'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 8: Peanuts 1970s Specials Part 9

It’s Arbor Day Charlie Brown

Everyone knows that Peanuts has a lot of holiday specials in their repertoire, but it’s pretty interesting to note that they have one for a holiday as obscure as Arbor Day.  It’s a holiday that very few people talk about, it’s barely commercialized, and there aren’t any widely known ways to celebrate the day.  It’s basically one of those holidays that people treat like an ordinary day, so the thought of making a TV special on it feels like the crew of these specials were desperate to come up with a holiday they could make a special out of that they hadn’t tackled yet.  Still, this is a good special, but not one that will most likely be looked at as one of the stronger ones.  The major premise of the special exemplifies how much of an obscure holiday Arbor Day is.  It features Sally needing to do a report on the holiday, and it’s presented in a manner that doesn’t make it different from her needing to do a report on an ordinary day of the year.  That said, we do get into more of the spirit of the day when Sally becomes inspired by her research to plant trees and other plants in any available field.  Ultimately, she gets most of the gang to plant a whole garden of crops.  The only catch is that they plant them all over Charlie Brown’s baseball field.  For this part of the special, I’m kind of mixed regarding how to feel.  Most of my apprehension comes from how absolutely no one thinks it’s a bad idea to plant crops on a field made especially for baseball games.  It’s pretty idiotic for them to not realize that crops can easily get in the way of games.  While we do have Linus be the only one to have doubts about the plan, the doubts just get shot down every time.  The idiotic tone carries into the actual baseball game portion of the special when the team actually gets a major advantage at victory because of the crops making the game difficult for the opposing team.  It really gets you to beg the question why the opposing team never demands the plants to be taken down or that the game be played at a different field.  Not to mention, the game gets so much focus in the second half, it’s easy forget that this is an Arbor Day special.  Now, even with the idiotic tone of the story, what we see is still pretty enjoyable.  Charlie Brown gives an appropriate reaction to the plants all over the baseball field, the gags that get his team points are fun to watch, there’s some amusing character dynamics throughout, and it’s great to watch Charlie Brown’s team have a good chance at victory since they’re known to always lose.  It makes you feel bad for them when the game is ultimately rained out when they’re so close to securing the win, and one against a team led by Peppermint Patty at that.  Well, at least the mention of the plants still being there prevents the end from being a total downer, even if it was stupid to plant them on the field in the first place.  While the stupid plot-driving decisions to this story are hard to ignore and Arbor Day is shown as prominently as it is in real life, the charm of Peanuts with the character interactions, comedy, and unique childlike approaches to life make it a fine viewing experience, even if it’s not one of the best.

Recommended

The Ranking

1. There’s No Time for Love Charlie Brown
2. It’s the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown
3. You’re Not Elected Charlie Brown
4. You’re a Good Sport Charlie Brown
5. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
6. Be My Valentine Charlie Brown
7. Play it Again Charlie Brown
8. It’s a Mystery Charlie Brown
9. It’s Arbor Day Charlie Brown

As I close this review, I should point out that this special is the last one to feature original music from Vince Guaraldi.  In a shocking turn of events, he died of a heart attack just hours after completing the score for this special.  I bring this up because, as I stated in the post on the 1960s Peanuts specials, his music was a major driving force in the Peanuts specials being as great as they are.  The smooth, easy-going jazz compositions just seemed to fit perfectly with the down-to-earth writing, the simple animation, and the fact that kids were the core cast of characters thus creating an atmosphere that helped the Peanuts specials stand out from other forms of media, and it was true for the specials of this decade too.  Once he was gone however, new musicians were brought in to work for specials to come.  While their music was very good for the most part, it wasn’t as memorable or fitting to Peanuts as what was offered before.  Plus, considering that “It’s Arbor Day” was really not as well-written as previous ones, this is a good sign that the specials were about to become unsure of their identity with many stories varying in quality.  Some were as good as the older specials, some were decent but not very memorable, and others…well you’ll find out soon in the review of the next 1970s special.

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

'Toon Reviews 8: Peanuts 1970 Specials Part 8

You’re a Good Sport Charlie Brown

This sports-themed special gives us a lot to offer, and when you put everything together, you honestly get a pretty great performance from the Peanuts characters.  You don’t even have to be a sports fan to enjoy it.  For one thing, the sports the special focuses on are new outlets for Peanuts to explore.  Usually, when it comes to sports, the ones that get the focus are baseball or football.  Here, we have two sports that are pretty out of the ordinary.  In the beginning of the special, we’re treated to a lengthy sequence involving tennis.  It includes memorable moments of fun with Snoopy battling a tennis ball pitching machine, Linus and Sally lamenting about how you can’t play tennis alone when they find the courts full, and Snoopy doing a tennis tournament with an unseen player, getting overly mad when he loses, and discovering that he lost to little Woodstock.  However, it’s his performance that leads us into the second prominent sport of the special, motocross.  You see, Snoopy’s status as an athlete gets the attention of Peppermint Patty who’s off recruiting kids to compete in a motocross race, and that race ultimately dominates the focus of the rest of the special.  The racers who get the most coverage are Peppermint Patty, who's majorly over-confident that she’ll be the winner, Snoopy posing as the Masked Marvel who shows willingness to do just about anything to win, including using the tennis ball pitching machine when he loses his bike, and Charlie Brown, whose performance practically makes this special.  We all know that the prominent aspect of Charlie Brown is that nothing can ever go right for him, so it’s easy to predict that him competing in this motocross race will end in disaster.  At first, the special never ceases to go out of its way to majorly put the odds against Charlie Brown winning.  He only has enough money to buy a ratty old motor bike, he wipes out with the Masked Marvel causing him to lose his helmet, forcing him to wear a pumpkin in its place, and has a lot more ground to cover than the other racers.  However, despite everything that happens, Charlie Brown just keeps on running the race and gets through all the other obstacles it comes with.  This strategy is especially effective when all the other racers, including Peppermint Patty, run into obstacles that force them to drop out.  Snoopy does put up a good fight, including going so far as to shoot tennis balls at the very kid who puts food in his bowl, but even with that Charlie Brown never stops putting up a good race.  Everything that happens leads to a big finish when the winner of the race turns out to be Charlie Brown.  I’m not joking.  Even after everything that stood in his way, and even with his bad reputation, it’s Charlie Brown who’s the big winner.  I, for one, feel that it’s just amazing that someone as unlucky as Charlie Brown is given a well-deserved victory since it goes on to show that even though it’s more likely to fail than succeed most of the time, things can still work out on occasion.  This message is especially apparent when the special ends with Charlie Brown going on to another sport confident as a result of his motocross win, even though an instance of the classic clothes-stripping baseball pitch gag foreshadows the usual failure.  Well, at least we have a reminder that even Charlie Brown isn’t a “total” failure.  There’s a lot of fun sports-related gags and nice excitement from the motocross race, and the fact that this is a rare instance where Charlie Brown wins something make this special one worth seeing.

Highly Recommended

If you think I’m getting a little too nice with the Peanuts specials this decade, I just want to let you know that this is the last time you’ll be seeing this particular rating in this post.

The Ranking

1. There’s No Time for Love Charlie Brown
2. It’s the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown
3. You’re Not Elected Charlie Brown
4. You’re a Good Sport Charlie Brown
5. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
6. Be My Valentine Charlie Brown
7. Play it Again Charlie Brown
8. It’s a Mystery Charlie Brown

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next special, which is easily the most obscure of all Peanuts holiday specials and the last one to feature original music from Vince Guaraldi, "It's Arbor Day Charlie Brown."

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