Justsomeordinarydude

SPOILER WARNING - DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE EPISODE YET!

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So, things have been slow the last couple of days. I still haven't started writing my "Can't Lynn Em' All" review yet. But there was a speculation about the episode that I wanted to discuss first.

I get the sense that this episode is potentially building up to a sequel story in season 8 that will serve as another crossover with the Casagrandes cast. Why? Simple...

Bella Big Bucks. The wrestling promoter that appears in the episode. She initially hires Lynn as part of her roster due to her immense strength and talent, but as the story goes on, the two come into conflict, and the episode ends with Lynn leaving her and the two part on bad terms.

Now Bella has reason to want some form of revenge against Lynn Junior. Like Vic, she may come back for a second episode against the Loud family member that she believes did her dirty.

But what's really interesting about this potential premise is the fact that Bella has a very familiar character design. Surely, some of you guys picked it up too, right?

The blonde hair, the thick black unibrow, the lines in the nose, and even the gapped teeth... not to mention, we know that the family resemblance in Becky's family is strong given how similar she looks to her little brother, Ricky.

Oh, and the icing on the cake? Bella happens to be a big-time promoter of a wrestling company. Becky is a huge wrestling enthusiast, it's practically her main character trait.

Surely, all this feels like way too big of a coincidence to be just that. I get the sense that this episode was made to subtly build up the potential of a clash between Lynn and Becky (the two super strong, tough tomboy girls of their respective cities and shows) in season 8... if it happens. XD

Plus, there is reason for them to come into conflict with each other. Bella wants revenge against Lynn, and she notices her daughter is a great, really tough wrestling prodigy, and she decides to train her up so she can beat up Lynn.

Perhaps season 8 will give us a big wrestling match between Lynn and Becky.

If it does, I just want to say early... I'm calling it. XD

Much like I did with season five, I am now going to discuss my thoughts regarding season six so far and the run of episodes it has given us. Season six seems to be a divider of opinions, with some calling it the best season we've had in a while, but others claiming it has continued the seasonal rot that seasons four and five started. Speaking of which, it's probably worth starting this off with a brief recap of what the previous seasons had to offer and what direction the series has been going in... Seasonal Rot? Depending on who you ask, you may hear from some people that The Loud House as a show overall is suffering from a decline in quality, a state of seasonal rot. Many people have criticised the later seasons of the show for being abundant with boring, filler, and/or repetitive stories that hardly utilise the show's greatest strengths. Season five is perhaps the most widely loathed by the fandom, since many percieve it for not only having many boring stories, but also for shifting the focus away from the Loud family just a little too often in favour of Lincoln's friend group and the new middle school setting that season five established.

I'm going to say this right now... I don't hate Lincoln's friend group. I think they're honestly a pretty decent ensemble of characters with contrasting personalities that make them an overall interesting group to follow. Certainly, if nothing else, they have the edge over most of the friendship groups of the other siblings (who are often criticised as being less exaggerated and more one-dimensional copies of whichever Loud sister they're associated with.

That being said, I can fully understand the complaints that they did steal the spotlight from the Loud family a little too frequently in season five. After all, the show is literally titled 'THE LOUD HOUSE', so of course a shortage of content revolving around the actual Loud House is a major problem. Besides, the titular family is so interesting and entertaining and brimming with more potential for exploration, especially concerning various particular sibling relationships and dynamics. But of course, when you're forcing them aside for the sake of a generic middle school outing every other episode, that is kind of hard to achieve. For this reason, I have a very mixed opinion on season five myself. I mean, I do like it quite a bit, but it's not my favourite season. Back when I wrote my aforementioned season five retrospective last year (which you can read here if you're interested: https://www.deviantart.com/justsomeordinarydude/art/My-Thoughts-on-The-Loud-House-Season-5-so-far-874051246), I said I thought it was pretty middle of the road as far as the quality of Loud House seasons went. In fact, I then followed that up with a season rankings post (click here: https://www.deviantart.com/justsomeordinarydude/art/The-Loud-House-Seasons-1-to-5-RANKED-881963860). But for those of you who don't want to read extra material, basically I ranked season five in the middle. I placed it above season's four and one, but below season's two and three. As such, while I do think it is a somewhat overhated run of episodes, I can completely understand where the neighsayers are coming from there.

So, has season six been continuing some of the unhealthy trends that its predecessor set in motion? Or is it restoring the series to its former glory? Let's find out! More Loud Family Screentime Let's begin by addressing the most crucial point. Season five was known for placing just a little too much narrative towards on Lincoln's gang (also known as 'The Action News Team') at the expense of the actual Loud family's relevance. Season six has taken notable steps to prevent this from continuing, however. While there were a few episodes continuing the trend from season five, particularly near the beginning of the season, they mostly felt like season five holdovers (more on that later). Most episodes of this season so far have either been about the family as a whole ("Time Trap", "Dine and Bash", "Sofa So Good", "Bummer Camp", etc..), or have been about or two family members specifically (such as "The Last Laugh" being about Luan and Lola, "Eye Can't" being about Lisa and the parents, and "The Taunting Hour" being about Lincoln and Lynn mostly, just to bring up a few examples).

Yes, episodes like "Save the Last Pants" and "Scoop Snoop" have still been present this season, and that's fine. I think a few episodes a season about Lincoln's friends aren't a problem as such. After all, they've become significant recurring characters/secondary protagonists to the series in their own right at this point. BUT it is important to know when enough is enough and when to prioritise your main characters and setting. Fortunately, it does appear the writers have realised this and are making the necessary changes to steer the show back on track this season.

Also, while I'm sure many of you still feel like it would have been better if Lori was never written to move away to Fairway in season five and was still in Royal Woods with her family, I will say the writers have made a decent effort to remember that she exists and satisfy those who are fans of her character. She was included in the "Time Trap" special, she played a pivotal role in the episode "Driver's Dread", and according to the revealed synopses for the rest of the episodes due to be released in the coming months, she will have at least two focal stories of her own with "Stroke of Luck" (thank god that didn't turn out to be a No Such Luck sequel) and "Crashed Course".

I can't think of a single sibling who has been shafted out this season. Literally all of them have had their fair share of day in the limelight episodes (or are due to receive them according to the upcoming episode synopsis list). In just the first ten episodes of the season alone, there was a Lincoln episode ("Present Danger"), a Luan episode ("Stressed for the Part"), a Lola and Lana episode ("Double Trouble", though my FanFiction story of the same name was better. XD), a Lucy episode ("Haunted House Call"), a Lincoln and Lynn episode "The Taunting Hour", which also focused on some other Loud family members to a lesser extent), and a Lynn Sr episode ("A Bug's Strife"). That's just the first bunch of episodes, and while not all of those aforementioned stories were masterful pieces of television or anything, I respect the writing staff for at least trying to give every major character in the show their fair share of screentime. I guess the only Loud who hasn't really been given that much time to shine is Rita. Unless you count her secondary role in "Taunting Hour", Rita hasn't really had an episode of her own this season, and by the looks of the upcoming episode synopses, she's only due to have one before it comes to an end (that being "Crown and Out" where Lola is set to transform her into a pageant mom). Turning Mundane Ideas Interesting Along with knowing where its priorities are better than season five, season six has also given us some fairly interesting stories, even if some of them were formed from very basic and generic plot outlines. For example, "Sofa So Good" is a fairly generic and simple story on paper. The siblings lose the couch after they trash the living room and remove the furniture to clean up, so they go all around town trying to get it back. A fairly simple premise, but the execution enabled the episode to amount to comedic gold. The interactions between the siblings were top notch in this episode, and most if not all the jokes landing well. Also, Lynn was the stand-out in this episode as far as entertainment value goes (there, I said it, I keep saying to you all that Lynn is a hell of an enjoyable character at least 95% of the time, but it seems the handful of times when her character is taken too far is all that anyone ever remembers about her, but I digress). Either way, "Sofa So Good" has definitely been the strongest episode of this season so far... but it's not the only gem to be found.

"Puns and Buns" is another particularly great episode from this season, mainly focusing on Benny and his conflict of interests concerning his girlfriend Luan working at the Burpin' Burger with him and goofing around, and his incredibly serious employer who (I guess rightfully) wants him to get rid of her. Of course, this creates some uneasy tension for Benny, who has to make a choice. Again, it's a relatively basic 'rock and a hard place' scenario for the protagonist, but it's the character interactions, emotional integrity and comedic moments that carry the episode into great territory.

