Our poor protagonist has become gloomy and darkhearted. Even his friends are worried about him.
Apart from its funny moments, awesome moments, and heartwarming moments, the show isn't without a few harsh moments to boot.Remember, we have Spoilers Off, so all moments are unmarked! Read 'em if it's worth it.
- The scene in "Pretty Great Day With a Girl" where Amy mentions her parents are getting divorced and she might be moving away, and Clarence mentions his dad is gone (it's not known hownote , but it is pretty much established that Clarence's mom is not married anymorenote and that Chad is not Clarence's biological father).
- Damien appears in season 3 episode "Rock Show", but only briefly sees Mary and not seeing Clarence.
- In "Dinner Party", there's the part where Clarence accidentally mistakes fiberglass insulation for cotton candy and ends up scolding his hand on it. Sure he gets better shortly afterwards, but it's a pretty jarring moment compared to the goofy antics of the rest of the episode.
- It doesn't help that his reaction really does sound like something a kid in distress would make.
- "Lizard Day Afternoon": Not actually a Tear Jerker, but the final scene of the lizard chase can be pretty emotional for some people. To sum it up, Clarence and Sumo finally catch the lizard (on the top of a building somehow), they start running towards each other so they can put it in a lamp, but then…Clarence: (gasps) NO!!! (screeches to a stop a foot away from Sumo, who is taken aback) I… I can’t do it, Sumo. Lizards belong on the street, not in a lamp.Sumo: We can’t let him go, we won’t get our wishes.Clarence: (turns around, tearing up, voice breaking) This is my wish, Sumo. (He finally lets go, the lizard walks off, Clarence sniffles, then smiles)Sumo: (tears up, kneels down, voice breaking) Mine too…(They hug each other and start bawling their eyes out)
- The background music that plays during the whole scene doesn’t really help either. It also doubles as Nightmare Fuel.
- Clarence letting the lizard go and Sumo eventually being happy for its freedom both double as Heartwarming Moments considering that the boys have been chasing it all day and Sumo trying to talk Clarence out of letting it go. The ending shows that they eventually put it in a milk carton, but still.
- "Hoofin' It" has Clarence in tears over Aberdale's annual Greased Pig Race, and it's rather rough watching him sob over Butterscotch being forced to race.
- In "Dust Buddies," we get a better glimpse into Belson and his mother's home life. While it is hard to feel sorry for Belson due to his acting like a Bratty Half-Pint, it's also sort of his mom's fault, since she tends to placate and baby him all the time.
- Then in "Company Man," we are finally introduced to Belson's father, Mr. Noles. And now we know where Belson gets his self-absorbed attitude. As it turns out, Mr. Noles is a Corrupt Corporate Executive who openly talks down to everyone else and calls them "chumps" (a behavior exhibited by Belson at the end of the episode). Then, at the end of the episode, Mr. Noles is arrested for business fraud. How is this going to affect his son and wife?
- Near the end of "Hurricane Dillis," Mary finally loses patience with her mother after all her erratic behavior results in the kitchen being messed up and all the food becoming spoiled. Even though her behavior was definitely not normal, Dillis was just trying to help.
- Through out the same episode, it can be shown how a man known as Damien is spoken out by Mary's mother, and Chad tries to be like him, seeing himself as something lesser and he should try to move up to Damien's spot. Example of this is when Mary's mother talked about Damien having a nice car and everything, making Chad buy a car himself or when Mary's mother seemed so unimpressed with Chad at the beginning of the episode.
- Another more subtle example: when Mary's father finally arrives to retrieve Dillis, he refers to Clarence as "Creedence" and also mistakes Chad for Mary's ex-husband. This could mean that his memory isn't the best...or that Mary just isn't that close to her parents nowadays.
- And in "Plane Excited", it's revealed she's passed on. Clarence seems to know something wasn't quite right about his grandmother (possibly early-onset Alzheimer's) and tells Chad that she "used to be (scary)".
- "Lil Buddy" is quite likely the biggest contender. Clarence's love over a doll gets him in trouble, forcing him to miss recess. This traumatizes him to the point where he later tears the doll apart and buries it in the forest. What follows is a montage of the All-Loving Hero changing into a depressed, anti-social bully because of this loss, set to a Suspiciously Similar Song version of "Strange Things" from Toy Story. Not only would this affect fans to see him go so out of character, but it is an accurate depiction on how dramatically a child can change from negative experiences.
- To quote a Tumblr comment:
I’m glad he was fine in the end, but this really makes me wonder about Clarence. I mean, let’s admit it. Missing half of 1 recess is pretty trivial. Sure maybe to a 4th grader recess means a lot more, but Clarence way over reacted to that timeout, to the point it was frightening. This really makes me wonder what Clarence would be like as a teenager. I mean, if something trivial like that brought him to that horrid emotional state, then just imagine if something REALLY traumatic happened in his life. It would be much worse than what we saw here.
