It’s great to know that Lincoln’s been on good terms with his
sisters a lot this season, especially since Season 1, more often than not,
portrayed them as obstacles that seemed to exist to give him a hard time. Not only has he gotten along well with them
more, but he’s also seemed to have made himself known as a competent plan-maker
the others are willing to follow, which is good considering the events of the show’s biggest misfire from earlier this season. With this cartoon, we have possibly the best
use of Lincoln as a highly valued and trustworthy Loud. The plot presents him as the “Master of Convincing”
which means that he’s skilled at convincing Mom and Dad to give him money for
certain things, in this case, a ticket for a VIP concert featuring his favorite
band, SMOOCH. Before he can convince
them however, Luna overhears his Master of Convincing claims, and begs him to
work his skills to help her win an auction for an antique t-shirt. On a side note, in a season with little for
her to do, this cartoon is one that does great justice for Luna as a character. For one thing, when asking Lincoln to help
her get money, she makes a good effort to keep her cool and not get hostile, which is especially refreshing considering her portrayal in another cartoon about money. Plus, her gratitude
towards Lincoln when his advice of convincing with her strengths and talents
gets Luna the money she needs is adorable and a good show of her caring ways,
as is how she proudly tells the other sisters about his talents, and her being the most
considerate about Lincoln’s later problem.
For now, when the other sisters find out that Lincoln’s the Master of
Convincing and he takes even more time out of his ticket plan to help them, there’s
even more proof of how effective Lincoln has become as a man with the
plan. Through a montage of all the
sisters doing what makes them so entertaining as they convince Mom and Dad to fund
what they want, they successfully get their money, and they all nicely praise
Lincoln for their success. They may not
do so to Luna’s extent, but their appreciation is still satisfying. Going back to the problem Lincoln runs into,
it turns out that while his advice works for his sisters, when he finally
approaches Mom and Dad for what he wants, they say no. While it’s easy to figure out right away that
it’s because they ran out of extra money through giving it away to his 10
sisters, Lincoln doesn’t get that, and spends much of the third act in a
panicky state that he, the Master of Convincing, had tactics that worked for
others, but they didn’t work for him.
Even if he’s not seeing the clear meaning of the situation, I can watch
and enjoy Lincoln pull off many crazy stunts, including imitating how the
sisters got money, because it’s believable that he’d be desperate to maintain
his status. He eventually finds out the
obvious reasons for Mom and Dad’s denial, and while it’s sad for him to not get
what he strived for, it really does make perfect sense and there’s no malice in
their reasons at all. However, this sad
moment for Lincoln brings on what is perhaps the best portrayal of
sibling love this show has put out. All
the sisters put on their own concert for Lincoln, and serenade him with their
own rock ballad of how grateful they are for his helpfulness, and believe me
when I say that it’s one you’ll constantly be humming after you hear it. They even spice it up by having SMOOCH
themselves come in to join them.
Everything about this ending is just so fun and so heartwarming that
you’re automatically invested, and it really makes itself clear that
despite everything, Lincoln’s sisters really do love him and appreciate him for
the good brother he is. Along with a fun
story, great character moments, and genuine family love all around, I say yes
to this cartoon being another highlight to this season. 10/10
Friend
or Faux
I’ve stated before that Lisa is not one of the most
interesting Louds since there’s really nothing to her aside from being a genius
at four years old. Still, that shouldn’t
stop her from getting some development, and we get that in one of the most
enjoyable and adorable entries of the series.
For starters, we see how Lisa’s intellect and passion for science
distances her from the kids in her kindergarten class, which can be relatable
to anyone who can get too absorbed in their interests to socialize with others. This character flaw becomes the major driving
force of the plot. On her report card,
Lisa has many As, but since she distances herself from the other kids and
hasn’t made a single friend, she has an F in social skills. Her focus set on maintaining a perfect
academic record, Lisa makes a deal with her teacher that if she can make a friend,
her grade will be raised. The following
sequence of Lisa attempting to research the meaning of friendship no doubt
features her at her most entertaining.
She approaches something as simple as making a friend as something
complicated that requires extensive field work where she observes her family
socializing with their friends, and records her findings. It’s certainly a unique approach to something
so simple, and it’s done to great appealing effect here. This is, after all, one of this show’s
biggest strengths. Lisa then puts her
research to use and gets the friendly attention of her classmate, Darcy. Personality-wise, Darcy is as standard little
kid as you can get, wide-eyed, excitable, carrying a stuffed animal, and always
wanting to play. However, what we see of
her is best-suited for her to work off of another
character. A cutesy character like Darcy
and a smart character like Lisa make for many nice interactions as they go
about their school day. Their completely
different traits bounce off each other very well with one’s mannerisms being
responded to by someone who doesn’t fully understand what they’re saying or
doing especially since Lisa is just befriending Darcy for her own academic
purposes. Speaking of which, Lisa
expects her bond with Darcy to be over and done with the moment she gets that A
in social skills. However, Darcy, as
you’d expect, can’t get enough of her new friend while Lisa just wants to
return to doing her own thing. You’d
think that this would make Lisa unlikable, but even when she’s trying to avoid
Darcy, she’s making a genuine attempt to be respectful towards her. Later when Darcy makes the ultimate move with
a friendship bracelet, Lisa turns it down saying that she used Darcy to get an A
the whole time. If you need any more
proof that Lisa’s still likable despite what she does, you’ll find it when she
feels believable regret for hurting Darcy’s feelings with her words. Not only that, but when Lisa’s put in timeout
for how she treated Darcy, she finally gets the point of friendship when Darcy
offers her a cookie out of sympathy, and she gladly accepts Darcy into her life, for she makes it better as good friends do.
In all, this whole cartoon works as a great way to make Lisa feel the
most relatable she’s been and end up with her most significant form of
development. It also greatly reaches out
for anyone who has trouble making friends and why they’re worth making, leaving
an adorable cartoon with a friend pairing worth watching, and one I hope
we see more of. For all these reasons,
this is indeed one of this show’s friendliest offerings. 10/10
The Ranking
- 11 Louds a Leapin’
- L is for Love
- Pulp Friction
- Frog Wild
- Yes-Man
- Party Down
- Friend or Faux
- Room with a Feud
- Lock n Loud
- Fool’s Paradise
- Fed Up
- Out of the Picture
- Job Insecurity
- Potty Mouth
- The Loudest Mission: Relative Chaos
- Spell it Out
- Baby Steps
- Shell Shock
- Suite and Sour
- Back in Black
- Future Tense
- Patching Things Up
- The Whole Picture
- Health Kicked
- Garage Banned
- Back Out There
- The Old and the Restless
- Kick the Bucket List
- Intern for the Worse
- Lynner Takes All
- Cheater by the Dozen
- Pets Peeved
- Making the Grade
- Vantastic Voyage
- Change of Heart
- ARGGH! You for Real?
- No Such Luck
- Brawl in the Family
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Luan is driven to give up comedy, and it's "No Laughing Matter," and while planning Mom's birthday party, the Louds try to ensure that Leni gives "No Spoilers."
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No SMOOCH concert for Lincoln, ruined.
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