Hi, little guy.
Did you and your friends have fun?
This is Chuckie, aka Charles Crandall Norbert Finster Jr.
And he has one of the most heartbreaking backstories
a children's cartoon has ever bestowed upon a character.
In the season four episode titled "Mother's Day,"
the main characters are all trying
to wrap their brains around the concept of Mother's Day
and how to celebrate it until Chuckie reveals
that he doesn't actually have a mother to celebrate it with.
Oh, yeah, you don't got a mom, do you, Chuckie?
Nope.
Most children's cartoons tend to shy away
from negative feelings and tough subject matter.
But that wasn't the case with Rugrats.
The creators instead chose to confront these topics
with a gentleness and compassion that just wasn't
present in the other Nicktoons.
In doing so, this show likely helped
bring a little understanding and catharsis
to children who were navigating the confusing process
of growing up.
"Mother's Day" stands out as being a truly heartbreaking
episode, as it addresses grief and denial
with a layer of warmth that only Rugrats could provide.
Created by Arlene Klasky, Gabor Csupo, and Paul Germain,
Rugrats is one of the first official Nicktoons.
Airing for the first time in 1991,
Rugrats focused primarily on the adventures of toddlers.
And it was really ahead of its time
as far as inclusivity goes.
The show featured a cast of toddlers
from various religious backgrounds and ethnicities
and focused on their day-to-day lives
through a lens of grandiosity that
was applied to the children's point of view.
Death is a really difficult subject
to address in any medium, never mind a show geared
towards 10-year-olds.
There's no real way to discern how any single person is
going to respond to grief.
Addressing grief with hundreds of thousands of children
through a cartoon about toddlers is even more difficult.
It needs to be generalized enough
to not seem targeted toward any specific person.
But you can't be too vague with children either.
Otherwise, they won't understand the messaging.
It's a very fine line to walk.
And in this episode of Rugrats, the folks over at Klasky-Csupo
walk that line with ease.
"Mother's Day" starts off with Angelica berating Tommy, Phil,
and Lil over their lack of understanding
about Mother's Day.
You babies are so dumb.
I can't believe you lived to be one.
It's in this opening scene where the writers cement the idea
that this episode is going to be a learning
experience about Mother's Day and what it
means to our main characters.
After some shenanigans with what could arguably
be the first imagining of a Roomba,
Chas and Chuckie show up, and we know
that there is something kind of weird going on with Chas.
He enters with a box in his arms and asks Didi for some time
to talk privately.
After some more vacuum shenanigans,
we cut to Chuckie explaining to Tommy, Phil, and Lil
that he can't partake in their Mother's Day adventure
because he doesn't have a mom.
We also get the added detail here that Chuckie doesn't
know why he doesn't have a mom.
I just don't got one.
Subconsciously, we are now making the connection
that whatever Chas wants to talk to Didi about
is related to Chuckie's significant lack of a mother.
There's an efficiency and a subtlety to the writing
here that you just don't see often in children's cartoons.
Where normally cartoons use big moments to keep attention
of the viewers, Rugrats directors,
Tony Vian and Norton Virgien, approach the subject matter
of this episode slowly and carefully.
The next scene is really sad to watch.
Chas finally has his moment with Didi
and explains that he has a box of Chuckie's mother's
belongings, and he wants Didi to hold on to them so that Chuckie
can never find them.
He seems incredibly broken up over this box
and displays some very human responses
to the awkwardness of the situation.
And it's here that the writers drop another hint
as to what has transpired over the course of Chuckie's life.
Chas says goodbye to the box once it ends up
in Didi's closet, which is an unusual thing to say to a box.
It's a simple and effective way to show us
that this box is really important.
Chas is hiding this box in the same way
he is hiding his own feelings of grief
over the death of his wife.
Chuckie goes outside to catch up with the other kids
on the quest to find a Mother's Day present for their moms.
And there's a little reminiscing done in this moment.
Tommy, Phil, and Lil all recount some fond memories
of their respective mothers.
