The Really Loud House Nickelodeon
Note: I would have probably done this as Thanksgiving post , but the episode came out two nights before Thanksgiving and there was no way with Thanksgiving I could even do this, so yeah it's late.
Episode 20: A Really Loud Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving seems to be the one holiday that didn't get a live-action movie for the Loud House, but it does get this episode.
Lincoln and Clyde want to be on the --local-- news and you will really have to like Clyde saying the term "local news" a lot in this episode. Lana wants to save the turkeys, Lily wants to be a Thanksgiving helper for the parents- the only one. Lisa and Leni are working together for expand-o pants. I think that's an interesting way to have Leni and Lisa having a project together.
I have mentioned that this show takes characterizations from its source material but does its own things. Which is fine in the most part, this didn't need to be a show that copies the animated counterpart to a point it feels useless. Here it is interesting they made Lana, at the very least, a turkey rights advocate. At first, it's mostly background fodder as the other story elements happen. Lola finds out that she's going to be "Little Miss Giblets" in the town's ceremony for Thanksgiving. One of the features is to pardon a turkey. Lana doesn't believe that they actually do that. There's our twin tension, which at least is something that funny enough this show hasn't done. To offer a criticism, this series has been more likely to have the twins act as a unit of twins a less like individual characters. That or they argue heavily. But there's still a lot of moments where they seem to have the same ideas but just different clothing styles.
They also bring back Patrick for this episode [ I didn't even mention his name in the past post] and they are going for the idea of let's get him and Leni together. He doesn't know about Thanksgiving because of a sad backstory of his parents divorcing when he was a kid. Lori doesn't seem to like Patrick because she is mad about that past episode. Apparently, Lori also has to put a test on Patrick if he wants to date Leni. That's interesting difference in this series.
Also poor Rita getting all the work dumped on her because Lynn Sr. really has been doing anything else. Lola decides she is going to go and be 'Little Miss Giblets" and that also means Lincoln and Clyde will be going for their goal to be on the (local) news, and Leni and Lisa are going to showcase their new pants. Lana isn't happy. Then we get a quick turnaround where Lola decides she's not going to go because Lana is best friend and she cares if something is important to her. Then, Lana shows up because she was going to support Lola. This really was a quick turn since the last scene before the Patrick almost thinking Rita wants to kiss him thing was the other thing. (oh no)
The head of the turkey company then says take the turkey to the slaughterhouse. Now, I know this is for a plot, but it is kind of dumb of the guy to do. If you are going to fake a pardon, maybe don't have people find out right there. Lola is surprised; she's learned about politics. Lana can read Lola's mind because sure. Also, killing a turkey on Thanksgiving to eat is bad planning. Lana kicks the turkey guy in the groin. and they run with the turkey. There's a turkey chase. (finally a good Thanksgiving tradition) The expand-o pants malfunction because funny.
I am concerned about Lincoln and Clyde's deep obsession with being on the (local) news. A fun fact: Lincoln's actor actual parents guest-star in this episode as the news anchor Chip Winters and his assistant Elizabeth. Clincoln do finally find a plan to help out everything, better than having Lola go to prison for that. Lincoln dresses up as Lola and Clyde as the turkey to distract everyone. What a weird episode.
In a twist, the businessman gets arrested because he was tax-evading. (always taxes) The news anchor was an FBI man. The turkey is free and became a star. Thanksgiving dinner gets to happen, and Leni and Patrick have become a couple. Clyde and Lincoln did end up on the news and the expand-o pants live or something.
In terms of an episode, it was good. A better Loud Thanksgiving story than their previous attempt in the animated series. I liked the mad chaos this episode and alot of the Loud House live-action stuff was able to pull off. I did like the Lana/Lola story as it was pretty interesting to see and felt invested in their story. I think Lincoln and Clyde were at their strangest: they kind of just had one track mind and not really focused on anything else. At least it pays off in the end. Lori/Leni/Patrick's plot was fun, with the idea that Lori cares about her sister to make sure she dates a good guy. Patrick is pretty fun. It does an interesting Thanksgiving story, which are hard to do because Thanksgiving is somewhat a hard holiday to make an interesting piece of media on. It was a fun episode.
