"For Sale by Loner" is the forty-first episode (forty-second in production order) of the fifth season, and the two-hundred-fortieth episode of The Loud House.
Mr. Grouse attempts to find some peace and quiet after moving away from the Louds.
Synopsis[]
Mr. Grouse has finally had enough of the Louds.
Mr. Grouse is attempting to get through his day. However, for every task he tries to do, the Louds would arrive and inconvenience him, much to his annoyance, like a jetpack-toting Lincoln crashing into him while folding towels, Luna's massive speakers being too loud for him, Leni hogging his TV to watch The Dream Boat (since Lily is using the TV), Lana and Lucy digging a moat in his garden, and Lynn tossing a football that ends up flying into his house, breaking many things. Finally fed up with his neighbors' shenanigans, Mr. Grouse decides to put his house up for sale. The Louds arrive and are shocked that he's actually considering this decision, as he's been their neighbor as long as they can remember. Mr. Grouse admits that he needs some alone time, and despite the Louds' pleas to stay, Mr. Grouse has already made up his mind and departs, telling the Louds to try their best to forget about him.
Following afterwards, Mr. Grouse tries to rent a place he can stay at, with unsuccessful results:
First, Mr. Grouse attempts to stay in the spare bedroom of Cheryl and Meryl's condo, but when he tries to sleep, the two practice for a hoedown competition, with the music keeping him awake and dragging him into their dancing, where he falls out a window.
Second, Mr. Grouse attempts to stay at Sunset Canyon, but as he eats his lunch, Scoots initiates a pudding balloon fight, where he gets pelted when he attempts to flee.
Lastly, Mr. Grouse attempts to stay in the spare bedroom on Coach Pacowski's boat, but the constant movement of the tide causes him to get sick and vomit overboard.
At Flip's Food and Fuel, Mr. Grouse complains to Flip that he can't find a place to stay, and when he mentions that he'll pay anything for a quiet place to live, Flip decides to take this opportunity. Changing his store getup to "Rick's Rents and Rocks" (and changing his name to Rick), Flip offers to let Mr. Grouse rent his mother's cabin in the woods, which also comes with a free rock companion. Mr. Grouse seems hesitant at first, but upon witnessing Vanzilla arrive with the Louds acting chaotic as usual, Mr. Grouse immediately accepts the offer.
Arriving to the cabin in the woods, Mr. Grouse is finally happy that he found a place that is quiet and peaceful. Now living in a place without much noise, Mr. Grouse proceeds to do all of his hobbies without interruption, like watching TV, working on the garden and doing a puzzle. However, as time passes, Mr. Grouse immediately becomes bored. Suddenly, Mr. Grouse spots Mr. Bolhofner walking by and introduces himself. Before long, Mr. Grouse attempts to get along with Mr. Bolhofner by hanging out with him, but his efforts to get along only cause more harm than good, and as a result, Mr. Bolhofner calls him a terrible neighbor, and orders to leave him alone.
As Mr. Grouse heads back to his cabin, he decides to show his rock the photos in his phone displaying his former neighbors. After looking through the photos, Mr. Grouse realizes that he misses the Louds, saying they're like a family to him, regardless of their flaws. This makes Mr. Grouse decide to head back home, and at that moment, the Louds arrive in Vanzilla to give him a congratulatory Lynn-sagna to celebrate the day someone finally bought his house. This news causes Mr. Grouse to drop the lasagna in shock and admits that he misses them, saying that living in solitude isn't as great as he hoped. After the Louds state that they miss him too, they quickly drive back Mr. Grouse's house, hoping to stop the buyers from buying the house.
A family has bought Mr. Grouse's house...
...only to realize it's not what they expected.
Arriving to the house, Mr. Grouse quickly tells the buyers, a husband and wife, that he changed his mind and wants to move back in. Unfortunately, the couple reveals that they had already signed the paperwork to finalize the purchase. When the husband reveals that they bought the house because of how peaceful the neighborhood is, Mr. Grouse tells them that if they're going to live here, they should meet their next-door neighbors. Almost immediately, the Louds over-zealously welcome them to the neighborhood, talking over each other, showing off their hobbies and getting into fights in rapid succession. Unable to bear the Louds' chaotic nature, the couple runs away, with the wife ripping up the paperwork in the process. As a result, Mr. Grouse, appreciating how much the Louds helped him out, proclaims, "It's good to be home."
Foreshadowing: The title card depicts a rock with a painted face. Mr. Grouse purchases such a rock in the episode.
Irony:
Mr. Grouse thought living in solitude would make him happier, but it had the opposite effect.
Mr. Grouse initially wanted to be away from the pests making his life hard (the Louds), but he himself became a pest to Mr. Bolhofner by trying to bond with him due to the fact that they were "neighbors".
The same voice actor (James Arnold Taylor) voices a character (Mr. Bolhofner) who drove Mr. Grouse away and a character (Unnamed man) driven away by Mr. Grouse.
References[]
For Sale by Loner - The title of this episode is a pun of "for sale by owner".
Peanuts - One of the residents of Sunset Canyon has a food bowl that is yellow with black zigzags, just like Charlie Brown's shirt.
SpongeBob SquarePants - When Leni said "Mr. Grouse? You're selling your front lawn?", this is both a joke and a reference to "New Fish in Town" when Patrick sold his front lawn for someone to buy it.
Errors[]
Plot hole: Mr. Bolhofner's cabin is shown to be located on the edge of the woods, even though it was shown in "Rumor Has It" that his cabin is situated deep inside the woods.
How are you going to dance if your foot is disconnected?
And how are you going to dance, too?
While Cheryl and Meryl are dancing when Mr. Grouse enters their room, Meryl's boot is disconnected in one frame.
The same thing happens to Cheryl when she spins Mr. Grouse around.
When Mr. Grouse tells the couple buying his house that he wants to move back in, the wife's shoes are blue, but when she and her husband are subjected to the Louds' chaos, her shoes are black.
When the couple first exits the house, the wife can be seen wearing bracelets, but during the close up of the signed paperwork, the bracelets are missing. When the husband reveals the reason why they bought Mr. Grouse's house, the wife has her bracelets back on, but when they're scared away by the Louds, they're once again missing.
When the Louds scare the couple buying Mr. Grouse's house away, Lola's voice can be heard, even though she isn't present.
Leni is mysteriously missing when the Louds are scaring away the couple buying Mr. Grouse's house.
Whenever this episode airs in the UK and Ireland, Lana, Lily and Meryl are uncredited.
