'Toon Reviews 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 23

One of the Boys

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming off a cartoon where Lincoln got his own figurative big brother, here’s a cartoon that further explores how hard it is to live with so many sisters.  It follows him being put down by the cons of the lifestyle, even if one of them contradicts the continuity of "In Tents Debate" with all the sisters turning down an offer to go to Dairyland even though 5 of the sisters, especially Lana like it.  Anyway, Lincoln is led to wonder what life would be like if he had 10 brothers.  The bulk of the cartoon gives a Lincoln a chance to see that life with the aid of a watch that can allow him to travel to different dimensions and at first, life there seems great for him.  The brothers themselves are basically male versions of the sisters, except they all share the same interests and gross habits as Lincoln just turned up to 11.  This makes the brothers stereotypical making it seem like all boys like being gross.  Well, for one thing, I'm a boy and I don't enjoy the gross habits these brothers partake in, and for another, we already have male characters like Clyde and Bobby who aren't gross, brutish figures, so why enforce stereotypes like these. Well, I suppose stories could make a lot of worse decisions than this.  However, the stereotypical portrayals get worse when shortly after Lincoln decides to stay in this dimension, the cartoon’s entertainment goes down as the brothers start bullying Lincoln, not caring that they’re causing him actual pain.  These scenes are very hard and uncomfortable to watch after the legitimately nice moments Lincoln got up to with the brothers.  Worse than that, they further enhance the stereotypes that all boys are like this when that's completely untrue, even in the context of this very show. Still, there is a somewhat positive to all this when Lincoln realizes how good he has it in his real life.  After all, from what we’ve seen this season, his sisters may have their moments, but he still has a good relationship with all of them, so Lincoln really shouldn’t have even thought to give his old life up.  Eventually, Lincoln does successfully get back to where he belongs, first by arriving in a dimension which shows that the brothers would be a lot nicer and respectful to him if he was a girl which admittedly is a pretty nice scene, and him realizing that the whole experience was just a dream.  Yes, it’s a cheap decision to explain what we saw, but it still makes for a nice satisfying end where the sisters, despite later calling out Lincoln for acting weird, show how much they care for their brother by comforting him from his nightmare, and Lincoln showing that he’s learned his lesson.  The decisions made with the story and characters may hurt the entertainment factor and contradict a lot of what the show has established, but thanks to its good display of the show’s theme of appreciating what you have in life, in my eyes, it narrowly avoids turning out bad. 6.5/10

A Tattler’s Tale

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve already seen how Lola can be entertaining despite falling into a character archetype that usually isn’t enjoyable.  While being entertaining is all fine and good, it’s great that we have this cartoon to let us know that Lola is capable of being a strong character in her own right, making this one of the best cartoons of this show to date.  We start off with a set of scenes that demonstrate her entertaining qualities as a bratty character when she picks up secrets her siblings tell each other in their own club which they won’t allow her to join due to her status as a tattletale.  By the way, the scenes of the secret club show some nice sibling love with everyone knowing they can trust each other with holding secrets they don’t want to tell their parents really adding to this cartoon’s appeal.  Back onto Lola, her entertaining qualities come through where she gets her siblings to do things for her by silently and ominously reminding them of their secrets, subtly threatening to expose them if they don’t do as she says.  It’s a great contrast from what we usually see from brats who often act the opposite way to get what they want, and it’s also funny to see such a creepiness factor come from a girly and pink character.  Plus, a lot of humor comes from the siblings doing Lola’s bidding.  All these moments lead up to the ending where Lola surprises her siblings and all in the audience with how great and mature she’s capable of being.  It happens when she realizes that her blackmailing has turned her brother and sisters against her when they manage to dig up major dirt on her and threaten to tell on her.  You might think, given her nature, that Lola would just go ahead and rat them all out to end it all.  Instead, she actually gets herself grounded on behalf of her siblings’ wrongdoings.  If that’s not enough, she goes onto say that she blackmailed everyone so they could hang out together regretting that she went about it the wrong way, showing off a vulnerable and lonely side to her character.  It’s just amazing that a character of Lola's kind has all these endearing layers to her.  It helps make you view her differently in the future, and also show genuine sorrow for her getting grounded, not to mention happiness when her actions appropriately reward her with her siblings’ trust.  The way this cartoon plays with your emotion delivering laughs, tears, and great character moments make the whole viewing experience insightful and heartwarming.  It does so much so well, I gladly rank it near the top. 10/10

The Ranking

1.      For Bros About to Rock

2.      A Tattler’s Tale

3.      Undie Pressure

4.      Project Loud House

5.      Space Invader

6.      A Fair to Remember

7.      Driving Miss Hazy

8.      Left in the Dark

9.      Toads and Tiaras

10.  Picture Perfect

11.  Dance, Dance Resolution

12.  House Music

13.  Save the Date

14.  Sleuth or Consequences

15.  Hand-Me-Downer

16.  No Guts No Glori

17.  Roughin’ It

18.  Attention Deficit

19.  Changing the Baby

20.  Along Came A Sister

21.  April Fools Rules

22.  A Novel Idea

23.  Sound of Silence

24.  Butterfly Effect

25.  A Tale of Two Tables

26.  Cereal Offender

27.  Cover Girls

28.  It’s A Loud, Loud, Loud, Loud House

29.  The Waiting Game

30.  Overnight Success

31.  Raw Deal

32.  In Tents Debate

33.  Lincoln Loud: Girl Guru

34.  Out on a Limo

35.  Linc or Swim

36.  The Sweet Spot

37.  Heavy Meddle

38.  Get the Message

39.  Come Sale Away

40.  Ties that Bind

41.  One of the Boys

42.  Making the Case

43.  Chore and Peace

44.  The Loudest Yard

45.  Two Boys and a Baby

46.  The Green House

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Luan proves to be more than just a pun machine in "Funny Business," and the Louds have fun with snow days, snowballs, and Peanuts references in "Snow Bored."