'Toon Reviews 13: The Loud House Season 2 Episode 8: No Such Luck/Frog Wild

No Such Luck

Here’s a cartoon that leaves me conflicted on how to feel.  The choices made to tell the story are highly frustrating and lack many of the show’s strengths, yet to some extent they make sense to happen.  Admittedly, the cartoon starts out fine as we see Lincoln want some alone time with his schedule overloaded with going to his sisters’ big events.  This is both understandable and relatable since we all want time to ourselves, and through the visual interpretation of a calendar filled with sister heads, it feels like Lincoln is deserving of some free time.  His chance for that comes from an unlikely place when he’s roped into coming to Lynn’s baseball game, she loses, and she bans him from future games claiming that the loss is because Lincoln coming is bad luck.  She may be harsh when telling him this, but it makes sense for Lynn to feel this way since she’s been shown to be superstitious before in the series.  As for Lincoln, instead of challenging this claim as Lynn spreads it, he supports it which slowly convinces the rest of the family that he’s bad luck, even the smartest siblings and the parents.  For a while, when he’s banned from the family activities because of the claim, it’s nice and rewarding to see Lincoln enjoy the free time he’s apparently been denied for so long.  That said, since Lincoln himself supported being bad luck, it makes perfect sense for his actions to backfire when he starts missing out on activities that he’d enjoy such as going to the movies, as well as get bored with his free time.  However, the comeuppance Lincoln receives for his actions is really blown out of proportion when he’s forced out of his room and eventually kicked out of the house.  This is where my feelings for the cartoon become the most conflicted.  It’s true that this probably wouldn’t have happened if Lincoln didn’t support Lynn saying he’s bad luck, but what good family would even considering kicking one of their own kids out not to mention sell his furniture?  It’s just hard to deal with.  Also, they say the family supports each other, so if they think Lincoln’s bad luck, why don’t they try to get rid of the bad luck so he can join them?  Honestly, the only thing that could make up for all this is a good conclusion.  Do we get one?  At first it seems that way when Lincoln sneaks into Lynn’s next baseball game in a squirrel mascot suit and Lynn’s team wins making the family see he’s not bad luck.  Then in the final seconds, anything satisfying is ruined with the family only letting Lincoln join them while he’s wearing the squirrel suit.

Just look at that dejected look on Lincoln' face.  I'm sure someone behind the scenes have a reason for how this ending is satisfying, but I can't see it in the slightest.  I can never stand an ending with characters suffering after they clearly learned their lesson.  What Lincoln had to put up with would’ve been worth it if he took the suit off in frustration before Lynn hit the winning home run or if the family just let him back in as himself.  Instead, we’re stuck with another example of a factor that works against this show which is those dang unsatisfying conclusions.  Overall, while I can say that this cartoon is not a good one due to overly harsh moments from Lincoln’s family and the unsatisfying conclusion, the fact that what happens was partially inflicted by Lincoln himself at least prevents it from “Brawl in the Family” levels of bad as well as those of my bottom 3 for Season 1.  Plus, after this flub of an entry, the show’s quality finally starts getting consistent for the better…5/10

Frog Wild

While Lana was always a likable little tomboy, there wasn’t much to her character apart from loving unusual animals, gross habits, and playing dirty.  This season however works in her favor by giving her a lot of endearment to her usual character traits.  Even though she thinks differently through her unsanitary activities, she’s still an innocent and relatable 6-year-old already shown by her relatable fear of heights and being able to show some love with her twin despite their frequent squabbles.  This cartoon however features Lana’s endearing side at its best which in the process gives depth to her love of animals, specifically frogs.  When she hears that Lincoln’s class is going to be dissecting frogs, she takes immediate action to explain why she doesn’t approve.  You’d think that she’d go all preachy by stating vague statements on the greatness of all frogs.  However, what Lana shows to make her point is her own personal relationship with them.  She shows a home movie of how she first met her pet frog, Hops, which is portrayed like how any friends would meet.  They’re shown to have had fun together during their first meeting, and from there, their bond became so strong that they never wanted to leave each other’s side.  In addition to being cute and heartwarming, which are traits hard to expect from frogs and someone like Lana, it’s all you need to understand the point that animals, including frogs, have feelings too and understand why Lana loves them.  It also nicely convinces Lincoln that frogs deserve to live too, and inspires him to free the ones set for dissecting.  There’s a lot of great teamwork and bonding moments between Lincoln and Lana as they go through their rescue mission as well as some well-constructed suspense when they’re closed to getting caught, and plays with your expectations at times, particularly one scene involving an open window.  In addition, while Lincoln and Lana have the right idea of setting the frogs free, the cartoon also smartly shows that animals that have been in captive for a long time can’t survive in the wild on their own as shown when they don’t go free when Lincoln and Lana tell them to.  After they decide to just keep them in the Loud House for the time being, Lincoln and Lana get up to even more cute sibling bonding moments as they keep the frogs from being discovered from the humorously overly strict Principal Huggins who investigates the house for them.  There’s even greater suspense as Lincoln and Lana rush to hide every frog they come across from the principal with many close calls, and even some comedic gags involving some of the other sisters’ rooms.  As fun as this sequence is, the frogs get discovered anyway, making it seem like Lincoln and Lana’s efforts were pointless.  However, the adorable home movie from earlier plays a role in the resolution, and they, Principal Huggins, and Lincoln’s teacher come up with the perfect compromise, which is also the perfect ending point for all the characters involved.  This is one of those cartoons that work in so many ways, specifically with Lana’s development, her bonding with Lincoln, the message on animal rights, and just a cute and adventurous day in the life of the Louds.  It all amounts to one of show’s most commendable cartoons. 10/10

The Ranking

1. 11 Louds a Leapin’
2. Frog Wild
3. Lock n Loud
4. Baby Steps
5. Suite and Sour
6. Back in Black
7. Patching Things Up
8. The Whole Picture
9. The Old and the Restless
10. Intern for the Worse
11. Cheater by the Dozen
12. Making the Grade
13. Vantastic Voyage
14. No Such Luck
15. Brawl in the Family

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Lincoln and Clyde learn not to try and cram too many activities into one day in "Kick the Bucket List" and while Lori tries to throw a sophisticated party, the other Louds let loose and "Party Down."

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