User blog:Justsomeordinarydude/Insta-Gran (The Loud House): A Reaction.

Insta-Gran

While the concept for this narrative didn’t exactly excite me or fill me full of anticipation and enthusiasm when I first heard it, I must admit I am pleasantly surprised and glad that this episode managed to exceed my initial expectations. Predictably enough, the writers went with one of the two options I estimated would occur. Pop-Pop’s new girlfriend Myrtle, does annoyingly begin to appear unannounced in the Loud’s house and make unwanted changes and committed to unrequested actions which inconvenience our protagonists. But it turns out she means well and only wants to be close to her new family, as she hasn’t had a true family unit to belong to herself for a long time. The execution of this was pretty solid and there is a genuine sense of regret from the Loud siblings after they realise they were wrong to photoshop an image of Myrtle kissing another man and sliding it underneath Pop-Pop’s door. Myrtle is a very likeable character, as even though her methods of showing affection towards her new grandchildren are unintentionally annoying (as well as a little creepy and even illegal, as she went through the bushes and got her hands all cut up just to find a hidden key to the house so she could enter while everyone was out and do stuff for them as a surprise), they are all with the intent of providing betterment for them. While she is a flawed character, she’s still a very good-natured one, and her vices never become overly vexatious or irritating to the point where a legitimate fault in the execution is apparent. In a certain sense, she’s somewhat like Leni, as in she’s an incredibly kind and generous soul, but sometimes she does something which comes across as inconvenient or frustrating to others, but she just doesn’t realise it and never meant to cause problems for anyone.

Of course, some of the ways she accidentally inconveniences the siblings do lend the way for some humour to be present. Lincoln’s bowl cut, courtesy of his new grandmother was a particular highlight. Lucy’s room transformation and the interruption of Lisa’s electronic lecture speech were also rather amusing. Though some of her help wasn’t that bad, like washing Lynn’s dirty “lucky” clothes, and Lynn being displeased because that will cause them to somehow no longer be lucky (seriously, I gotta go with Myrtle on that one, Lynn. I mean, if you’re as good at sports as you seem to hype yourself up as, then why do you even need to rely on luck so badly?). Ultimately, she’s a delightfully misguided person; she means well but just needs to work on her tactics for showing her affection, as some of them are just a tad inappropriate (like entering the house when the family is out of the house by taking their hidden key). There is also some entertainment value that is derived from the Louds making an effort to counter myrtle’s annoying tendencies by trying to sabotage her relationship with Pop-Pop. Lynn-ja was a particularly cool aspect of this episode (honestly, it’s roles like these which best suit the character whenever she’s going to appear in a story but not as a main focus). Say what you want about her (and believe me, I will be saying a LOT about her soon enough! Hint-hint…) but that girl has got some cool acrobatic skills. Though seriously what is the deal with everyone breaking and entering into other people’s properties in this episode? As Lynn does the same thing when she uses an old lady’s walker to bust into Pop-Pop’s room. Speaking of Pop-Pop, while he actually doesn’t appear that much in this episode other than at the beginning and the end, he’s still as cool and likeable as ever. The other old guy who kissed Myrtle in the photoshopped picture had a few funny moments, too, though I get the impression the entire thought process that went into designing this character was “Old Clyde” as they appear similar and supposedly he’s a close friend of Pop-Pop’s under normal circumstances since they live at the old folks home together (though clearly not in this story as Pop-Pop chases him around the place after seeing the faked kissing photo and almost goes Bane/Hulk on the guy. Who knows, he might have even broken the man’s back had the Louds not intervened and revealed the truth the moment they did).

Overall, I am pleased this episode was as solid as it was. I didn’t go in expecting an awful lot to be honest, but there is some admirable merit to be located here. Also, yet another instance in season 3 hints at a larger use of continuity in future episodes (remember the scene near the beginning which shown the trophy case from early season 1, including Lincoln’s best brother award?). This is promising as it will provide a number of strengths to the show (as I’ve already discussed in previous submissions). Myrtle is likeable enough and even seems to have personality traits which help her to feel like she belongs with the Louds. She really adores Lynn Sr’s cooking and has a similar knack for puns as Luan. Fittingly enough, she’s now also referred to as Gran-Gran, a similar name to Pop-Pop. While nothing spectacular or anything, this episode was pretty good overall.

Final Rating: 7.5/10