'Toon Reviews 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 23

One of the Boys

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming off a cartoon where Lincoln got his own figurative big brother, here’s a cartoon that further explores how hard it is to live with so many sisters.  It follows him being put down by the cons of the lifestyle, even if one of them contradicts the continuity of "In Tents Debate" with all the sisters turning down an offer to go to Dairyland even though 5 of the sisters, especially Lana like it.  Anyway, Lincoln is led to wonder what life would be like if he had 10 brothers.  The bulk of the cartoon gives a Lincoln a chance to see that life with the aid of a watch that can allow him to travel to different dimensions and at first, life there seems great for him.  The brothers themselves are basically male versions of the sisters, except they all share the same interests and gross habits as Lincoln just turned up to 11.  This makes the brothers stereotypical making it seem like all boys like being gross.  Well, for one thing, I'm a boy and I don't enjoy the gross habits these brothers partake in, and for another, we already have male characters like Clyde and Bobby who aren't gross, brutish figures, so why enforce stereotypes like these. Well, I suppose stories could make a lot of worse decisions than this.  However, the stereotypical portrayals get worse when shortly after Lincoln decides to stay in this dimension, the cartoon’s entertainment goes down as the brothers start bullying Lincoln, not caring that they’re causing him actual pain.  These scenes are very hard and uncomfortable to watch after the legitimately nice moments Lincoln got up to with the brothers.  Worse than that, they further enhance the stereotypes that all boys are like this when that's completely untrue, even in the context of this very show. Still, there is a somewhat positive to all this when Lincoln realizes how good he has it in his real life.  After all, from what we’ve seen this season, his sisters may have their moments, but he still has a good relationship with all of them, so Lincoln really shouldn’t have even thought to give his old life up.  Eventually, Lincoln does successfully get back to where he belongs, first by arriving in a dimension which shows that the brothers would be a lot nicer and respectful to him if he was a girl which admittedly is a pretty nice scene, and him realizing that the whole experience was just a dream.  Yes, it’s a cheap decision to explain what we saw, but it still makes for a nice satisfying end where the sisters, despite later calling out Lincoln for acting weird, show how much they care for their brother by comforting him from his nightmare, and Lincoln showing that he’s learned his lesson.  The decisions made with the story and characters may hurt the entertainment factor and contradict a lot of what the show has established, but thanks to its good display of the show’s theme of appreciating what you have in life, in my eyes, it narrowly avoids turning out bad. 6.5/10

A Tattler’s Tale

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve already seen how Lola can be entertaining despite falling into a character archetype that usually isn’t enjoyable.  While being entertaining is all fine and good, it’s great that we have this cartoon to let us know that Lola is capable of being a strong character in her own right, making this one of the best cartoons of this show to date.  We start off with a set of scenes that demonstrate her entertaining qualities as a bratty character when she picks up secrets her siblings tell each other in their own club which they won’t allow her to join due to her status as a tattletale.  By the way, the scenes of the secret club show some nice sibling love with everyone knowing they can trust each other with holding secrets they don’t want to tell their parents really adding to this cartoon’s appeal.  Back onto Lola, her entertaining qualities come through where she gets her siblings to do things for her by silently and ominously reminding them of their secrets, subtly threatening to expose them if they don’t do as she says.  It’s a great contrast from what we usually see from brats who often act the opposite way to get what they want, and it’s also funny to see such a creepiness factor come from a girly and pink character.  Plus, a lot of humor comes from the siblings doing Lola’s bidding.  All these moments lead up to the ending where Lola surprises her siblings and all in the audience with how great and mature she’s capable of being.  It happens when she realizes that her blackmailing has turned her brother and sisters against her when they manage to dig up major dirt on her and threaten to tell on her.  You might think, given her nature, that Lola would just go ahead and rat them all out to end it all.  Instead, she actually gets herself grounded on behalf of her siblings’ wrongdoings.  If that’s not enough, she goes onto say that she blackmailed everyone so they could hang out together regretting that she went about it the wrong way, showing off a vulnerable and lonely side to her character.  It’s just amazing that a character of Lola's kind has all these endearing layers to her.  It helps make you view her differently in the future, and also show genuine sorrow for her getting grounded, not to mention happiness when her actions appropriately reward her with her siblings’ trust.  The way this cartoon plays with your emotion delivering laughs, tears, and great character moments make the whole viewing experience insightful and heartwarming.  It does so much so well, I gladly rank it near the top. 10/10

The Ranking

1.      For Bros About to Rock

2.      A Tattler’s Tale

3.      Undie Pressure

4.      Project Loud House

5.      Space Invader

6.      A Fair to Remember

7.      Driving Miss Hazy

8.      Left in the Dark

9.      Toads and Tiaras

10.  Picture Perfect

11.  Dance, Dance Resolution

12.  House Music

13.  Save the Date

14.  Sleuth or Consequences

15.  Hand-Me-Downer

16.  No Guts No Glori

17.  Roughin’ It

18.  Attention Deficit

19.  Changing the Baby

20.  Along Came A Sister

21.  April Fools Rules

22.  A Novel Idea

23.  Sound of Silence

24.  Butterfly Effect

25.  A Tale of Two Tables

26.  Cereal Offender

27.  Cover Girls

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

29.  The Waiting Game

30.  Overnight Success

31.  Raw Deal

32.  In Tents Debate

33.  Lincoln Loud: Girl Guru

34.  Out on a Limo

35.  Linc or Swim

36.  The Sweet Spot

37.  Heavy Meddle

38.  Get the Message

39.  Come Sale Away

40.  Ties that Bind

41.  One of the Boys

42.  Making the Case

43.  Chore and Peace

44.  The Loudest Yard

45.  Two Boys and a Baby

46.  The Green House

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Luan proves to be more than just a pun machine in "Funny Business," and the Louds have fun with snow days, snowballs, and Peanuts references in "Snow Bored."

