It's parent teacher conference night and the Loud parents find themselves endlessly running around from class to class. Lincoln has his heart set on the Banana Split that their parents have promised if the Loud kids get more good reviews than bad.
Synopsis[]
Act I[]
It's parent-teacher conference night, and Rita has declared that dinner is "Fend For Yourself Night" for her children while she and Lynn Sr. visit their children's teachers. Lincoln explains that while most children are scared of parent-teacher conference night, the Louds are excited because Lynn Sr. has promised that if more than half of them get good reviews, he will treat them to Auntie Pam's Banana Split in a Canoe. He also explains that Clyde, as an honorary Loud, also gets to reap their rewards. Clyde comes over and sets up a device that monitors the conferences in real-time, counting the siblings with positive and negative reviews.
Rita and Lynn Sr.'s first stop is Lucy's fourth-grade class, where her teacher, Miss Riley, compliments her creativity, but recounts an incident where Lucy summoned a Nether Beast during poetry week. The Nether Beast is still around and threatens her to give Lucy a good review or pay the ultimate price. Miss Riley gives Lucy a good score as a result. Their next stop is Leni's twelfth-grade class, but her teacher instantly gives her a negative review. As this happens, Lincoln dials Auntie Pam's Parlor to order the banana split, but Clyde reminds him that he did not submit his midterm essay to Mr. Bolhofner. Lincoln explains that this is also Lisa's first parent-teacher conference, and with her massive intelligence, he is confident she will get a good review.
Leni's conference is so brief the parents have thirteen extra minutes until their next conference. However, they fall asleep for 20 minutes, leaving them late. They rush to Lisa's first-grade class, where Miss Allegra reveals that first grade focuses more on social skills, and Lisa is very socially inept, leaving her with a negative review. As Clyde notes Lisa's failure, Lincoln is still calling Auntie Pam's when he sees Lisa's results, causing him to scream in horror.
Act II[]
As the sisters start fighting amongst each other, Lincoln realizes that he has to get a good review to break even. Clyde suggests that Lincoln submit his midterm essay, but Lincoln admits that he hasn't even started. They write the essay, and Lincoln hurries to Mr. Bolhofner's classroom, but finds out that Mr. Bolhofner is on bathroom break. Rita and Lynn Sr. also show up at the middle school for Lynn Jr.'s meeting, where they find out that while she is definitely one of the school's best athletes, her competitiveness bleeds into her classroom performance. Miss Tyte recounts one such incident of Lynn shoving another student to the ground during a lesson, but considers it a good thing as said student, Natalie, was a lot to handle and was forced out of the classroom for weeks, so Lynn gets a good review. Lincoln enters the bathroom and sees what he thinks is Mr. Bolhofner in one of the stalls, handing over his overdue essay. However, it turns out the Nether Beast is inside the stall, and he takes Lincoln's essay and refuses to give it back, forcing Lincoln to run for it.
The parents' next stop is Luan. Her teacher, Mr. Yanaga, confesses that he got pranked by Luan and sent flying out of his classroom by a whoopee cushion. However, he considers it a silver lining because he had intended to retire, and gives her a good review for that. Meanwhile, Lincoln returns to Mr. Bolhofner's classroom and recounts his incident with the Nether Beast, begging for another chance to submit his paper.
The parents meet with the twins' teacher, Ms. Daisy, who praises them for always solving animal-related mysteries, but they still have trouble with grammar, spelling, and math, so they get a bad review. While the sisters hope Luna will get a good score, Lisa is skeptical, considering that most rockers do not do well at school, but Clyde receives word that Luna got a good review. Lincoln comes back and reveals Mr. Bolhofner is not giving him a second chance on his essay, and is horrified when he realizes that while the chances of getting the banana split now depend on him, he has nearly zero chance of getting a good review.
Act III[]
With time running out before Mr. Bolhofner's conference, Lincoln asks Luna how she was able to get a good score. Luna explains that her good score came from her giving Miss Hamilton tickets for a Mick Swagger concert, so Lincoln realizes he needs to get Mr. Bolhofner a gift. Lucy offers Lynn Sr.'s wedding gift, so Lincoln takes it. As Lynn Sr. and Rita get lost getting to middle school, Lincoln makes it to Royal Woods Middle School on Lisa's rocket-powered bike and gives Mr. Bolhofner the gift, but Mr. Bolhofner rejects it, explaining Lincoln is always trying to take the easy way out. As Rita and Lynn Sr. arrive at school, Lincoln lies that his parents are so scattered and never have time to help him and his sisters. The parents finally arrive, and as Lincoln hides, Mr. Bolhofner gives Lincoln a good review, but falls for Lincoln's lie and blames them for why he isn't up to his standards. Lincoln comes out of hiding and confesses his deception just for the ice cream. Mr. Bolhofner rescinds his review and gives Lincoln a negative review.
Despite the negative reviews outweighing the positives, Lynn Sr. lectures his children, explaining that despite the school system, he and Rita will always consider their children the best, revealing that he got the banana split for them.
This episode is available on the "Season One" DVD.
Trivia[]
This episode has similar premises to the Loud House episodes:
"Any Given Sundae" and "Sofa, So Good", as all involve the Loud parents deciding to reward their children if they see good behavior in them.
Like the former, the reward in this episode is an ice cream dish.
Like the latter, the kids still got their reward, despite the parents seeing bad behavior in them.
