Mall of Duty

"Mall of Duty" is the forty-second episode of the second season and the ninety-fourth episode of The Loud House.

Plot
Lincoln wants to go to the mall, but has to watch his younger sisters, so he decides to take them to the mall.

Synopsis
Lincoln is in the living room, looking after Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa, and Lily, while also watching a program starring his favorite TV personality, Rip Hardcore. Lynn Sr. has to take Lynn to her rugby match, while Rita has to take Lori, Leni, Luna, and Luan to open house at the school, and are putting their trust in Lincoln to look after his younger sisters. The moment they leave, Lincoln learns from a commercial that Rip Hardcore is visiting the Royal Woods Mall, signing copies of his survival guide book. Lincoln wants to get his copy of the survival guide signed, however, he realizes that he still has to look after his younger sisters, so he decides to take them along.

At the mall, Lincoln and the younger sisters get in line, but the younger sisters are already bored out of their minds, prompting him to keep them satisfied, but to no avail. Lincoln tries to keep them happy with Flippees (courtesy of Flip), but they have to go to the bathroom after drinking them so quickly. Lincoln asks the person behind him to watch his spot, but the moment he comes back, the person refuses to let Lincoln and the sisters back in (because of his poor eyesight after suffering from an allergic reaction to bananas, due to Lincoln giving him a banana-flavored Flippee beforehand), forcing Lincoln to go to the back of the line, which is now twice as long. When the younger sisters decide to bail out on Lincoln upon learning that their waiting time is two hours, Lincoln decides to keep them occupied by making them ride on a miniature train for a long period of time by feeding the train numerous quarters. With his younger sisters now occupied, Lincoln manages to get Rip Hardcore to sign his copy of his survival guide after two hours of waiting.

With his survival guide signed, Lincoln decides to grab his younger sisters and leave, but to his horror, the train has derailed due to him overloading the machine with his stash of quarters. Lincoln initially tries to follow the tracks, but a janitor has cleaned up most of the tracks, slimming down his chances of finding his younger sisters. Luckily, he remembers Rip Hardcore's methods of locating animals in the wild. He manages to find Lisa at an electronics store after following some spilled chemicals, Lucy at a fortune telling station due to a store mannequin looking more gloomy than the rest, Lola at a princess-themed store due to her love for royalty, and Lana at a pet store hatching duck eggs due to her eating the dog bones (the ducklings even hatch, and begin following her).

Just when Lincoln believes he has got everyone, Lucy reminds him that they still need to get Lily, who is still on the runaway train. Unable to keep up with the speeding train, Lincoln asks Scoots if she can give him a ride, but she refuses, stating that chasing after a runaway train is not her problem. Lincoln, remembering that Scoots didn't get her survival guide signed, decides to give up his, and Scoots agrees to help. After a brief amount of chasing, Lincoln and Scoots successfully manage to catch up to Lily, and Lincoln manages to grab her before the train crashes right into Flip's food cart. The younger sisters, happy that Lincoln managed to save Lily with ease, congratulate him, but immediately feel bad for him when they learn that he doesn't have his signed copy of the survival guide, but Lincoln says that looking over them is more important than a signed book. As they leave, Lisa instructs the robot she built to clean up the mess they all made.

Back home, the parents and the older sisters return, and the parents surprise Lincoln by giving him a signed copy of Rip Hardcore's survival guide as thanks for watching over the younger sisters. Lincoln initially attempts to explain to his parents what happened earlier, but the younger sisters quickly cover up his story by telling them that Lincoln let them do whatever they want, and the parents say that it's "good enough". When Lincoln questions why they defended him, the sisters say it's their way of saying thanks... for letting them keep the baby ducks that Lana hatched at the mall earlier.

