If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:
Everybody
Loves Leni
The title of this cartoon is quite accurate. Lacking brains but full of heart, Leni is a great character for others to befriend, and it makes sense why she’s so liked by everyone in-universe as well as many of this show’s fans. As far as in-universe characters go, the story has them like Leni to a fault.
There are two groups of people who consider Leni as a great friend,
Fiona and Miguel from her job at the mall, and Jackie and Mandee from school. The conflict is that both groups discover
that Leni never told them that she was good friends with the other group, and
they immediately decide they don’t like each other. Right away we have a red flag to this
setup. Leni’s mall friends and school
friends only just meet each other, and act passive aggressively keen to get
away from them. Who in the right mind
would just immediately dislike someone without seeing what the other person is
like first? I’d understand if they did
something wrong to them, but that’s never the case. The best reason for animosity I can see could possibly be Fiona and Miguel, and Jackie and Mandee thinking the other group is
trying to steal Leni from them. Still, did it
ever occur to them that maybe Leni has lives outside of the groups and is allowed
to have more friends than them? That
should be common knowledge.
As you can
tell, what this cartoon is going for is kind of frustrating, but Leni herself,
being the good soul she is tries so hard to appease both groups of
friends. That said, her attempts go
horribly wrong, with plenty of cringe-worthy cover-ups when she tries calling
her mall friends while hanging out with her school friends. It only leads to uncomfortable messes and
scorn from both parties that further divides everyone.
In some of the more wholesome moments of the
cartoon, Leni gets advice from the more level-headed Louds, Lincoln and Lori,
on how to properly get everyone to bond.
Leni puts together a party for her and her friends with games and snacks
hoping they’ll be won over by the amenities and come together as a result. That would be the case for those who are
truly open-minded, but not this group of friends. They don’t even try to get along with each
other. They’re constantly complaining
about each other’s interests and even where they come from. It’s at this point that their problems they
have with each other are borderline irrational.
The fact that their negative emotions are about Leni being friends with the
other group only makes everything worse.
It gets so bad that Leni decides to skip out on a blow-out sale she and
her friends were looking forward to, knowing that someone will be disappointed
no matter her choice. Thankfully, when her mall friends and school friends
realize what she’s doing, they realize their faults in this whole conflict. When they come to her house and Leni’s about
to use advice that neither of them should have her if they can’t share her, to
her best ability anyway, they tell her their revelation. So, the cartoon ends well with everyone
putting genuine effort to try and get along for the sake of keeping Leni as a
friend. It’s a good payoff to the
conflict, but I can’t help but think of how stronger this cartoon would have
been if there was a legit reason for the friend groups not liking each other. Not to mention why they don’t know people can
have other friends or that it's so hard to even try to befriend other people.
They’re baffling
plot decisions, but despite all frustrations, they work out thanks to the good
payoff and Leni’s from-the-heart attempts to make everyone happy despite
everything.
A-
Middle Men
There’s no way to question it. Lynn is the Loud who’s the not just the most
aggressive, but has the most questionable practices. Some of them tie into her aggression where
she acts rough without consent or regard for safety. There’s also her gross habits, turning
everything into a sport, and need to gloat with every win. All of these qualities give Lynn a divisive
reputation among fans. I personally find
her fun to watch most of the time, but it makes sense why others are turned off
by her. As for her questionable practices,
they transcend to school too. However,
they lead to a big reveal on Lynn’s biggest showing of humanity to date.
Lincoln and Clyde are going for a test run at
middle school since that’s where they’ll enroll after graduation. When Lynn hears about this, she’s quick to
sign up to be their orientation buddy.
Through it all, the guidance Lynn shares with the boys suggests that her
idea is to transform them into smaller male versions of her. During the actual orientation, whenever
Lincoln and Clyde show ways to get around, Lynn instantly sees fault in
them. They pull out a map to find their
classes, and Lynn tells them about a kid who was teased for being a
newbie. They offer a seat to another
student, and Lynn tells them about a kid who had to use a faulty desk, got
stuck in it, and had to be greased out.
They make a mistake in the science lab, and Lynn tells them not to own
up to it so they won’t end up like a kid who got belittled for doing that.
From the sounds of this advice, it can be
looked at as the makings of middle school bullies. That’s not to say Lynn herself is a bully
since her rough actions are always in the name of fun, and she’s genuinely
proud when she sees Lincoln and Clyde pull off her tips. Still, they obviously don’t
sound appropriate in a public school setting at all, so it’s concerning that
Lincoln and Clyde don’t see anything wrong with what’s told to them.
When it’s time for them to fly solo for the
rest of their visit, they cause tons of blunders. Getting lost on their way to a class without
asking for directions make them ruin work of a photography class. They anger kids by taking their assigned
desks. They make a mess in gym and don’t
confess, though that could have been avoided if they were careful where they
stepped. In short, Lincoln and Clyde become
enemies with so many kids, that they’re sentenced to get beaten up by all of
them on the blacktop.
This is where
Lynn’s human layer shows. In all her
stories, she was the one who was belittled and bullied when she started middle
school. It’s kind of obvious given how
specific the stories were, but feeling the need to be tough after a bad school
experience does make Lynn more relatable than ever. Selling all this is her genuine regret when
Lincoln and Clyde get in trouble because of her advice, and she even offers to
take the fight for them. The boys go out
on their own anyway since it’s really their battle. As for the fight, it’s pretty anti-climactic
when it turns out the middle schoolers were never going to fight them at all
since the boys did still mess them up badly.
Nevertheless, it’s nice for Lincoln and Clyde to get accepted after what
they went through and Lynn to see appeal in their approach to school.
If you needed to be convinced that Lynn has a
good heart amidst her aggression, this is a cartoon to get schooled in. It can get bone-headed in parts, but those
moments are minor and the whole story has a satisfying payoff for everyone.
A-
The Ranking
- Really Loud Music
- Head Poet’s Anxiety
- Roadie to Nowhere
- Shop Girl
- Breaking Dad
- Gown and Out
- Fandom Pains
- Insta-Gran
- Selfie Improvement
- Scales of Justice
- Middle Men
- Net Gains
- Crimes of Fashion
- Everybody Loves Leni
- The Spies Who Loved Me
- No Place Like Homeschool
- House of Lies
- The Mad Scientist
- City Slickers
- Missed Connection
- Fool Me Twice
- Deal Me Out
- Teachers’ Union
- Tripped!
- White Hare
- A Fridge Too Far
- Sitting Bull
- Game Boys
- Pasture Bedtime
- Absent Minded
- What Wood Lincoln Do?
- Friendzy
- Pipe Dreams
- Be Stella My Heart
- Rita Her Rights
- Ruthless People
The next Loud House review is a horror-themed episode where Lincoln and Clyde turn out to be embarrassingly cowardly at everything, but Lola has a well-constructed horror story of making a doll look creepy and never go away.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the Season 5 premiere for Steven Universe "Stuck Together."
It's not as if she'd be all that whippy about running to Mommy and Daddy about the way she was treated so it's likely that the parents have no idea why she acts the way she does.
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