User blog:Weavillain/My Nitpick w/ "Driving Miss Hazy"

You know, if there's one thing that I love about The Loud House, is that there usually seems to be always something to talk about, even with things that are universally reacted to in one direction or another. With that said, let's take a look at one of the most beloved episodes of the series, "Driving Miss Hazy".

Now, what can I say about this episode that hasn't already been said, at least when it comes to how much people love this early Season 1 gem? Not a lot, so I won't bore with retreading on the episode's main discussion points. All I'll say is that this a good, no, a great episode that deserves all the praise it's gotten and still continues to get to this day. It was quite a memorable, hilarious, heartwarming way of giving Leni Loud the spotlight, and I can't really think of anything to complain about her "introduction".

Well...maybe except for one little thing, one tiny little nitpick I have with this episode. Keep in mind, it doesn't destroy my enjoyment of the product, but it still does the trick in taking some of its luster off for me. If I had to describe my nitpick in one simple term, it'd be this one: tonal shift. To elucidate, it's more so how disingenuous it feels between the episode's first portion and the climax. To help you understand where I'm coming from, let's take a look at how the episode portrays Leni's reckless driving.

Well, whether it's the "Fire Hydrant Paperboy Nun Incident" (which includes crashing dead-on into a tree), assaulting driving instructors, or disobeying the speed light (presumably by going *over* the limit, all of these mishaps (which could have dangerous consequences in real life) are played for laughs. It's supposed to be funny when Leni haplessly goes around endangering people and damaging property. And despite what my tone might suggest, I have no problems with that at all. Most of those incidents are the meat and potatoes of the episode's humor, and it just wouldn't be the same. Besides, none of those reckless driving incidents are treated with any sort of gravitas anyway; no one really gets hurt, so it gives me less room to find any of the gags as painful or awkward.

But then, the tonal shift happens. Lori sabotages Leni (effectively resetting her back to square one) and then the gravitas kicks in. Lincoln is quick to reprimand Lori for putting her sister in danger with her selfishness (and rightfully so, at least from a moral standpoint) because, and I quote:

"Are you crazy, woman?! What if your bad driving instructions make Leni crash? What if she gets hurt?"

Now, is it just me, or does that sort of sentiment kinda clash with everything that we've just seen prior to this? I mean, we saw Leni crash in her flashback, and the episode decided not to treat it as a serious matter by letting her walk away unscathed. We heard about how she was recklessly driving from that police officer earlier, and once again the episode decides not to treat those string of incidents seriously by not putting Leni's safety in serious jeopardy. So now, just because Lori muddies the waters, I'm supposed to expect that everything's supposed to change for the worst? How does Lori putting Leni back to where she was do anything worse to Leni than we already saw her doing to herself before she improved?

Earlier, I mentioned that from a moral standpoint, Lori had every right to have the consequences of her behavior spelled out to her. But that's the only credit I can give that scene because, again, the sudden presence of danger feels very disingenuous to the expected snickering and laughing we were probably expected to have to Leni's reckless driving pre-Lori sabotage. It...just doesn't seem fair to want to turn up the heat only when Lori gets involved. That's not to say that she shouldn't have been called out for being a jerk (and that's putting it lightly), but I can't help but feel like the way the script flip doesn't fit with the past eight or so minutes.

If I had to change one thing about this episode, it would be to have Lincoln remind Lori of all the hard work that Leni put into improving herself and how cruel it'd be for Lori to rip that away from her. In short, appeal to her humanity and try to make her see where she went wrong instead of giving her actions stakes that don't align with the prior narrative. Or, have all of those reckless driving incidents *not* be taken as a joke; don't expect me to all of a sudden regard a crash or whatever as serious when it was a big joke before then.

But yeah, other than that tiny nitpick, I really liked "Driving Miss Hazy". It has one misstep that unfairly gives Lori's actions unfortunate implications, but I can't find anything else that's worthy of a gripe (or a long-winded post).

So...let's hear your thoughts about this. Do you see where I'm coming from, whether you agree or disagree? I wanna know!