"Stall Monitor", as both involve Lincoln hoping that his parents do not see bad results out of parent-teacher conference night.
Coincidentally, in both episodes, Lincoln is the last student to have their conference, and he is also present in his teacher's classroom when his parents arrive for his conference.
The banana split in a canoe was previously shown on the menu of Auntie Pam's ice cream truck in "The Chore Thing".
This episode reveals the following:
Lynn Sr. always promises to treat his children to the biggest dessert in Royal Woods if he sees at least 50% positive results from parent-teacher conference night. The results have never met this criteria before.
Lynn Sr. has a lucky pair of corduroy pants.
The banana split in a canoe is composed of 51 scoops of ice cream.
Leni has been struggling to keep her grades good ever since they were changed from smiley faces to letters.
Lisa did not get a parent-teacher conference when she was in kindergarten.
Luan once pulled her neck muscles doing a double take. This drove her to always stretch before her comedy shows so she doesn't pull a muscle midway through.
Lana and Lola solve problems and mysteries in their classroom together.
Mr. Bolhofner has been divorced for ten years.
The times when the Loud parents arrived at the parent-teacher conferences:
Lucy: 4:06 PM
Leni: 4:24 PM
Lisa: 5:11 PM
Lynn: 5:38 PM
Luan: 6:11 PM
While the times when they arrived for Lana & Lola, Luna, and Lincoln's conferences are unknown, Lana and Lola's conference is known to have been scheduled for 6:30 PM, and Luna's conference is known to have been scheduled for 7:00 PM according to their chart. Lincoln's conference is also known to have been scheduled for 7:30 PM, according to the whiteboard in Mr. Bolhofner's classroom.
Leni and Luna's conferences are the only ones that were not shown on-screen, although the Loud parents were depicted entering and leaving the classroom for Leni's conference.
Furthermore, Leni's teacher is the only one that is not known, as his name is neither mentioned nor written on the Loud parents' chart.
Innuendo: When Luan tries to demonstrate what happened after she pulled a neck muscle doing a double take, everyone else reacts in disgust after hearing her neck crack.
Irony:
Rita claims that she and Lynn Sr. have everything under control, only to find out that her husband has prepared himself for a wedding instead of parent-teacher conference night.
Despite Leni getting an A on her oral report in "The Manager with the Planager", she seems to have shown no signs of improvement, as she gets a negative review in this episode.
This can be justified when taken into account that this episode aired before "The Manager with the Planager", despite coming later in production order.
Lincoln predicts that Lisa's parent-teacher conference will turn out well due to her academic giftedness, only to see her get a negative review when he orders the banana split in a canoe over the phone.
When the Loud parents arrive for Luan's conference, Lynn Sr. does not hit any trash cans with Vanzilla, only to trip over one anyway once he gets out of Vanzilla.
Despite Mr. Bolhofner's experience with tough and incredible survival situations, he did not believe Lincoln's story about his midterm essay being stolen by the nether beast.
When Lincoln throws his parents under the bus, he claims that his parents probably do not know what grade he is in. Moments earlier, they had mistakenly driven to the high school because their chart erroneously listed Lincoln as a ninth grader instead of a sixth grader.
Lincoln's lies about his parents' lives initially got him a good review from Mr. Bolhofner, but after confessing the truth, he ended up getting a thumbs-down.
Despite Lincoln's thumbs-down giving the Loud family a <50% positive result, Lynn Sr. still ordered the banana split for everyone.
None of the Loud siblings who got good reviews actually got them as a result of their academic performances.
References[]
The Banana Split Decision - The title of this episode is a portmanteau of "banana split" and "split decision".
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - Lana and Lola's flashback is labeled "L & L AVU: Animal Victims Unit," a parody of this television series.
A pastiche of the series' main title theme also plays in the background.
Back to the Future - When Lincoln speeds to school on his bicycle with Lisa's accelerating training wheels equipped, the tires leave a trail of fire behind, similarly to the DeLorean from this 1985 sci-fi film.
Errors[]
Rita's chart states that Lucy attends Royal Woods Middle School, even though she is a fourth grader.
While the sisters are fighting, Lynn yells, "PILEDRIVER!", but performs an elbow drop on Lana.
Plot hole:
The dice calendar in Lucy's flashback says that there are thirty days left until spring break. This date should not have happened yet, as the episode establishes that Lincoln's midterm essay is one day late.
Rita and Lynn Sr. mistakenly drive to Royal Woods High School for Lincoln's conference, even though they were already there for Luna's conference.
Lisa's line, "Orthopedic accessories, especially those covering the first seven vertebrae, are empirically humerus", is subtitled "Orthopedic accessories, especially those covering the first seven vertebrae, are empirically humorous."
During the twins' flashback, the date on the whiteboard is written out as July 11, 2022. School should have been out of session by then because this would be during the time of summer vacation.
It is also highly unlikely that the flashback takes place when the twins were attending summer school, since Ms. Daisy was discussing how they had performed in the time of the current school year up until parent-teacher conference night.
When the Louds are eating the banana split in a canoe, Lucy's socks are missing.
Videos[]
The Really Loud House Promo (The Banana Split Decision, November 24, 2022)
The Really Loud House Next Promo (The Banana Split Decision, November 24, 2022)
The Really Loud House - The Biggest Banana Split EVER? 🍌 - Nickelodeon UK
