'Toon Reviews 13: The Loud House Season 2 Episode 20: Yes-Man/Friend or Faux

Yes-Man

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

1. 11 Louds a Leapin’
2. L is for Love
3. Pulp Friction
4. Frog Wild
5. Yes-Man
6. Party Down
7. Friend or Faux
8. Room with a Feud
9. Lock n Loud
10. Fool’s Paradise
11. Fed Up
12. Out of the Picture
13. Job Insecurity
14. Potty Mouth
15. The Loudest Mission: Relative Chaos
16. Spell it Out
17. Baby Steps
18. Shell Shock
19. Suite and Sour
20. Back in Black
21. Future Tense
22. Patching Things Up
23. The Whole Picture
24. Health Kicked
25. Garage Banned
26. Back Out There
27. The Old and the Restless
28. Kick the Bucket List
29. Intern for the Worse
30. Lynner Takes All
31. Cheater by the Dozen
32. Pets Peeved
33. Making the Grade
34. Vantastic Voyage
35. Change of Heart
36. ARGGH! You for Real?
37. No Such Luck
38. 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."

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

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

'Toon Reviews 13: The Loud House Season 2 Episode 12: Potty Mouth/L is for Love

Potty Mouth

Life is filled with things that are inappropriate or too hurtful to say and do, which is why films and TV shows have to be censored on certain terms.  This is a media practice that has been going on for years, and many shows often turn out some entertaining material which pokes fun at the need for censorship.  With this cartoon, The Loud House is now one of those shows to fit that trend.  When you consider a baby character like Lily, you might not expect a lot of personality out of her since she’s too young to be fully fleshed out.  However, her infant tendencies are what drive the censorship references that make up the cartoon.  Since we’re so used to bad actions or words being blocked out by cutting away or using a certain sound, these references have their own clever way here.  Since Lily can’t talk, she communicates what sounds like a curse word through her baby babble, making it not stated directly, but audible enough to deduce it as, what everyone else calls it, the d-word.  This is not only a unique way of making exactly what the word is clear when other shows with this plot normally leave us guessing what was said, but given that it’s coming from a babbling baby, it’s honestly kind of cute whenever Lily says it.  For the plot though, her apparent swearing is a big problem since she’s to be interviewed for a special daycare Mom and Dad have been trying to get one of the kids into since Mom was pregnant with Lori.  Through an effective use of montage, another mature layer to the Loud kids is shown as looking back at the times they used the d-word out of frustration makes them think they may have badly influenced Lily, and set out to take responsibility for their actions.  From an audience perspective, the times the kids use the word are humorously executed, as are all their attempts to not say it when they repeat what they did in front of Lily. Anyone can relate to this since when things get really frustrating, we can’t help what we say, especially at an older age.  However, even with them eventually becoming strong enough to not say the d-word, Lily still keeps on saying it, so when the daycare interview finally happens, the kids take it upon themselves to make it go well.  We’re treated to a humorous sequence of Lisa going in Lily’s place as the head of the daycare center, Dr. Shuttleworth, interviews her, and Lisa feebly attempts to put her intellect aside to act like a 1-year-old.  Plus, it’s an interesting follow-up to an earlier humorous aside that she lost her hair and teeth in a nuclear experiment gone wrong.  Then when Lily ends up saying the d-word anyway right after getting into the daycare center, Dr. Shuttleworth reveals that she was just trying to ask for a donut the whole time.  It’s certainly an interesting twist considering that, if you look closely, all the scenes of Lily saying what was thought to be the d-word involved donuts in some way.  However, you’d think that at some point the kids would figure that Lily’s babble could’ve meant anything.  It’s obvious that she still has a lot to learn when it comes to talking.  I’d also have the final scene of Lily cursing for real when Charles steals her donut down as a weak point, but since what we had was highly entertaining enough, the end bit doesn’t really sting at all.  In all, this cartoon has one of the most entertaining uses of censorship along with strong comedy and moments of the kids growing more considerate of their effects on the world around them. 9.5/10

