Thursday, July 4, 2019

Predict Ability / Driving Ambition (The Loud House Season 3 Episode 22) - 'Toon Reviews 30

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Predict Ability

A common criticism nearly any element of media tends to get is of being too predictable.  Personally, I focus more on how a story is told than what it’s about, but I also consider myself a strong advocate for mixing up formulas whenever showrunners get a chance.  This makes for an interesting subject in this cartoon, but like a good number of times in this show where teaching a moral is the main focus, it tends to get ridiculous. 
When it comes to his daily customs and interests, everyone knows what Lincoln is going to do every single day.  Lincoln takes these observations to heart and sees it as a problem that he’s becoming too predictable.  This right here shows how worrying over such observations can go either way.  No one really admonishes Lincoln for his typical customs and simply state their honest observations.  Although he’s really overreacting when fearing growing old doing the same old thing, Lincoln does have a good idea to mix things up. 
Thanks to a box of hand-me-down clothes up in the attic and a versatile mindset, he has a lot of options for certain paths to follow.  One day, he dresses up in a radically different fashion, has something different for breakfast, picks a different partner for class, and even becomes the superstar of gym.  This is a benefit to doing something different from his norm which even comes with a few personal accomplishments people don’t usually see from him.  However, this is just for one day which means Lincoln has to come up with different styles and ways of doing things for every other day. 
It’s at this point where his push for being unpredictable gets out of hand.  It probably wouldn’t be such a big deal if he did things that weren’t just different, but also things that he’s comfortable with and are productive.  While there’s nothing wrong with showing up to school in different costumes, going with many eccentric behaviors offer little to no benefits.  I mean, what good is changing Lincoln’s behavior if it just makes him late for school whether he’s walking there like a businessman or riding a unicycle like a clown?  Some of his customs don’t even get him the academic success he had before whether he’s a mime who can’t speak or riding in a wagon and can’t keep up with his gym class.  Going beyond the costumes, it’s frustrating that his push for unpredictability causes him self-harm through going to the bathroom last or having something gross for breakfast. 
The point is, Lincoln may have had a point with his intentions, but after making good use of his plan the first time, it’s frustrating that he’s not considering practicality in his new styles.  What’s more, the one thing that gets him out of this is running out of costumes and worrying people won’t like seeing anything new from him.  Does he seriously have no regard for how poor his physical well-being is from this plan?  When he declares that he’s sticking with his old style from now on, no one sees anything wrong with that considering that they never did before.  It also comes with a nice scene of reassurance that all of Lincoln’s family and friends have their own daily customs and there’s nothing wrong with that.  It’s a wholesome moment that sells the endearing relationships of this series.  However, it also proves the point that it wasn’t all that necessary for Lincoln to do what he spent the cartoon doing in the first place.  Then again, no matter how mind-boggling the direction can be at times, this cartoon is a good one to show the benefits of comfort zones.

B

Driving Ambition

One thing I don’t think anyone would expect from Lori going into this show from the beginning is her becoming very skilled at golf.  She started out as an authoritative oldest sibling whose biggest passion was her boyfriend.  Then as her authority started getting toned down as more seasons were produced, more elements of her character developed.  With golf, her talents with the sport first appeared a few times in Season 2 and have been much more prominent in this season.  Now, they’re the subject of a cartoon which also stands out in a few other areas. 
Lori proves to be such a great golfer that she’s qualified to try out for a golf-themed college where students get in depending on how well they are in the sport.  Being well-versed in golf as she is, Lori is very confident about getting enrolled right down to having her future all planned out.  This includes having 11 kids with Bobby and bringing home the money from innumerable golf tours.  It goes to show how much influence the Loud family has on their kids. 
As is usually the case in fiction and in real life, Lori’s overconfidence is her undoing.  While trying out for the competition, her golf skills drop dramatically and she can’t figure out why this is the case.  Through it all, there’s some of the best forms of family love to help her through.  While Lincoln, taking great pains as her caddie, comes up with good places for Lori to practice, other sisters relate their nervous experiences to Lori.  Stories of Lynn’s sport games, Luna’s gigs, and Lola’s pageants inspire Lori to use different practices to settle her nerves and they seem to work.  Despite all this time devoted to using talcum powder, mantras, and breathing exercises to help, they do nothing to help in the actual competition.  While her bombing makes all her siblings’ help seem pointless, this can be seen as a reminder that anxieties of impressing a higher-up are just that strong.  Sometimes simple exercises aren’t enough to prepare you for such high standards, and that’s just what happens with Lori.
By the middle of the game, she’s in last place and seems to have ruined her chances of getting into that special college and her future.  In her despondency, there’s even more family love when her parents assure her that even if getting into this college doesn’t work, she can still have a great life.  It’s a pretty mature lesson to tell people who feel like they can’t achieve what they’ve always wanted, but the cartoon later begs the question why it was taught.  After this conversation, Lori ends up playing great again, and because one of her earlier shots broke the windshield of the head of that college’s car, he sees her true talents.  So after making it seem like Lori would learn to be happy if she doesn’t achieve her future, she ends up getting into the college and is on her way to getting what she wanted. 
Now, the earlier scene with the parents can work as a way to teach about not worrying so much to ensure greatness, meaning there’s still value in the ending.  Even if it’s not shown with things going great for Lori, there is still truth to that earlier scene.  Since we also get great family chemistry and relatable ambitions for the future in the final product, what we have isn’t perfect, but it’s still a winner the way I see it.
A

The Ranking

1.      Really Loud Music

2.      Head Poet’s Anxiety

3.      Roadie to Nowhere

4.      Tea Tale Heart

5.      Shop Girl

6.      Breaking Dad

7.      Gown and Out

8.      Fandom Pains

9.      Insta-Gran

10.  Driving Ambition

11.  Selfie Improvement

12.  Scales of Justice

13.  Middle Men

14.  Net Gains

15.  Crimes of Fashion

16.  Everybody Loves Leni

17.  The Spies Who Loved Me

18.  No Place Like Homeschool

19.  House of Lies

20.  The Mad Scientist

21.  City Slickers

22.  Missed Connection

23.  Fool Me Twice

24.  Deal Me Out

25.  Teachers’ Union

26.  Tripped!

27.  White Hare

28.  A Fridge Too Far

29.  The Loudest Thanksgiving

30.  Sitting Bull

31.  Predict Ability

32.  Game Boys

33.  Pasture Bedtime

34.  Absent Minded

35.  What Wood Lincoln Do?

36.  Jeers for Fears

37.  Friendzy

38.  Pipe Dreams

39.  Be Stella My Heart

40.  Rita Her Rights

41.  Ruthless People

 
 
The next Loud House review follows Dad avoid showing favoritism, and Lynn try to be the best friend she can be to her teammate.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews, "Dewey Wins" in Steven Universe, or does he?
If you would like to check out other Loud House reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

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