"Dine and Bash" is another example of this. The plot is Lynn Sr is away for the night and Gordon Ramsay (but that's who this guy really is) comes to review Lynn's Table while the siblings are covering for their father. Again, a very generic plot that is far from original or innovative in concept, but it's the gags and execution of the story that elevate it higher than the sum of its parts. While I do think the Gordon Ramsay rip-off was a little bit one-note and generically jerkish compared to his real life counterpart, the story as a whole was still pretty damn solid.

Also, why does everyone hate "Time Trap" so much? It's a fairly solid story about the Loud siblings travelling in time. It's nothing spectacular, but it's solid enough. Is it because it's a surreal premise that people dislike it? Honestly, go back and watch some episodes of the earlier seasons. There were always some surreal elements involved in the show. Lisa's trash monster made its debut way back in a season one episode, after all. It's never been that grounded in reality. Maybe they are going a little bit further with the surreal concepts than they used to during the earlier seasons, but I don't think it's really that big a deal. Especially since it's balanced out with more 'realistic' episodes dealing with more mundane everyday stuff like Lana suffering from a weird case of social anxiety and being homesick in "Sleepstakes", or Leni stepping in to help one of her friends who is nervous of asking a guy out on a date in "Food Courting". Again, mundane concepts, but the way they're done makes them really good. With the amount of episodes dealing with very simple narratives, I don't see what the big deal is if every now and then, the show decides to go balls-to-the-walls with outlandish and surreal stories. I think a blend of both actually helps to shake things up and keep things fresh. Besides, a balance of big end of the world special two-parters mixed with various slice-of-life episodes focusing on mundane situation worked for My Little Pony for about a decade straight. Why can't the Loud House do the same?

While not every episode this season has been great, I think most episodes have at least been very good, with no episode being an outright atrocity ("Time Trap" and "The Taunting Hour" aren't that bad, people. At the very least, they aren't even close to as awful as "Brawl in the Family" or "Study Muffin"). A New 'Feel' For This Season As such, I've felt a very positive vibe for this season so far. It differs from season five in quite a noticeable way, which I think speaks volumes for how much it has been improving the general direction of the series. For instance, some of the relatively weaker and least interesting stories this season, such as "Don't Escar-go", "Flip this Flip", and "Save the Last Pants" felt like holdovers from season five (what with them being run-of-the-mill average outings focusing on characters like Flip or the Action News Team and all), whilst gems like "Sofa So Good" "Puns and Buns" definitely had a very different feel to them.

It's similar to how "Brawl in the Family" was clearly a season one holdover that aired during early season two (which is even evidenced by the fact that Lynn Sr and Rita still had their faces blocked despite "11 Louds a Leapin" already having revealed their faces for the first time beforehand). Most of the stronger episodes from this season felt different to the vibe that season five provided, and I think that's a strong indicator that at the very least, the show is being steered in the right direction.

Not much more to say about this point, really. But now, since I've praised the show in this post so far, let's shift towards some of the negatives I still have with the series. Overused Supporting Characters/Antagonists But now to follow up on my praiseworthy points, I have a more critical argument to make. While the writers are generally doing a good job to make sure the right characters are getting priority, I still get the sense that they're overusing certain characters a little too much in some cases. I'm mainly talking about the side characters here. The Flip's of the show and so on. In the past couple of seasons, we've had a few unnecessary spotlight stealers. First we had Flip and Scoots, then Mr Bolhofner also came into the picture. Even the Cheryl/Meryl twin duo have started popping up more often in stories. I'm not saying any of them are bad characters, but none of them are exactly likeable, entertaining or interesting enough to justify having as much screentime as season five and six have given them. Most recently, we've even had Lisa's robot Todd take up a lot of screentime. Now, keep in mind this is coming from someone who actually kind of likes Todd (yeah, I know, strangely enough I actually think he's a pretty decent, moderately funny supporting character, mainly because I don't mind the more surreal elements of the show too much; besides, the Casagrandes already did it with Breakfast Bot and nobody cared there). But even then, he does seem to have been given a lot of time to shine in season six, perhaps a tad too much. This is an unfortunate habit that this season has retained from the previous one. After all, I never said season six improved in ALL areas compared to its predecessor. There are still some problems to be dealt with here.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. With such a large and expansive cast like the Loud House has, it's almost impossible to get it completely right regarding how much screentime, narrative focus, and development is distributed to each main, recurring, and minor character. But even so, it has to be said that with some of these supporting characters, it's just getting silly. Especially in the case of Flip. Someone in the writing staff seems to have a huge hard-on for this guy. I understand John DiMaggio is a popular and well recognised voice actor in the animation industry and you don't want to waste his talents, but Flip is just not a character that is designed to be that prominently featured. He's just a sleazy business owner who is cheap and likes to cheat people out of their money. He's designed for minor, infrequent roles and appearances, and nothing more than that. I get the sense that the writers want to make this guy into a Bender-like presence in the show, but here's the thing... Flip is not Bender, not even close.

Again, I don't dislike Flip, and he functions perfectly well as a minor antagonist of sorts. But he just seems to be overused at this point. Even in some of the best episodes this season like "Sofa So Good", he just shows up and takes over a portion of the plot because of course he does. I just think with characters like him and Scoots that they need to tone down how much they're brought into new stories. Also, it's especially jarring just how much time the writers spend focusing on characters like Scoots of Flip when you consider my next point...

Overutilised and Underutilised Characters? While Flip and some other characters are used way too often, some other characters, who legitimately have potential to be so much more and add so much more depth to the world of this show, are either so underused or so underdeveloped that it's just a shame. While some people hate on Lincoln's friends for hogging the spotlight in recent years, defenders can at least turn around and say that Lincoln's friends have clearly identifiable and distinguished personalities of their own. And they're right. If season five's overabundance of episodes about Lincoln's friends accomplished at least one positive, it's that it made the group fully fleshed out and well rounded. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for most of the supporting friend characters of the Loud sisters.

Darcy, who was once introduced as a perfect foil friend character for Lisa, has been pretty much sidelined in favour of her robotic creations like Todd and Darebot (again, I like Todd, but if the writers are going to use Lisa so much this season, why not let her have some more chemisty with Darcy? Pun not intended). Fiona, Jackie and Mandee have yet to appear in season six if my memory serves me right (with only Miguel appearing in the recently aired episode "Food Courting"). Margo, Paula, and Maddie are decent but their personalities still aren't that well defined overall. The only truly noteworthy thing about them is they're like Lynn but just a little less brash and aggressive. Other than Sam, Luna's other two bandmates, Mazzy and Sully, are basically just carbon copies of Luna or Sam themselves, with very little that distinguishes them individually in any way. Additionally, while Benny has a fully fleshed out character at this point, no other friends of Luan's have really received any proper exploration, either.

Perhaps the most heavily criticised group is the Mortician's Club. I see a lot of people hating on them at the moment, claiming episodes featuring them are dull and boring, and that they're completely wasted potential and they hold Lucy back from having more fulfilling outings with her siblings. To a point, I have to agree. Most of their stories in recent seasons have been fairly mediocre. "A Grave Mistake" from season four wasn't anything to write home about, "Fright Bite" from season five was fairly average, "She's all Bat" was a little more entertaining but that was mainly because Lola was also featured in the episode and her dynamic with Lucy carried that episode. "Sand Hassles" was also pretty damn good, but again, it was the first half featuring the Mortician's Club trying to sabotage the school trip to the beach that held it down a little. The second half where the club were literally shut away in a dark tent and Lucy was left to roam around the beach indepedently was the far stronger half of the episode, and I actually wish the whole 11 minutes was just about that. Season six hasn't really improved on this, either. "Haunted House Call" was another 'meh' episode and the recent "The Loathe Boat" arguably just barely made it into 'good' territory. I do find it just a little bit hilarious that after a few seasons of being included as supporting characters in their own right in the series, my move to make them into a zombie slaying Nights-Watch-like faction in It's a Kid's World (link here if you haven't read it and you're interested: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13508903/1/It-s-a-Kid-s-World-Season-One) is still far more interesting a direction to take them in than the canon product has even bothered to try and do.

