The Loud House Nickelodeon
The Loud House went for a long set here, with a 2 hour with ads set of episodes. This set isn't just a random combo of 7 episode -segments, no, it's a set of episodes where the Louds go on a road trip. So here's our very long post a look at these segments, in order.
Episode 4: Road Trip: Bizarritorium
This is the start of this set of episodes with the the start of the trip, of course. Rita's newspaper has selected her to do a series of columns on a road trip. (Apparently, in Loud House world, newspapers have money like that) She has brought an RV, that the paper is paying for, for the trip. The other Louds are like sure cool!
I will also, since I'm a Lisa and also Lana fan, say that this episode has some nice Lana and Lisa together moments, where they are working to do some upgrades on the RV. Anyway, the idea is that Rita has to follow a schedule that her boss put together. They are going to Niagara falls. Which is about 4 hours, by car. (At least in good conditions) The episode does need a some drama or something to plot, since this is the 22 minute episode.
Spin the wheel: Ah, Lincoln wants to see the Bizzarritorium (roll credits). That's a place that has strange things that I wish Zach had gotten to see. Rita decides that yes, they can go, if they have extra time. Lincoln puts into a plan to make sure his family wakes up early and gets around to have more time. Lincoln commits the crime of more Daylight Saving Time. I will also point out this episode also has Lincoln talking to the audience, it's been a bit of time.
He's actually able to accomplish that goal, like really he was able to get his family to go, have some extra time and make it to the Bizzarritourm. Because wait, there's more. So what happens? The place is actually closed down. I hope the owner moved to a little town in Oregon and tried there. Poor Lincoln, but he finds a ring and yep, the ring might be cursed.
Might be a bit iffy on the idea of a curse being real, but the show has kind of let the horse from the barn and then burned down the barn. (What a strange phrase) So cursed things happen to the family, even Lincoln and they don't know why. They go through a lot until Lucy asks a question that eventually gets them to find out that Lincoln took cursed ring. (you're repeating yourself) Lucy gets the family to pull together to help and figure out how to take off the curse. It's better written than just like boo! Lincoln, and they actually put the work in. Eventually, they get rid of the curse and Lincoln does another great moment of saving his mom's job. Though, I'm concerned a newspaper person believed his story. It also opens up the entry of the rest of the episodes where the Louds get to choose where they want to go.
Yes, I breezed through the basics here, instead of a more plot by plot thing, This post is going to be long so might as well set up a bit differently. The interactions in the episode were fun, it's a contained the family in a space of the RV, so brought a lot of that. If you missed that as a Loud House viewer, it's here.
The plot uses the normal format for a special. The first half sets up what's going on, but then it even gets them on the road and to what you thought would be the goal, almost like how "Ghosted!" went, but then adds a second half with an interesting story about a curse. An oddly, better structured episode about a curse than that Casagrandes one. For my normal parts of an episode review/look, I am removing some points for the gross things, so like minus 0.7pts for that. There are some funny moments, including taking advantage of being a cartoon and having Lana's face change shape for a moment. There's a lot of fun. I'm glad the curse didn't require a hand to be removed.
Lincoln's moment of awesome was helping his mom keep her job and convincing her boss to keep her. It was sweet as well. This was a strong start to this arc, I give it 7.4/10.
More and we mean more , after the jump
Episode 5a: Bringing Down the House
Int his episode the Louds go the White House. The newspaper edition was able to get them special tickets. I'm not sure bringing this family to the place was a good idea. I liked the "antagonist" in this episode, Bull Dog was pretty funny and I think kind of justified in wanting to keep the White House in order , as the Louds did go to different spots and cause some havoc. (Honestly, the White House in this episode had some very lax security.) He's also trying to protect the president's birthday. Don't make me look up if the White House really has a dungeon. (Duh, that's how Bill Clinton used to party) I think it was sweet of Lori, Luna, and Lincoln to have their younger sibling have some fun and saying they'd cover for them.
The episode embraces Loud chaos and decides to give them a win, when they have to fix things before the security finds out and then when Bull Dog finds out , he gets a call from the president who happens to be impressed by how things were improved. They get invited to the party.
A fun thing about this arc, is that it gets the Louds of the place they've been in most of the episodes, and let's them have different things going on in different spots. This was a fun chaotic episode with some fun results. I think it was a bit messy at points , but nothing bad. I'm giving this one 7.2/10
Episode 5b: Mountain Hard Pass
Taking place in my home state. Go Colorado Go! With that out of the way, let's get to the episode. It does happen to have a little dropped miss with where even Lana isn't wanting to go hiking, which is kind of out of character. I like that Lynn Sr. wanted to convince his kids to go on the 10 mile hike (That's not 10 Denvers) with Lincoln's suit. (That means they are self aware of it) Then Rita and Lynn remembered they are parents and had them go anyway.
