User blog:Eweiss53/My Most Unpopular LH Opinion

Normally, when it comes to "The Loud House," my general opinions on episodes and characters are usually no different from that of most fans. However, there is one opinion I have on an episode that is highly different from that of everyone else:

I consider "One Flu Over the Loud House" to be one of the worst LH episodes of all time. Granted, it’s not one of the show’s Top 5worst, especially in comparison to “Brawl in the Family” or “No Such Luck,” as it doesn’t suffer from any character derailment or uncomfortable mean-spiritedness, but I still find to be pretty flawed.

Now don't get me wrong. The idea of the flu causing people to turn into zombies I could actually see working in a Nickelodeon cartoon (or even a Cartoon Network show). But I would see it working much better in something like "CatDog" or "Rocko's Modern Life" because those shows always had weird, bizarre setups so it makes sense. In a show like "The Loud House," it doesn't feel fitting because that's not the type of show "The Loud House" is. "The Loud House" is supposed to be a simple, slice-of-life show about a large family in which the world of the show (despite a few visual jokes) is grounded more into reality. So having an episode in which the flu turns them into zombies doesn't really feel right. Now if it was something where the sisters come down with the flu and Lincoln, being the only one to not get it, believes them to have become zombies, that would probably be a bit more interesting. It could maybe lead to a few more comedic possibilities and possibly end by having Lincoln learn that his sisters were just sick by catching the flu himself. That would be a better payoff. In fact, I'm pretty certain that's what we thought we were going to get based on the original episode description. With what we did get, it's immediately made clear in the beginning that the sisters only have the flu, and even the healthy characters admit that they already know this.. And yet despite this being established, the episode tries way too much in making it seem like they really are turning into zombies. One of my biggest issues with this episode is its moral. Actually, I really do like this message about about how you shouldn’t distance yourself from someone just because they’re sick as I feel that's a message we usually don't get in entertainment much. And yes, I will agree with everyone else that Leni is the best character due to how concerned she is about nursing her family back to health (in fact, this is pretty much the episode that got me to love Leni more than I used to). But I feel the moral is heavily derailed due to two elements: The overall portrayal of the sick sisters and the ending. The episode is so concerned with trying to be a parody of a zombie apocalypse that it never takes any time to show that despite being sick, the Louds are still human and uses every scene in which the infected are on screen to make them look like dangerous threats. And it’s made even worse in the end by having Leni, the one person who still cared about her family, end up suffering the same fate as everyone else. nd the fact that immediately at the end of the episode, right after Clyde says that just because the Louds are infected doesn't mean they're not human, the very last image shows the sick family showing more aggressive behavior (as well as ending on a zombie-related pun) that strongly contradicts her claims. And the fact that we never get to see the family get healthy in the end doesn't help. On top of that, the imagery in this episode is downright creepy! The appearances of the sick sisters, with their pale-green skin, yellow-green eyes, swollen eyelids, and disjointed expressions, makes them just unpleasant to look at in a manner that is absolutely terrifying! Also, the zombie-like moans and groans they give are rather uncomfortable to listen to. The scariest moments for me when they’re crouched on their knees and eating both the cough drops and the egg rolls like zombies. I don't want to be scared or uncomfortable towards the characters I enjoy!

I know a lot of fans love this episode and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t understand why, so if you do, I respect your opinion. But for me, I’d pretty much avoid watching this episode in the same way that the Louds try to avoid getting sick. Take it for what it’s worth. Not one of my favorites.