The fact that the presence of the club and their list of average episodes is preventing Lucy from having more interesting and enriching outings with the other Loud siblings probably doesn't help any of these goth kids with winning over much of the fandom, either. Part of the problem is that, like with the friends of the other sisters, the Mortician's kids aren't that well developed or individually interesting. Maybe if the writers would stop overusing people like Flip and would instead divide that time between focusing more on sibling dynamics that deserve it as well as giving the characters who actually have some unfulfilled potential time to grow and shine, then the show would be even better than it currently is. Conclusion But while I criticise the show for still having some of its recurring issues, I do still believe that it is generally being steered in the right direction. Episodes like "Sofa So Good", "Sleepstakes", "Puns and Buns", "Bummer Camp", "Hiccups and Downs" and "Dine and Bash" all show that the writers do still understand where the appeal for this series lies, and what its greatest strengths are. They just need to shake off their tendency to cram in various side characters too often to further refine the quality of their stories. There are still some major areas of improvement left unreached, and the staff ought to work on fixing that, but as things stand I can safely say that some positive adjustments are being made... slowly.

I suppose now is as good a time as any to share a few brief thoughts regarding the upcoming episode list. My biggest concerns are the two Lynn-centric stories, "Lynn and Order" and "Snow Escape". The former sounds like a mashup of "Schooled!" and "Cow Pie Kid", but hopefully the "Cow Pie Kid" half wins out. What I mean by that is that hopefully Liam will help Lynn to realise the error of her ways and redeem herself in that episode, thus not crossing the line and ending up on the fandom's hit list (again). As for the other episode, let's just hope that it's not as bad as the premise sounds, or that they take it in some kind of unforeseen interesting direction. That being said, I am looking forward to "My Cheer Lady". Seeing Lynn (likely fail) as a graceful and elegant cheerleader ought to be good for a laugh.

Some stories like "The Loud Cloud", "Doom Service" and "Pop Pop the Question" could be intriguing and entertaining outings for the Loud family as a whole, depending on the writing quality of course. There are also a few crossover episodes with the Casagrandes planned for later in the season, also. "Forks and Knives Out", "Fashion No Show", "Day of the Dad" and the unnamed Halloween Special all sound like they could be pretty cool stories pitting characters from both titular families against each other. Like I said way back when the first meeting for the two families happened in that Thanksgiving special a few years ago, I was interested to see various characters interact such as Leni and Carlota, Lynn Sr and Rosa, and so on. Now it looks like these personal one-on-one encounters will finally happen (unfortunately, it doesn't look like we'll ever get the Lynn/Ronnie Anne rivalry we always wanted to see back then, mainly because Ronnie Anne has softened up so much to the point where she doesn't really qualify as a tough and athletic tomboyish rival to Lynn anymore. If anything, maybe Lynn and child Becky might get into a rivalry like that at some point, but I digress).

"Love Stinks" could be a funny little episode involving Lola and Lana, and "Crown and Out" should prove to be a slightly overdue focal episode for Rita in this season. Not all the plot synopses sound particularly appetising, though. "The Orchard Grief", "The Hurt Lockers" and "Snow News Day" really don't sound like they're going to be very funny or interesting episodes, to be perfectly honest. "The Hurt Lockers" in particular seems like it's going to be very predictable, with Chandler likely being the person Lincoln has to inconveniently share a locker with, etc.. Also, "You Auto Know Better" sounds like it's going to be yet again another example of the writers cramming Flip into an episode just for the sake of it. Seriously writers, you 'auto' know better than that by now.

But maybe I'll address the rest of the season when I get round to it at a later time. For now, I would say I am overall satisfied with the season as a whole, and I would definitely rank it above season five. As such, I guess it's time for my current rankings of all the seasons of The Loud House.

1. Season 3

2. Season 2

3. Season 6 (only behind 2 by inches)

4. Season 5

5. Season 1 (again, almost tied with the season above it)

6. Season 4

See my season rankings list that I linked above if I you want more of an elaboration for why I placed them in that order. Don't get me wrong, the difference in quality between the 6 seasons isn't all that significant. The show as a whole has always been a generally solid series that has never been bad nor exceptionally excellent. I'd say episodes generally average out at around a 7 (very good) or 8 (great) out of 10. But there are naturally some relatively superior periods of the show's run compared to others. Maybe season six will be higher by the time it reaches its end. Or maybe it will be lower. We'll just have to wait and see. But now I ask all of you to share your own thoughts regarding the current season of the show. Is it better than season five or just more of the same? How does it rank compared to the previous seasons of the show? What do you think is being handled well at the moment? What would you change about the series if you had creative input? Let me hear what you all think. By the way, I think I'll use this opportunity to inform you all that I do have a couple of new FanFictions planned for the coming months that I'll be starting soon. Without spoiling too much, one will be about an ensemble of previous antagonists of the series aligning and another will be about exploring the inner psyche of the Loud siblings. Be sure to follow me on my DeviantArt (username JustSomeOrdinaryDude) and/or Twitter (username Tales of Interest) for more updates on that.

I've just quickly typed this up as I've got something to say about the latest turn of events in the world of the Loud House fandom.

So, I'm sure most of you by now have either seen or heard of Mr Enter's new video where he did an 'Animated Atrocity' on No Such Luck. Basically, he picked now as the time to look back on the show and act as if it was never any good (I wonder why? lol we'll get to that later), and essentially just spewed out the same arguments that most fans and haters alike have been saying about the episode for the last 5 years.

Honestly, at this point it's just getting depressing to see this same issue resurface. After every time it seems things are finally blowing over, and people are finally moving on from the trainwreck that was No Such Luck, someone or something always has to come along and erupt the volcano all over again. Honestly, it's just annoying to have to deal with this again and again. But that's really just the tip of the iceberg about all this...

Because of the recent controversy involving Mr Enter and his argument regarding 9/11 not being featured in a Pixar film set in 2002, it would be easy for me to completely slander and tear the guy apart and discredit his negative opinions on the show. That's not actually what I'm going to do, however. You see, the thing is (and I'm sure I've mentioned this before) Mr Enter was actually the reason I got into the Loud House back in 2016. Yes, I admit that at a time I followed his work quite closely during the mid-2010's, and it was him mentioning the show and how much he said he liked it and was impressed by its improvements that made me decide to look up the series online and check it out. One of the first episodes I watched was Space Invader (which probably explains to many of you why I'm a fan of Lynn despite all the controversy surrounding her character), and then the rest is history. All my years of reactions, reviews, discussion posts, and FanFictions are technically owed to him, in one respect.

As such, as someone who has loosely followed his work and admired some of his content over the years (as melodramatic as some of it may be), this actually puts me in a bit of a tough spot. Now the guy who had a part in getting me into the show in the first place is six years later coming back and ranting on the show, and claiming he's going to be spending a lot more time griping about him in his upcoming videos. This is actually a little disheartening to hear, even if I am aware of the fact that he's probably not even really feeling that sour towards the show in actuality, but rather it's just an easy target he's choosing to take his frustrations out on while he deals with everybody constantly bashing on him for his Turning Red review.

The interesting part was that it wasn't even that hateful or toxic a review, but rather it just had him say one misguided and somewhat silly argument about how if the movie decided to be set in 2002 (literally just one year after the 9/11 attacks) then it should have made reference to said event or portrayed the world in such a way that it resembled what society would be like after dealing with such eventfulness. Now obviously I don't agree with his argument (for a start, fictional media does not have to be completely realistic nor encompass real historical events into its story from whatever time period its set in, as it is FICTIONAL after all, but also there's the fact that it's a kid's movie and featuring 9/11 commentary probably wouldn't be all that appropriate or even thematically relevant to the film's premise in the first place), but in spite of everything I could say against his point of view, I do agree to a point that the backlash against him has been a bit much. Every corner of the internet seems to be giving the guy grief, and as some of you probably already know, he doesn't completely have together even at the best of times. It's fair to say he doesn't deal with problematic situations or stress very well, and unfortunately, it seems he has chosen to join the bandwagon of hating on the Loud House for every reason that's already been repeated about a million times at this point.

Mr Enter just seems to be using this show (which seems to have become an easy target for people to bash on at this point) as a means of distraction and/or lashing out because of his recent controversy. It's like... why is he choosing to target the universally panned episode of TLH now? Five years on? After everyone else on the internet has already given it the Star Wars Prequel or Game of Thrones Season 8 treatment for years on end and the horse has already been truly beaten to death. He's decided to turn on a show that for years he has at the very least had a generally positive outlook towards. Whatever your opinion on the show is and whether or not it has undergone seasonal rot in recent years, it's hard for you to deny the convenient timing of all this bile he's started to throw at the series.

