The Sweet Spot

"The Sweet Spot" is the seventh episode of The Loud House.

Plot
It's the night before the family road trip in the family van, affectionately dubbed "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. 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 Mom, who tells them to get back to bed and not to go in the van until 7:00am.

The kids go back to their rooms, waiting impatiently for the clock top 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 accidently completely destroyed. As Dad laments the loss of the van, Mom 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 plan 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 for it (and probably his sisters as well).

Cast

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

Trivia

 * This episode, 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Dad's eyes are shown in a rear-view mirror in a flashback.
 * 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 only one so far that doesn't have just a solid color for a background.

Goofs

 * Several times in the flashbacks, Lincoln is shown reading comic books; a later episode, "Undie Pressure", reveals he reads comic books in his underwear because he claims reading them with clothes on is uncomfortable for him.

Running Gags

 * Clyde not recognizing Lincoln when referred to by the code name "Road Tripper".