This article contains information about an episode banned in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand due to Luna referring to Sam as her girlfriend, and therefore will be unavailable to any user from these localities, with the exception of this specific article.
"Undercover Mom" is the sixteenth episode (seventeenth in production order) of the fifth season, and the two-hundred-fifteenth episode of The Loud House.
Rita is dropping off Leni, Luna and Luan at high school. When Rita asks if there's any interesting stories they would like to tell, they all decline, and when Rita asks if they would to give her a kiss, they all leave. This makes Rita feel saddened that her relationship with the three is dwindling (though she does get a kiss full of saliva from Lily).
At the Royal Woods Gazette office, Rita is heading to her desk, when she discovers a Venus flytrap on her desk. The owner of the plant, Gary, arrives, and tells Rita that he's going undercover. He explains that when going undercover, it allows you to connect with the people you're hanging with. This causes Rita to get an idea. Entering Jesse's office, she says that she would like to go undercover at the high school in order to write an article about teen life, and Jesse gives her approval.
Rita in disguised as "Brita".
The next day, Rita is dropped off at the high school by Lynn Sr. with a new outfit and a new alias: Brita. Entering the cafeteria, Rita spots Leni sitting at a table by herself, and walks up to her, trying to pose as a new student. Leni lets "Brita" sit by her, and before long, she is introduced to her other two sisters, Luna and Luan. After shaking their hands, Luan instigates a food fight and Rita intends to punish Luan, but the three girls thank her, making Rita realize she's already bonding with them. Later, the three sisters tell "Brita" about some bits of their personal lives, like how Leni has a crush on a boy with a cowlick, Luna talking about an argument she and Sam had, and Luan letting her pull a prank on Principal Rivers alongside her.
Arriving home, Rita tells her husband that she completed her story, and had a great time spending time with her high school daughters. Lynn Sr. thinks that it means she's done with her undercover act, but Rita reveals that she's not stopping there, saying that for the first time in years, Leni, Luna and Luan have opened up to her and she wants to experience more of it. Despite Lynn Sr.'s warning that it will get out of hand, Rita says that she intends to catfish, as she bought a second phone for her Brita alias, almost letting it slip after Leni calls her and her voice making an echo. Later, Leni, Luna, Luan and Rita are hanging out at Burpin' Burger. After chugging their drinks as fast as possible, the three sisters tell "Brita" that, after talking it over, they want to invite her to their house for dinner, causing Rita to spit her drink out in surprise.
Once night comes, Leni, Luna and Luan introduce "Brita" to their house, and Rita nearly lets her identity slip by getting angry over Lana bringing mud into the house and Lynn Sr. awkwardly trying to treat his wife like an individual he never met. When dinner is ready, the girls discover that their mom is missing, prompting Rita to excuse herself to bathroom. After changing back into her normal clothes and jumping out a window, Rita arrives. When Luna notes that "Brita" has been in the bathroom for a while, Rita excuses herself so she can change back to Brita. After sitting down, Lily sees through Rita's disguise and Charles suddenly snatches her wig, revealing her charade to all of her kids. Distraught that their new best friend was their mother this whole time (as well as the fact that they confided in their deepest secrets with her), Leni, Luna and Luan leave, not wanting to listen to Rita's explanation.
Later that night, Rita sits in the living room with her laptop. When Lynn Sr. comes in with a meal in attempt to cheer her up, Rita reveals that she is scrapping her current report to make some modifications. The next day, Rita presents her article to Jesse, who is admittedly confused on what she's reading, and Rita says that it may not be the article she was expecting, but she had the need to write it. Later, the newspapers are published, and Leni, Luna and Luan, after finding newspapers around the house, read Rita's article:
I was supposed to go to Royal Woods High in search of a story on teenage life, but what I really was in search of was connection. As a mom with three high school girls, it's sometimes tough to accept that your kids are growing up. This story gave me an excuse to stay in their lives just a little bit longer, but it wasn't fair to them. What I learned in my time at Royal Woods High was that, as parents, we need to let our kids grow up and become independent, trusting that they'll come to us when they need to.
"I'd love that. But let me go freshen up really quick, it's been a crazy day."
Leni, Luna and Luan quickly meet up and ask if they read the article yet. At that moment, Rita arrives, and three quickly embrace her. Rita apologizes for violating their trust, and the girls now understand why she wanted to hang with them as Brita. After admitting that they had fun spending time with her, Luna decides that once a month, just the four of them would hang out, and Leni decides to make today their first time. Rita goes to clean herself, but falls victim to paint bomb Luan set up, saying she set that up before reading the article, but Rita states that she'll let it slide.