This episode also happens to be the series finale. On my own personal note, I really liked the live-action Loud House stuff. The first movie "A Loud House Christmas" was really fun and wild. I will have an absolute disagreement on saying that his personality wasn't good in that movie, there was some justification for the actions. Overall, I liked how this series didn't try to replicate the animated show totally, it used it as a base but didn't go overboard in just re-treading ground. I liked how it kind of played with the characters. I think it hit a stride pretty early in season 1, not at the very start, but it did it. I wasn't fond of the heavily Lincoln wants to date a girl plots , I think that was a weakness since it made we kind of have a character looking crazy and doing bad decisions that are a little oft. I think the second girl , Zia, was slightly more interesting than Charlie and that was a good reset.
This series giving a little more focus on Clyde acting as part of the family was kind of neat, I liked that their bond was shown that way. It did change how the other friends were more seen as extras and not heavily engrained as they are in the main series. The family and Clyde were a fun interaction as well.
Compared to the main series where it has focused a lot more than just the Louds -which I don't mind- I think it was also charming to have this series focus more on the family and more stories around the house. It fits a sitcom where more contained areas and stories happen. The animated series can expand beyond that and has and should, but here was it was nice to have it fit what it needed to fit. I liked how there were sibling stories and ideas the main series either couldn't do, or hasn't done even though it could. Having a couple episodes devoted to the younger sisters having their own plot, for example was really nice.
In terms or characterization, I do find how this show did it, a mix. Lori, was a little more like her season 1 animated characterization at times, but mostly on how she and Bobby interacted than the family. It did seem to play into her really being aggressive, bossy, and sharp with him. It's not as lovable as the main series. Leni did have a sense of an "edge" to her while still being bubbly and dumb, there were moments where she kind of had a sharpness to her. It was a little surprising. Luna was pretty fun in this series, and dare I think a pinch more interesting than her animated counterpart. Luan translated mostly the same from the animated series. Lynn was also kind of the same, but also a little more focused on winning more than just sports. I think a great thing was showing her softer side and a sense of vulnerability at times.
Going to the younger sisters, Lucy was pretty much the same. Though she might have been a little more darker and moody with some cynicism. Lana and Lola [I don't really want to combine them here, but] were much more blobby here. I mean they were treated more as a unit in this series and that is kind of a shame. The only real difference at times was when they were arguing or if something from the characterization of the animated series slipped in. There were some good moments of twin bonding, to be nice. I also saw they had Lana doing stuff she might not really be doing much in the animated series. [like helping Clyde with girl advice] Lisa , like in the animated series, still shines through well [yes there's some bias here] but they did write her doing science stuff and being smart, but it was still fun to see her interactions with the others a little differently. It was nice to see her and Leni get close in the latter part of the series, and even having something fun with Luan and Lynn. (some of this carried over from the original series) Lily was also kind of the same, if only not a super toddler the animated show has done more recently.
For the parents, Lynn Sr. was pretty much the same, helps that his voice actor was playing him. Rita was a little different than the animated series, she was a little more haggard - makes sense- and seemed to be playing the straight man to the insanity of her home a little more solo there.
On Lincoln, he was different than his animated counterpart in some ways. I think if anything yes, a little more self-centered. They still show he has a genuine care for Clyde and his family, but gets wrapped up in his plans and ideas a little too much. I think that fits for him being the main character and having to do the "learning thing" especially since he's a kid. I don't see the comparison to the Lincoln of season 1 of the animated show because not the same. This show wasn't trying to force a "Lincoln is wrong because family collective reasons" thing that season did. There is a difference in terms because animation and actual living human bodies are different in how things are done. Nothing he did was out of a mal-intent, but mostly from inexperience of life. He does have some great and funny moments in this form and glad this show did something a little different.
Clyde was pretty fun in this series too, he and Lincoln were more like brothers even more connected than they were in the animated series. They really had a good way of writing Clincoln in this series. Even their conflicts between each other felt real and worked well as they got over them. I'm glad they carried over the idea that it's Lincoln and Clyde on equal basis and not one is over the other.
I enjoyed this series overall, it was nice fresh take on something existing. I think any flack it got on something was a little much. It didn't feel like they were phoning in something based on an animated property in a "soul-less cash grab" this wasn't like a thing that Disney has been doing by taking a movie and doing it again with actual human faces and bodies or cheating like "The Lion King". There was a nice balance of care for the source but being allowed to tell its own stories because why not? This show didn't go into the normal Nickelodeon sitcom stuff hard. There was no laugh track, they did insert some things they kids would find funny, but it wasn't so much that it distracted. I think it could have gone a little longer. They didn't have to keep everyone on the ages of the animated series, in fact it felt like the ages were mostly irrelevant in this series anyway.
That's it for now, for the series, it was fun. Tune in next time, when turkeys sue for the eating and win the court case, but at what cost?
Comments
Post a Comment