'Toon Reviews 13: The Loud House Season 2 Episode 19: Future Tense/Lynner Takes All

Future Tense

Ever since their faces were finally shown, Mom and Dad have gotten more significance and development than before, which is fitting for a season that starts developing characters beyond Lincoln and the sisters.  Now we have a cartoon that’s all about them and how they serve as parents to the kids.  The story is that the Yates family moves in, and Mom and Dad see how accomplished the kids of that family are, with their parents stressing the importance of being well-rounded in such a competitive world.  Through it all, there’s something very unsettling about the Yates family.  They always have these big toothy smiles all over their faces and find enjoyment out of everything especially activities that are highly intellectual and require class and serious mindsets.  It’s practically inhumane for people to be THIS happy about life.  Creepiness factor aside, the Yates family gets Mom and Dad to be considerate of their influence on their kids.  Given how the season has already had a lot of influence on how well the Loud kids are to their parents, it’s only fitting that Mom and Dad take the time to try and figure out what’s best for them.  While what they later do certainly has good intentions, it’s easy to see that it takes certain things the wrong way, not unlike how things went down in the previous cartoon.  Mom and Dad rope their kids into doing activities that are out of their league, mostly the complete opposite of what they normally like doing from after school activities to community-serving and artsy outings, stressing them to be good at everything so to get by in such a competitive world.  The kids’ reactions to being roped into things that they don’t want to do are pretty funny in how they protest, yet it’s still easy to feel sorry for them since who would want to be forced to do things against their will, especially when they’re just sprung on you?  At least we get some amusing outcomes out of the sufferings, namely Lana being socially graceful and wearing dresses, Luan being serious as the mayor’s assistant, and especially Luna being taught proper English in favor of her entertaining rock slang.  While Mom and Dad are way out of line for forcing their kids into what they don’t want to do without warning, through their actions, it’s clear that they really want to help them, and they’re not even getting competitive with the Yates since there’s never a moment where they want them to be MORE accomplished than them.  Even more admirable is that when the kids achieve success in their forced activities, Mom and Dad want to celebrate with fun stuff, but the kids have changed so much that they’re unwilling to take part in fun  because they’re not healthy or productive, which is very sad since it confirms that they’ve lost their true selves.  Thankfully, Mom and Dad finally see sense and allow the kids to have fun, admitting that it was wrong to force the activities on them and that being productive should never outshine enjoying life.  In other words, this whole story ends up teaching the importance of keeping life in balance and not being too relaxed or too overrun with work.  That’s always been a personal message to me, and I’m glad to see this show teaching it.  It’s also great that even the Yates want in on some of the fun at the end…even if their approach to it is still creepy.  If you can get past them and the kids being put through things they don’t want to do against their will, this is a nicely constructed cartoon serving as a reminder of the importance of living your life in balance starring Mom and Dad. 9/10

