Friend or Faux?

"Friend or Faux?" is the thirty-eighth episode of the second season and the ninetieth episode of The Loud House.

Plot
When Lisa's report card reveals that she has failed social skills, she must make a friend in order to bring up her grade.

Sypnosis
At school, the kindergarteners play around, while Lisa works with her science equipment. Suddenly, Ms. Shrinivas announces that she's going to give everyone their first report cards. Lisa is given hers, and is happy at the fact that she has an "A" in every subject (math, science, vocabulary, etc.). Suddenly, she discovers that she has an "F" in social skills. Lisa asks Ms. Shrinivas if there was an error in printing her report card, but Ms. Shrinivas says that it's not an error. She gave Lisa an "F" in social skills because she hasn't made a friend yet. Lisa tries making a robot called "FriendBot 1000", but Ms. Shrinivas says that Lisa needs to make a human friend in order to bring up her grade.

At the Loud House, Lisa tries to do some research on how friendship works, but eventually decides to settle on observation. She spies on the bondings between Lincoln and Clyde, Lynn and Margo, Lori and Leni, and Lynn Sr. and Kotaro. The next day, Lisa, now using the information she collected yesterday, decides to make friends with the first person who enters the classroom. She rejects the first two students (due to one eating paste, and the other being a biter), but eventually settles on a girl named Darcy Homandollar. Lisa gets along with her after she complements on her LED light up shoes, and they play on the see-saw together, provide her with a flavorless dish with all the necessary nutrients, and sleep next to her during nap time. As a result, Lisa's grade in social skills is raised to an "A".

Happy now that her academic record is perfect, Lisa goes back to work with her science equipment. However, Darcy continues to show Lisa her signs of friendship, but Lisa politely declines her offers, showing that she doesn't want to hang out with her anymore. Later, Darcy has made a friendship bracelet for Lisa, but Lisa, no longer able to hold it in anymore, admits that she only became friends with her just so she can boost her social skills grade up, and admits that she doesn't have the time for friends, and gives back the friendship bracelet. Unfortunately, Darcy, hurt at realizing that Lisa lied to her, and because Lisa no longer wants to be friends, begins crying and runs off. Lisa, realizing what she has done, tries to apologize, but Darcy has told Ms. Shrinivas what happened. When Ms. Shrinivas offers to read a story to Darcy to make her feel better, Ms. Shrinivas tells Lisa that she lost her "A" again, for hurting Darcy's feelings, and for missing the whole point of friendship. As a result, she sends Lisa to the time-out corner, so she can think about what she has done.

As Lisa sits sadly in the time-out corner and reflects on her now imperfect academic record, Darcy arrives, offering her a cookie out of sympathy. Darcy says that she's doing this because Lisa looked sad, and is offering her a cookie to cheer her up, since that's what friends do for each other. This statement causes Lisa to learn the true meaning of friendship: it makes your life better. Touched at Darcy's kind gesture, she decides to let Darcy sit next to her, and eat half of the cookie. Ms. Shrinivas, seeing Lisa and Darcy getting along, decides to boost Lisa's grade. Lisa asks Darcy if she would like to come over so they can play with her CAT scanner, and Darcy, thinking Lisa's referring to a real cat, happily obliges.

Cast
Kotaro, Petey Wimple, and Charlotte Yang have no lines in this episode. Although being listed in the credits, Margo has no lines in this episode, but she was heard grunting while playing with Lynn.
 * Collin Dean as Lincoln
 * Catherine Taber as Lori
 * Liliana Mumy as Leni
 * Jessica DiCicco as Lynn
 * Lara Jill Miller as Lisa
 * Grey Griffin as Lily / Kindergartner
 * Caleel Harris as Clyde
 * Brian Stepanek as Lynn Sr.
 * Angela Malhotra as Ms. Shrinivas
 * Mariel Sheets as Darcy

​Trivia

 * This is the eighth piece of Loud House media to be directed solely by Kyle Marshall. The others were the shorts "Slice of Life" and "Deuces Wild!", and the episodes "Frog Wild", "Pulp Friction", "Room with a Feud", "Garage Banned", "Change of Heart", "Mall of Duty", "The Crying Dame", and "Snow Way Out".
 * He considers this episode one of his favorites.
 * This episode used to hold the record for Lincoln's smallest time on-screen. In this case, he only has two lines. But now, that record belongs to "Roadie to Nowhere" where he doesn't speak at all.
 * This is the twenty-eighth time where Lincoln does not speak to the viewers.
 * This is the first time Lincoln says only 2 lines, and only appears in one scene.
 * Darcy is voiced by Mariel Sheets, who is best known for being the voice of Sally Brown in .
 * One of Lisa's female classmates is very similar to Lincoln's female classmate.
 * This is the second episode, where one of the Loud siblings fails in school (in this case, it was Lisa). The first time was Lincoln in "Study Muffin".
 * It is revealed in this episode that Lisa has no friends due to her boorish, uptight, anti-social, and condescending attitude.
 * It is revealed in this episode that Lisa's favorite animal is a giraffe.
 * This is the second episode to have a question mark in the title, with the first being "ARGGH! You For Real?"
 * This is the first title card that Lincoln and Lisa share together.
 * This is the second time Margo spoke since "Intern for the Worse".
 * This is the third time that an episode takes place at Royal Woods Elementary, where Mrs. Johnson is absent. The first two were "Pulp Friction" and "Out of the Picture".
 * This is the first time Lincoln only appears in one scene.
 * Lisa frequently mentions becoming part of an "interplanetary council", implying that extraterrestrial life possibly exists in the show's universe, and Lisa has already made contact with them.
 * Lori and Leni decide to share the gorgeous hand-me-down dress, which is a great contrast for how they argued over having the same dress in "Brawl in the Family".
 * Lynn Sr. playing a cowbell in this episode is a callback to "House Music".
 * This is Kotaro's second appearance, since "Vantastic Voyage".
 * Lincoln and Lisa's positions on the title card could be a possible foreshadowing to the ending of this episode, since Lisa and Darcy are sitting in the same positions.
 * Irony: Initially Lisa sees making a friend as an academic requirement in class, not realizing it's meant to help her develop relationships with others for its own sake.

Errors

 * Despite having a question mark in the title, several TV providers spell this episode without the question mark.
 * There are a couple of instances where Ms. Shrinivas' eyelashes are disconnected from her eyes.
 * When Darcy is trying to read her cat book when next to Lisa, if one looks closely at the sentence "The cat sat", there isn't a space between "cat" and "sat". As a result the sentence instead reads "The Catsat".
 * When The FriendBot 1000 shows off its ice vision, Ms. Shrinivas' lipstick is missing.
 * In the credits, Jessica DiCicco's name is misspelled as Jessica DeCicco.

Running Gags

 * Lisa observing her family members to get a better understanding of how friendship works.
 * Lisa trying to win Darcy's friendship.
 * Darcy trying to make Lisa join in on activities, which Lisa turns down.
 * Lisa fretting over being accepted to the Interplanetary Council.