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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?
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