You can also get the kids just wanting to relax in the RV instead of doing a long hike and that is fitting. Their ideas to get the parents to change their mind was good. The parents adaptability was good to see too. I liked the mountain goat vs. Loud interaction, even Luna trying to lullaby them, even though that didn't work. Eventually the kids learn to adapt and be with nature and use some skills to make sure they are safe.
The kids even learned to enjoy the fun that they wanted to sleep outside that night. The true moral of the episode was respect Colorado or it will mess you up good. It's an alright episode, good family moments and some great comedic moments. I give it 7/10.
Episode 6a: From Brad to Worse
Odd the show mentioned real states like their home state of Michigan, my state of Colorado, they were in Washington D.C then they decide to make up a state for this episode as they go the South West State fair. That's weird. (Docking points)
This episode is one I'm going to say is one of the weak ones of this arc, there's going to be another that I think is weakest. Essentially it's Lynn Sr. being jealous that his wife has bumped into an old ex-boyfriend named Brad (always a Brad) and he's grinding his teeth, figuratively, this episode because he thinks he's going to take her. It also even plays into the "The Rita Brad is talking about is a different Rita."
That's really the episode, it's a random plot for this show. I think it was fun that Lincoln and Lynn Sr. dressed up as clowns together, but their plan was kind of off. Like hey, we're going to blind a man- remove his glasses- have him ride a dangerous bull, with him thinking it was a horse, because Lynn Sr. and Lincoln thought that a man was going to be taking Rita home tonight... on an airplane. That was stupid. Like the whole plot could be resolved in easy ways.
I do think it was funny how Brad seems a bit off kilter, he did name his horse after is ex-girl friend and wrote songs about his horse. (That or his cover was that and he's really obsessed with Rita Loud.) The goth cowboy was pretty cool too. Otherwise, I think the episode was kind of annoying it's mostly just a man seething for 90% and doesn't even do anything funny about it. So, yeah... I give it 6.7/10.
Episode 6b: Doll Day Afternoon
This episode isn't so much focused on the locale it's taking place in and more a story that happens to take place outside of where the Louds normally are. I think that kind of weakens the road trip part of things here, but the last one was worse at using it's locale for the plot since that story could have happened in Royal Woods and not really anything would have to be changed too much. This one will at least use it's setting for something fun as part of the story.
I'm also surprised, or should I really be? how kind of west biased these string of episodes end up being as they are still in the part nearby the South West, but could anywhere between Chicago and California since this was what was Route 66. Luan finds out that she left Mr. Coconuts in a diner and they have to go back and get him. (Mel Sharples won't like this) When they search they can't find him there and they find out that he's taken. (Not making a joke here)
The family has bonded with Mr.C so much that they are going on a long chase to find the person who took him. I have to remind people this episode is about a dummy be stolen and the Louds deciding to pursue them. I also have to point out that someone chose to steal a dummy. (The Twilight Zone warned people about this)
I can't explain that and make that sound sane. This is episode is actually really good though. I really liked the mystery and the hunt of trying to find the guy. Rita being action mom there and a car chase was really fun to see too. Then the twist, Mr. Coconuts has a father. Wait, huh? The man who created him is Mr. Cavlin Coconuts. (Don't make me search if Coconuts can be a last name) Calvin had lost the dummy in Royal Woods years ago, when a bird stole it. That bird dropped it and it landed in Luan's hands.
I wasn't expecting a backstory to Mr.Coconuts, and one that explains too much. Anyway Coconuts, the man, -human, saw Coconuts the dummy in the diner and took him. The episode decides to have Luan give up her dummy friend back to his father, who seemed to miss him so much. I think this would have been a great ending for the episode and would have been an interesting change to the series, but they didn't do that. I kind of agree with that part too, where Coconuts, the man, shows up again and decides to let Luan have Coconuts, the dummy, back. I think both ways worked, though the first way would have been way stronger to end with, I like that Calvin seemed to really understand that Luan's bonded with the dummy and cares alot about him. Again, Luan and her family went on a chase, blew out a man's tire on his car after causing him to crash, so they really do care about the dummy.
I think this was an interesting and pretty fun episode all around, it was strong for Luan's character and an interesting funny twist as well. I enjoyed this one a lot. I give it 7.6/10.
Episode 7a: Screen Queen
The Louds go to Hollywood to Not Paramount Studios. This episode also goes for a Lola starring role, I mean that in two ways. Lola sees they are filming a movie for something called "Dakota Rhoda" and she hears the director worrying that they can't film the movie because they don't have a star. I have to mention this episode goes more deep into the things about Hollywood than I was expecting. Like the actress that played Dakota was fired for being 42. Which is just layers going on there.
Lola wants the part, but the director wants someone who has buzz. (She wants someone who was not drunk but had a little too much?) Lola gets her family to help her create fake buzz, but first her father and the others try to tell her that fame isn't what it's cracked up to be, but still help her. I'll say, I'm glad the director didn't notice that one of the Lola boosters looked just like Lola. This plan works.
The episode then really does show that acting is more than just being famous and doing famous stuff, that it is a job and the work has to be put in, it's something that Lola wasn't expecting. She also did the contract thing where she didn't read and that plays into the plot because she does get tired of doing all this work and wants to quit. She finds out always read a contract.
