User blog:Justsomeordinarydude/Missed Connection Review

It was… fine. How much you’ll enjoy this story depends on how much you’re invested in the Lori and Bobby relationship, and how much you like either of those characters, really. I like Lori and Bobby well enough, and I have nothing against their relationship, though I’m not overly into it in anything. It was nice to see Bobby and the Casagrande family again after a while, even if the other family members aren’t really in it that much. Except for, oddly enough, Carl, who keeps trying to convince Bobby to terminate his relationship with Lori while attempting to woo her with his wannabe machoism and romantic tendencies, despite the fact he’s only a small boy. Speaking of which, Carl is kinda a dick in this episode, like when he sees Bobby crying over his failing relationship with Lori, and he just tells him that it’s not working and he should end it, only for the sake of his hopeless dream of getting Lori to himself. Still, he’s just a kid at the end of the day, and it was a little humorous when he shown Lori a video of himself playing an instrument and trying to impress her, even going as far as to wear a fake moustache.

The plot played out pretty much as I expected. They are struggling to make their relationship work due to the long distance, and little inconveniences keep getting in the way of them of enjoying their interactions together. From distractions during their phone calls causing them to misinterpret what they’re saying to one another, to misunderstandings between the two. Add that up with the fact that they’re both emotionally mixed up and hysterical teens, and of course the situation escalates. It eventually ends up with them realising their efforts to be more romantic and involved with each other to be counterproductive, and instead go back to the norm, that being the two droning on about pointless nonsense to each other over the phone. As it is, the story is decent. It has a few gags here and there involving the two lovebirds failing to fix their relationship via romantic activities, as well as a few awkward conversations between them. Though how funny or frustrating you will find these interactions and awkward moments between the duo will depend on your sense of humour and what you’re looking for out of this episode. There’s a lot of split screen conversations and talks via electronic devices though this story, which gives this episode a somewhat unique sense of direction and storyboarding by the standards of this series, I guess.

I was also interested to see Ronnie Anne appear for the first time without Lincoln and how that worked, but she also didn’t appear for that long. Just a little scene demonstrating what we already know. That she’s not really into romantic stuff while her family are a bunch of nosy meddlers like the Louds can be sometimes. The rest of the family, aside from the aforementioned Carl, also don’t really do that much. I suppose that’s because the narrative is really meant to centrally focus on them, but it does suck when these characters appear so little that when they finally do make an appearance, it’s incredibly minor and forgettable. Still, good things allegedly come to those who wait, and we are getting a Casagrande mini-series spin-off next year, so I guess there’s still that to look forward to. Though this episode did little to increase my anticipation for it. Hopefully these guys make at least one more appearance before season 3 ends. Flip appears in the episode briefly as well, mainly just to be his selfish and jerkish self. The Louds also don’t appear in this episode, including Lincoln himself. Only Lana and Lola appear briefly (including in a rather amusing gag where they eat Bobby’s pizza intended for Lori, somehow mistaking a heart shaped pizza for a butt) as well as Lynn Sr (because the writers seem to just seem to adore this guy) and Rita. I guess that’s for the better though, as the story was clearly written to concentrate on Lori and Bobby’s relationship, and cramming in characters into stories where they are not required is often one of this show’s biggest failings, so at least they were wise when it came to restricting their cast to the essential and relevant few.

Overall, as I said, it was fine. Given humour is subjective as always, how much you will enjoy this episode will depend entirely on what you find funny and how much misfortune of the protagonists you can handle before it becomes uneasy to watch. Personally, I thought it was alright. Nothing grand. Nothing great. Just pretty good. Another passable Lori episode, I guess, and a pleasant return of Bobby. Not much else to say, really.

Final Rating: 6/10