Lynner Takes All

Personally, I find Lynn to be one of the most enjoyable Louds.  She’s always up for a game or challenge and approaches life with a lot of energy and sense of fun, making her a very lively character and I’m generally the most entertained by characters like that.  I also understand why some might not like her, and this cartoon helps with that.  She plays roughly, brags about how great she is, and barely notices how problematic her behavior is. In this case, whenever she wins at game night, she’s constantly gloating.  Because she’s so in everyone’s face when she celebrates her victories and never lets them live it down, especially when she reaches her 300^th win, I can see how this can be a problem for some people.  Of course it can get annoying and make her look like a jerk for making her siblings feel bad about their losses.  For me though, I don’t see it being that different from other times she enthusiastically plays a game or acts sporty.  Yes, she’s still being a jerk to her family here, but like with most cases where Lynn plays rough, it hardly feels like she’s INTENDING to make anyone feel bad.  Nevertheless, given the sympathy being directed at the rest of the Loud siblings, it’s appropriate that the plot focuses on them attempting to stop Lynn’s gloating once and for all.  Their first attempt has them challenge Lynn at games whose subjects fit a specific sibling apart from her.  While the ways their attempts at beating her backfiring still makes it easy to feel for the other siblings, how Lynn finds a way to win from specially skilled dice rolls, to exercising enough to make a perfect grab, to making a huge Ace Savvy fan like Lincoln feel nervous, show how on the ball she is at winning to entertaining effect.  When everyone finally does beat Lynn at a game through teamwork, it seems like Lynn is too ashamed of herself to gloat.  As it turns out, Lynn turns out even more competitive and constantly pops out of nowhere to challenge everyone to everything.  As someone who likes Lynn, I can get a good laugh out of her overly-competitive actions, her never-ceasing energy, and lively sporty nature here.  Though since they show her siblings’ plans to teach her a lesson failed, some people can easily get annoyed and frustrated that she still won’t stop rubbing victories in other people’s faces.  Anyway, after the siblings’ attempts to throw the next board game, Lynn finally realizes how much of a pain she’s been to everyone.  She reveals that she never intended to hurt them and just loves having playing games with her family proving that despite what she does, she has a good heart indeed.  True, she still gloats at the end, but the fact that it’s now away from everyone shows that she’s grown more considerate of their feelings.  The fact that she gloats at all, however, leads to a glaring issue with Lynn’s character that even people who like her shouldn’t ignore.  Lynn treats winning games like a big deal and is more competitive when she loses one.  What we don’t know is WHY she feels the need to win, thus making her under-developed.  This cartoon had the perfect opportunity to reveal this and potentially make Lynn endearing in spite of her gloating, but it never does.  I hope we get an answer to this in the future, because if this behavior continues, Lynn might not turn out to be a very good character.  Since I still find her entertaining enough here, I can call this cartoon a good and fun one that stresses why there should be limits on showboating.  However, if you find Lynn’s behavior overbearing and annoying, I totally get it.  Here’s hoping she gets more developed with her next starring role. 8/10

The Ranking

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

Be sure to stay tuned for the next episode featuring Lincoln as a "Yes Man" in a rocking cartoon big on sibling love, and we see Lisa at her most endearing in "Friend or Faux?".

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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 21

The Loudest Yard

 

 

 

  

 

There are only three cartoons in this season that I consider bad.  We’ve already covered two, “The Green House,” and “Two Boys and a Baby,” and this is the third one.  It’s the least bad of the three, but there are still a lot of factors that prevent it from being enjoyable.  The main premise of the cartoon is that Lincoln is signed up for football despite not being good at sports after not being willing to do basic exercises.  I’m not fond of Lincoln being forced into something he’s not good at when Mom could’ve just goaded him to try harder at basic exercises and use football as a threat if he doesn’t, though you have to wonder why she only has him and no one else exercise.  At the same time, Lincoln doesn’t hold much sympathy because he really doesn’t try.  As a result, I can’t go along with either side of the situation.  Now, we are treated to a lot of Lincoln’s relationship with Lynn here which is nice.  We’re used to seeing her roughhouse with Lincoln a lot due to her love of sports, but as we watch her willingly coach Lincoln at football, this cartoon proves that she really does care for him.  The only problem is that, once again, Lincoln isn’t really trying, resulting in a lack of sympathy.  The lack of sympathy grows even more when Lincoln decides that Lynn should disguise herself as him on the actual football team, perhaps the most stupid idea he has ever come up with.  The kicker is that it actually works for an entire season with Lynn going in Lincoln’s place while he sits around and reads comics literally everyday even if it should’ve been easy to figure out that the player wasn’t Lincoln if someone just looked closely or took off the helmet. In other words, this part of the cartoon is hard to suspend disbelief towards.  What really makes the cartoon bad though is the ending.  The truth ends up exposed during the final game when Lynn sprains her ankle and everyone sees who she really is when her helmet comes off.  Lincoln admits his wrongdoing and fills in for her, the moment staged to be one to redeem himself by winning the game.  Instead, Lincoln ends up scoring for the other team and everyone’s mad at him.  If he had actually won the game and realize that he is capable of sports, everything in the cartoon would’ve been worth it and this would be one of his best performances.  However, we close things out with the impression that Lincoln is a disgrace to everyone who can’t do anything right, and, as is normal with most weak cartoons of this show, nothing is accomplished.  If it wasn’t for the great portrayal of Lynn and Lincoln’s relationship, this cartoon would be a lot worse than it is.  Still, it suffers from stupid plot decisions, unlikable characters, and an ending that really sours everything.  Because of this, it’s a good one to skip. 4.5/10

 Raw Deal
 

 

 

 

 

 

