It's a shame that Mr. Enter has stopped doing Admirable Animation, there were so many great gems he never got around to so I thought maybe I could carry on the legacy, at least with what I think should be. Just using a different name, so this is Astonishing Animation #1, maybe you could also consider it Admirable Animation #61.
It's really particularly a pity that he never got around to a Loud House episode, people often say they just don't make them like they used to anymore, but then every now and then, something like The Loud House comes along which shows you that sometimes, they still really can. With morals about life that seem to be the simplest but are so easily missed by most adults, which is the reason why they are among the best ones, like "Brawl in the Family", that it's better to just leave conflicts between people to be and they'll resolve their selves, they won't if you interfere trying to resolve them, or "Future Tense", knowing when to just take a brake when you have a competitive nature and large aspirations for the world. Not to mention the one where Lisa tries to make sure that Pop Pop lives as long as he can, which he wouldn't want if it meant not getting anymore Lisa hugs. Funny how they know situations better than any politician ever has eh? How much do you love it when we find things like this in shows or films which people say are just for kids? Or mainly at least.
Anyway, combining these morals with fantastic humor and the basic concept of the boy with 10 sisters, the main negative being that he is always outvoted, but the main positive being that he has 9 girls who he really means the world to being their only brother (saying 9 because I'm still not convinced Lynn likes or cares for him much), with all of this, The Loud House has truly earned its following and recognition as one of the greatest cartoons, not only of the modern era, but of all times, as good as some of the best like SpongeBob and The Simpsons.
I've chosen the episode "A Fridge Too Far" in particular because I think it best represents the show's best qualities.
So, beginning with Lincoln too distracted by the thought of his dads mac and cheese bites to concentrate on school work, it's actually very rare for cartoons to give positivity of that level nowadays, and remember in "Fed Up", which begins with saying that nobody gets excited about dads cooking, he sure came far after learning the lesson from that. Also, how much faith Liam has in him, trusting his answers.
So when he gets home, he finds that 1 of his 3 bites has been eaten and flips out at his sisters for it. Now, to some, it could seem like he's over reacting and being immature since they did at leave him 2, so at least whichever one it was had some decency, hinted to have been Lana.
However, you should ask before taking so really, he isn't being irrational. I'm glad that none of them were mean enough to just take all of them.
Either way, if that's what it takes to set up a conflict like booby-traps just to protect leftovers then that doesn't matter. Not only is it fun slapstick and creativity, but all this that Lynn Sr. would be so honored for, this growing positivity, wow!
Then we get their creative resolution with the colour coding of the fridge. This is of course another of the things that makes the show, how creative they get with their conflict resolutions and this is even the episode in which Lynn Sr. says how he loves them.
So as Lynn Sr. next puts his ingredients in the fridge unaware of this new system, the kids, they had been so focused on resolving a conflict between their selves and separating their designated leftovers from each other that they forget that their parents need space in the fridge too. So that when they see the ingredients put in their zones, they think they were put there by one of the other siblings, imagining each one could be for one of their unusual endeavors, and throw them out. Now, wasting food like this, nowadays, I can't help but notice things like this in shows, I just find the sort of thing awful and hard to see past. But in this episode, doing this is essential to lead up to the ultimate message, it needs to be done for it to be able to happen, so it's OK here, and at least Cliff does eat it, it would just be a problem otherwise since the kids didn't know they were feeding them to Cliff.
Great catch Cliff by the way. By essential to lead up to the ultimate message, I mean of course, that because it leads Lynn Sr. to not having his ingredients to make the dish for Tim, the kids then can save him by suggesting giving him their leftovers, a noble sacrifice too.
What I do also love nonetheless though is how all the kids interpret their dads ingredients, as which siblings could have put them there which of any of their unusual things they might have been for.
So, Tim loves the leftovers because they're close to home and comforting and not something somebody has tried too hard for to be sophisticated. This is the soul reason why the episode best represents the show and why it is among the greatest of things in all creation. It's hard to put this into words but I shall try.
This is a sort of thing which is underappreciated. The sort of cartoons which people often pick as their favourites, like for example, Steven Universe, for one thing, it has a lot of sad episodes, focuses a lot on emotion, this is something that can put some people off, I kind of like it but it's no personal favourite of mine. These sort of things that often go for high brow, I'm not saying it's bad and that people shouldn't like them or give them attention, but the things that are not as appreciated tend to be the things more at peoples level, closer to them, and that's The Loud House. It's like MsMojos video "Top 10 Cartoons you should be watching", that would explain it and hey, The Loud House is even #1 of that list, they certainly get that one right.
Another example here lies within The Amazing World of Gumball, where most people don't like season 1 as a whole, but episodes like "The Wand" should be recognized more for being some silly and simple fun, not a satirical commentary on how bad the world is coping nowadays. There's one example. More what people know, not what you have to look and do tons of deep research for.t
So basically as is represented in "A Fridge Too Far", Lynn thinks he has to be very high brow in his cooking approaches, even to the point of serving air in a jar, not noticing that what would really satisfy the masses most of all is the more comforting, what's more at peoples levels, the song "Beneath Your Beautiful" by Labrynth is a good representation of this too by the way. So, for representing the underappreciated, what isn't always recognized as what really satisfies the most, what really makes you feel the best, what to really look for, this episode represents what is really the best and what people would find is the best if they looked a little closer.
Now, is this my favourite episode of The Loud House? Well, I chose it to do first because it represents all of the above, which are the best things about the show all in one and does so the best, I'm not sure if it is my favourite episode but it is most definitely among my favourites and is definitely a contender for my #1.
With its humor, slapstick, message and clever metaphor for, it is beyond a gem, one of the greatest shining diamonds you would ever find.
My love for it knows no bounds and the girls faces here really represent my awe for it.
Finally, the ending as well:
It made me burst out laughing the first time, and I've seen the episode several times now and that ending never gets less funny no matter how many times. Yeah, and also as a bonus, it seems to be the episode Lynn gets punished most.
Join me soon for the second Astonishing Animation which will be on the Teen Titans Wiki: