User blog:Justsomeordinarydude/Fandom Pains (The Loud House): A Reaction.

Fandom Pains

An enjoyable and appreciative is formulaic effort. Fandom Pains is a solid story which succeeds in its main objective of telling a tale about the two eldest sisters joining Lucy in watching her vampire show. The main struggle being Lucy’s frustration with how her sisters were only seemingly interested in The Vampires of Melacholia because of a new handsome actor named Brake Bradley playing a new character named Tristan. It was quite clever how the events of the TV show which the sisters were watching were highly reflective of what was happening between Lucy, Lori and Leni. While Lucy was sick of Lori and Leni joining her in watching the vampire show, Edwin (Also, it’s cool how after all this time, we finally see Edwin in the show in the form of a character on their television) was becoming sick of his great-great (how many ever greats) grand nephew Tristan roaming around in his castle and changing his dungeons. As Lucy goes out of her way to (unsuccessfully) convince Lori and Leni to give up their new interest in her show, Edwin (quite drastically and darkly) lures his distant relative up some hills with the intent of getting rid of him (via death; yes, technically this episode features an indirect murder attempt when you really think about it). Finally, after it appears Lucy has succeeded in her goal and she is relishing in watching the show alone again, her idol Edwin speaks about how he regrets what he did in disposing of Tristan, and this is actually what causes Lucy to undergo her heel realization moment, as she begins to understand that she was wrong for aiming to destroy her sister’s new interest in the show and her actions were actually quite selfish. Lucy is a flawed human being like every other character, but she’s not a monster (despite her interest in the undead and her gothic personality), and she feels remorse for her actions, and tries to redeem herself by encouraging, as opposed to sabotaging, Lori and Leni’s interest in the show to continue.

But as it turns out, they were going to continue watching anyway. A cliché yet still heartwarming moment occurs when the older sisters reveal that while the attractive actor was the reason they started watching, the reason they maintained their investment in the series was to spend time with their sister (a fairly understandable stance, since Lucy is arguably the most introverted of the sisters, along with Lisa, so maybe Lori and Leni would be eager to find a reason to spend time with the sibling who shuts herself away from the others the most). A predictable and not especially inspiring or exciting way to conclude the story, yes, but still an effective and satisfying one nonetheless. That brings me to another point. I like how Lori and Leni’s role as the antagonist is simply due to their stance being opposed by the episode’s protagonist, Lucy. At no point does the conflict devolve towards mean-spirited bickering and moaning from one side to the other. Lori and Leni actually are quite adorable in the episode, and at no point do they act jerkish, telling Lucy something along the lines that her show is garbage and they are only interested because of the attractive guy and the rest of it is all for freaky weirdos like her. In fact, most of the hostility in this episode is on Lucy’s part, and as I’ve covered, she does redeem herself in the end.

I liked how the episode ended without the need for tedious amounts of moping and unnecessarily intense sadness. In a lot of lesser episodes from this show and others, after Tristan was killed off, Lori and Leni would have become so sad and depressed that they would be in a state of despair, constantly crying and barely being able to do anything other than mope. Here, however, that didn’t happen. They were a little sad and teary at the moment they saw their beloved character get axed, but the next time we see him, they are just their happy and cheerful selves, getting on with things. The episode was able to pull off a heartwarming ending without the need for moping and a whole sequence of having the eldest sisters despair over the loss of their favorite fictional character. It would have been a contrived, convoluted and manipulating move for the writers to make, as well as not especially pleasant or entertaining to watch. That approach gets used often enough.

Was the narrative very predictable and even a little generic? Sure. Many of the plot’s events I could see coming from a mile away (like Tristan coming back after allegedly being killed off in the show, Lucy realizing she had just been selfish and shouldn’t have gone to the effort of getting the character removed so her sisters would lose interest, etc.). But the story is still effective at being emotionally captivating when it needs to be as well as entertaining on at least a fundamental level (there was some moderate humor through some scenes, such as Lucy’s attempts to discourage her sisters from watching her show). The message is also quite relatable and powerful. Remember, people can have vastly different reasons to you as to why they like something, but that doesn’t mean their reasons are wrong. Lori and Leni can like Lucy’s show even if their main reason for doing so is because of a crush on a new character. I can think of people who may behave that way when they are highly invested in a fictional show they enjoy and then they berate casual fans for liking it for other reasons. Referring to an example close to home, I am a Doctor Who fan, and while I am invested in the ongoing narrative arcs, character journeys and continuity elements, there are some people who just watch the show casually, miss many significant story details, and do the ironing or make a coffee while it is on, and just like it for basic entertainment purposes. Their reasons for liking and watching the show are no less valid than my own, they just have a different attachment to the show and watch it for alternate benefits. That is the message this episode gets across and it does so reasonably well.

Other minor points; it was great seeing Haiku again as well as some more of Lucy’s social group. Also, this is now the second episode where Lincoln makes no appearances. For some, this is a problem, though there are also others who believe this is a good thing as increased focus on the sisters is a must. Either way, this was a really solid story with many admirable traits. Predictable and not unexceptional it may be, but it is still entertaining and enriched content.

Final Rating: 8/10