People often tell me that I shouldn’t let fear rule my life.  This is what helps me relate to this cartoon a lot.  It starts out like it’s going to be a great day out at a national park for the Loud family, Lincoln especially.  The theme of not letting fear rule your life comes into play when Lucy brings out a set of cards that predict everyone’s future, one of them saying that Lincoln’s day will end in tragedy.  It doesn’t seem like much to believe in at first, but slowly, in a lot of clever and funny ways, the rest of the sisters’ good predictions come true, making it likely that Lincoln’s will come true too.  The rest of the cartoon follows Lincoln too paranoid to take part in all the fun things to do at the park with his family.  I can identify with Lincoln a lot because there are times when I worry a lot about certain bad things happening.  However, while I mostly put them aside and live my life hoping for the best, Lincoln goes the extreme route by keeping himself from doing anything.  The ideas he has for what bad things can happen to him have a comedic charm to them and they’re easy to sit through since he’s bringing his lack of enjoyment on himself.  Even so, I can’t help but feel sorry for the fact that he ends up missing out on a lot of great things to do so much so that it overshadows the humor of his paranoia.  That, and Lucy, who’s normally on good terms with Lincoln, doesn’t seem to show much sympathy for him considering that she made him feel the way he does with her predictions unlike most of the rest of the family.  These points are remedied somewhat by Lincoln realizing he had nothing to worry about and learning something from it, him being the only Loud to see a usually dormant geyser go off, and a hilarious ending gag involving Lucy’s cards.  This cartoon’s heart is easy to sense even if you don’t relate to it on a personal level.  Even more importantly, while not perfect regarding entertainment, there’s still plenty of elements to make it an enjoyable experience. 8/10

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.  Roughin’ It

15.  Attention Deficit

16.  Changing the Baby

17.  Along Came A Sister

18.  April Fools Rules

19.  A Novel Idea

20.  Sound of Silence

21.  Butterfly Effect

22.  A Tale of Two Tables

23.  Cereal Offender

24.  Cover Girls

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

26.  The Waiting Game

27.  Overnight Success

28.  Raw Deal

29.  In Tents Debate

30.  Lincoln Loud: Girl Guru

31.  Out on a Limo

32.  Linc or Swim

33.  The Sweet Spot

34.  Heavy Meddle

35.  Get the Message

36.  Come Sale Away

37.  Ties that Bind

38.  Making the Case

39.  Chore and Peace

40.  The Loudest Yard

41.  Two Boys and a Baby

42.  The Green House

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Lincoln has to juggle four dates at a Sadie Hawkins Dance and in turn come up with a "Dance, Dance Resolution" around it, and Lincoln hanging with Bobby and Lori hanging with Clyde at a fair turns out to be "A Fair to Remember."

'Toon Reviews 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 10

Hand-Me-Downer

 

 

 

 

 

 This is a really fun cartoon that offers a different perspective on life, particularly when it comes to receiving gifts, or as is common in a family as big as Lincoln’s, hand-me-downs.  Lincoln is revealed to have had quite a history with receiving hand-me-downs from his older sisters, and being rather unsatisfied with them, which I believe is common for people his age.  Most recently, Lincoln receives an incredibly girly bike from Lori, and it’s a hand-me-down he can’t simply hide under his bed.  Feeling embarrassed by the bike, Lincoln goes on to do something about it by taking Lynn’s cool bike for a spin without her knowing.  Despite Lincoln being in the wrong for taking a bike that isn’t his, it’s still easy to enjoy yourself as you watch Lincoln have some actual legitimate fun with the bike, and even get to hang out with a group of cool kids.  I think it's worth noting that one of the cool kids, Rusty Spokes, interestingly becomes one of Lincoln's friends.  It makes you wonder what happened between that and him hanging with these judgmental cool kids.  Of course, because of Lincoln being in the wrong, he ends up getting himself in trouble when Lynn’s bike ends up stolen and she needs it for a competition.  Once Lincoln fails to find the bike and ends up being kicked out of the biker team , he tells the truth where we get that different perspective on life I mentioned earlier.  While most people would simply store gifts they don’t like away, this cartoon shows that there’s a way to get a lot of enjoyment out of any gift you get, even if you don’t like it.  All of Lincoln’s sisters reveal that Lynn’s cool bike was one that was handed down to sister after sister who fixed it up to fit their needs.  I should also mention that we end get cute and somewhat humorous flashbacks of some of the sisters when they were younger.  I especially see a lot of charm from those that show a young Leni and Luan.  This is a truly good moment of sibling love here where the sisters offer this meaningful advice to Lincoln to just do something with hand-me-downs instead of lamenting over what he gets and Lincoln goes on to do just that after getting back Lynn’s bike.  There are a few stumbling points with this cartoon though such as how everyone who praised Lincoln on Lynn’s bike before act judgmental of him when he does the same thing on the pink bike and the fact that we never see who took Lynn’s bike much less see his/her comeuppance, both of which are kind of frustrating.  Those points don’t stop this cartoon from being a piece of enjoyment with something nice about life to keep in mind when the cartoon wraps up.  9/10