'Toon Reviews 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 7

Picture Perfect

 

 

 

 

 

This cartoon is one of the strongest displays of the show’s theme of appreciating what you have in life.  It comes through in flying colors as we watch Lincoln strive to put together a perfect picture of his sisters and pets for his parents’ anniversary.  After his picture fails to meet his expectations when his sister’s fail to hold still and turn to their main interests, Lincoln sets out to take another one that he hopes will come out perfect.  We get a large set of funny moments of Lincoln getting his sisters outside to take another picture, each one demonstrating the appealing personalities of all 10 of the girls.  At the same time, we also start to see Lincoln go about making his picture perfect the wrong way that causes discomfort to the sisters.  He starts off tame with actions like swapping Lisa’s glasses and Leni’s shades and taking Luna’s guitar and Luan’s funny nose and glasses saying that they won’t get them back unless they’re in the picture.  Then he starts getting really ridiculous by changing his sisters’ appearances, complete with everyone wearing ugly red and green sweaters.  I think a line from Luna sums up Lincoln’s behavior perfectly: “This picture thing has changed you dude.”  Ultimately, Lincoln ends up getting the picture he wants, albeit unintentionally making his sisters feel bad for being themselves in the process, but after that is when the theme really comes into play.  As Lincoln goes through the house, he notices all his sisters enjoying themselves by doing what shows off who they really are, and gets more happiness from this portrayal of his sisters than their “perfect” portrayal in the picture.  It’s actually a moving scene that gets its message across without any actual dialogue which really gives this cartoon some value.  Finally, it’s followed up by a noble act from Lincoln where instead of his “perfect” picture, he presents Mom and Dad with the old picture that perfectly shows off who his sisters really are and define what life in the Loud House is all about.  Truly, it’s a fitting way of showing that for all its quirks and what not, the life you live is truly worth appreciating.  With that, I call this cartoon another strong entry of this season. 9.5/10

 Undie Pressure

 

 

 

 

 

By now, you can tell that all of the Loud siblings are very distinctive when it comes to personalities, but this cartoon is a great example of how even though they’re very different, there are common ties between them all, and that makes their sibling bonds a lot stronger.  With that in mind, we’re in for an amazing experience from this show.  It all unfolds when Lola gets annoyed by Lincoln’s habit of reading comics in his underwear which leads to everyone betting that they can go without resorting to their habits than longer Lincoln can.  From then on, we’re treated to more awesome moments that show off why the Loud siblings are such a lovable bunch.  Some siblings lose the bet almost immediately, but then we’re treated to most of them trying so hard to not do their habits only to eventually crack under pressure and do what makes them feel comfortable.  By the end, when Lincoln and Lola are only left standing, you’re already tense with anticipation to see who will win, especially since Lola, striving to not look at herself in a mirror as part of the bet, begins to come off as demented and monster-like which is very fitting of her frightening side introduced in “Sound of Silence.”  The tension just escalates when both she and Lincoln resort to extreme means of winning the bet with Lola making Lincoln feel uncomfortable in the pants area by turning up the heat, and Lincoln polishing every surface in the house for Lola to potentially look at herself.  Each part of the bet is really a lot of fun with no dull moments in sight all thanks to the characters we’re exposed to.  Eventually, the bet comes to an amusing end when Lincoln loses in a highly clever way with Lily turning out victorious since she didn’t cry the entire time, something that even the audience most likely would not have been able to pay attention to.  However, there’s a really strong moment of sibling love that closes everything off.  Lola sees Lincoln, who’s now required to always read comics with his clothes on, feeling uncomfortable and she feels bad for him.  It’s here where we’re introduced to another side of Lola’s character, and one we wouldn’t expect to see from someone like her at that.  She’s able to show genuine sympathy when her siblings are in emotional turmoil and take it upon herself to do something about it.  That’s just what she does when she buys Lincoln the special undies he would’ve gotten if he won the bet, and later lets him off the hook, saying that since all the sisters can’t give up what they like, Lincoln shouldn’t give up his.  It’s a revelation like this that really sells the appeal of the Loud siblings’ relationship, and succeeds at being a perfect end to a practically perfect cartoon.  This is one that’s big on the entertainment, as well as the deepness of the characters’ bonds; it’s impossible not to love what goes on here. 10/10

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.      No Guts No Glori

8.      Sound of Silence

9.      A Tale of Two Tables

10.  In Tents Debate

11.  The Sweet Spot

12.  Heavy Meddle

13.  Get the Message

14.  Making the Case

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode of the season which gets in some summertime fun with "Linc or Swim" and features a starring role for Lily in "Changing the Baby."