User blog:AlexKawa/Episode Review: White Hare/Insta-gran

OK! So, it's time to review the new Loud House episodes, White Hare and Insta-gran! So, I've heard great things about the former, and pretty good things about the latter. So, how do they hold up? Well, let's take a look.

White Hare
Alright! We get to see what The Loud House would've looked like had Chris Savino's original idea of a rabbit family happened! I saw nothing but praise for this episode, so I walked in wanting to love it. I thought the concept was great, and they just needed to execute it in a good way for me to like it even a little. So, I hit play, and expected a great episode...

...And by the 2/3-point, it was looking on par, at best, with No Such Luck. I was not enjoying it. I really, really, REALLY wanted to love it! I wanted to so bad! This season had been turning out great so far, and I didn't want the streak to end here! But, unfortunately, it did. It was nothing we hadn't seen before, just the Loud siblings plus more in rabbit's bodies. Now, I'm a sucker for a good body-swapping episode, and it'd be cool to get that from The Loud House, but this was not even close to that. The point of a body-swapping episode is to see how characters act if they're in another character's body, and it only works with characters we're familiar with, and it just doesn't work here. Oh, it worked much better here than in One of the Boys, but they both had the same problem: great concept, bad execution. Also, after Lincoln wakes up from his hallucination, he pretty much says that he did right by not listening to his sisters. Yeah, I'd like to give it at least a little credit for not taking the easy way out and having Lincoln immediately realize he should've listened to his sisters, but it just sounded so stupid, plus, he was right not to listen to them! I mean, just look at that callback to Heavy Meddle! And how he does realize his sisters should've helped was also very forced, it seemed.

So, at this point, the episode isn't looking so good. Easily the worst of the season, and probably one of the worst of the series, seeing as how there's only a handful of episodes I really don't like. But, the ending totally pushes it up a couple notches. Each sister complimenting Lincoln was really sweet, and it gave each of them a line of dialogue, and Lily saying Lincoln's name was just the most heartwarming thing! And the ending where Lincoln begins to talk to the new girl leaves us with a pretty interesting cliffhanger (but, knowing this show's history, they will become a couple).

Overall, a very mediocre episode. It was not looking good at all for a while, but the ending redeemed it slightly. Still, a very subpar episode, and easily Season 3's worst so far.

Rating: C+

Oh, and yes, it did end up being better than No Such Luck, but not by much.

Insta-gran
OK, I didn't really know what to expect out of this one. I saw generally positive reviews of this episode, but not as positive as White Hare. So, I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I knew I had to give it a chance.

So, Pop-Pop comes over to the Loud house with his new girlfriend, Myrtle. The kids really like her, and are upset when she has to leave. However, the next day (I'm assuming), she's back at the house and completely smothers the kids. This includes redecorating Lucy's bed, cutting Lincoln's hair, washing the mud and makeup off Lana and Lola's faces, and washing Lynn's "lucky" jerseys. These were all pretty funny, but that last example was oh-so satisfying. OK, first off, I like Lynn. I think she's a character that gets way more hate than deserved. But it was really her superstitious believes that drive me crazy. I know, I know, it's just a cartoon. But superstitions are just nonsensical and mildly anger-inducing to me. For example, on Christmas Eve, my mom lit candles to bring us "good luck" in the new year. Yes, this hurts to type because of how stupid that is! I don't care if it's a family tradition; if it makes me want to scream into a pillow (or maybe the fedora I was wearing at this time), then that's not really all that good! Someone told me, after I said that my one wish for Season 3 was a Lincoln-Lynn episode (we'll talk about that in a minute, BTW), that they'd want that episode to get rid of Lynn's superstitious beliefs. I replied that, while I wouldn't want to see it go away completely because it was part of her character, it would be awesome to have it toned down a little. The more I sit with this, the more I realize, "Yeah, actually, could you tone it down a lot, please?" I don't wanna be driven crazy with this nonsense, and it hurts to talk about, so I'll just cut it off here. But, thank you so much, Myrtle; you really did Lynn a favor.

So, after Myrtle drives them pretty crazy, the kids decide to break her and Pop-Pop up so they won't have to see her anymore. They Photoshop Seymour, Myrtle's ex-boyfriend, kissing Myrtle, and sneak it into Pop-Pop's room. Before they can escape, Myrtle jumps out of nowhere and tells them it's her birthday. They go to celebrate it, but see that they're the only party guests. She explains how she was born into a small family, and once she saw Pop-Pop's big family, she thought she had a chance to have the big family she never did have. The siblings realize their folly, and I love it how Lynn's outfit just changed randomly during the transition from Lincoln talking to the outside of the home to the Loud kids again. The dialogue between Lincoln and Lynn regarding this is just awesome, and this is something else I want to touch on. Like I said, my first request for this season was an episode where Lincoln and Lynn team up and work together on something. So when Lori ordered the two to go and retrieve the photo from Pop-Pop's room, I was psyched! Because I was, to a certain extent, going to get my wish. Yeah, I wish it was an entire episode instead of just a few scenes, but the sequence went on longer than I expected, which was a plus, and, regardless, it is a solid step in the right direction for me. Pop-Pop chasing after Seymour was pretty funny, as was Lynn and Lincoln trying to get Pop-Pop to stop attacking him. Overall, I'm very pleased with how the whole sequence turned out.

So, the family and Pop-Pop celebrate Myrtle's birthday together, as do Scoots and Seymour, and Scoots' closing line here was pretty funny.

Overall, fantastic! The plot was anything but simple, but it worked to the episode's advantage because of how it transitioned into different scenarios without losing the story, the jokes were funny, and the scenes with Lincoln and Lynn were great, and gave me hope for the future. Normally, I'd watch The Loud House via DVR and delete the recording right afterward, but here, I'm leaving it on my DVR to watch this one again! Easily Season 3's best so far, and one of the best of the series, I'd argue!

Rating: A+

Conclusion
So, overall, really solid week. It was the definition of a mixed bag, bringing us both the best and worst of Season 3 so far, but the episodes balanced out to really good. Well, that's all I got! See you guys next week!

Oh, and just for fun, who would you think Lynn would want to see win the Super Bowl? I don't like football, so I don't really care (and I'm even a New Englander, Connecticut to be precise), I'm no sports guy by any means. I'll check out the halftime show, but that's probably about all I watch out of it. But still, answer the question in the comments below! Thanks and take care!