Sleuth or Consequences

 

 

 

 

 

If you want a cartoon of this show that’s both fun and features a great amount of love between siblings, this is a good candidate to some extent anyway.  The whole story takes the approach of a crime scene investigation which is made even more fun by the fact that it’s over something as simple as Lincoln trying to figure out who clogged the toilet as a comic convention he wants to go to draws near.  Aiding in the fun of the investigation is Lucy serving as Lincoln’s second-in-command.  She’s already proven herself as one of my favorite Loud siblings for how her interest in death and darkness and her near-emotionless personality make for a perfect clash between the other siblings and the environment of the Loud House in general.  Seeing a large dose of her as she and Lincoln interrogate the other sisters is certainly really welcome.  Many of the interrogations have a lot of entertaining qualities too as they all explain why they’re innocent, especially those of Lynn, which serves as a nice setup to the ending gag, Lori, Luan, Leni, and Luna.  The cartoon’s heartfelt part comes in with a good bit of character development for Lucy.  It’s later revealed that as much as she loves the darkness, she sometimes needs a break from it by reading an overly saccharine book called Princess Pony. To avoid being made fun of, she threw the book in the toilet to try and hide it, but it ended up clogging the toilet.  This adds some good depth to Lucy’s character with this newly revealed vulnerable side making her come off as more than just a spooky little girl.  We also get one of Lincoln’s best brotherly moments where he willingly takes the blame for the clog, sacrificing his chances of going to his convention and opening himself up for teasing, but saving Lucy’s reputation and his actions are deservedly rewarded with a handmade comic by Lucy.  This moment of heart gives the cartoon a lot of value for feeling genuine and successfully making the audience care about what the characters involved go through.  There’s lots to love, though I do show concern of how the rest of the sisters come off as jerks for teasing Lincoln for his interests and appearance even if it does greatly foreshadow Lincoln’s actions at the end.  For how heartwarming Lincoln and Lucy's sibling bonds are shown to be here, it's really unfortunate that his bonds with the others aren't shown to be nearly as such.  It's like they're an opposing force delighting in being mean and judgmental instead of decent human beings and loving siblings we know they can be.  It's a good thing there are plenty of moments in other cartoons to show that even with their tendency to tease, they do still love him and that the moments of teasing among other bad times are just off moments that anyone can have no matter how good they are.  Even with the teasing parts though, this cartoon is one of the best forms of proof that this show can do so much with what seems like so little. 9/10

The Ranking

1.      Undie Pressure

2.      Project Loud House

3.      Space Invader

4.      Driving Miss Hazy

5.      Left in the Dark

6.      Picture Perfect

7.      Sleuth or Consequences

8.      Hand-Me-Downer

9.      No Guts No Glori

10.  Changing the Baby

11.  Sound of Silence

12.  A Tale of Two Tables

13.  Overnight Success

14.  In Tents Debate

15.  Linc or Swim

16.  The Sweet Spot

17.  Heavy Meddle

18.  Get the Message

19.  Ties that Bind

20.  Making the Case

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode with one of the most out-there cartoons, "Butterfly Effect," and an environmental plot gone wrong in "The Green House."

