User blog:AustinDR/Final Thoughts on Requiem

I’m rather conflicted; on the one hand while I do love “Requiem for a Loud,” but on the other, I really think that UnderratedHero’s dancing dangerously close to having the story be dark for the sake of being dark (read drama). Now don’t get me wrong, the fanfic is very powerful in its premise – that being Lincoln dying – and I feel that UnderratedHero does have something to say about the story. I totally agree that Lincoln is the emotional center of the family (even though he can be a selfish jerk sometimes), I find the idea for “Requiem” slightly laughable. No, I don’t mean in a comedic way, but in how it relates with the canon series. There is no way that Nickelodeon would ever allow an episode like that to be made, not even as the series finale. When you say “Lincoln is dying” over and over in your mind, it comes off as slightly off putting.

But while I do agree that the point of the story is how would the family go on without that emotional center, I am slightly opposed to most of the ideas that UnderratedHero implemented. Before I get into them, I will make it a point that I don’t hate UnderratedHero; don’t know the guy personally, did speak with him a few times on FanFiction.net. I would say he’s a nice guy, but I just don’t know anything remotely about him. The fanfic honestly came off as being too cruel towards Lincoln. I mean Lincoln being due to die is bad enough, but then you go into his older sisters’ reactions, and they’re all broken wrecks. Naturally that is to be expected, but then there were a few….interesting ones. For one, Luna, in her depression, decides to drink and do you-know-what with a complete stranger. Need I tell you that Luna is roughly 15 years old? Underage drinking and...that. Throw that into the fireplace and burn it. Now I’m not against an author taking some creative liberties, but this came off as jarring as I felt that there wasn’t a point to it. Well, technically there was, but I felt that that was the point UnderratedHero was walking on thin ice. But that’s the least of my concerns. Not only do you have all of these tragedies to add onto the feels pile, but you also find out that Bobby and Ronnie Anne lost their mother in a car accident. Bobby grieving for Lincoln is bad enough, but having it later turn out that he lost his mom…..

At this point, I vowed to stop reading “Requiem for a Loud.” I don’t hate the story for being “dark,” but I just feel that UnderratedHero is playing most of the darkness up for the sake of drama. I don’t regret reading the fanfic either. In fact, I never expected him to actually respond to my take on his story. Granted, I probably dropped the bomb early, but it was actually surprising. In fact, UnderratedHero actually inspired me to do fanfics myself, even though I initially hated them. One story I recently finished is about Luan and how she became the way that she was because she had a sadistic teacher who pushed her off the deep end.

With that, those are my final thoughts on “Requiem.” I respect the author for bringing this story to life, but I do criticize him for dipping his hand too deep in darkness.