Joan feels accepted into the cool kids group; best of all, they aren't mean and are genuinely nice folks.
• Abe, realizing his mistakes have caused Joan to lose the respect of Frida and Harriet, decides to make things right by offering his hand to be tortured by hot sauce (due to the massive amount of paper cuts) so Joan can get back into the good graces of the student body.
• JFK is surprisingly patient and respectful (to his standard) of Joan's answer to whether or not to be his girlfriend, as he believes waiting makes it more worthwhile. He was even saddened that she was rejected because of Abe's actions.
• Confucius is very helpful to Abe and does not outcaste him for his mistakes, willing to lend an ear and help him to make an apology video. It doesn't end well, but it's the thought that counts.
• Abe and Joan make up and become friends again, wanting to be by each other side in the crazy new future they find themselves in.

Sleepover:

• Realizing that Joan isn't feeling good (not knowing it's because of the dream she had about Abe), Frida and Harriet invite her to a slumber party. Joan, who had a bad experience with Cleo and other females back in the 2000s, ends up having a genuinely good time with the two (minus the whole murder situation), and the three became closer as friends.
  • Played for Laughs, but when the trio summons Bloody Mary, they invite her to the slumber party, and (despite the amount of blood she trails) they have a fun time before sending her back in the mirror.
  • After revealing her secret and realizing it is a big deal, Joan fears that Frida and Harriet will reveal it to everyone (something Cleo would do) but they assure her that whatever happens at a sleepover stays at the sleepovers.
• While it did lead to someone's (supposed) death, how Frida and Harriet met and connected their bikes together (so they could enter a contest) is a rather sweet moment on how they became best friends.
• With JFK having no one to hang out with, and realizing he has no friends besides Joan, Confucius offers to have a bro's night with him. The two bond over FlipFlop, and Confucius comes to JFK's defense when Topher cyberbullies him. By the end, the two become close friends and share a fun slap with each other.
  • Keep in mind, the last male friend JFK had was Ponce de León, who sadly died in his debut episode, and it affected JFK greatly. Now, for the first time in a long while, JFK found a new friend to possibly call his best friend.
• The man they thought they murdered was not only alive but came back to thank them, as his near-death made him realize he was hiding away from his problems and decide to open up, he is now making many new friends and has never been happier.
• A small one, but JFK asking Joan how her sleepover was. It doesn't seem much, but back in the first season, when Cleo was talking about her problems, JFK openly stated he didn't care. This shows that JFK is actually taking his relationship with Joan more seriously than his previous ones and that she isn't as overly dramatic as Cleo. So Joan was the best thing to happen to JFK.

Anxious Times at Clone High:

The Crown: Joancoming: It’s a Cleo, Cleo, Cleo, Cleo World:

• Cleo and Joan both turning away from being toxic enemies to becoming frienemies was good.

Some Talking but Mostly Songs:

• Harriet, despite internally hating Joan's ideas at first, follows through with one of her friends ideas by adding in the brown dress.

Saved by the Knoll:

Spring Broken:

Sexy-Ed:

• Frida and Cleo admitting that they're attracted to one another. In French!

Season 3

The Cloniest Place on Earth: Missile While You Work

• After Van Gogh passes out from eating a drugged churro, the Bleacher Creatures are seen carrying him like a baby.