 

'Toon Reviews 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 6

Sound of Silence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Considering that he has to grow up in a family with 10 sisters, I’d say it’s easy to understand why Lincoln would want some peace and quiet every once in a while.  That’s what the beginning of this cartoon sets up as he tries to read comics in his underwear amidst the noise of his siblings, ultimately buying ear buds that block them all out.  That means that problem is solved almost instantly, but neither Lincoln or the plot stop there as Lincoln goes on to use his ear buds to block out his sisters when he sets out to do just about everything.  The cartoon then goes on to showcase the consequences of Lincoln ignoring his sisters when he finds himself roped into doing favors for some of them the next day which he has no idea that he promised to do .  What makes this part of the cartoon interesting and enjoyable is the constant point that Lincoln promised to do something for Lola at 3:00, and is in big trouble for that because he forgot, meaning Lola will be mad, and everyone tells him that bad things will happen if Lola’s mad. That right there is a true highlight for the cartoon.  As a character, Lola is mostly just what you’d expect from a vain beauty queen and spoiled brat.  Here, it’s revealed that there’s a catch to her bratty nature.  While most characters like this would just yell and complain when things don’t go their way, Lola is revealed to work a lot more silently and dementedly which allows her to ruin things for anyone who ruined things for her.  Flashbacks of her popping Lynn’s soccer ball for eating the last pudding, selling Leni’s stuff for breaking her tiara, destroying Lori’s phone for not acknowledging her sneeze, and God knows what she did to one of Lana’s pets for messing up her makeup greatly emphasize what destruction Lola is capable of when she’s mad.  They also convince the audience of how bad Lincoln messed up and fear for his safety.  Eventually though, it’s revealed that everything Lincoln went through that day was a trick to teach him a lesson to not ignore his family that was planned after Lola found out about the earplugs.  This means that the sisters may have gone too far with their treatment of Lincoln considering what he feared from Lola and what he did for his sisters, but I can still understand their intentions since Lincoln shouldn’t have shut them out of everything he did, and to me, what was said about Lola and her threatening layer is still relevant.  They may have been joking about Lola wanting Lincoln to do something for her, but that doesn't mean the Lola incidents they claimed didn't happen.  Plus, the sisters deliver a nice message that while growing up in a big family is hard for Lincoln, the same holds true for them, which is a theme we’ll see more of as we cover more cartoons of this season.  As for this cartoon, it’s pretty impactful for its relatability, humor, message, and the reveal that you really do not want to mess with Lola Loud. 9/10

 Space Invader

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the things I’m thankful for in the life I’m living now is that I have my own room to hang out in which helps me relate a lot to Lincoln in this cartoon.  As the only boy in the family, he doesn’t have to share a room like his sisters do.  This makes it hard for him to understand how hard it is for them to share a space, and that difficulty leads to frustration for him when an argument between Lynn and Lucy causes Lynn to want to move out and bunk in with Lincoln, thus invading his personal space.  The scenes of Lincoln and Lynn sharing the room demonstrate a lot to love about Lynn’s character.  Her athletic nature and love for sports fill her with so much energy that really livens up any scene she’s in.  While some of what she does is a little too rough and sometimes painful for others, it’s made clear that she has no malicious intent and just does what she does in the name of fun.  It’s these reasons why Lynn ranks near the top of my favorite Loud siblings.  However, as fun and enjoyable as Lynn is, it’s too much for Lincoln who slowly grows to realize how hard it can be for his sisters to share a space.  Then in this show’s manner of displaying heartfelt moments, we see that anyone who shares a space can still have a lot of love for those they bunk with when Lincoln notices that both Lynn and Lucy have held onto some keepsakes of their old roommates despite the tensions between them like Lynn having a book of Lucy’s poems and Lucy having a ball she bounces against the wall.  This point is made even stronger when after an awkward dinner and food fight, Lincoln gets Lynn and Lucy to make up and now has a good understanding of what his sisters have to put up with every night, and it’s just the perfect heartwarming way to wrap everything up.  With its heart, along with a lot of laughs, a relatable premise, and the characters involved showing off what makes them so lovable, this is one of the season’s most quintessential, and thought-provoking cartoons. 9.5/10

The Ranking

1.      Project Loud House

2.      Space Invader

3.      Driving Miss Hazy

4.      Left in the Dark

5.      No Guts No Glori

6.      Sound of Silence

7.      A Tale of Two Tables

8.      In Tents Debate

9.      The Sweet Spot

10.  Heavy Meddle

11.  Get the Message

12.  Making the Case

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode of this season where we come across a great display of the show's theme of appreciating what you have in "Picture Perfect," as well as one of the Louds' great appeal as characters as they bet to see who can go the longest without doing their annoying habits in "Undie Pressure."