And when it comes time for Chuckie to tell his story,
we get an even more heartbreaking detail.
Chuckie has no memories of his mother
beyond a fleeting reoccurring dream.
This then prompts the group to break
into a sort of fun and games section of the episode,
and they decide that they are going to find Chuckie a mom.
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And now back to the video.
This entire sequence is really, really tragic.
Chuckie revels in the motherly touch of a dressmaking
mannequin, gets kissed by Spike, and Lil spits in his face.
All the while, Chuckie is completely on board
and open to the idea of having literally anything serve
as a de facto parent.
This episode really puts the character of Chuckie
through the wringer.
After being spit on and literally thrown into a garbage
can, Chuckie is then emotionally manipulated into servitude
by Angelica, who takes advantage of the fact
that he will do anything to have a mother.
She strips him of his identity by renaming him Blaine
and forces him to do her bidding at pretty much every turn.
Chuckie's a stupid name.
Blaine's a TV name.
As if indentured servitude wasn't
enough to torture poor Chuckie, Angelica
takes it a step further and begins emotionally manipulating
him through a sort of passive aggressive guilt
trip over a flower.
Then she drops an atomic bomb on him
by saying that he needs to forget about ever having
a mother, which the writers then make Chuckie take to heart.
And as far as you, Chuckie, you can forget about having a mom,
ever.
The kids eventually end up locked inside of a dark closet,
while trying to avoid Angelica.
This just so happens to be the same closet in which Chas
has hidden the box full of memories.
In this closet, Chuckie comes to this realization
that the best version of his mother is actually his father.
And he gets there with the help and support of his friends.
This is the writer's way of telling us
that when things get the darkest, most hopeless,
you can turn to your friends for help.
Phil and Lil then direct Chuckie's attention
to the box of memories, where Chuckie
finds a picture of his mother and immediately recognizes her
from his dreams.
He remembers.
Chuckie then decides that this photo of his mother
would be the perfect gift for his father
and presents it to Chas, who is really taken aback by it.
There's something to be said here
about the style in which the show is animated
and the attention to detail Klasky-Csupo
gives to the emotions presented on the characters' faces.
When paired with the quality of the voice acting,
this animation delivers something
really powerful to the viewer.
This then prompts Chas to finally
have this really beautiful moment with Chuckie.
They go outside, and Chas tells Chuckie about his mom
and how she passed away.
It's a healing moment of closure and acceptance
for both of these characters.
Where Chuckie was emotionally tortured by his Angelica,
Chas has been emotionally tortured by loss.
The two come together and read the poem
that Chuckie's mother left for him.
And when you look at the context of this,
it brings a tear to your eye.
It's really touching, soft, and beautiful.
It turns Chuckie around.
And he can finally see that his mother can still
exist in the world around him and in everything he sees.
I do have a mom.
She's right here in the flowers.
"Mother's Day" is an episode of Rugrats
that feels like it is important for children to view.
It touches on personal grief in a way that
feels direct without being pointed or triggering
to a young, developing audience.
They tackle grief and loneliness head on but deliver
their message in a way that feels
gentle, thoughtful, and caring.
It teaches the viewer not only about the power of compassion
and the strength of friendship, but also
about the beauty and importance of memories
and what it means to truly honor them
despite the inherent sadness it may evoke within us.
This episode is truly, truly heartbreaking.
It is about a child struggling to remember
his dead mother, who has a grief-stricken father doing
everything in his power to conceal
those memories from his son.
But it's through these themes of patience, friendship,
and empathy the writers are able to bring their audience
the same healing closure that they bring to Chas and Chuckie.
There's a Dr. Seuss quote that applies really well
to the message of this Rugrats episode.
"Don't cry because it's over.
Smile because it happened."
And that's sort of where Chuckie ends up
by the time the credits roll.
The episode is a reminder that death doesn't
have to be the end and that as long as we have our memories,
nothing is ever truly gone from the world.
That's it for this episode of "Nerdstalgic."
Thanks for checking out the video.
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See you later.
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