And the thing is, it's more sad than anything else. I was hoping that he would somehow be able to bounce back from the controversy of his Turning Red review (as well as whatever other demon's he's dealing with in his personal life, as it appears to be quite apparent that he has some). I don't want the guy to go through a downward spiral, but it seems that he's hell bent on doing just that because of the emotional state I think he's entered lately.

As someone who has been a little bit of a fan of his at times over the past decade, I would like to provide Mr Enter with some serious advice. I mean, he claimed in his newest video that he was going to start talking about this show a lot more (and not in a good way, it seems), so it makes sense that he'd perhaps look up parts of the fandom and see what the general consensus is regarding the show... maybe?

As such, if you do ever read this Mr Enter, I want you to take note of these words. I don't want to see your name be dragged through the mud, and I don't want you to go on a path of self-destruction. But also, I'd rather you not choose to take out your grief on a show that, first of all, you got me into in the first place, but secondly, really doesn't need anyone else pointing out its (arguable) missteps. Aside from the fact that No Such Luck has already been ripped to pieces by literally everybody else on the internet long before you took your shots at it, we've already got other people (like CartoonShi) constantly whining about all the current state of the show, as well as some of its extensions like the movie, the live action special, and the spinoff. Aside from the fact that you deciding to chew out the Loud House would make my life harder (since I've literally been trying to mend the damage bad episodes like No Such Luck and the melodramatic mass reactions to them have been causing for half a decade at this point, hell, this review of mine https://www.deviantart.com/justsomeordinarydude/art/So-about-the-recent-Loud-House-controversy-671929025 was literally the first thing that truly got me noticed within the fandom), it would just be painfully redundant at this point since bashing on the current state of the Loud House has already been done enough.

I honestly feel that Mr Enter's best option here would be to lay low for a while, let the backlash of his 9/11 arguments die down over the coming weeks, whilst he also works on restoring his emotional well-being in the meantime, and then coming back in a couple of months with a clear mind and a more forgiving fanbase, where he can then resume his online reviewing career in a less toxic and more productive manner. That's what he SHOULD do. But unfortunately, it doesn't look like that's what's going to happen. If he does decide to target the Loud House in the coming weeks or months, then it looks like we're going to be dealt with a lot of controversy ourselves, both internally within the fanbase and externally from neighsayers of the show. Either way, it's disheartening that is has come to this.

Nobody really defends the show anymore against neighsayers, like even most fans seem to agree with CartoonShi (a guy who is clearly not a fan of the series and never has been, and strangely for someone who seemingly hates the show with a passion can't seem to ever shut up about it) when he rants and raves on whatever the show does. I get that the recent seasons of the show have got their problems, but then again, so did the earlier seasons.

I accept this has been one of my least structured and least thought out discussion posts, but that's because this is more of quick reactionary post that I've just quickly typed up while my feelings towards Mr Enter's newest video are still fresh.

I don't know, maybe it would be interesting to hear what everyone thinks about the whole situation. Do you guys agree with what Mr Enter said? Or do you think it's just getting tiresome beating dead horses like No Such Luck and Brawl in the Family at this point? Is the show still good or is it deserving of all this scorn? Are people just being too harsh towards it? Is the Lynn Loud hate still necessary or justified? Could bringing up the sins of this episode for the umpteenth time cause all kinds of discord amongst the fandom? I'm genuinely interested to hear what everybody thinks about all this. Do you agree that we should just move on and should have done years ago?

Is The Loud House writing team out of touch with the show’s fandom? Is it neglecting it’s most important characters and dynamics?

It’s fair to say that The Loud House fanbase, like with most other fandoms, has its fair share of rocky turns, controversy, and division of opinions and perspectives. There are many people who hold contrasting views regarding certain characters, as well as different groups of fans who either believe the show is still as good as ever or has suffered a period of seasonal rot. Within that latter group, there are people who believe it fell from grace at different points in time. Some would argue it was as recent as season five when the show started to go downhill.

Some would argue it was a little earlier, maybe around season three or four (not sure why anyone would say season three was the point it declined, to be honest, given how it was definitely the strongest season of the show’s run so far). Hell, there’s even that one YouTuber who argued that the show suffered from a state of decline as early as after the FIRST season ended (you know the one, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UDPZwKCSYc and he just seems like someone who isn’t even a fan of the show in general if I’m perfectly honest, as he only seems to like the first season and that’s it, and honestly that is a bit of a weird perspective to hold considering it’s probably one of the weaker seasons). But it’s safe to state that a lot of people would say the show isn’t necessarily at its best right now.

Last year, I compiled a ranking post of the five seasons from worst to best just before season five concluded, and I still stand by my claim that S5 was fairly middle of the road by the standards of the show. It was stronger than season’s four and one, in my view, but probably a fair bit weaker than season’s two and three. But that’s just my perspective, and a lot of people would disagree with me on that point, with many criticising S5 for its lack of emphasis on the Loud family in favour of Lincoln’s friend group, an overuse of comedic jerk characters like Flip, Scoots and Mr Bolhofner, and some mean-spirited episodes like ‘Schooled’ that unfortunately reminded them all too heavily of Brawl in the Family and No Such Luck. That being said, it still had some strengths that made it worth watching overall, even if it wasn’t exactly the best that the show could be.

However, now that we’re several episodes into the beginning of season six, it seems that certain issues are becoming exacerbated as the tone of certain episodes, as well as what priorities the writers are taking in terms of character and narrative focus, are just feeling a little… off. Where are the Louds? Perhaps the biggest issue that most fans have with the show as of seasons five and six is just how little screentime some of the Loud family members actually receive compared to how much time they perhaps should be getting. Looking at S5, Luan Loud was a character who I can remember not getting that much narrative focus. She had two focal episodes that I can recall off the top of my head (well, if you argue Undercover Mom is one, then I guess you could say three, but that’s pushing it). Silence of the Luans and Director’s Rut. Now for something that might make you quite sad. Flip, who is only supposed to be a supporting character at best, had the same amount of focal episodes, and arguably more screen time overall in S5, due to the amount of cameos and lesser roles in episodes that he also had. With Blinded by Science, A Flipmas Carol, and arguably Dream a Lily Dream all being Flip-centric stories, it honestly felt like he had more of a presence last season than some of the Loud siblings, which just feels wrong when you think it outright like that.

Also, even if you don’t count episodes that only focus on one of Lincoln’s friends, such as Cow Pie Kid exclusively following Liam and Lynn’s story of utilising the former’s pitching skills to win at baseball, then the amount of episodes in S5 that concentrated on ‘The Action News Team’ totalled in at… 11 episodes?

Schooled, Kernel of Truth, Saved by the Spell, No Bus No Fuss, Rumour Has It, Zack Attack, Grub Snub, Broadcast Blues, How the Best was Won, Farm to Unstable, Frame on You… yep, that’s 11 stories focused on Lincoln’s friend group, and again, that’s only including the ones where the whole group is focused on together. There are even more when you take into account that some episodes also concentrated on just one or two of them.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do like Lincoln’s group of friends, and I do believe that having them star in an episode as a group is still a vastly superior option over just having Lincoln and Clyde as the co-leads, mainly because there’s a larger range of personalities playing off each other and Lincoln and Clyde are just too similar to each other to work on their own. That’s a similar problem that a lot of the sisters’ friendship groups have when they star in an episode. Some of the friends of the sisters feel a little too similar to the sisters themselves at times. Haiku is basically just Lucy, Margo is just a less aggressive and rowdy Lynn, and Luna’s bandmates are all basically interchangeable with each other, too. While I do like them, they’re not necessarily that well-rounded or developed, as such. I will say Lincoln’s friends are the most fleshed out, mainly because they’ve had by far the most screen time, so I suppose that’s a bit of an unfair comparison.

But here’s the thing. While I like the Action News Team, I still think the priority should remain with the Loud family first and foremost. Like I said, Luan only had two focal episodes in S5, same as Flip. Lori only had three (this one I do understand to a point since she’s no longer living at home and has moved off to Fairway, but still), and Lucy also only had two in the form of Fright Bite and She’s all Bat. Again, why is a Loud sister getting less attention and screen time than Flip? I know Lucy’s gimmick is that she’s the quiet one who lurks in the shadows and often gets forgotten about, but even then, being overshadowed by Flip is just ridiculous.

Even the other siblings only received about four or five focal episodes of their own on average, which while not bad, is still far less than what the Action News Team got. As much as I like Lincoln’s friends, the Loud siblings are still the more interesting group of characters overall, and since the show is SUPPOSED to be about them, you would think it would be a good idea to start writing more stories around the actual Louds.