L is for Love

When you stop to think about it, it’s astounding how many things family members can bond over, and some of them being a common occurrence in life. In the case of this cartoon, that common occurrence is finding love, and in addition to its strong sense of family bonds, the story also works in other engaging qualities that make it an impressive animated work for this season.  Everything unfolds when the kids discover a love letter marked L. Loud, and since their parents gave them all names that start with L, that means the letter could be for any of them.  Like the previous cartoon, this one effectively uses the filming device of montage to help tell the story, specifically through showing all the love interests all the kids hope the letter came from.  While most of the love interests match the kids’ interests, some of them show some interesting points to the characters, like Leni, a highly fashionable girl, liking a fat geeky boy, Lucy apparently having Rocky from “Back in Black” as a rebound crush in favor of a boy more like her, and Lily, with her infantile mindset, cutely crushing on her teddy bear.  Anyway, given their competitive and temperamental nature shown throughout the series, it would be easy for the kids to constantly fight over who the letter’s for.  Instead, the cartoon goes the more pleasing route by having everyone support each other to find their love all the way through with sending their crushes a signal, and giving a sign of affection after another letter comes with a rose, even if the letter’s not for them.  Of all the Loud kids though, Luna stands out the most, and given how she’s the favorite character of many fans, including me, it’s extremely welcome to get some development from her, especially since this season doesn’t feature a lot of cartoons with her as the lead.  Now, Luna’s always very caring and entertaining as well as one of, if not the most relatable Loud sibling.  Even her interests give her the most depth as they’ve been shown to define her purpose in life.  Here, we see that through being true to herself, she fears that she’s no match for her love interest, Sam, thus being too shy to show affection which is very relatable and sympathetic . Luckily, her siblings continue to show great support by urging her to keep trying, especially when it feels like the letter was from Sam after all.  It turns out that it was actually from Dad which ties into a story of how Mom kept sending love letters to him due to fearing he was out of her league, but the letters ultimately gave her the strength to directly tell him her feelings, and they perform the same ritual to relive the past to this day.  So amidst the love letter plot, we get solid development for the parents as well.  What’s more, the story they tell ties into another great trait of Luna’s, which is how her family bonds inspire her to get by in life.  She decides to show her affection to Sam with her own love letter and leads the other siblings to do the same with their crushes.  It’s after this scene where we end with a montage where all the kids are enlightened enough to sneak in their own love letters to heartwarming effect which includes an interesting layer to Luna’s crush.  It turns out that Sam’s not a guy Luna likes…

Sam’s a girl Luna likes.  Since she has a name that can go with any gender and no pronouns were used when discussing her with no reveal until the end, this works as an effective twist especially when you consider that this makes Luna bi (she was shown to also crush on guys earlier in the series).  Plus, even if Luna’s anxieties of winning Sam over were simply because of her not being cool enough, Luna can still be seen as relatable to real-life LGBT members who are often overlooked by society, only recently starting to appear in family shows.  I certainly look forward to see how this potential couple will work as well as how Sam turns out as a character.  This cartoon really packs in a lot of greatness with newly-revealed layers to the characters, some of the best moments featuring the Loud kids together, and the show’s biggest form of LGBT representation since the reveal of Clyde’s dads.  It’s big on charm as well as engaging executions. 10/10

The Ranking

1. 11 Louds a Leapin’
2. L is for Love
3. Pulp Friction
4. Frog Wild
5. Party Down
6. Lock n Loud
7. Fed Up
8. Potty Mouth
9. Baby Steps
10. Shell Shock
11. Suite and Sour
12. Back in Black
13. Patching Things Up
14. The Whole Picture
15. The Old and the Restless
16. Kick the Bucket List
17. Intern for the Worse
18. Cheater by the Dozen
19. Pets Peeved
20. Making the Grade
21. Vantastic Voyage
22. No Such Luck
23. Brawl in the Family

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Ronnie Anne and her family take up the starring role in the season's second half-hour special, "The Loudest Mission: Relative Chaos."

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

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

'Toon Reviews 13: The Loud House Season 2 Episode 9: Kick the Bucket List/Party Down

