User blog:Justsomeordinarydude/Pipe Dreams (The Loud House): A Reaction.

Pipe Dreams

This episode was pretty funny and entertaining. Nothing special, but certainly a fun experience. The parents can actually be just as humourous, wacky and over-the-top as their kids when properly motivated, as it turns out. They go to ridiculous lengths to build their own private bathroom and keep it a secret from the children (yeah, installing an entirely new room into the house and making it bigger is something you can't really hide, and that aspect of this narrative will challenge your suspension of disbelief, but if you can look past that, there aren't too many other problems with the plot). Their perspective is understandable, as you would think at some point somebody in the overcrowded house would become tired of constantly having to wait a long time simply to use the bathroom. Not to mention, if this episode is any indication, the parents often have to wait until last to use it, so they get to use the bathroom in its most disgusting state. It's actually pretty amusing to witness these two go so overboard with hiding their secret new bathroom, even resorting to bond villain style security traps in order to keep the kids out once they believe they've discovered its existence, complete with a pair of evil, maniacal laughs. In actuality, it's just the pets managing to find small passages into the room and leaving marks of their presence behind, and the parents getting the wrong idea, as opposed to the kids actually finding out about it and actively trying to sabotage the parents, which is perhaps the more predictable narrative direction the writers could have taken. Thankfully, they opted for this different and less predictable option, which also helps to prevent making the siblings look like brats had the writers had went for the approach of making them actively oppose the parents instead of not being involved in the central conflict.

There was plenty of humour to be found in this story. Considering this is a story about installing a new bathroom, there is naturally an array of toilet jokes in this episode, which may be somewhat off-putting to certain viewers, but most of them are executed reasonably well without going too far in regards to grossing anybody out. Most of the toilet related gags were actually based more on implications rather than physical happenings, such as the suggestion by Lana for the parents to use her bucket as a secondary toilet, or Lynn Jr (who was immediately in front of them in the waiting line) explaining she won a hot dog eating contest the day before and so was waiting to release a copious amount of waste from her body, worrying Rita and Lynn Sr (and their fears are confirmed when we see the state Lynn Jr leaves the bathroom in for them). There were also some humourous moments generated by some of the faces characters pulled in some instances. For instance, Lynn's "WTF!?" face when she saw Lynn Sr walking with what he explained was a minor injury, when it was actually hidden tools and pipes in his pants, as well as Lincoln's face after Rita turned up the volume to the TV when he was watching Arggh! Each of the sisters also had their usual moments to shine, such as Leni holding everybody up because she couldn't see the mirror in the bathroom, Luna rocking out with her dad in the middle of the night, to the displeasure of Luan (who is usually the one responsible for annoying others in the family), of all people, and Lynn breaking the closet door to save her parents from drowning. Also, the writers of the show being included in this episode as a team of builders was also a really neat touch.

Was it a predictable story? Yes. The parents learn their lesson, the kids forgive them and the status quo remains in tact as the family return to a state of having only one shared bathroom. But that doesn't mean it wasn't entertaining. Both the parents proved they have the ability to be as enjoyable to watch as their kids, and they can succumb to the same chaotic behaviour, selfish desires and ridiculous thoughts as their children. It's clear where the Loud kids got their zany personalities from. Was it a groundbreaking episode? Not really, there wasn't anything that made me regard this story in any special manner. The show has certainly done better, but what we got was still very good. There are some aspects of the plot that make no sense (How clueless must the kids be not to notice there's a new room being built into the house? And how did Hops fit through that tiny ventilation hole? Ok, that one was just nitpicking...) and considering the subjectivity of humour and the distaste some people have for toilet jokes, it may not be an episode for everyone. But for any faults, it was a fun and enjoyable experience watching it. Sometimes, all a story needs is to be funny and entertaining, and that's exactly what this episode is.

Final Rating: 7.5/10

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