User blog:Weavillain/Sequels To Bad Episodes Are Unnecessary

There are plenty of ways that fans respond to a bad episode of their favorite show. For The Loud House in particular, I see fans do it in the following ways: I'm here to talk about the last one and why, in my opinion, wanting a sequel to a bad episode is completely unnecessary.
 * Demand that the the writer who made it be fired.
 * Protest online until the episode no longer shows on the air.
 * Pretend it never happened.
 * Send hate mail/angry tweets/death threats to the writer who made it.
 * Demand that an official sequel be made to "right the wrongs" of the bad episode.

First of all, I'm in agreement that it really, really stinks when a good show has a bad episode under its belt. I want my favorite shows to churn out nothing but good episodes time and time again. But realistically, I know that can't happen all the time and I have to deal with the fact that some episodes just won't appeal to my tastes or will rub me off the wrong way. But see, it's a lot easier for me to accept that for a cartoon like The Loud House because the show is episodic in nature.

So, what does episodic mean? Well, to put it plainly, episodic means that a television show that has episodes that don't rely on one another. Basically, it's a show that has very. very loose continuity.

Now, for a cartoon like The Loud House, that means that if a bad episode occurs, that means that the ramifications of said bad episode don't bleed into future episodes. With this fact in mind, I can safely say that sequels to bad episodes aren't necessary. In fact, they may wind up doing more harm than good.

Why? Well, a sequel is a continuation to another story. It's a response to events that have taken place. Once that happens, the event of the proceeding story "take root" so to speak. In other words, what happened before is acknowledged and takes a place in history. Once that happens, the previous story can no longer really be ignored since there's a sequel floating around that responds to it.

Let's take a look at "No Such Luck", an episode that's been under heavy fire for being far too mean-spirited to Lincoln and is yet another supposed example of "Lincoln torture". In this episode, Lincoln is barred from his own room, kicked out of the house, excluded from family outings, deprived of his personal possessions, and "made" to wear a mascot outfit to the beach for good luck.

Now, I'm not gonna lie, looking at these things outside of the context of a cartoon (but why you'd ever want to do that, I never know) makes them look really, really messed up. Poor Lincoln, am I right? But guess what? The very next episode, the status quo is back. Lincoln is included in the family again, he has all his things back, and he doesn't have to wear a mascot suit anymore. This is where the episodic nature of a television show comes into play. What happened since we last saw Lincoln doesn't affect what happens now.. So, with that in mind, is a sequel really necessary if Lincoln's going to be all hunky dory by the time the next episode rolls around? What's the point? Nothing's really changed and you can act as if "No Such Luck" never happened.

But if there is a sequel? You have to acknowledge it. You have to deal with the fact that it exists. And if the want for a sequel is for "wrongs to be righted", then all you're doing is demanding that Lincoln be put right back in his position of misery just for the sake of some misguided catharsis. And besides, remember that episodic nature I was talking about before? You want a resolution made just for it never to be acknowledged or brought up again in the future? Because in the end, that's exactly what'll happen. Sorry but them's the breaks. That's an episodic cartoon for you.

And there's one last point I want to make about demanded sequels; you won't please everyone and you might not be pleased. When people scream for a sequel to fix everything, they have their own idea about hitting the right notes. But what happens when all those notes aren't met? What happens if you're not satisfied with the resolution? Are you going to demand that another sequel be made? Then another? Then another? Then another? Until they "get it right"? But look how much time and energy you want wasted on one bad egg. Look at all those potential good episodes you want thrown to the wayside just so you can get your way. That's...a pretty big waste, if you ask me.

Alright, so to recap, sequels to bad episodes aren't necessary for the following reasons: So, what's my advice for coping wit bad episodes? Well, you can write the sequel if you think you have all the answers. And if that doesn't help, just ignore the bad episode. And if that doesn't help, remember that the world is not made to cater to you. You will be disappointed and you ought to deal with that because you never know when you'll disappoint someone else in life and would you find it fair to kowtow to them until their satisfaction was met? I don't think so.
 * The consequences of bad episodes don't bleed into future episodes.
 * Sequels acknowledge and empower what happened before, thus granting what you hated more validity and status in continuity.
 * The sequel, like other episodes, won't really matter if what's resolved is "erased" due to the episodic nature of the show.
 * You can't please everyone and chances are, what you demand won't please you either, especially if you want the writer that ticked you off to do it.