Kick the Bucket List

This is another cartoon about Lincoln and Clyde getting up to activities best suited for their age, so that’s a sign that it’s not going to be as exciting as something with more interesting characters like most of Lincoln’s sisters and the side characters.  Nevertheless, what’s present in this cartoon is still fun and even relatable to an extent, especially if you’re a student.  If you are one or were one, breaks from school are no doubt something special to look forward to such as spring break.  With many days off, there are so many opportunities for fun, which is precisely how Lincoln and Clyde approach their upcoming spring break.  They have a whole itinerary of the best things they could do in a week and intend to do everything on their list.  It is smart that they planned what to do ahead of time and that the very thing that gets in the way of their schedule is out of their control.  Clyde’s dads surprise him with a vacation to Hawaii which Clyde won’t be back from until the last day of the break.  This factor makes it easy to get behind their attempts to work a week’s worth of activities into one day.  However, even if what Lincoln and Clyde decide to do is easy to get behind, it’s still not that exciting especially since it’s easy to predict that rushing through the activities will backfire if you’re old enough to know that’s what happens when you do it in real life.  From watching recorded episodes of their favorite TV show as it fast-forwards, to attempting and failing to ride a new Dairyland ride by cutting the line, to ending up orange while trying to swim in a pool of gelatin, the fun activities that continually backfire just keep on coming and their pretty obvious.  They’re thankfully funny most of the time, but they happen so much you wish that Lincoln and Clyde would remember what they learned about how schedules shouldn’t get in the way of having fun back in “Overnight Success.” There’s even more backfiring fun when their rushing leads Lincoln and Clyde to split up to finish the list.  This is where the enjoyment picks up when some of Lincoln’s sisters are thrown into the mix at times as well as Clyde having a humorous running gag of posing random objects as Lincoln as he does his share of activities, and constantly loses them.  However, the most exciting part of the cartoon comes at the end when Lincoln and Clyde meet up and have a ride home filled with non-stop action which always has you question what will happen next.  Not only does the race home save the most amount of entertainment for last, but it also effectively gives Lincoln and Clyde the message of how having fun is more important than schedules, even though they should already know this.  It may be easy to predict that things will go wrong, but since this cartoon is still highly entertaining as it is, it’s easy to forgive all that and enjoy what we have. 9/10

Party Down

What’s so special about taking a lot of distinct characters and bringing them together for a party?  It’s that a cartoon featuring this scenario is bound to turn out to be an exciting gathering with various character interactions and various points of view.  That’s the case with this party-themed cartoon, and the way the party builds up to a big, fun gathering is effective through the story direction.  It’s about Lori being allowed to throw her own party, and she wants everything to be perfectly sophisticated based on what she reads in a magazine.  However, through Lori following the magazine closely, the party may be sophisticated, but it’s very boring for all the guests that attend, and you really get their boredom as they struggle to go along with the sophisticated mannerisms of the party without enjoying themselves.  It’s only when some of the Loud siblings show off their skills when the party gets more fun for the guests, unsophisticated as it is. They include Luna making music out of anything she could fine, Luan telling jokes with her dummy, Mr. Coconuts, to an audience more receptive than her family, and Lincoln performing party tricks he studied disguised as a Russian exchange student.  Since what they do doesn’t fit the guidelines of Lori’s magazine, Lori ultimately bans them from the party, though thankfully, she isn’t nearly as harsh or bossy when doing so as she was earlier in the series, so that’s another clear sign of development for her.  However, without Lori’s family around, the party suffers as more guests are driven to leave and Lori slowly realizes that her trying to be sophisticated isn’t making for a good party.  Even if she was in the wrong for relying too much on that magazine, Lori is still sympathetic in this case since her intentions were understandable and she was never too hostile towards anyone who was simply trying to liven up the party.  However, that long time of Lori’s boring party and brief scenes of her siblings wanting to make things fun is what builds up to an incredibly lively party big on fun and featuring one fun character moment after another.  It also builds into a more satisfying conclusion to show that Lori’s learned to lighten up and have fun when it comes to parties.  It starts off with a fun party with her family that even she adds onto, but then Leni, through her interest of posting things, informs the guests who left of a more exciting party, which leads to Lori being rewarded with the big party she wanted as well as enjoyable interactions between the guests and the Louds.  Then when Mom and Dad come home to the wildly fun party, it would be easy for them to ruin the mood and stop the party just when it was getting fun.  Thankfully, they willingly join in the harmless fun, sealing the deal to this ending party being the perfect conclusion to this story.  Basically, this is one of those cartoons where everything just works with Lori’s great portrayal, a relatable setup, and a sense of fun that builds up to a grand finale of memorable character moments. 10/10

The Ranking

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

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the kids get "Fed Up" with Dad's making the same dinner every week and team up to do something about it, and Ronnie Anne returns to team up with Lincoln for an egg baby challenge in "Shell Shocked."
If you would like to check out other Loud House reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 17