But what about episodes that focus on the Loud family as a whole? How many episodes about the entire family were there in season five? Let’s see…

The Boss Maybe (mostly Leni-centric but did technically focus on the overall sibling dynamic), Season’s Cheatings (again, mostly Lincoln-centric but did to a point include the whole family), arguably Elect-Shunned (since they all helped Leni in the election), Much Ado About Nothing, Camped, Lori Days… that’s six episodes that concentrate on the entire family group (only about half as many as the amount of episodes about the Action News Team). Keep in mind, episodes that were about the family as a whole once made up the vast majority of the episodes in the show way back in the first season.

Now I’m not saying that we should have all the episodes focus on the group as a whole again. When people like to criticise the newer seasons in favour of the old, they conveniently choose to forget/ignore some of the problems that the older seasons had. Because so many episodes focused on the entire sibling group, which consists of 11 characters, corners were cut in the writing process to allow stories focusing on such a large group of main characters to work and conclude themselves while fitting inside a short 11-minute time slot (and that’s something we’ll come back too later in this discussion). The Loud sisters were often given a hive mind in many episodes so that they could collectively serve as the ten antagonists against Lincoln’s sole protagonist in a lot of stories. This usually meant they said and did things for the sake of being antagonistic in the story against Lincoln, whether it was in character for them or not.

Some characters also didn’t receive much development or fleshing out until season three because of this formula and structure that the earlier seasons followed. Lynn and Luna were probably two of the most prominent examples of this. Lynn was attacked by fans for being static and one-note for a long time until Middle Men came out while Luna didn’t even receive a single day in the limelight in season two. It also took a while for Lori to grow and mature into a more likeable person from the mean and condescending older sister she used to be. While I do like the first season, I think it’s ludicrous to pretend that it was flawless and masterful. It had plenty of its own faults and blunders, just different ones compared to what the show has now.

In my honest opinion, season three was the show at its height, and that’s because it generally had the strongest stories, but also because it seemed to prioritise and divide its focus the most efficiently out of all the seasons so far. The show should play to its strengths more soundly by dividing its focus thusly…

50% of episodes should be about one or a small group of siblings interacting with each other in whatever the plot is about 25% of episodes should focus on the family as a whole The remaining 25% of episodes can then be about the characters with their friends or focus on other side characters like Flip, Mr Grouse, etc..

Season three came to the closest to matching this template, and that’s why I think it was the best, and it had the best stories overall. I can’t think of any stinkers from that season (even the episode where they’re at Aunt Ruth’s and Pop-Pops isn’t that bad, really). Meanwhile, it gave us brilliant stories like Middle Men, Head Poet’s Anxiety, Racing Hearts, Shop Girl, The Mad Scientist, Hero Today Gone Tomorrow, and others. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the show’s strongest run so far was the one that so expertly knew its priorities regarding its selection of characters and narratives.

Going back to the fifth season, I would say most of my favourite episodes from that show were ones that focused on members of the Loud family. The Boss Maybe, Undercover Mom, Dream a Lily Dream, Cow Pie Kid, Lori Days… all Loud-centric stories. Meanwhile, the weakest story, Schooled, was about Lincoln and his friends at Middle School (with some subplots about other characters added into the mix as well, since it was an extended special). Diss the Cook was also a surprisingly great gem of an episode because instead of being about Lincoln teaming up with his friends yet again to deal with the Chef Pat stuff (which the episode so easily could have done), it instead teamed him up with Lynn to make for a much better and more interesting episode, especially since Lincoln and Lynn’s dynamic is one of the ones that needs the most work and attention (speaking of which, I do have a FanFiction called Survival Instincts that delves into their relationship if any of you guys are interested). All of this does indicate that a reduction in episodes about the news team, as well as Flip, Scoots, Bolhofner and other minor characters, and an increase in episodes about the actual Loud family, is necessary if the show to regain (or maintain, depending on who you ask) it’s greatness. I’m not saying they can’t have any focal episodes, but the priority should by the Louds themselves. Not another No Such Luck experience, please! Surely there are better ideas! But it’s not just S5 that we need to be addressing, because we’re now a few episodes into S6, and I’m going to be honest… it hasn’t had the strongest start. Part of the problem is that it seems to be continuing the trend of neglecting the Loud sisters in favour of these recurring characters yet again. Lincoln’s friends, Chandler, Scoots, Flip, and Bolhofner seem to be eating up screentime, while some of the sisters have barely made an impact at all in S6 so far. But it’s not just that.

Recently, an episode called The Taunting Hour came out, and as soon as I looked at some of the reactions to that episode, I immediately remembered that cutscene from Grand Theft Auto SanAndreas where CJ said “Ah S***, here we go again” and I think that was quite a fitting reaction.

As soon as I saw that episode, I could tell it was going to get a No Such Luck reaction to it. After all, it featured most of the family all turning on Lincoln and at one point even claiming he ruined their lives (even the parents). It was just an unnecessarily mean thing for the family to say to him. But also like in NSL, Lincoln did somewhat act idiotically as well by just blurting out all the examples of people badmouthing the family without any consideration, and also like in NSL, their reactions go too far and are all purely directed at him. Not to mention, all the mean-spirited “critics” once again receive no comeuppance for all the heartache they caused. That being said, I wouldn’t exactly call it a bad episode. It had some decent jokes in there, things didn’t get quite as bad as in Brawl or NSL with how mean everyone got, the expressions and animation of the characters was really fantastic here and generated some decent humour, and the resolution wasn’t rushed nor toxic in its implications like those aforementioned stories were. It’s by no means the next NSL, at least in my view, but I still knew it was going to trigger a similar kind of reaction.

I still think part of the fandom never really let that go. That’s why Lynn Jr seems to be constantly treading on eggshells with the fans. Whenever they start liking her again, it only takes one misstep before they’re back to hating her guts. Honestly, it’s a pretty sad status quo.

But all this does reflect on how the writers are prone to making huge mistakes when it comes to writing stories for the show. They either make stories that outright P*** people off, or they sometimes make episodes that just don’t generate much of a reaction out of them at all, really.

For a few years now, many people amongst the fandom have criticised the writers for sometimes creating very mundane and unoriginal stories. I’ve dived into this topic before, and while I maintain that a lack of originality doesn’t automatically result in a bad episode, I do agree to a point that some of the narratives in the show feel a little bit… uninspired. Maybe the writers are just running out of ideas. Maybe that’s part of the reason why they’re beginning to focus more on the supporting cast and less on the titular family… maybe they just don’t have that many ideas left for episodes revolving around the Louds. But honestly, that really shouldn’t be the case. For a start, why does the show keep getting renewed if the writers are out of ideas for the Loud House (well, apart from the obvious answer… the money). But also, there is so much more that could be done with these characters and/or their dynamics with each other. I’ve even created several FanFictions that were designed to resemble canonical material. Maybe you’d have to tweak them up a bit to make them real episodes, but seriously, if you’re running out of ideas, screw whatever legal ramifications there are on the matter… just use my stories. Make them canon. I won’t take legal action against you for it. 😉 Hell, go one step further and hire me as a writer, even. I’m sure I could help you.

In all seriousness though, there is so much more that could be done with this colourful cast of characters, and I have a hard time believing that the writing team is creatively stumped. In season six so far, we’ve had about a dozen episodes or so come out as of the time I’m writing this, and while a few of them were decent outings, some of them still seem to encompass a lot of the same trends and faults that many episodes from recent seasons have had. Don’t Escargo is a fairly boring episode and Flip this Flip is yet another example of the writers grossly overusing this one-note side character for far bigger roles than his character archetype really justifies him having. He’s a sleazy store owner and shady businessman who’s obsessed with money, he’s good for the odd gag, but he’s really not someone you should be making a protagonist over and over again.

Also, while I get that’s it’s absurd to completely cry over a lack of originality, as honestly I’d argue that nothing is completely original anymore, there’s a difference between unoriginal yet interesting and just… uninspired. Many of the stories from the show are not only noticeably cliché and generic, but a lot of them are also uninteresting in regards to how there’s very little decent humour throughout, neither are there any twists or turns that especially make the narrative direction more interesting in said stories. Granted, the use of uninspired generic plot lines has been a problem for far longer than seasons five and six, but the longer the show goes on for, the more prominent a problem this seems to be. While season six has had a few decent episodes, none of them have really stood out so far as great. It seems that the show is accepting just being slightly above average in terms of quality as its norm at the moment. Unfortunately, this lack of ambition will likely cause it to lose some of its following, and this will make it lose out in general popularity compared to other contemporary cartoons that are rising high right now. It’s no secret that while the Loud House has been overall successful as a show, it still hasn’t quite reached the heights that I think Nickelodeon was hoping for.