When Luna offers to explain to "Brita" about why she can't concentrate, she refers to Sam as her girlfriend,[1] which is further confirmation about them dating.
The way Luna jams on her guitar is most likely recycled animation from the song "Broken Heart" from "Band Together".
This episode reveals that Leni has a crush on another guy, implying that her and Chaz are no longer together.
At the start of the Louds having dinner with "Brita," Luan can be heard telling her "fungi" joke from Party Down.
This episode reveals that Charles will only sit on Rita's lap.[2]
Irony:
Lynn Sr. warned his wife that she couldn't keep up her act as "Brita" for long, and his worries would end up becoming true when Rita struggled to balance being herself and "Brita" during dinner.
When Luna remarks how "Brita" has been in the bathroom for so long, Rita tells her never to disturb someone's bathroom routine, only to decide to leave and get cleaned up, despite everyone thinking that "Brita" was still in the bathroom.
Cartoon biology: Carnivorous plants aren't so aggressive to humans in real life.
References[]
Undercover Mom - The title of this episode references the reality TV show Undercover Boss.
Mrs. Doubtfire - The premise of this episode is similar to this 1993 comedy-drama film, as they both involve an adult going undercover so they can hang out with a specific group of siblings. Coincidentally, the way their charades get exposed involve a part of their disguise falling off during a family dinner.
Errors[]
In Polish dub, sound isn't synchronized with picture.
The error has been corrected on Sky Showtime Portugal release of the episode with Polish audio.
At the beginning, when Rita is driving Leni, Luna, and Luan to high school, Leni, Luna, and Luan's positions in Vanzilla and through the rear-view mirror are the same. Their reflections through the mirror should've been the opposite.
Rita (as Brita) had a lunch bag when she entered the cafeteria and sat with Leni, but it disappears when Leni calls Luna over to meet "Brita".
Plot hole: During food fight Errol is seen among high school students, but in "Schooled!" he was in Canada. It's not explained what he was doing there.
During Luan's prank on Principal Rivers, Luan is holding the button in her right hand. When she presses the button, it's her left hand. When it cuts back to Luan, the button is in her right hand again.
As Lynn Sr. noticed Rita sneaking back in the house, he just started serving the spaghetti and most of the plates are still empty. But when Rita came back in the house, everyone's plates already have spaghetti.
In the selfie of Leni, Luna, Luan, and "Brita", Luan is missing her braces.
During the Burpin' Burger scene, when Luna said "Let's roll", closed-captions say "What's wrong?"
When Rita was about to spit her drink at Luan, Leni's mouth changes positions.
International edits[]
In the Bulgarian, Croatian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Indonesian and Malay dubs, Luna's line "My girlfriend Sam and I..." was censored to "My female friend Sam and I..." to remove any references to their relationship.
Curiously, the line was also censored in the Portuguese European dub in the exact same way, despite same-sex relationships being legal in Portugal. This was most likely a translation error, since in the Portuguese European dub for "The Loud Cloud" Luna actually refers to Sam as her girlfriend.
The Hebrew and Hungarian dubs use words that mean both "girlfriend" and "female friend" (חברה [/xɑːvɛrɑː/khah-ve-rah] in Hebrew and "barátnő" in Hungarian), although their relationship is not censored in the two aforementioned dubs.
Videos[]
Mom Spies On Her Kids! 'Under Cover Mom' ? - The Loud House
The Loud House - Mom Goes Undercover! - Nickelodeon UK
Mom Becomes a Teenager?! - Full Episode "Undercover Mom" in 5 Minutes! - The Loud House
Rita Loud Goes Undercover As a Teenager! - "Undercover Mom" Full Scene - Loud House
Sources[]
↑Loud, Luna (March 26, 2021). "Undercover Mom" (in English). The Loud House. Season 5. Episode 10b. "My girlfriend Sam and I got in a tiff over a riff, and now she's miffed!"
↑Loud, Leni (March 26, 2021). "Undercover Mom" (in English). The Loud House. Season 5. Episode 10b. "[Charles sees through Rita's disguise, whimpering happily. He hops onto her lap] / Leni: 'He must really like you. He only does that to my mom.'"