She then finds out that the director doesn't like divas so she has her family help her out again and yep. I'm glad that was easy, the other way would be suing to get out of the contract and then having it be probably nullified since a 7-year-old signed it , didn't seem to have parental signatures and something something.
It's a good strong Lola episode. I think this one uses the setting alright, I guess it's a story they couldn't do in Royal Woods. I did enjoy some of the little Hollywood jokes and quirks. Keith is best snake , I'm not a snake fan so that's a big thing. I think Lola's charm works here. I like how the family pitches to help her. Lisa's line when Lola was talking about she needed people to talk about her, was great. I'm giving it an 8/10.
Episode 7b: Hide and Sneak
I'll be upfront here, I think this one was the weakest of the bunch, even a bit more than "From Brad to Worse". The whole plot of this one is the Louds are in Great Lakes City because of course they are, and Rita's column being a newspaper column has a deadline and she has to get it sent it that night. Lincoln, especially, and Lori are excited to be in GLC because sure. Rita says they can't meet up with the Casagrandes because they have a busy list to do for her column. And that's where it gets kind of stupid. (Not the fun stupid either.) Rita doesn't want the Casagrandes to know they are in the city because reasons. No really, the whole plot is the Louds hiding from the Casagrandes because they think it would hurt their feelings if they came to city and didn't meet up with them. Now, hear me out, here's an idea, call them and tell them you're in town , but can't meet up because the schedule is busy. If it was so packed, why did you pick going to that city? Again, weak Loud House episodes seem to be ones that go with the stupidest option being picked and then maybe finding out the logical answer is the thing that was logical in the first place. Also, this one has Rita doing it.
I don't mind a Loud-Casa crossover or whatever this could be, but I do think it was kind of wasted for the road trip stuff for one of the locations to be somewhere where the Louds can and have popped up normally. At least the other episodes have the Louds in Colorado, Washington D.C, the great state of South West, Hollywood, where the heck they were on Route 66, but here they're like nah, let's go somewhere we go anyway. Not one Miami episode, or Louisiana, where's the Louds in New Orleans?
The Louds go to a restaurant and because plot reasons, it's one that Carlota goes to because of course it is. For a big city, this place is really small you can just bump into people you know like a small town of 300 people. Again, they could have easily had like, "Hey Carlota, nice to see you, want to eat with us? Sorry, we can't see your whole family because we have this list of things to do for Mom's job." But nah.
I will say that I felt that moment when the Louds freak out because Sergio shows up, because same. I do think there were some funny moments, they don't save the episode, but they were fun. I will also note that Ronnie Anne doesn't talk this episode. (She doesn't talk now, but she's fine) The sign gag was funny, especially where Lisa points out the easiest sign there.
I don't think the episode fully worked as much as it could have with a better plot. Rosa telling them they could have just told them and explained there in the climax was like yeah duh, they should have done that, but the plot had to work where the episode was hide and seek: the episode. Also it's kind silly they picked places that might be close to the Casagrandes, like "We want to hide from them, let's go to a concert at the park by their neighborhood to hide from them."
Kind of a weak ending for the road trip arc. I do think they should have done one more location that wasn't just a place the Louds can pop up in anyway. I give this one 6.5/10.
With the scores together, the overall average was 7.2. I think the arc was overall fun and interesting. It was nice to see the show try something a little different and have the Louds go out of their zone a bit. I think some of the stories were pretty fun and used the Loud family together pretty well. It was very family based together episodes, mostly as well. It was interesting to sneak in a Lola plot as well.
Most of the episodes even used the different settings to give some stories that couldn't be done in their normal location. "Bizarritorium" was a pretty fun start, and the series restrained themselves in using the supernatural thing really only there. It was nice to see different family interactions in these as well. The parents were mostly charming in these episodes and also did act like parents when need be, only really did any faults happen in "From Brad to Worse" and "Hide and Sneak".
I do like some of the locations they chose for the series. I'm biased towards the Colorado, of course, but also picking a "southwest" state, the classic Route 66, and Washington D.C , even Niagara Falls were pretty fun and fitting with a Midwest based show. The Hollywood one was fun too. Repeating myself here, I don't think they should have picked Great Lakes City for this, that's a typical setting for the show, and if you watched "The Casagrandes" it's pretty much seen that already. Even the tower was seen in that Season 3 episode. I kind of wished they had picked something else, even New York City (odd for me to say) would have something interesting. Imagine the chaos. "From Brad to Worse" was the episode where the setting was interesting, but the plot didn't need to happen in that location for that plot to work, it could have been Brad comes to Royal Woods and the same things happen.
The good and charming outweigh the bad very well. I'm glad they were aired in TV movie style 2 hours it really allowed things to balance out well. I enjoyed most of the arc, it was fun.
That's it for now, tune in next time, when the Louds go on a world tour. (And maybe meet The Tennyson family)
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