Compare that to other series like The Owl House and Amphibia are aiming high and are becoming more popular as a result. Accepting mediocrity because it’s easy is never a good mentality to adopt, and I strongly urge the writing team (if any of you guys happen to be reading this by any chance XD) to strive towards writing more creative and entertaining stories with your most interesting characters. There are plenty of interesting dynamics revolving around the Loud siblings that have yet to be explored in that much depth, and I’m sure there are various ways you could construct narratives that revolve around them and make them work. Also, while sometimes concentrating on side characters is fine in theory, maybe instead of always using the same old jerkish characters like Flip and Scoots, instead opt to give some other side characters a bit more of a chance to shine. While Haiku and the Mortician’s Club, Fiona and Miguel, Margo and Paula, Darcy, and several of the other friends to the Louds are also okay, most of them are on the bland side as far as characterisation is concerned. Since you’ve spent so much time focusing on Lincoln’s friends, maybe you could spend some time also on fleshing these other supporting characters out and utilising their potential. After all, plenty of them are by the nature of their archetypes already more palatable characters than Flip or Scoots. I’d say it’s a pretty safe to bet that to truly be more in touch with your audience, it would be best to write more for the actual Loud family as well as the side characters who actually have potential to be more than just quick gag machines like Flip.

But then again, maybe I’m observing this whole situation with far too a simplistic outlook. Here I am telling the writing staff what they should do and how to get more in touch with their audience like it’s really just that easy… but is it really? Another perspective: The underappreciated brilliance of great Loud House episodes. In spite of everything I’ve said, I understand that it’s very easy for an amateur writer/critic such as myself to critique the approach the writers have taken with writing scripts for the series. I mean, it’s not like I have deadlines to meet or executive meddling to deal with, nor am I bombarded with anywhere as many constraints or restrictions when creating my own work. As such, while I do think there are areas where the writers can improve their craft, I don’t think it’s fair to just badmouth them without acknowledging that what they do is actually pretty challenging in context.

Let’s not underestimate the challenge the show’s writers are presented with. They not only have to write a cohesive, engaging, and entertaining short tale within the running time of a roughly 11-minute episode slot, but they have to do so when dealing with an incredibly large and extensive cast by the standards of a fast-paced, slice of life children’s cartoon. For those of you who ever use the Loud House Wiki, you’ll know that copies of the episode’s scripts can be found pretty easily. Through extracting these scripts, I was able to discover that the average Loud House episode story is anywhere between 2.5k and just over 3k words in length. That’s actually quite short, especially compared to all the massively long Loud House FanFictions out there. There are many Loud House FanFiction’s that are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of words long, and yet an average episode of the canon product is normally less than 3,000. Just register that excessive contrast for a moment.

I have been writing FanFiction stories for a while now myself, and while I began with writing larger scale stories such as It’s a Kid’s World and The Quest for Glory, I gradually moved towards writing shorter and smaller scale stories that fit more and more closely with the tone, pace, scope and scale of the show. But even then, my stories still don’t quite match the exact length of a Loud House episode, even if I do (to a point) write them to feel like actual episodes of the series. My four most recent FanFic’s (all of which follow the typical three-act structure of a Loud House narrative) have an average of 9,000 words in their length, with the shortest of them, Double Trouble (yes, I wrote a story with the same name of a recent episode of the actual show that came out mere months later, completely by accident seemingly, that’s how much I write my stories to resemble real episodes of the show) being around 6k words in length. While I acknowledge that writing stories in a typical storybook format naturally encompasses a little more word length than a more condensed script format does, even allowing for that change, my stories still don’t quite match the exact length and pace of a Loud House episode. While one could argue that this word limit could work to the show’s benefit, as it enforces the need for ‘fat-trimming’ when it comes to the show’s dialogue scenes between characters, it also means that crucial lines or even entire scenes that could have completely transformed the implications of the episodes’ events (for better or for worse) were scrapped in the process. It is possible that early drafts for panned episodes like Schooled were actually better than the final product, but the trimming down process butchered it somewhere along the way. I guess we’ll never know now. Naturally, I don’t need to worry about this kind of problem when writing my own stories. I may be strict on myself when it comes to trying to match the feel of a genuine episode with my work, but I’m not that strict.

The reason I bring this issue up is because I think it’s important to address the fact that claiming somebody’s FanFiction of the show is better than the actual show is not really an apt comparison. It’s like comparing Dora the Explorer to Game of Thrones, it’s just a nonsensical and ultimately aimless contrast to make, really. You can sit there on your keyboard and type that Requiem for a Loud, What is a Person Worth, Lincoln Gets Limber, Anger Management, Family of Two, or It’s a Kid’s World are superior fan-made stories to the canon series, but it’s not really a valid comparison to make in the first place. Those stories and all the other FanFictions out there were made by fans with lots of time on their hands. They didn’t have to deal with restrictions or roadblocks such as impending deadlines, executive and corporate meddling, age rating based restrictions, a very strict and limiting word count to work with, or anything else along those lines. The show’s writers have to work with all these hurdles which independent content creators such as ourselves don’t even have to take into the slightest bit of consideration. As such, I think it’s important to remember that, given all these hurdles that are placed against the writing staff, it’s actually pretty amazing that the show has managed to produce as many great episodes as it has.

Yes, you could argue that pretty much any show has to deal with a lot of these same constraints, and maybe some of them generally have a superior turnout of great episodes than the Loud House, but like I said, not only do the writers have to deal with deadlines and a strict word count, but specifically related to this show, they also have to deal with finding time within that narrow frame to include as many characters from this extensive cast as it possibly can (ideally without them feeling shoe-horned in). The very premise of this show may be part of why so many of its episodes are subpar in quality, especially in the later seasons as the cast continues to grow. The Loud House is, by its nature, a show focusing on a very large family of main characters, with each one of them having their own friendship group and set of recurring and minor characters that came out of the stories that were specifically focused on them as the show began to branch out and give each of the Loud’s their own days in the limelight. As such, it was only natural that the cast grew excessively to the point where it’s almost impossible to consistently get it right when it comes to prioritising the focus of characters for the show’s writers.

The reason why one-note jerkish characters like Flip, Scoots, and Mr Bolhofner are used so often is likely because of this very issue. When the writers have so little space to write a story as well as include a range of gags in the strict word count limit, they likely opt to use these characters very often, because they are characters who you can generate quick, cheap comedic gags from in a wide range of narrative scenarios. Even though these just aren’t characters who are designed to be featured heavily in the show (like I’ve said before, they work as characters well enough, but they’d work far better in smaller doses and less frequently), they seem to be getting more screen time than several members of the actual Loud family at this point, and I’m confident that no fan of the show is particularly happy about that.

Honestly, with all these things in mind, I admire how great some recent episodes like Diss the Cook and Undercover Mom were considering that the writers were able to create them with all these hurdles acting as forces against them. These were great pieces of animated television in spite of everything that is weighing the writing staff down. I think it’s not as simple as the writers being out of touch. Maybe that is partially the reason as to why most of the season six episodes so far have been so subpar, but it’s not the whole story. The simple truth is that there are so many factors working against the writers at this point, that it’s hard for them to get it right on a consistent basis, and I think it is important to remember this, as it makes it easier to appreciate just how well crafted the truly good episodes of the recent seasons have been. Concluding Points So, what can we make of all this? Well, it’s evident that there are problems regarding the kinds of stories and the selection of characters that the writing staff are choosing to prioritise and focus on the most, and this is causing some disdain amongst some parts of the fandom. We must remember to behave in a rational and reasonable manner. While I understand disappointment can be an enraging thing, it’s important to remain a level-headed nature and respond to things with calmness and control. Let’s not go into rage quit mode and get over the top angry about occasionally controversial episodes coming out like The Taunting Hour, nor act like it’s some kind of personal insult against ourselves just because we’re not getting exactly what we want out of a children’s cartoon. I'm really hoping that we never delve into the chaotic reactionary behaviour that we as an fanbase were showing when No Such Luck first came out. We really don't need to go back there again.

