A beautifully written message about a sensitive subject. Death is never easy for kids' shows to tackle, and The Thank You Note did it the best of any show from my childhood. In a misunderstood quest to send his late grandmother the final words he never got a chance to say, Louie also learns the beliefs of multiple religions regarding death, all of which the show handled with the utmost respect.
3 Reviews
An extraordinary episode
ensar-3263014 July 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Normally in cartoons nobody dies but in this episode louie's grandmother dies.
I remember watching this when i was a kid. This episode told me truth of dead. I believe this episode have a place in all the kids watched this episode.
Thanks you Louie Anderson for this episode and for changing our life.
I remember watching this when i was a kid. This episode told me truth of dead. I believe this episode have a place in all the kids watched this episode.
Thanks you Louie Anderson for this episode and for changing our life.
Where Are We Going?
ExplorerDS67891 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
After receiving yet another sweater from Grandma on his birthday, Louie is told to send her a thank you note. However, being the world-class procrastinator that he was, he kept putting it off. Every time he was about to write it, he willingly put it aside and went to hang with his friends. He knew he'd have plenty of time to write Grandma a thank you note.. until that one fateful day, when Ora came into his room in tears, and she sat Louie down and told him the awful news, that Grandma had passed. According to her attorney, she had left her collection of photo albums to Ora, and to Andy, she wanted him to deliver the eulogy at her funeral. As he struggles to think up some nice words to say about his mother in-law, Louie still ponders what to do about his thank you note. He knew Grandma wasn't alive anymore, so he wanted to find out her new address and send her the note. He asks Andy, who tells him Grandma is with God, and since God is everywhere, Louie thinks Grandma is too. When that didn't work, he went down to the local church to speak to the priest in the confessional. The father tells him his grandmother went to heaven, but when Louie asks for Heaven's address, the father comes up short on answers. And if you think Louie is being naive or dumb, then you're ridiculous. Plenty of children ask these types of questions when a loved one dies. Deciding to look elsewhere, Louie accompanies Mrs. Stillman to Temple Beth Israel and asks the Rabbi, who assures Louie that Grandma has gone someplace good, but cannot give any direct answers... some rabbis say yes, some rabbis say no. Deciding to seek other religions, Louie discovers that they ALL have different interpretations of the afterlife: paradise, Val Hallah, even Cleveland. The Monks believe in reincarnation, which leads Louie to suspect his grandmother has come back in a different life form, any creature at all. Poor, confused boy.
While Louie was trying to find out about the afterlife, Andy struggles endlessly to come up with nice things to say about Mrs. Sherman, but all he does is turn his usual insults around into semi-positives. Then one day, he just sits down and takes a hard look at Grandma's photos, and he remembers the time she rearranged his tools alphabetically, and credits that to her great sense of humor. He's also still got a scar from the time Grandma accidentally opened the awning of the ice skate shack in his face, a little momento. So while things were looking better for Andy, poor Louie had taken to gathering up every bug he could find, thinking one of them was Grandma reincarnated. Fortunately, Principal Halloran stopped him from becoming a laughingstock by bringing him into her office, then she phones Ora to come down to the school to have a talk with the boy. He goes over everything he learned from all the religious people he talked to, and how jumbled their interpretations of the afterlife are. But he still doesn't know how to get Grandma her thank you note. So, Ora takes him to his grandmother's house and shows him the photographs by her bed, saying she had a special place in her heart for Louie, who agreed that she knew everything about him and knew what he was feeling, so his mother assures him wherever Grandma went, she knew Louie was thankful. At the funeral, Andy managed to give a pretty heartfelt eulogy, probably as heartfelt and genuine as he ever sounded. Then, Louie reads his thank you note and leaves it on Grandma's grave. After that, things slowly returned to normal... until Andy received a call from Grandma's lawyer, who just discovered a Deus Ex Machina clause in the old lady's will. In other words, he "forgot" to read the last page, and it's something else for Andy. Money? Yes, but not FOR him. See, Grandma was nice enough to "let" Andy pay all her legal bills. Ha ha, one last laugh at her son in-law's expense. That's our Grandma.
