Pulp
Friction
Two of the biggest strengths of this show are the
interesting characters and their relationships with other characters ,and
portraying little moments in life as something creative. Those strengths are on full display in this
cartoon which makes for one of the top-tier entries of this season and the
series. Right when it starts, there’s creativity
going on as we open with a scene played out like a comic with Lincoln and
Clyde, as their favorite superheroes Ace Savvy and One-Eyed Jack,
getting held captive by their foe, Wild Card Willy portrayed by Principal
Huggins. This creative way of staging
the scene is followed up with several strong character bonds worked in as we
see Lincoln’s sisters, also taking on the form of superheroes, come to the
rescue, and it’s just exciting to see their traits portrayed as superpowers
used to take out Wild Card Willy. Then
when we cut to the present and learn what was seen was a comic Lincoln and
Clyde created for an Ace Savvy contest inspired by how Lincoln’s sisters are always willing to help him. Given how this season has given the girls
poor portrayals, it’s refreshing to get a cartoon focusing on their positive
aspects, and they go beyond their portrayal in the comic. Principal Huggins confiscates the comic for weak
reasons and gives Lincoln and Clyde detention when they rightfully protest. That’s when the sisters come to their aid and
help out tremendously as gratitude for Lincoln including them in his
comic. Even in reality, the fact that
everyone plays a part in rescuing Lincoln and Clyde from detention and
retrieving the comic as the post office is about to close makes what the
sisters’ do some of their most heroic moments.
It starts off small with the younger sisters busting the boys out of
detention, and through reveals of their diversions, we slowly build-up to a
meeting with the older sisters in the car as they chase Principal Huggins
down. Speaking of him, while the comic
itself and the sisters pulling out all stops to help their brother and his
friend are great, one strong positive point is an unexpected one relating to
Principal Huggins. Throughout the
cartoon, he’s been shown to be a rule-bearing principal made even more
unlikable for punishing Lincoln and Clyde for no reason. As it turns out, he did have a reason which
is to submit his own comic for the contest without a clearly better one getting
in the way. If that sounds petty, it
gets better when he reveals that he really wants to win because when he was
young, he was constantly bullied and teased by his peers, and Ace Savvy was his
only friend. While it doesn’t
justify his actions which he appropriately regrets, this backstory
does make them understandable since what Principal Huggins went through is
believable and serves as a reminder of one of the strengths of loving fictional
characters like comic book heroes. Plus,
even though Lincoln and the gang have the right to punish him, he and Clyde do
understand where he’s coming from, and redo the ending to their comic. After another awesome sequence of the comic
world where Wild Card Willy now explains his motives and helps Ace and Jack
defeat the real evil threat, we end with the best ending one could hope for
when everyone meets the Ace Savvy creator like they had planned. Through packing in great displays of bonds
between family, the comic atmosphere, and even depth to the antagonist that
continues the trend of developing side characters, this cartoon is a full deck
of animated goodness that’s certainly worth watching. 10/10
Pets Peeved
One interesting thing about the big Loud family is that
they have many pets (not counting Lana’s pets).
They include Charles, a dog, Cliff, a cat, Geo, a hamster, and Walt, a
bird. They’ve appeared a lot throughout
the series, but haven’t shown anything major to their characters. Does a cartoon focusing on them help develop
them? Maybe a little. At the start of the cartoon, the setup is a
little interesting with everything seen from the pets’ perspective right down
to everyone, including the kids, having their faces hidden. This perspective doesn’t last long though
when the main plot kicks in. Lana comes home with a small white puppy she
found, and everyone gives him their full attention while commenting on how cute
it is. As you can imagine, the four
original pets are jealous of the attention the new puppy gets especially given
how much love the kids gave them before he arrived, and they plot to get rid of
him. It’s a common jealousy plot that
shows up frequently in many shows and movies, and the way it’s executed here is
basically point-for-point with nothing special added to it. This wouldn’t be such an issue if the pets
were interesting, but aside from Charles acting as the brains of the operation,
which includes the creative addition of explaining the current situation like a
general in his doghouse, the pets don’t seem to have any definitive personality
traits at all. They think like animals,
act like animals, and follow whatever their leader does without adding anything
of their own, though it’s a plus that they can get across some genuine emotion
without any dialog. Even if there isn’t
anything special about the plot, I can’t deny that there is some good heart to
it. The pets do get the puppy caught by
a dogcatcher, but they don’t wish any real harm onto him and think that he’s
going to go to a nice place. Also, when
it turns out that he’s being taken to a shelter where he could meet his end,
the pets soon decide to set out and rescue him.
The escape mission utilizes moments for all the pets to do something
useful like Geo cutting the security cameras and Cliff using Walt to break the
puppy out of his cage. They’re
constantly thwarted by that dogcatcher who feels like she has nothing better to
do than simply catch strays for the heck of it to aid in adding tension, but
the way she’s taken down is somewhat uneventful. She catches the pets as the puppy runs in
another direction, but when she gets back to the shelter, the puppy is
inexplicably on the roof ready to pounce on her even though he was clearly
going away from the shelter earlier.
Thankfully, it leads to the most heartfelt moment of the cartoon when
the kids show genuine concern for all their lost pets, and not just the puppy,
and become ecstatic when they all finally come home. It even continues when a cute little girl,
who sounds believable with a voice clearly from a child with little acting
experience, comes to take the puppy, named Watterson, home, though he leaves a
clear sign that he and the four original pets are now good friends. This
pet-centered cartoon may not be that creative or interesting, but with its
heart clearly in the right place, it’s still well-executed, so there’s no harm
in giving it a watch. 8/10
The Ranking
- 11 Louds a Leapin’
- Pulp Friction
- Frog Wild
- Party Down
- Lock n Loud
- Fed Up
- Baby Steps
- Shell Shock
- Suite and Sour
- Back in Black
- Patching Things Up
- The Whole Picture
- The Old and the Restless
- Kick the Bucket List
- Intern for the Worse
- Cheater by the Dozen
- Pets Peeved
- Making the Grade
- Vantastic Voyage
- No Such Luck
- Brawl in the Family
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where this show joins the club of family shows with cartoons on swearing in "Potty Mouth," and love is all around from the family and beyond in "L is for Love."
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