That being said, if we can encourage and influence the show’s writers to try and change its priorities and focuses, while still behaving reasonably in doing so, then I think that’s a perfectly valid and healthy thing to do. After all, fandoms have more contact with creators and showrunners today than in any previous era of media entertainment. If the fans can encourage the writers to adopt a better approach when it comes to choosing the right stories to write, or managing how much screen time and development certain characters should get, then by all means go for it. I’m aware that some fans have interacted with the show’s writers before online, though I think they were usually hostile conversations (involving, surprise surprise… Brawl and NSL as the central topics of discussion) . Maybe we can be less openly hostile in our approach this time.

But that’s not the only takeaway from all this. We should remember that while it’s easy to criticise the writers, we should not forget everything they have to deal with when it comes to the writing process, nor underestimate the challenge of creating a great episode within the constraints they’re forced to work with. While I don’t particularly like the fact that they’re overusing Flip of Scoots in their stories, I can see why they are in a sense, since they are characters who can fit into a whole bunch of different situations and you can easily generate quick laughs out of them. A sleazy and underhanded low-level businessman voiced by John Dimaggio like Flip is a character who can easily pop-up, be the centre of a few little gags, and then go, for instance. I do understand the logistics behind the choices the writers make, even if they aren’t always the most appealing choices.

Be respectful of this when voicing your disdain to your fellow fans (or even the writers themselves if you ever speak to them). Let’s not create the impression both within our own community nor to outsiders observing our activities that we are a hostile, unreasonable, or nasty group of people who act like spoilt brats. We know as a collective that we are better than that. If nothing else, the reaction for The Taunting Hour, while not ideal, from what I could tell was still much more tame and far less toxic or extreme than the reaction for No Such Luck a few years ago, which is hopefully an indication that we have matured as a fanbase to some extent. Let's hope that people's attitudes in the coming weeks and months supports that notion.

One other thing that’s worth pointing out here. I recall a lot of fans were actually crying out for more Lincoln episodes back in season’s three and four. They said he was slowly being phased out and the sisters were hogging the spotlight. Now it appears the shoe is on the other foot. Lincoln and his friends have received a lot more time in the spotlight in the most recent seasons, while the rest of the family is taking a backseat, and sure enough, there are still people complaining. I guess it shows that for a show with so many different characters, potential narratives, and reasons for appeal, that it is almost impossible to please everyone. As a whole, it seems our fandom isn’t entirely sure as to what it wants exactly. Whether Lincoln isn’t getting enough attention in the show or is hogging the spotlight with his friends, it seems like someone is always dissatisfied with how things are running.

I suppose I should end this discussion with a question for you all to debate amongst yourselves in the comments section… how would you go about diving up the focus between the cast? How much or little screen time should minor characters like Flip or Bolhofner get? Are Lincoln’s friends receiving too many focal episodes at the expense of the Loud siblings? Which Loud family members do you feel deserve to be featured in more episodes as of season six? Let me know what your thoughts are regarding the current direction of the show and where it should head in the future. … While I’m here I just want to bring up a few other things. Firstly, my next FanFiction I will be working on in the next few weeks, so expect that either at the end of the month or sometime in May.

But that’s the tip of the iceberg regarding my current plans. My main priority is my new big original fiction project that I’m working on. I’m writing a story called Ages of Fury: The Seeds of Calamity. Those of you who know me already know about this, but for those of you who haven’t heard, please feel free to give it a read. I’ll provide some links below.

If you’ve read the Loud House stories I’ve written on FanFiction.net, then what I can say to you is this… if you liked It’s a Kid’s World, then you’ll probably like Ages of Fury.

Ages of Fury Links Webnovel: https://www.webnovel.com/book/ages-of-fury-the-seeds-of-calamity_22500030705630305 Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/1172314784-ages-of-fury-the-seeds-of-calamity-tour-of-the Booksie: https://www.booksie.com/668341-ages-of-fury-the-seeds-of-calamity

Top 5 best and worst Loud House episodes (as of December 2020)

With the show now being 4 and a bit seasons into its run, there are plenty of stories to look back on and judge based on their quality. The Loud House, in its half a decade of existence, has already managed to go on quite the rollercoaster of quality in terms of its output.

But for all its strengths and weaknesses, there are some particular episodes that stand out above all the rest, whether it be for better or for worse. This is where I pick out those stories and rank them accordingly. I’ve done stuff like this in the past, but let’s consider the fact that many new episodes have come out since the last time I did one of these, some episodes age better than others, and opinions can just change over time. That being said, some opinions of mine have remained the same, which you’ll see as we go through this list. Let’s start with the top 5 weakest episodes of the shows run so far, so that we can end on a high note.

For long-time followers of mine, consider this a Christmas gift of sorts (me actually doing old fashioned review-based content, lol).

THE WORST

5.Ruthless People

I had difficulty finding an episode for fifth place, since there’s really only four episodes I consider to be downright bad. But this seems to be the most infamous of all the episodes I considered as potential fifth spot contenders, so here we are. Ruthless People is an episode that tries to be funny by providing one half of the family with misfortune for no reason other than because the writers thought it would be amusing somehow. Honestly, I don’t see it. Maybe there are a few people out there who found this episode amusing, but it doesn’t seem like that’s a view many share. There’s not much to say about this one. It has the occasional gag that hits, but mostly it’s just screwing around with half the main cast without any rhyme, reason or payoff. It’s just there. An average/mediocre episode; nothing more, nothing less.

4.No Such Luck

Yes, that’s right, the ever so loathed and despised No Such Luck doesn’t even break the top three. Look, it’s been almost four years (and yet there is STILL so much unbelievable hate aimed towards this story, it’s unreal) and all the flaws about this episode have been brought up to death. Me repeating them here won’t accomplish anything. All I’m going to say is this. Yes, the episode is bad. Yes, it was a pretty stupid idea to have the family kick Lincoln out of the house just because they thought he was bad luck. I’m not disputing that. These were clearly major screw-ups in the writing process. That being said, all this hate and bile that has existed in the fandom ever since the episode aired back in 2017 has not been justified in the slightest. In fact, I’d say the episode itself caused 1% of the damage inflicted on the legacy of the show and the fan-base. The overreactive side of said fan-base caused the other 99%. Honestly, it’s just time to move on. The episode isn’t worth all this negative thought.

3.House Flip

Okay, so you could argue that NSL is more offensively bad if you want, but at least that episode had a few decent gags (like Lincoln dancing around in the house when on his own or Lynn’s teammate’s getting knocked about in the baseball game in a pretty good bit of slapstick). But I don’t really remember much if any humour that hit rather than missed in this episode. House Flip isn’t completely terrible, but it is pretty bad. When Flip is the standout in an episode… actually that joke from my review of House Flip earlier this year has aged poorly since one of the few things season 5 has done better than previous seasons is make Flip of all people more likeable. Never mind that sentence I was going to type, then. Let’s just say that the main cast does nothing to impress me, the comedy comes across as more annoying than genuinely funny, and it even fails to learn from the mistakes of NSL by having a similar self-sabotaging ending, completely taking away from the heart-warming note the episode was trying to end on. If you like this one, that’s fine. Like I said, this episode is not offensively awful or anything, and depending on your particular flavour of humour, you might genuinely find it funny. It just didn’t do me any favours, and by the sounds of it, that sentiment is shared by a lot of people. Certainly, the comedic aspect of the story could have been handled better.

2.Brawl in the Family

Okay… we all knew this was coming. While No Such Luck is the most infamous episode of the show overall, I do hear a lot of people cry that Brawl is even worse, and… yeah, it is. This episode is just dumb. There’s this whole sister fight protocol that doesn’t even make a lick of sense, and it completely goes against every other episode in the show because the protocol was never seen or mentioned before or after this episode (not that I even want it to be, mind you). The ending resolution is also pretty rancid, and it honestly made it feel like the sisters saw their own brother as a burden who should keep out of the way and stay out of their lives. Lincoln’s intelligence also plunders in this episode for the sake of the plot, and the parents are just downright inactive/neglectful, and are completely incapable of dishing out any discipline here (again, in other stories like ‘The Sweet Spot’, we’ve seen Lynn Sr and Rita have the guts to punish their kids for their violent behaviour). This episode derails and even butchers the entire main family’s characterisation just so the plot can work. If your story needs to do that to make itself work… your story is BAD.

