User blog:Zman12346/Why "Change of heart" is my favourite episode.

I think "Change of heart" is a very underrated episode. I honestly expected it to get much more popularity than I see it get. It's the one episode I always watch first whenever I go back to Loud House and it never seems to get old however many times I watch it. So let me justify myself.

First of all I like the fact that this episode shows the Show staff addressing the complaints and comments of the viewers. For the first time in perhaps the entire run of the show, Lori is not mistreating Clyde or just taking him for granted anymore. (Unless you count "A fair to remember" but in that episode she dragged him through a lot of things when he was still unconscious and needed medical attention and all she did to redeem herself for that was to give poor Clyde a few photos, Photos he can't truly enjoy since he was not conscious to experience the happy things that were on those photo's. Not to mention she was only using Clyde in that episode to try and make Bobby Jealous. And Bobby is supposed to be the man of her heart who she empathises with so that's cruel.)

She finally realizes in the words of a famous song writer. "You only need the light when it's burning low. You only miss the sun if it starts to snow. You only know you love him when you let him go. And you let him go.". And after so many episodes where Lori ignores or outright bullies Clyde, this is an incredible relief.

This is also a lovely and wonderful episode because it is one of the few that depicts Leni, a heavily underused character who frequently only serves to cause problems with her incompetence, in a positive light. It shows us that Leni's talents are just as important as any of the other Loud siblings and that we should not sell her short. In this episode for once, she does not do anything to make the situation worse with shoehorned in stupidity. She is calm and rational as she tries to talk Clyde (and Mr Grouse at the start of the episode) through his problems with Lori.

The other siblings are also at their best throughout this episode despite only having a few minutes of screen time. They finally call Lori out on her less than friendly behaviour towards Clyde and from the way they tell Lori about all the horrible things she has done to Clyde (Like throwing his gifts in the trash and using his homemade cookies as doorstops) they have not been blind to the obvious until now which is good. They have seen Lori mistreating Clyde for a while and they aren't completely apathetic jerks after all. They've been hoping that Lori will see her faults herself instead without their intervention, and probably didn't want to hurt her feelings either(they also probably realized that as the oldest sister, she most likely wouldn't listen to them with the domineering personality she displayed throughout the show up to this point)  I just love when a show has an episode where character's finally realize a fault that has been blatantly obvious to the viewer for a long time, and it doesn't happen often enough. This is one of the reasons I love the Loud House.

This greatness would return in "Garage banned" (pretty much a better version of Squidville if you've watched spongebob)where instead of trying to force Lori to come back to the house despite the fact things would be better if she did, they actually try to make her new life at the garage as pleasant as possible. In that episode, they probably did not have to wait until the end of the episode to realize they were the problem and they were the ones who screwed up. And so to try and atone for their crime of driving Lori out, they were happy for her and even helped her out several times thinking she would really be happier away from them all, even knowing full well that without Lori their own lives would be worse.

Again in the episode "A room with a fued" when the sisters agreed to give Lincoln back his room even though they knew that if they didn't, their own lives would be better. The later episodes really do show that this is a family that cares about one another and is prepared to make sacrafices. Such a wonderful change from early season one when they always fought.

Clyde is also portrayed in a positive light in this spectacular episode. He knows he has a problem that is making Lori very sad and is doing his utmost to work on it so that he will not cause Lori any more trouble than he already has. He ignores Lori when she tries to "win him back" because he is afraid that if he slips up around her, he will bleed onto her shoes again and make her even more upset. He renounces the privelege of being able to talk to his crush (And honestly who can blame him for liking Lori since a lot of boys his age are into older girls, and he probably likes her for more than just her looks) even when he could because he genuinely cares about Lori's feelings. ​​​That shows that his feelings towards Lori are more than just a superficial infatuation with her appearance.

It's also fun to see the roles switched. Instead of Clyde trying and failing to win Lori's heart, this time it's the other way around. Lori is battling to win clyde back, thinking he has moved on when really all he is trying to do is to not embarass himself in front of her anymore or cause her anymore grief. It's also good to see that the change from Lori relieved and overjoyed to see Clyde liking Leni, to her desperately trying to get him back was not instataneous. Instead it took her remebering some of the kind and thoughtful things Clyde had done for her in the past to come to this realization that he was far more important to her than she first thought. It teaches us a very mature moral in addition to the main moral, that we as humans tend to take a lot of what we have for granted and only when it's gone do we realize just how important and valuable our priveleges were to us and how much we underappreciated our blessings while we still had them.

A lot of unhappy millionares who fall into poverty, or drugs failed to learn this lesson in time. Same with a lot of kings and other historical leaders who lost the support of their people and were stripped of their power so that they were forced to sweep the streets they once owned.

If I had to give one tiny bit of Critisism for this otherwise almost flawless masterpiece "Change of heart", it would be that Lori was a bit mean spirited towards Lincoln in her vapid attempts to get Clyde back. For instance she could have at least given Lincoln the glass of lemonade when Clyde didn't want it, instead of throwing it on the floor. Although the way she was very accepting of Lincoln's explanation of events at the end of this episode and the way she acknowledged that she wasn't really thinking straight sort of redeems her a little. I think this is also why a lot of the episodes after this have Lori being much nicer and accepting of her brother. The writer's realized this was their masterpiece's one weakness and wanted to make up for it. The fact Lori has an inner voice that she keeps talking to may also suggest insecurity and best of all shows us that even someone as abrasive and bossy as her does have a conscience which is very heartwarming.

The humor was spot on. My favorite bit was when Lori tried to dress up as Leni, and then Lynn says in a really funny voice "Why do you look like Leni's messed up twin?". Watch it for yourself if you don't believe me. You will definetly laugh your head of the first time you see it.

On the end note, this episode's ending didn't dissapoint either. Sure, Clyde hasn't quite solved his problem of being nervous and getting a nosebleed when he's near Lori but it's definetly a work in progress (since it took him seeing two Lori's when he woke up to make him nervous). Mr Grouse using Leni's technique to calm himself back down successfully at the end of the episode is just all sorts of goodness. It shows us that Leni is not just a thoughtless airhead like a lot of us thought she was. It shows as that maybe one day, Clyde too will finally be over his problem with Lori just as Mr Grouse got over his problem of getting angry too quickly for no reason. This also sets a good benchmark for future positive interactions between the Louds and Mr Grouse, since Leni has clearly proven at this point that they can solve his problems for him and be useful to him. And maybe he will remember this great favor that Leni did him (of helping him control his anger)  the next time the Louds are in a jam and be more understanding and ready to help. At the very least we won't see him throwing pointless rage tantrums now that Leni has taught him such an effective anger control technique.

Two problems (Lori being too apathetic and mean to Clyde, and Mr Grouse getting angry too easily over little things that do not warrant anger) were solved in this episode and one major and urgent problem (Clyde never being able to properly talk to Lori and always making her upset instead) is on it's way to being solved.

I think this episode deserves much more credit than a lot of us give it. It should persaude us to treat the friends and relatives that do good things for us in our lives, just a little bit better if we take nothiing else away from the episode. ​​​​Maybe show people who go out of their way to make us happy while asking for nothing in return, a little gratitude if we want them to keep doing what they do for us. And most of all, think just how many blessings we have in our lives that we honestly cannot live without and be more thankful and grateful for them.

I would now like to hear your thoughts. Do you enjoy this simply delightful part of season 2 as much as I did. And does it give you as much inspiration and hope for an otherwise bleak future as it gave me? Please comment and let me know.

But until next time. Bye bye and thanks for reading.

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