User blog:AustinDR/Review: Overnight Success

In this episode, Lincoln invites his best friend, Clyde to his house for a sleepover. Normally, sleepovers would be banned from the house for numerous reasons, but Lincoln is able to convince his parents to let him throw one this once. Unfortunately for Lincoln, it seems that his sisters always intervene in what the plans that he had in store for Clyde.

Now, this episode was controversial because it introduces Harold and Howard, Clyde's dads. Now, I've heard several fuss about this very subject, especially from One Million Moms who claim that this episode would pervert their children's minds. I mean, what's this? A kid's show introducing a same-sex couple on its main channel? We're doomed! As I have said in my earlier review, I was raised in a religious background. Despite that, I started to become more agnostic in the way I thought, especially after I had noticed a few problems that I have had with the Bible. To not turn this into a rant, I won't go into full detail. As for the subject of same-sex marriage, I personally had no distaste for it. I try to make it a point to treat everyone equally, even those who have a different sexual orientation. I even once uploaded a comment onto my Facebook account saying that I didn't have a problem with the issue of same-sex marriage, but my parents saw what I had posted, and they demanded that I take it down. They claimed that if my fellow churchgoers saw what I posted, I would be considered a non-Christian and get ostracized, but in all honesty, I felt that they were looking after themselves more. They even tried to shame me by telling me that my grandmother would be disappointed in me if she were to find out. They knew that I held my grandmother dearly, but they said that to blackmail me into deleting my comment.

As a straight man myself, I actually considered Howard and Harold adorable, especially Harold who couldn't bring himself to part with Clyde for the night. I felt that there was some actual chemistry between the two. What's better is that it's not treated as a big deal that Clyde has two fathers. I mean, they could've had either Rita or Lynn Sr. telling Lincoln "Son, you're not to hang out with Clyde again because his family is an abomination before our God," but there's no such case in this episode. For that, I congratulate Nickelodeon for taking the risk of having one of the main characters have same-sex parents. It's just a shame that people will always be homophobic. Here's hoping that we could put this silly hatred beside us.

Now for the rest of the episode...basically, I started to dislike Lincoln because of him yelling at Clyde for hanging out with his sisters when he had this night planned for the two of them. To me, that came off as uncalled for. Yes, I do get that he was getting frustrated that things weren't going his way, but still. He does get better once he remembers that, since Clyde is an only child he has no siblings, and he tears up his list. I also loved the interactions that Clyde had with each of the Loud sisters, the most amusing one being when Lisa places a helmet onto his head causing him to dance ("Dance you fool).

Overall, a pretty good episode. Did I feel that Howard and Harold ruined the episode by their mere presence? No, of course not. I mean, I didn't even know that the show was going to introduce them as I wasn't keeping up with social media because I have my own life, so I was somewhat jarred by their debut. But overtime, I grew to accept that they were in the show. I understand that some may disagree with my viewpoint on the whole same-sex parents issue, but please, be civil about it. There isn't anything wrong with sharing your views just as long as you don't shove them down someone's throat. Because you'll never know, they'll probably hit you where the sun don't shine.

'Final score: '4 out of 5 stars