1.Study Muffin

What episode could be even more stupid and ridiculous than Brawl’s Sister Fight Protocol? Oh yeah, a story about pretty much every person in the Loud House bar Lincoln madly fall in love with some intellectual pretty boy who is supposed to be tutoring Lincoln. First thing’s first, a lot of early season episodes, even some of the good ones, had the fatal flaw of making all the girls behave with a hive mind mentality, meaning they all acted the same way in many episodes just so they could collectively antagonise Lincoln in any given plot. Notable examples include Heavy Meddle (where they all behave like over the top meddlers, what else?), Back in Black (where all the sisters, even the tomboys and the unkempt stoic Lisa enthusiastically contribute to Lucy’s makeover) and the aforementioned No Such Luck (where even the smarter and more rational sisters like Lori and Lisa believe in Lynn and Lincoln’s bad luck bogus). But this is probably the most absurd example of all. One look at Hugh, and not only do they all develop a crush on him (later developments also make this worse BTW, as Luna is later confirmed to be more into girls and Lynn is pretty much asexual/disinterested in relationships for now), but they transform into crazy stalking chaser girls. It’s like the episode actively wishes to make its audience think about ludicrous and rancid ideas such as a bunch of little underaged girls having intercourse with a young adult male. Looking back, the whole business with Chris Savino being fired only makes this plot look even worse in context. But this episode actually takes it one step further. Even Lynn Sr (a happily married heterosexual middle-aged man) and the pets are romantically/sexually attracted to him. I’m not even saying this as part of some gross over the top hyperbole or anything, this episode genuinely gives off vibes of bestiality. This is without a doubt the most obscene and ridiculous episode of the show. Is it the worst thing I’ve ever seen? No. Does it justify hate and bile being directed towards it similar to what No Such Luck received? Again, no. I don’t think anything is bad enough to justify that kind of overreaction, since it is just a children’s fictional cartoon we’re talking about at the end of the day. But if you were to ask me which episode shows the worst side of this show? Study Muffin, without question. It’s just beyond stupid.

Dishonourable mentions: Kings of the Con, One of the Boys, Schooled!

And now, for something a little more positive…

THE BEST

5.Head Poet’s Anxiety

This episode is fantastic. It’s probably not the funniest episode or anything, but it has enough gags to keep me entertained throughout. But apart from maybe the number one pick on this list, this episode has to be the most emotionally captivating of the bunch. Luan helps Lucy become a bit of a local breakout poet and ends up performing on the big theatre stage, which already surpasses Luan in terms of popularity and also makes the latter feel her little sister is stealing her dream. She completely shuts off and resists helping Lucy from there on out, but to be fair, she is still only a kid herself so this reaction based on jealousy in understandable, but it’s never taken too far. In the end, Luan realises Lucy still needs her help and she puts aside her jealousy and helps her sister, who publicly thanks her when on stage. It’s a brief but nonetheless powerful resolution to a story about these two characters, and this helps to make this story one of my favourites from more recent seasons.

4.Middle Men

It’s really not easy being a fan of Lynn Junior. I’ve gone on and on about it before, so I’ll just say this. Middle Men was like a miracle for me it first came out. After season two pretty much butchered Lynn’s character beyond belief in the eyes of 90% of the fandom, season three came along and rescued her from the scrappy heap. Middle Men was perhaps the biggest contributor of Lynn’s reformation. The strange part about this is, technically, Middle Men isn’t even a Lynn episode, as it primarily focuses on Lincoln and Clyde’s trial day in Middle School. But even then, it managed to provide Lynn with a backstory that gained her some sympathy. Also, her actions in this episode, while ultimately leading to a problematic scenario for our main characters, were well meaning and did demonstrate how much she genuinely cares for the well-being of her brother, given how much she went out of her way to make sure he didn’t suffer the same tragedy she did. While Schooled did undo some of what Middle Men accomplished (I didn’t put Schooled in my top 5 worst however because despite this fact, it still had some positive qualities and my opinion on it is more mixed than purely negative), it doesn’t change the fact that this is a really great episode, which provided some strength and substance for a sibling pairing that really needed it after what happened in NSL.

3.A Tattler’s Tale

Ah, Lola Loud, the character who exceeded all expectations and then some. Lola really is an impressively good character considering her whole ‘pretty spoiled pageant princess’ and ‘evil little devil’ shticks should by their nature make her be anything but a fan favourite. But I’ll be damned, because technically speaking, Lola is one of the best characters in the show. She’s well rounded, surprisingly likeable, and her negative traits have been toned down considerably. Not so much that she’s not really the same person anymore (which you could argue is the case for Ronnie Anne, but maybe that’s a topic of discussion for another time), but enough so that her brat-like tendencies never go as far as to make her an insufferable jerk. This episode was a major turning point for Lola’s character (one that started in an earlier episode ‘Undie Pressure’). The episode is really funny and Lola’s evil, manipulative side was on top form here. Of course, this made it all the more meaningful and significant when she did the right thing and redeemed herself in the eyes of her siblings in the end. Grey Griffin also does a fantastic job with the voice acting here. This episode really is a gem.

On a completely unrelated and general side note, I’ve seen some people actually complain that Lola has changed too much and should tone back up the ‘evil’ side of her a little (I’ve also seen this argument in regards to Ronnie Anne and her meanness from her earlier appearances). Can I just ask… are these the same people who constantly whine about Lynn being too over the top with her rough and violent attitude all the time and say that her traits should be toned down? Consistency, who needs it, am I right?

2.Space Invader

Look, I’ve written a review that spans thousands of words in length on this episode before. I’ll leave a link to it below so you can read it if you haven’t already done so. Anyway, I won’t waste much time here since it would be redundant, so I’ll just say this. Yes, I know Lynn’s characterisation has had a very bumpy road to say the least since the show started in 2016. Yes, I know that season five has not been a step in the right direction so far. That being said, there are plenty of episodes that show Lynn is a good character. It’s just unfortunate that she seems to be the victim of bad writing more often than any other Loud sibling. But many episodes demonstrate how good of a character Lynn actually is when the writers bother to handle her correctly. Episodes like Singled Out, Good Sports, Net Gains, the aforementioned Middle Men, The Loudest Yard, Hero Today Gone Tomorrow… while all varying in quality, they all manage to show Lynn in a more positive light. Even some episodes where she’s not the main focus like Game Off, A Dark and Story Night, Left in the Dark, Heavy Meddle and Dance Dance Resolution are all able to represent her character well. But no episode does Lynn’s character justice more than this one. Seriously, if you’re a Lynn fan, or even if you’re someone on the fence about her character… give this old classic episode a re-watch. It really is that good. In fact, it’s my personal favourite episode of the show. Then again, it is the episode that made me a Loud House fan in the first place, so maybe I’m just a bit biased. Of course, even then I must recognise there is one episode I have to admit is ever so slightly superior on a technical basis…

1.11 Louds a Leapin

Yeah, it’s been four years, and this is still the one to beat. It seems many still consider the Loud House’s first Christmas special and 22-minute long episode to be the high point of the show’s run so far. Which is fair enough, as this is a brilliant, almost perfect episode. The humour is pretty solid all around, all of our main characters are given something to do and the balancing of such a large cast is truly masterful here. But of course, the biggest strength of this story is the main plot between Lincoln and Mr Grouse and how truly heart-warming its resolution is. This is easily the most emotionally rich story the show has done. This episode took what was previously just a one-note grouchy neighbour stereotype and turned him into a rich and memorable supporting character, and the potential for this character would then later be dived into in future stories, like in season four where he befriends Lynn, too. Also, this is probably a forgotten milestone by now considering how long it’s been since Lynn Sr and Rita had their faces revealed, but yes, this was the episode that ceased the whole shtick where the parents faces were off screen all the time, which of course then allowed them to be fully fleshed out in later seasons. The comedy is great, the characters are great, the animation is great, everything about this story just works. For that, it is still the peak of quality when it comes to The Loud House.

Honourable mentions: The Loudest Mission: Relative Chaos, Pulp Friction, Hero Today Gone Tomorrow, Tricked, Shop Girl, Shell Shock, Friend or Faux, Singled Out, Game Off, A Dark and Story Night

Well, I hope you all have a happy X mas (well, as happy as you can be in the current climate, anyway). Also, I can confirm my next FanFiction project “The Quest for Glory” is underway and I intend to begin uploading new chapters some time after the new year. Take care of yourselves until then, I’ll be back soon.

Space Invader review as promised:

Oh, and just as I’m uploading this, I can see something else… this is my 300th submission on DeviantArt. Hooray, I guess.