This is probably the best episodes of Life With Louie, it's beautifully made from start to finish. It handles the subject of death very maturely for a children's Saturday morning cartoon. They give it to us straight, they even correctly portray how children interpret the death of a family member. I think this episode needs to be played in schools, by grief counselors, or anybody who helps children trying to cope with the loss of a loved one. I mean, this episode is so smart, so heartfelt, and funny, but only when appropriate. That scene when Ora takes Louie to Grandma's house and tells him how much she loved him, and when Louie tears up, I get misty eyed myself. Seriously, I find myself crying at that moment, and when Ora tells Andy she misses her mom. I'm not someone who cries easily at movies and television, but this one always does the trick. I lost my grandmother in February of this year, I know what the Andersons were going through. I also like how they attached some levity at the very end, letting us go out with a laugh. Bottom line, I urge EVERYONE to watch this episode and show it to ANYONE who wants to explain death to their children, or to a friend, or anybody at all. It's very important. Like when talking about where babies come from, Life With Louie handled death in a mature, honest fashion, at least from a child's point of view. It's a masterpiece, and it should've won an Emmy. Did they give Emmys to Saturday morning cartoons? If not, they should've made an exception here. Also, this episode served as a nice tribute to Mary Wickes, who passed away in late 1995. That's why we didn't see Grandma in Season 2, because Wickes died after "When Cedar Knoll Freezes Over", and she was in the middle of voicing Laverne in Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. R.I.P. Mary Wickes and R.I.P. Henrietta Sherman.
While Louie was trying to find out about the afterlife, Andy struggles endlessly to come up with nice things to say about Mrs. Sherman, but all he does is turn his usual insults around into semi-positives. Then one day, he just sits down and takes a hard look at Grandma's photos, and he remembers the time she rearranged his tools alphabetically, and credits that to her great sense of humor. He's also still got a scar from the time Grandma accidentally opened the awning of the ice skate shack in his face, a little momento. So while things were looking better for Andy, poor Louie had taken to gathering up every bug he could find, thinking one of them was Grandma reincarnated. Fortunately, Principal Halloran stopped him from becoming a laughingstock by bringing him into her office, then she phones Ora to come down to the school to have a talk with the boy. He goes over everything he learned from all the religious people he talked to, and how jumbled their interpretations of the afterlife are. But he still doesn't know how to get Grandma her thank you note. So, Ora takes him to his grandmother's house and shows him the photographs by her bed, saying she had a special place in her heart for Louie, who agreed that she knew everything about him and knew what he was feeling, so his mother assures him wherever Grandma went, she knew Louie was thankful. At the funeral, Andy managed to give a pretty heartfelt eulogy, probably as heartfelt and genuine as he ever sounded. Then, Louie reads his thank you note and leaves it on Grandma's grave. After that, things slowly returned to normal... until Andy received a call from Grandma's lawyer, who just discovered a Deus Ex Machina clause in the old lady's will. In other words, he "forgot" to read the last page, and it's something else for Andy. Money? Yes, but not FOR him. See, Grandma was nice enough to "let" Andy pay all her legal bills. Ha ha, one last laugh at her son in-law's expense. That's our Grandma.
This is probably the best episodes of Life With Louie, it's beautifully made from start to finish. It handles the subject of death very maturely for a children's Saturday morning cartoon. They give it to us straight, they even correctly portray how children interpret the death of a family member. I think this episode needs to be played in schools, by grief counselors, or anybody who helps children trying to cope with the loss of a loved one. I mean, this episode is so smart, so heartfelt, and funny, but only when appropriate. That scene when Ora takes Louie to Grandma's house and tells him how much she loved him, and when Louie tears up, I get misty eyed myself. Seriously, I find myself crying at that moment, and when Ora tells Andy she misses her mom. I'm not someone who cries easily at movies and television, but this one always does the trick. I lost my grandmother in February of this year, I know what the Andersons were going through. I also like how they attached some levity at the very end, letting us go out with a laugh. Bottom line, I urge EVERYONE to watch this episode and show it to ANYONE who wants to explain death to their children, or to a friend, or anybody at all. It's very important. Like when talking about where babies come from, Life With Louie handled death in a mature, honest fashion, at least from a child's point of view. It's a masterpiece, and it should've won an Emmy. Did they give Emmys to Saturday morning cartoons? If not, they should've made an exception here. Also, this episode served as a nice tribute to Mary Wickes, who passed away in late 1995. That's why we didn't see Grandma in Season 2, because Wickes died after "When Cedar Knoll Freezes Over", and she was in the middle of voicing Laverne in Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. R.I.P. Mary Wickes and R.I.P. Henrietta Sherman.
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