The Waiting Game

"" is an episode of The Loud House.

Plot
Lincoln gets Lori a job at a pizza arcade. But when he starts to ask favors of her so he and Clyde can get invitations to Chandler's birthday party, Lori gets in hot water.

Synopsis
The episode starts at School where Lincoln and Clyde are at lunch, who are both excited, even Clyde's palms are sweating, as his sandwich, fork, and milk all slip from his hands and landed on him. Lincoln explains that his classmate, Chandler is giving invitations to his birthday. Lincoln says it at a sewage plant where Chandler's Dad works there and he says it gonna be epic. Clyde said that it process 500 tons of human waste a day, Lincoln say there a secret room for mutant animals they find, Clyde pointed out that if your exposed to the waste, their nose hairs will burn. Lincoln is still excited, the lights turned off and two kids (the same ones from "Save the Date") have invitations and students were gathered up. Chandler appears and uses a plunger and give invites to most of his classmates.

He has two invites left and the duo were really excited, as Chandler about to give the invites away, only to two other kids, much to Lincoln and Clyde dismay. At an arcade named "Gus Games and Grubs", Lincoln (at an arcade machine) and Clyde (who is at a dancing machine) expresses their anger for Chandler for not invited them, Lori, in her work uniform, greeted her brother and Clyde, once again, faints (and nosebleeds) upon seeing her. Lori walk up to Lincoln and thanks him for getting her this job, and she got hired. Much to her joy, she finally gotten enough money to buy her a new dress for her school dance. She said the theme is "Romance Under the Sea" and she and Bobby are King and Queen. Lori Boss tell her to go back to work and she leaves, not before giving Lincoln tokens, much to his glee. Clyde regains consciousness and Lincoln tells him about the tokens and Clyde faints again.

Later, the two still playing video games and Clyde saving his tickets to buy Lori a pig bobbled head, Lincoln ask if he okay with Lori working her, Clyde doesn't care. Lori give pizza and root beer to the duo, as a way to say thanks to Lincoln for giving her this job. Chandler arrived, he mistakes Lincoln name for "Larry", Chandler see's Lincoln got free pizza, Lincoln tells him Lori works here, Chandler wants it and Lincoln takes Clyde slice, much to his chagrin. Lincoln explains that if he give free stuff to Chandler, he will probably invite to his party. Clyde agrees to that plan, it shows them doing favors for Chandler and his friends, much to Lori distress, because it'll will ruin her chances with her boss. After doing favors, they finally got invited, much to their amusement.

At home, Lincoln (wearing a tuxedo) is getting ready for Chandler's party. He sees a sad Lori, who is still in her uniform walking down the stairs and she reveals that she's doing overtime because of all the free stuff Lincoln gave to Chandler, and that she's gonna miss the dance. Feeling sorry for his eldest sibling, Lincoln decides to cover for her and not go to Chandler's party, while doing so, Lori comes in wearing her dance dress, and thanks Lincoln for covering for her. She consoles Lincoln for not going to Chandler's party and Lincoln says Chandler was never friends with him, and he was using him, just like Lincoln was using Lori earlier. He tells her to have a good time and the two hug each other, and Bobby, by accident, crashes his car.

Lincoln is still working and Clyde arrives, confusing him and reveals that he didn't go to Chandler's party because he would rather hang out with him instead. Lincoln laments that they never got exposed to raw sewage. The boss tells Lincoln to grab a mop and clean a toilet filled with sewage, and much to the boys' excitement, they got exposed, and the episode ends.

Cast

 * Grant Palmer as Lincoln
 * Catherine Taber as Lori
 * Caleel Harris as Clyde
 * Daniel Divenere as Chandler
 * Fred Tatasciore as Manager / Game Announcer

Cultural References

 * The title is a parody of the TV game show, The Dating Game.
 * The title card features Lincoln resembling Big Boy, mascot of the Big Boy restaurant chain.
 * Due to the dance at the high school having an underwater theme it could be a reference to Back to the Future where they had the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance.

Trivia

 * Howard and Harold are mentioned in this episode, as they make Clyde wear a hazmat suit to Chandler's party.
 * The pizza arcade's name, "Gus' Games and Grub", was revealed before the episode aired in the official bio for Ronnie Anne, which references an arcade with said name.
 * Like in "Save the Date", Lincoln and Lori are the only Loud siblings in this story.
 * Also, this is the second time Lori isn't wearing her regular clothes for the whole episode.
 * Much like "Lincoln Loud: Girl Guru", some of the kids at School are named after The Loud House staff, such as Kyle (Kyle Marshall), Darin (Darin McGowan), boy Jordan (Jordan Koch), Miguel (Miguel Puga), and Ken (Ken Mu).
 * This is the second episode where Clyde takes off his glasses, and the first episode where his eyes are seen.
 * The title of this episode refers to the fact that Lincoln and Clyde are waiting for Chandler to give them invitations to his birthday.

Goofs

 * In one scene, there appears to be a hand on Clyde's shoulder, but there is no one there.
 * In one scene, Clyde has no eyebrows.

Running Gags

 * Chandler calling Lincoln "Larry".
 * Clyde mentioning the bobblehead pig.
 * Lincoln asking Lori to give him free stuff.
 * Chandler asking Lincoln and Clyde to give him things.
 * Clyde avoiding Lori.