The Sweet Spot

"The Sweet Spot" is an episode of The Loud House.

Plot
Lincoln attempts to claim the best seat in the family van for a long road trip.

Synopsis
It's the night before the family road trip in the family van, also known as "Vanzilla", and Lincoln explains that he's preparing to stake the night out on the "Sweet Spot", the only good seat in the car, as it protects him from the various inconveniences of the van, and the annoyances of his sisters. After he sneaks out and gets comfortable on the seat, Clyde asks him over his walkie-talkie who will be sitting next to him. After some thinking, Lincoln decides that Leni can sit next to him, since she is usually dazed out for the entire trip.

After convincing Leni to sit next to him, Lincoln goes back into the van, only for Clyde to point out the oversight of who will sit behind him. Following some more thinking, Lincoln convinces Lisa to sit behind him, but only if she doesn't have to sit next to Luna. After speaking to Luna, she agrees to sit up front so long as she isn't next to Lori. This leads to a chain of deals and agreements between Lincoln and his other sisters as to who gets to sit next to who.

After finally finalizing the secret van seating chart under his mattress, Lincoln goes back to the Sweet Spot to get some sleep and ignoring Clyde's question. However, by this time the girls have gotten suspicious of Lincoln's intent and, after discovering his seating chart, they confront him about it. Lisa calculates that Lincoln has deduced which seat is the best seat in the van and has angled his sisters in the positions most favorable to him. Now that they all know about the Sweet Spot, they demand that they get to sit in it. A melee ensues between them the front yard, waking up the entire neighborhood, including Mrs. Loud, who tells them to get back to bed and not to go in the van until 7:00 am.

The Loud kids go back to their rooms, waiting impatiently for the clock to strike 7:00. When the time comes, Lincoln and his sisters begin a mad dash to the van and have an even more violent and destructive brawl. By the time their parents call it to a halt, the van has been accidentally completely destroyed. As Mr. Loud laments the loss of the van, Mrs. Loud tells them that the trip is cancelled and that they'll be spending the weekend together on the couch until they learn to get along, much to everyone's chagrin.

With Lincoln's Sweet Spot plan ends in a total bust, he decides that in a family like his, you can't control every little thing. That said, he knows of another "Sweet Spot" on the couch, then he races out of his room to the living room for it (and probably his sisters as well).

Cast

 * Grant Palmer as Lincoln
 * Caleel Harris as Clyde
 * Catherine Taber as Lori
 * Liliana Mumy as Leni
 * Nika Futterman as Luna
 * Cristina Pucelli as Luan
 * Jessica DiCicco as Lynn / Lucy
 * Grey Griffin as Lana / Lola / Lily
 * Lara Jill Miller as Lisa
 * Brian Stepanek as Lynn Sr.
 * Jill Talley as Rita

Trivia

 * This segment, along with "A Tale of Two Tables", was released on Nick.com and other digital platforms on April 1, 2016, ahead of its television premiere.
 * During that time, the video file had the segments switched. This would play after "A Tale of Two Tables".
 * While Lily does not appear in this episode, she is heard in a flashback. She is also the only Loud sibling who doesn't fight for the Sweet Spot, thus making her the only one to not get grounded at the end.
 * Lily threw a couple of beets at Lincoln during the flashback, and Lana used them to knock Lisa off the van before being tackled by Lola.
 * Part of the girls' argument over the Sweet Spot is reworked dialogue from the comic Lincoln Loud's ABCs of Getting the Last Slice.
 * Lori doesn't say "literally" in this episode.
 * The second time Lincoln has a too long name for his operation. The first one was in "Left in the Dark".
 * When the Loud sisters discover Lincoln's plan, all of them are dressed in their normal outfits instead of being in their pajamas. Possibly, either they sleep in their regular clothes to save time or after they got out of bed, they changed clothes before going to confront Lincoln.
 * Lynn Sr's eyes are shown in a rear-view mirror in a flashback, thus making his first time showing his eyes.
 * At the end, Lincoln DID get the Sweet Spot, but with the van destroyed, it was a pointless victory.
 * The title card of this episode is the first one that doesn't have just a solid color for a background. The second is the title card for the episode "Study Muffin".

Running Gags

 * Lincoln sorting out the seating chart and asking his sisters for favors.
 * Clyde not recognizing Lincoln when referred to by the code name "Road Tripper".
 * Lincoln showing flashbacks of his sisters causing problems in the van.
 * Lincoln yelling in the van when he doesn't know who's sitting next to him and sitting behind him.

Errors

 * Several times in the flashbacks, Lincoln is shown reading comic books with his clothes on; a later segment, "Undie Pressure", reveals he reads comic books in his underwear, because he claims reading them with clothes on is uncomfortable for him.
 * The sweet spot is shown to be the first seat on the left in the middle row. However, the flashback of Lincoln in the "slanty" seat is shown to be where the sweet spot is, since the back row was crossed off and the first seat from the left in the front had the speaker.
 * When Lincoln is packing his things into his bag it includes the robot action figure he keeps on his dresser, but in the next shot it's back on his dresser.
 * In Lincoln's flashback of the "spring" seat, it's shown to be the second seat from the left but in the flashback with Lola, he's sitting all the way to the left.