Ok, so this cartoon reveals that Lincoln’s best friend Clyde has two dads. I applaud this revelation about the character because it’s a great sign of how much TV shows meant for family audiences have evolved and pays good respect towards the LGBT community. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about the actual cartoon. Given the emphasis on family life, it’s only natural that we’d get a cartoon about Lincoln wanting to have a sleepover with Clyde. After an explanation of why this is such a big deal for Lincoln which is aided by three hilarious flashbacks of his sisters’ sleepovers that caused havoc, Lincoln’s sleepover starts off kind of rough. He has a schedule that’s beyond tight (devoting time to booger flicking and armpit farting? Seriously?) and puts more care in keeping to it than having fun with his best friend. It gets even worse when Lincoln’s sisters offer some fun ways to make Clyde’s night at the Loud House exciting, and Lincoln doesn’t take this too kindly by only focusing on what he wants them both to do, constantly complaining about the whole deal in the process. I understand that Lincoln really wants to have a great first sleepover, but this behavior just makes him unpleasant to watch, especially since his sisters mean well and have some admittedly fun moments and ideas for what Clyde should try out on this night. Thankfully, the rest of the cartoon is a lot more enjoyable, and also insightful in how it adds depth to Lincoln and Clyde’s friendship. When Lincoln tries to find another friend to have his sleepover with, everyone who comes leaves in shock and fear because they can’t handle the antics of Lincoln’s sisters, all of which bring out a lot of laughs and appealing characteristics. It’s here that Lincoln grows to better appreciate Clyde as a friend, and at the same time, the audience is sure to appreciate Clyde more as a character. He is the only outsider who can handle so much chaos from a house filled with so many kids, and even like it due to being lonely as an only child. That’s certainly a trait to be found in an appealing character, and I really like that Clyde has the makings of one. It’s only fitting that a revelation and moment of character development that strong warrents a satisfying happy ending of Lincoln, Clyde, and all of Lincoln’s sisters enjoying the sleepover. Really, if you can get past Lincoln’s major jerky moments in the beginning, you’ll get enough fun moments to consider this as a real good sleepover cartoon. 8/10
Ties that Bind
Things get off to a good start as we open up with a nice display of an average chaotic Saturday morning in the Loud House with everyone getting up to their usual entertaining antics, meaning that this is a fun way of establishing the setting. After that, the plot gets going with Lincoln ending up near the bathroom vent where he hears Mom and Dad talking about how 11 of something is too much and that they’ll need to get rid of some of them. It seems like the plot is heading for some heavy subject matter as Lincoln comes to the conclusion that Mom and Dad are talking about getting rid of some of the siblings. However, all tension for a great emotional experience is tossed aside when the audience gets the answer to what Mom and Dad were talking about. In fact, they were talking about getting rid of Dad’s tie collection, which is frivolous. This really effects the cartoon because even though Lincoln and his sisters don’t know what Mom and Dad are really talking about, we as an audience do, and it makes the moments where they lament about being let go from the house feel silly. This is a problem because the cartoon treats these feelings as something serious and not as a joke, and their feelings should be treated as a joke because we know the truth. In fact, the ways the siblings try and show that they deserve to stay work a lot better as jokes if you didn’t know why they’re doing them, especially moments with Luan as a mime. Sadly, this isn’t the only problem with the cartoon. At one point, the siblings come to the conclusion that Lincoln will stay while all the sisters leave, and Lincoln seems a little too happy about this, fantasizing about how great life will be as an only child. I’m not very fond of how this makes the siblings’ bonds look in the cartoon. I mean, from what we’ve seen, Lincoln’s relationship with his sisters may not be perfect, but it’s still good overall, so to see him happy about them possibly being gone is really uncalled for. Not only that, but because of that scene, it’s a little hard to feel for Lincoln when he later gets the impression that he’ll be let go while everyone else stays. There are, fortunately, enough good points to save the cartoon from true destruction such as some truly heartwarming moments with the sisters vowing to make sure Lincoln doesn’t get sent away regardless of how he felt about the matter earlier, all of them finally learning the truth, and this whole cartoon being a good example of how Mom and Dad show off a lot of character through body language since we never see their faces allowing everything to be seen from the kids' perspective (at least for Season 1). Thanks to them, I can revisit the cartoon and enjoy myself, but the fact that we frustratingly know the whole story while the kids don’t and that this is one of the worst portrayal of the siblings’ bonds are pretty big problems. 6.5/10
The Ranking
1. Undie Pressure
2. Project Loud House
3. Space Invader
4. Driving Miss Hazy
5. Left in the Dark
6. Picture Perfect
7. No Guts No Glori
8. Changing the Baby
9. Sound of Silence
10. A Tale of Two Tables
11. Overnight Success
12. In Tents Debate
13. Linc or Swim
14. The Sweet Spot
15. Heavy Meddle
16. Get the Message
17. Ties that Bind
18. Making the Case
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where we learn about the hand-me-down process of the Loud family in "Hand-Me-Downer" and see both some of the best and worst moments from the Loud kids' relationships in "Sleuth or Consequences."
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