House Music
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s one element that makes this cartoon stand out from the ones we’ve covered so far.  Lincoln isn’t the major focus of this one.  That’s right, we’re actually having one of the sisters take the spotlight here, and I’m pleased to say that it’s no one other than Luna, and this cartoon does a great job at further expanding her character.  At the start, Luna shows off how awesome she is by offering her family meaningful music advice as they form a band set to perform at the upcoming fair.  They may not have the same musical skills, but Luna reminds them that all you need to do with music is have fun, and never worry about sounding good and those are true words to live by.  The cartoon also shows off how relatable Luna is at the moment when she learns that her idol, Mick Swagger, is coming to the fair, and she obsesses over impressing him so much that she forgets her own advice resulting in her becoming a jerk to her family which includes firing her own dad.  Regarding Dad, this cartoon is another example of getting a lot of character out of him without showing his face from presenting his history of getting fired from bands, and his immense distraught when his own daughter does that to him.  As for Luna’s portrayal, some might not be keen on it, but to me it seems very believable to anyone trying to impress their idols.  Plus, this moment goes on to further showcase Luna’s great trait of realizing when she messes up and strives to fix things and does so in an interesting way.  When going solo from her family to work on a song to impress Mick, Luna finds herself unable to write a good one and grows miserable in the process.  Then after a talk with a seemingly random old man at a diner, Luna is then reminded of what she herself said about having fun with music which gets her to realize that she does have fun with music when she’s with her family.  Sure enough, once Luna makes up with her family and makes Dad feel better by getting him back in the band, she and the family put on a good show by having fun and not feeling the pressure of impressing anyone.  What we see throughout the second half of the cartoon nicely demonstrates how the entire Loud family is a big influence on Luna’s talents so much so that the reveal is just as big of an impact on the audience as it is to Luna herself.  Now, while this cartoon might not have the same amazing status as “For Bros About to Rock,” it still does a lot of good with its humor, message, and the many ways it proves that Luna is the most interesting of the Loud siblings. 9.5/10

A Novel Idea

 

 

 

 

 

At times, I feel that it must be hard for Lincoln to cope with being the only boy in a big family with a bunch of sisters.  This is one of the cartoons that emphasizes this, specifically with him not being allowed to join them for Take Your Daughter to Work Day at Dad’s office where they all have such a fun time.  He does get something to make up for being left out of the day when Mom decides to make today Take Your Son to Work Day at the dentist’s office she works at.  Much of the first cartoon goes on to really capture the feeling of waiting around in a boring environment for a long time and struggling to keep yourself entertained which is something everyone young or old can relate to.  As a result, when you see Lincoln get up to many creative moments of using his imagination, only to realize that he just can’t make Mom’s workplace as fun as Dad’s, I bet you can probably see yourself in him.  Things get a lot more interesting when you consider Mom’s side of the story.  If you like the show’s decision to never show the faces of the Loud parents this season, you’ll really appreciate this cartoon for giving us a lot of moments where Mom shows off a lot of character solely from body language, most notably through hand movements.  Her character is really felt when she invites Lincoln to her office, suggests things to do to keep himself entertained, and when she talks about a personal desire to Lincoln.  She has a notebook where she writes down ideas of a potential novel that she hopes to get published someday, and you can really sense how excited she is about it, not to mention that this aspiration adds a bit to her character.  Because you end up getting how Mom feels about her novel, it’s easy to sense Lincoln’s urgency when he ends up losing Mom’s notebook.  For much of the second half, we’re treated to an awesome sequence of Lincoln encountering a lot of crazy obstacles as he tries to get the notebook back which is easily the most entertaining part of the cartoon.  Even though the notebook ultimately gets destroyed right when Lincoln is about to return it to Mom, we do get a nice moment between mother and son to wrap everything up.  After Lincoln explains what happened, instead of getting mad at him, Mom sees the positive side of what Lincoln did and comes up with a better idea for a novel inspired by him.  This ending is strong proof that the show can bring out heart in any family member and not just Lincoln and the sisters which really attributes to how good its craftsmanship is.  Thanks to the fun sequences including the climax, the relatable premise, development for one of the parents, and a nice family bond at its center, this is a good cartoon to watch when you want to prevent boredom. 9/10

The Ranking

1.      For Bros About to Rock

2.      Undie Pressure

3.      Project Loud House

4.      Space Invader

5.      Driving Miss Hazy

6.      Left in the Dark

7.      Toads and Tiaras

8.      Picture Perfect

9.      House Music

10.  Save the Date

11.  Sleuth or Consequences

12.  Hand-Me-Downer

13.  No Guts No Glori

14.  Attention Deficit

15.  Changing the Baby

16.  Along Came A Sister

17.  A Novel Idea

18.  Sound of Silence

19.  Butterfly Effect

20.  A Tale of Two Tables

21.  Cover Girls

22.  It’s A Loud, Loud, Loud, Loud House

23.  Overnight Success

24.  In Tents Debate

25.  Out on a Limo

26.  Linc or Swim

27.  The Sweet Spot

28.  Heavy Meddle

29.  Get the Message

30.  Ties that Bind

31.  Making the Case

32.  Chore and Peace

33.  Two Boys and a Baby

34.  The Green House

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the Louds enter a minefield of pranks as Luan proves that "April Fools Rules," and Lincoln goes on a shopping spree to get a special cereal while his sisters become "Cereal Offenders."