A Novel Idea

"A Novel Idea" is the thirty-fourth episode of the first season of The Loud House.

Plot

Lincoln's mother offers to take him to the dental office where she works while his sisters go to work with their father.

Synopsis

Mr. Loud tells his daughters that today is "Take Your Daughter to Work Day", and the sisters ecstatically join in. Unfortunately for Lincoln, he is the only one not allowed to come, since he is a son. Feeling bad for Lincoln, Rita (Mrs. Loud) says that she's declaring today "Take Your Son to Work Day", and Lincoln, although hesitant at first, decides to join in after being told that he can make any situation fun.

At the dentist's office, Rita tells Lincoln that he can pass the time by exploring the different rooms of the building, use the dental equipment, and play with the fish in the tank. Lincoln tries his best to entertain himself, only to get discouraged when he sees his sisters having a great time at Mr. Loud's office, which happens to be located right across the street. Just as Lincoln bemoans on how he'll never have as much as them, he discovers that there's an arcade located right next to Mr. Loud's office building, and decides to go there. However, before he leaves, Rita asks him to look over a notebook of hers that contains a novel she is working on, not wanting it to get damaged.

As Lincoln plays at the arcade, he discovers that he has to get back at the office. Upon arriving back to the dentist's office, Lincoln realizes he left Rita's notebook at the arcade. To Lincoln's relief, Rita says that she has to work on a patient just a bit longer, and he decides to use that extra time to get it back. Arriving back to the arcade, Lincoln realizes too late that the garbageman has arrived, and dumped the notebook into the truck. What ensues is Lincoln running around town desperately trying to get the notebook back, only for it to end up in a different predicament every time, and Lincoln having to resort to numerous tactics to get it back. Lincoln finally gets a hold of the notebook at a construction site.

Lincoln arrives back to the dentist's office (with cement shoes), and is prepared to give Rita's notebook back. However, the chase to get the notebook back has heavily damaged it, and it crumbles the second he hands it back. When Rita asks how this happened, Lincoln tells her the whole story, and Rita, while initially upset that Lincoln lied to her, says that he might have actually helped her out, since she believes that the initial idea for her story wasn't good enough, and that Lincoln's adventure today could be a much more entertaining story. When Rita asks how the adventure went, Lincoln says that he has a better idea on how to tell the story.

At the end of the day, Mr. Loud and his daughters return home and start to feel sorry for Lincoln, since they think that he had a boring day. However, at that exact moment, Lincoln and Rita come by, riding on skates while being pulled by a horse, revealing that Lincoln has opted to reenact his adventure to show his mother first hand what he went through. This leaves the sisters slack-jawed in utter awe when they see how Lincoln is having even more fun than they had.

Cast

• Grant Palmer as Lincoln
• Catherine Taber as Lori
• Nika Futterman as Luna
• Jessica DiCicco as Lucy
• Grey Griffin as Lana / Lola / Margie
• Jill Talley as Rita
• Brian Stepanek as Lynn Sr. / Hot Dog Customer
• Charlie Schlatter as Dr. Feinstein
• John DiMaggio as Mr. Grouse / Driver

Leni has no lines in this episode, but was heard cheering. Although being casted in the credits, Luan, Lynn, Lisa, and Lily also have no lines, but they were also heard cheering.

Production

Music

 ‣ The Wild West (a) - Ron Goodwin [Title card.]

Trivia

• This episode reveals a couple things of Mrs. Loud.
  • Her occupation is a dental assistant.
  • Her first name is Rita.
  • She has been working on a novel for seven years.
• The boy who busts the fire hydrant is a caricature of one of Chris Savino's sons. According to Savino's now deleted Instagram account, his son, Chris Jr., once voiced a character on the show.
• The arcade in this episode looks like the arcade which was seen in the episode "Ties That Bind" in Lincoln's fantasy.
• A different pair of Game Goggles are seen, but they're colored purple, whereas the ones Lincoln had in "Get the Message" are colored gray.
• This episode reveals that Lincoln may have a fear of needles, since he looked scared when Rita pulled out the cavity drill.
• Innuendo: Lincoln: "I can see Uranus from here, and boy, is it gassy".
• Irony: The dentist gives out free lollipops to children, even though it might harm their teeth.

References

• A Novel Idea - The title of this episode is a reference to the phrase of the same name, meaning "of a new kind, different from anything seen or known before".
• Back to the Future Part III - The song of the title card and at the end of the episode sounds similar to the western-style song of the 1990 film.
• Steve Irwin - At one point, Lincoln does an imitation of the late Crocodile Hunter.
• Apollo 13 - When Lincoln is about to get trapped in the closing dental chair, he exclaims "Houston, we have a problem." A reference to the famous line by Tom Hanks' character, Jim Lovell.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The cover of Teddy Toothbrush vs The Evil Ninjavitis are possible references to Raphael (Ninjavitis with a purple bandit mask wielding a pair of sai), and Leonardo (Ninjavitis with a green bandit mask wielding a katana).
• Batman - Lucy is seen wearing a Batman mask and cape while zip lining with Leni.
• Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day - Take Your Daughter/Son to Work Day is a take-off of the famous US program.
• Dilbert - The way Lynn Sr.'s office has silly and fun things not suitable in an office is like that of the office of the comic strip by Scott Adams.

Errors

• During Lincoln's pretend jewel heist, he pulls down the surgical mask he's wearing, and the straps fall with it. This is impossible as the straps are tucked behind his ears, and one of them is behind the dental tool used for his microphone.

• While playing in the office with his daughters, Lynn Sr.'s whole face was blank when he was sneaking over as a few papers were blocking it. Also, his nose is visible.

• When the sisters were left with their jaws hanging after seeing Lincoln and Rita roller-skating while being pulled by the horse, Luan's ponytail is missing.

Running Gags

• Mr. Grouse saying "Nice (insert object), Loud!".
• Lincoln thinking of different ways to pass the time while at the dental office, only to screw up at something, and become disappointed when he sees his sisters having a blast while at their father's office.
• Rita jotting down notes in her notebook.
• Fisher frowning at Lincoln for his incompetence.
• Lincoln struggling to get Rita's journal back.
• The journal becoming more and more dilapidated.
• Characters giving lollipops to people.