Pipe Dreams

"Pipe Dreams" is the eleventh episode of the third season, and the one-hundred-twelfth episode of The Loud House.

Plot
Mom and Dad decide to build a secret bathroom after they become sick of waiting their turn in line.

Synopsis
Early in the morning, Rita and Lynn Sr. hurry to the bathroom for urgent reasons. However, the line for the bathroom is incredibly long, and they must wait, no matter how long it takes. Tired of the long waiting time (and refusing to use a bucket Lana uses named Old Sloshie as an alternative), Lynn Sr. recommends that he and Rita have a bathroom all to themselves. Rita initially denies, saying that the kids have a habit of taking things that they buy just for themselves, but she agrees when she and Lynn Sr. agree to keep their own bathroom a complete secret, and by building it in their closet. However, just when Rita considers going along with the plan, since it means they would have to lie to their children, she and Lynn Sr. discover that the bathroom has become a messy wreck due to the kids' use, which promptly leads to them agreeing to build their own bathroom.

Later, as the siblings go on with their day, Rita and Lynn Sr., donning construction equipment and some tools, attempt to prep up their bathroom without making their kids suspicious. They get their work done through various means, whether it'd be making loud noises to block out the noise of their construction, keeping their kids out of their room, and hiring some extra workers. After a lot of hard work, Rita and Lynn Sr. finally complete their secret bathroom, and love how they now have something all to themselves.

The next day, the siblings are in a hurry to get to school, but Lana is running behind. Lana is trying to find her lucky chicken bone, but is forced into leaving by Lori when they're about to be late for school. Upon leaving, Charles runs into the parents' secret bathroom, and coughs up Lana's lucky chicken bone. Sometime later, Rita and Lynn Sr. discover the bone, and fear that their kids know about their secret bathroom, prompting Lynn Sr. to add on locks to the door. Just as Lynn Sr. applies the locks, Cliff runs in, and unravels the toilet roll. Assuming Lynn broke in, Lynn Sr. adds on even more locks. However, Hops, who is chasing after a fly, climbs through the air vents, and splashes water all over the toilet seat. Thinking Lincoln broke in, Lynn Sr. applies even more security features to the bathroom, ranging from surveillance cameras, motion sensors, a laser grid, and a security panel inside, which will lock them in if they ever get caught.

Later, as Rita and Lynn Sr. do their business in their secret bathroom, Lynn Sr. attempts to exit, but finds the door locked. He tries to put in the passcode, but it's incorrect. After several unsuccessful attempts, they end up getting locked in the bathroom. Realizing their dilemma, Rita turns off the shower, but ends up breaking the handle off, causing water to start flooding the bathroom. Rita tries to pry the door open with a toothbrush Dr. Feinstein gave her, but it snaps in an instant. Attempting to escape through the vents, they realize too late that they wired the vents. Realizing that they're out of options, Rita and Lynn Sr. call for their kids to help them, and succeed in breaking them out when Lynn rams a coat rack into the door. Suspicious as to why their closet was full of water, Rita and Lynn Sr. admit that they were tired of having to wait so long to use the bathroom, and wanted their own bathroom all to themselves. With the truth revealed, they agree to let their kids use it, but because of the destruction, the secret bathroom is completely destroyed, and they couldn't afford to fix it, since they used the money to put in the security features. Despite this, the kids still allow their parents to use the upstairs bathroom, even if it means going back to just one bathroom.

The next day, Rita and Lynn Sr. attempt to race to the bathroom, but there's another long line. Not wanting to wait any longer, Lynn Sr. asks Lana for Old Sloshie.

Cast

 * Collin Dean 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 Lana / Lola / Electronic Voice
 * Lara Jill Miller as Lisa
 * Brian Stepanek as Lynn Sr. / Hunter Spector
 * Jill Talley as Rita

Lily, Sammie, Whitney, Kevin, Mike, and Karla have no lines in this episode.

Trivia

 * This is the first time that Lily waits in line for the bathroom, although she has used the bathroom before in "In Tents Debate".
 * This episode reveals that whenever Rita and Lynn Sr. buy something just for themselves, the kids have a habit of taking it over. This is explained when they once bought an adjustable bed and immediately afterwards, the kids played on it, inevitably damaging it within mere seconds.
 * This could also allude to "Suite and Sour" since the kids wanted to come along with their parents to the spa resort, inevitably causing trouble.
 * Like it was shown in "The Price of Admission", Lola was going to sleep with her parents.
 * When talking on her phone, Lori mentions two people named Miguel and Todd. This is most likely a reference to storyboard artist Miguel Puga, and character designer Todd Oman.
 * This is the third time where the bathroom appears in a hideously messy state, the first two times being "Chore and Peace" and "One of the Boys".
 * The idea of Lynn Sr. adding multiple security measures to their secret bathroom is similar to the Loud kids adding numerous security measures to their house in "Lock 'N' Loud". Coincidentally, both episodes are written by Bob Mittenthal.
 * Each of the crewmen helping Rita and Lynn Sr. prep up their bathroom are all writers of the show (Sammie Crowley, Whitney Wetta, Kevin Sullivan, Michael Rubiner, and Karla Sakas Shropshire). They were even referenced by name.
 * According to Lana, she uses a bucket named Old Sloshie as an alternative for a bathroom.
 * This could also allude to "Brawl in the Family", where she insists to Lincoln to vomit in a bucket when the toilet in unavailable.
 * This episode reveals that Lana has a lucky chicken bone.
 * This is also the second of her lucky charms, the first being a booger from "Snow Bored".
 * Lola is shown to be going to regular school in this episode, implying that pageant season is over or hasn't started yet, as shown in "No Place Like Homeschool".
 * This episode reveals that Lincoln always forgets to put the toilet seat up.
 * Lisa mentions her tinnitus from "The Sweet Spot".
 * It appears Luan managed to get her stuff back when she got pranked by her family in "Fool Me Twice".
 * This episode, like its sister episode, mentions Dr. Feinstein, who doesn't appear.
 * This is the first time Lynn Sr. refers to Rita by her first name.
 * When Lynn Sr. typed in a 4-digit code on the panel, he put in 3-4-8-4. Rita said that the code was one of their kids' birthdays, which hinted that one of the Loud kids was born on March 4th, the 84 could suggest that one of them was born in 1984.
 * It could be possible the 3-4-8-4 passcode was for something different, since Rita told Lynn Sr. that it was his idea to make the passcode one of their kids' birth dates, hence why she doesn't know what it is.
 * Because they have so many kids, Rita and Lynn Sr. find it a hard task to memorize all of their birth dates.
 * The way Rita's hair covers her face while showering is similar to her sick appearance in "One Flu Over the Loud House".
 * Innuendo: After Rita and Lynn Sr. install a security measure that locks in whoever breaks into their secret bathroom, Rita says that they'll "catch them with their pants down."

Errors

 * When Lori approaches Leni when the latter thinks the mirror is broken, the rest of the family appears to be missing.
 * When Rita and Lynn Sr. call for help when trapped in their secret bathroom, the Closed Captions misspelled Lori's name as "Laurie".
 * In that same scene, for one frame, one of the rolled up sleeves on Rita's robe is disconnected.
 * In one scene, one of Rita's shoes is discolored brown.

Running Gags

 * Rita and Lynn Sr. working on their secret bathroom without making their kids suspicious.
 * The family pets doing something in the secret bathroom, making Rita and Lynn Sr. believe that their kids know about their secret bathroom, which leads to the latter adding more and more security features to keep them out.