'Toon Reviews 13: The Loud House Season 2 Episode 3: Baby Steps/Brawl in the Family

Baby Steps

Since this season has already given development to the Louds’ neighbor, the gas station owner, and Lincoln’s grandpa, that sets up a major strength for this season, which is developing characters outside the Loud family . This makes the show’s world more vast and appealing.  This time, it’s Clyde’s turn to get development which helps move him past just being Lincoln’s supportive friend and constantly crushing on someone older than him. He’s given a believable conflict to deal with which comes with understandable anxieties.  He hears and sees signs that his dads are planning on adopting another baby, meaning that he’ll be a big brother, except he doesn’t know how to pull it off.  Since his best friend is a big brother of a significant number of sisters, of course Clyde turns to Lincoln for help.  We’re treated to several examples of how Lincoln really knows what to do when taking care of his younger siblings which give Clyde good reasons for turning to him.  From cheering up siblings who get hurt to simply helping them with a problem or difficulty, Lincoln’s character is on good display as he shows how to deal with his younger siblings as well as act cool under the pressures of a big family.  Plus, his brotherly moments are particularly adorable.  Clyde, being someone who’s new to being a big brother, is understandably not as good as Lincoln, completely cracking under the pressure of the younger sisters’ demands for help, having no choice but to bribe them with cookies.  The thing that makes Clyde endearing here is that he admits that it’s because he lacks confidence for caring for a younger sibling, which is a reason why anyone can falter badly at anything.  With Clyde’s problem easy to get behind, that’s enough to hope that he can get through it.  Lincoln at first has some of the younger sisters’ stage fake problems for Clyde to solve, but he finds out the act.  What does get Clyde the confidence he needs is rescuing Lana from a tree when she’s genuinely in trouble.  Not only does the moment show a more endearing side of Lana (which we’ll see more of this season) but it’s a very nice and clever end to Clyde’s anxiety problems.  They do seem all for naught when he finds out his dads were just talking about getting a kitten.  I would also say that the plot could’ve been avoided if Clyde asked his dads what was up at the start (which will be the case with many cartoons this season), but at least what made Clyde initially believe what he did seemed convincing at the time.  Plus, while he doesn’t have a new human sibling, what Clyde learned is at least put to some good use.  Overall though, this cartoon is a cute little success for Clyde as a lead character, further enhanced by the noteworthy and adorable moments of all who support in the story. 9.5/10

Brawl in the Family

I never thought this show's cartoons could get worse than “The Green House,” but here we are.  Everything about this cartoon snowballs into a completely frustrating pain for the entire runtime, going against everything great about this show. 

It’s about Lori and Leni buying the same dress which leads to a fight between them.  You might wonder what the big deal about this is.  Fights happen between the Loud siblings all the time and actions are always taken to stop them when they go too far.  Here, the fight is approached with a protocol with very harsh and unfair guidelines as to what rooms can be accessed, what activities people can do, and what things people can use.   I don't know about you, but I'd say that the fight leading to guidelines like this is definitely it going too far. That said, the biggest point of frustration is that almost everyone doesn’t see a problem with this.  Do they seriously WANT to be forbidden from getting a good snack from the kitchen or use a bucket to do their business instead of the bathroom?  Also, how can they POSSIBLY tolerate letting what’s going on get in the way of their hobbies?  I certainly don’t expect Luna to be fine with not being able to play music, Lynn not playing sports, Lisa not doing experiments, or anyone not being able to watch their favorite TV shows.  All this is because two of the sisters can’t get along, and the fact that their routines are drastically shaped from this one fight over something frivolous is unhealthy.  It’s the equivalent of giving into a spoiled brat or an abusive partner in a relationship.  Behaviors and fights like this should be not tolerated, not treated as a normal part of life especially when they direct what innocent bystanders can and can’t do.  It gets even worse when even the parents (despite disciplining the kids when they were out of line before) and people outside Loud family just go along with this.  The only character smart enough to see the protocol's problems is Lincoln which only enhances the pain when it directly affects him through him getting kicked out of his room or him losing his bedsheets.  Yet, he’s not portrayed well either.  The show constantly establishes him as the man with the plan who knows how to get around the Loud House and how to solve problems between him and his siblings, which was even present in the cartoon this one is paired with.  Here however, Lincoln idiotically makes the fight worse by saying insulting things about Lori and Leni wearing the dress which of course wouldn’t work.  You just know the cartoon will just get worse if it has to go against one of the big rules of the show’s setup to make the plot work.  If that’s not enough, there’s another frustrating source of fight escalation.  Lincoln actually comes up with a smart plan of having Luna bunk with Lori and Luan bunk with Leni.  Going back to the protocol, it’s said to exist to not have others get involved in the fight.  Ignoring that lives being shaped by the fight and the victims moving the fight’s instigators already botches the protocol, Luna and Luan completely break that rule by taking sides in Lori and Leni’s fight instead of staying neutral and ignoring them talk about what happened.  Plus, they and other sisters add on stupid insults that have nothing to do with the dress issue which escalates the fight, but SOMEHOW this is Lincoln’s fault.  Speaking of that, everything builds up to an ending where Lincoln escapes the fight for a while, and it stops when he returns.  The sisters explain that whole fight stopped because Lincoln left.  I get the cartoon is trying to say there are some problems you can’t solve, which is true to real life, but the ending’s execution makes it seem like ALL problems as opposed to SOME problems could be solved if Lincoln wasn’t around, and bring unfortunate implications that anyone watching could solve problems if they weren't in anyone's life, or life in general.  That's just really depressing and hurtful; no one should ever feel like they're worthless no matter what the circumstances.  Basically the scene’s a big disgrace to Lincoln’s established role in the show which is hammered in further when we end with him starting another fight with idiotic and pointless insults…

I know this review ended up being pretty long, but this cartoon is filled with so many problems and points of frustration that I ended up with lots to vent about.  It could’ve turned out this way because it needed to be get to the animation phase quickly which meant there wasn't time to fix any story issues, or what the writers find funny is simply different from people like me find funny.  No matter what the reason for the quality, this cartoon is one huge mistake.  It goes against everything this show has established regarding how fights are approached, how Lincoln is portrayed, and how fine with overbearing abuse and ridiculousness the world around him is.  It’s hard to see humor or entertainment, and is devoid of the heart the show is known for.  As a result, the audience is left with a complete pain of an experience.  Take my advice, avoid this cartoon and watch better ones from this show (or any other show) instead.  For now, we can only hope that The Loud House never messes up this badly ever again. 1/10

The Ranking

1. 11 Louds a Leapin’
2. Baby Steps
3. The Old and the Restless
4. Intern for the Worse
5. Brawl in the Family

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where we see how well Mom and Dad can carry a cartoon now that they're free to express themselves with their faces shown in "Suite and Sour," and we see how well Lucy can act as a regular, normal girl in "Back in Black."

If you would like to check out other Loud House reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.