Cast
Lori, Leni, Luna, and Luan have no lines in this episode.
 * Collin Dean as Lincoln
 * Jessica DiCicco as Lynn / Lucy
 * Grey Griffin as Lana / Lola / Lily / Scoots
 * Lara Jill Miller as Lisa / Woman
 * Brian Stepanek as Lynn Sr. / TV Robot Voice / Robot
 * Jill Talley as Rita
 * John DiMaggio as Flip / Tough Guy
 * Bert Kreischer as Rip Hardcore

Paused production
For a brief amount of time, Miguel Puga had confirmed that production of this episode was halted. Many speculated that this episode could have been pushed to Season 3, or may have been cancelled all together. Fortunately, production of the episode resumed once the episode was given a confirmed release date of November 11, 2017. The production stall may have also been the reason why Kyle Marshall directed the final version of this episode, as he was the only other director of the series to finish it.

Trivia

 * This episode, and its sister episode, "Legends", are the second pair of episodes to air on a Saturday, with the first being "The Price of Admission/One Flu Over the Loud House".
 * This is also the eighth time that the full episode premiered, rather than airing the two parts of the episode separately. The other episodes to do this were "Left in the Dark"/"Get the Message", "Heavy Meddle"/"Making the Case", "Along Came a Sister"/Chore and Peace", "Project Loud House"/"In Tents Debate", "The Sweet Spot"/"A Tale of Two Tables", "The Price of Admission"/"One Flu Over the Loud House", and "ARGGH! You For Real?"/"Garage Banned".
 * This is the second episode to air on Veteran's Day, the first being its sister episode, "Legends".
 * This is the ninth piece of Loud House media to be directed solely by Kyle Marshall. The others were the shorts "Slice of Life" and "Deuces Wild!", and the episodes "Frog Wild", "Pulp Friction", "Room With a Feud", "Garage Banned", "Change of Heart", "Friend or Faux?", and "The Crying Dame".
 * This episode also marks a second pair-up between Jordan Rosato and Kyle Marshall, who both made the Loud House short "Slice of Life" back in 2016.
 * This is also the first episode Kyle Marshall-directed after Chris Savino's termination.
 * Karla Sakas Shropshire, Kyle Marshall (the episode’s director), Darin McGowan, Miguel Puga, Jordan Rosato (the episode’s storyboard artist), Jordan Koch, and Alec Schwimmer are seen at the Royal Woods Mall.
 * This is the third episode to show Lincoln using his yo-yo. The first being in "Butterfly Effect", and the second being in "Potty Mouth".
 * This episode, along with its sister episode, "Legends", are currently the lowest viewed episodes in Season 2.
 * This is the second episode where Lincoln's younger sisters play a key role, the first being "Baby Steps".
 * Luan may possibly be in High School along with Lori, Leni, and Luna, as she was included in the open house meeting, which would take place in just one school.
 * This, however, contradicts the episode "L is For Love", as Luan was shown to be in Middle School, along with Lynn.
 * With the exception of Lynn, none of Lincoln's older sisters have dialogue in this episode.
 * This was the same case with "Baby Steps", as Lori had a cameo in the episode (which doesn't count) and none of the older sisters appeared in the episode.
 * Sam's female friend makes a cameo appearance in the line waiting for Rip's autograph.
 * This episode marks the second time Lucy makes a seemingly good psychic prediction for Flip, that turns out to actually be a disaster for him, the first time was in "Come Sale Away".
 * This is the thirty-first episode where Lincoln didn't speak to the viewers.
 * Timeline:
 * After "No Guts, No Glori", because Lincoln is better at babysitting.
 * After "Roughin' It", because that was the first time Lincoln watched Rip Hardcore's show.
 * Karma:
 * The tough guy in line behind Lincoln and his sisters mocked Lincoln, and then took Lincoln's yo-yo to the eye.
 * Moral: Looking over your loved ones is more important than personal needs.

Errors

 * During the scene where the siblings are leaving the mall, Lily has eyebrows, which she doesn't usually have.
 * This is the fifth time this error has occurred, the first four were "Changing the Baby", "Baby Steps", "Yes Man", and "No Laughing Matter".

Running Gags

 * Lincoln trying to keep his younger sisters occupied.
 * Lincoln wanting to get Rip Hardcore's signature.
 * Lincoln using Rip Hardcore's survival methods to locate his younger sisters.
 * The baby ducks following Lana.
 * Scoots calling Rip Hardcore her "bae".
 * Lincoln’s sisters being bored.