The Shedding

**The Shedding** is the fourth episode in Season 1 of *I ♥ Arlo*.

## Synopsis

After Arlo sheds his skin, his friends mistake it for a ghost — and the embarrassed alligator boy tries to hide the truth from them.

## Plot

One evening, Arlo comes out of the shower to admire himself when he notices his skin peeling; as it turns out, it's time for his frequent skin shedding. He sheds himself, leaving behind a replica of himself, which he decides to send to Edmée as a souvenir. Outside, Alia is chasing some seagulls when she sees Arlo's skin in his bedroom window and suspects it as a ghost. She barges into Arlo's room and lets him in on the supposed ghost she saw, and he soon finds out her descriptions of such match that of his skin, which he becomes nervous over. Alia then prepares the room for a protection ritual, and when she smells Arlo's skin, he distracts her before hiding his skin in the window, and she assumes the ghost left before leaving.

Arlo soon discovers how disgusting his skin is, and is determined to get it to Edmée before anyone else sees him. However, the skin has been taken by the king seagull Alia had been fighting earlier, and is unable to get it back from it. He falls out the window onto Bertie's bike, and she is surprised to see the skin fly off on the seagull just before Alia passes by and lets her in on it. Arlo offers to help her "catch" the ghost, as Bertie follows behind to make sure they don't get "possessed". Meanwhile, Tony and Furlecia are sharing a snack on the boardwalk when the seagull is entranced by Tony's bread and is attracted to such, and the two are frightened by it just as Arlo and Alia notice. Tony manages to drop the bread allowing Arlo to grab on, and Alia begins assuming the "ghost" took him.

Up in the sky, Arlo manages to get his skin back from the seagull, and floats safely down with it, but is spotted by an elderly couple. Landing in a dumpster, Arlo vows to hide there the rest of his life when Marcellus appears, who comes here as his "vacation home" to unwind from his duties at the fountain and enjoy discarded pizza crusts. Arlo tells his troubles and admits he's not fit for society; at first Marcellus just laughs it off, but sees how sad he is and asks why. Arlo finally reveals his shed skin to him, and to his surprise, Marcellus approves of it, having experienced a similar function when trapped in the tank. He then adds the trick to not being ashamed is not to hide it, which is why he wears just a speedo. Arlo feels better from his advice, and admits his shed skin isn't bad after all.

The moment is suddenly abruptly halted by Tony and Furlecia trying to shoo the skin away, followed by Alia trying to vacuum it up, vowing to "eliminate" the "ghost" once and for all. Arlo loudly shouts at everyone to stop, before proceeding to tell the truth that it's not a ghost, but a part of him, and he's learned his lesson to not be ashamed of his body and love the skin he has. Arlo's friends understand it was a disgusting bodily function and isn't scary at all even if it came from him. They then proceed to reveal their weird stuff going on with them: Alia has fleas, Tony gets night stains, Bertie gets guitar calluses, but Furlecia is just flawless. Marcellus then adds to Alia's words that they're all equally disgusting, and they all embrace themselves. Furlecia asks Arlo if she could use his skin for her new line of moisturizers, but Arlo turns it down as it's spoken for.

Meanwhile out in the swamp, Edmée comes to her door where she gets a package from Arlo containing the skin he shed, which she feels proud of, and adds it to her collection of shed skins through the years as a memento. Suddenly, she feels a disturbance and finds muddy footprints on her front porch, and suspiciously goes to investigate the mysterious stranger hiding in the trees before her.

## Cast

* Michael J. Woodard as Arlo Beauregard
* Mary Lambert as Bertie
* Jonathan Van Ness as Furlecia
* Haley Tju as Alia
* Brett Gelman as Marcellus
* Tony Hale as Teeny Tiny Tony
* Annie Potts as Edmée
* Michelle McMillan as Old Woman
* Mark Whitten as Old Man

## Trivia

* This is the first episode to take place at night.
* Edmée's first appearance in the series.
* This is the second time Arlo ends up naked following the movie.
* It's revealed Edmée has been keeping Arlo's shed skins for every year he molted.
* Arlo's bedroom is seen for the first time.
* The Bog Lady is foreshadowed at the end of the episode.