User blog:Justsomeordinarydude/Not A Loud Reaction

Not A Loud

What was that line from Futurama? Oh, it was this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxK_nA…

That quote pretty much sums up my thoughts regarding this episode in a nutshell. With Not A Loud, as soon as the plot synopsis was revealed, controversy ignited amongst the fanbase. The problem with this episode is it faced a lose-lose situation. If the story went ahead and confirmed the theory that Lincoln is adopted, people would have panned the episode for doing so, as the consensus is the adoption theory is moronic and unwelcome. The alternative, which is what the episode ultimately chose to go with, was to write the story so it turns out it was all a misunderstanding and that Lincoln really was a Loud all along, in a painfully generic and predictable manner. As such, Not A Loud has been subjected to heavy quantities of criticism for the fans. Not quite to the same level as No Such Luck or Brawl in the Family, but the controversy is certainly existent. People have been complaining about how predictable the narrative is, or how implausible they found the actual story of Lincoln’s birth involving the President and 1st Lady to be. As for me, I don’t especially mind it. But that’s the thing, there’s very little I have to say about this episode, because… I’m just very neutral about it.

There were a few decent laughs here and there, and a few memorable images and moments, such as when Lincoln looks at the baby pictures of his older sisters when they were younger (Luna, Lynn and Lucy were cute while Lori looked a little deformed, but then again, this obviously went away in later years). But nothing really made me develop a connection with the episode. The humour was hit and miss for the most past (the test field gag was mainly tolerable though became a little irritating towards the end), the pacing was a little rushed, Clyde once again felt like an unnecessary presence who was hogging screen time yet again (this is coming from someone willing to defend the presence of Clincoln McCloud episodes in the series more than most), and Lincoln could have shown some more emotion when he thought he was adopted. If the protagonist himself isn’t that passionate or concerned about the situation he faces, how can we as the viewers be expected to be?

Honestly, I just can’t bring myself to evaluate this story in any more depth or detail, because I simply don’t have the passion to do so. This episode just seems so… average. That Futurama quote is pretty much the perfect summary of my overall opinion. There isn’t anything technically that bad about the episode, but there isn’t anything that makes me conclude it was great, either. This lack of passion indicates, by my standards, that the episode is merely average in quality. I have no strong feelings one way or the other. It’s far from the weakest episode of the show (NSL and BITF are much worse than this), but at least when discussing those episodes, I usually have a lot more to say (even if it is mostly negative).

I suppose there are some qualities of this episode to be admired. The information (and baby pictures) we’re given of the Loud siblings from years ago were neat little teasers about the past of the siblings (I would enjoy a flashback episode focusing on the siblings when they were younger in a future season). The episode does finally lay rest to the theory of Lincoln being adopted (even if the actual story behind his birth that was put in place was rather nonsensical and somewhat ridiculous). Maybe some people like this episode, and that’s fine, as there are some positive attributes to it and there’s nothing overly negative I can point out. Just a lot of minor faults and the fact that as a whole, the story doesn’t really leave the greatest impression. This episode is a mixed bag, and that’s why I haven’t been in a rush to get this reaction posted online (also because of a busy schedule during the week and dealing with other commitments). All in all, I really have no strong feelings one way or another. It’s just ‘okay’ for me.

'''Final Rating: 5.5/10. '''