Hey everyone, Alex here! It's been awhile since I've posted on here, but I'm back to share my thoughts on season 3 as a whole, as it concluded yesterday. Overall, I've seen some mixed opinions about this season, some liking it, some calling it the worst season yet, and some even leaving the fandom. Where do I fall into on this spectrum? Personally, I thought season 3 was a really good season. Flawed in several respects, but very enjoyable overall.
Let's start off with the positives. The voice acting. This has always been a strength of The Loud House. The voice acting is always very well-done, and you can tell the cast is still having fun with their roles, and they all do a good job at it. Of course, Lincoln and Clyde's voice actors changed this year, but Tex and Andre still fit their respective characters well. The storylines are also really brought this season to live. While some have criticized the season for focusing too much on morals and not as much on the humor, I personally view it as a good thing. It proves that the show is taking risks by putting a focus on developing the characters through the story of an episode, and it's not like the episodes are completely humorless. Several episodes with this type of focus still leave room for plenty of jokes to help the episode move along. For example, take Stage Plight. This episode gives Luan fairly good development by putting her in a real-world situation where she signs up for an extracurricular activity to spend more time with her crush, but that only makes her more anxious when she has to kiss him. What she does in this episode to find ways to connect with Benny, and ultimately to get out of kissing him. This is great comedy in the sense that you know she's gonna do something to get out of the situation (whether it be trying to spend more time with Benny or to avoid kissing him), you just don't know what she'll do. Speaking of developing characters, that's another thing this season excels at. Again, several characters are put in real-life situations that they have to deal with, and that's something that, even though the episode may sometimes fall flat on its face, is commendable for its effort. There are several episodes that also pair certain characters together who may not have had as much screen time together in the past, and it usually works. For instance, the spotlight is on Lori, Leni, and Lucy in Fandom Pains, on Luan and Lucy in Head Poet's Anxiety, and while this pairing wasn't the focus of this episode, Lori and Luna's interactions in Racing Hearts still are something that we haven't really seen between the two of them before, but is applaudable here. Then, we have Lincoln, Lynn, and Clyde in Middle Men. Oh, Loud House crew, THANK YOU for Middle Men! I did not see this one coming! I had spent the better part of 2018 hoping to see a Lincoln-Lynn episode, and my goodness, it happened! I thought I was just wishfully thinking, but color me surprised! And it's not just this episode, but other episodes like Net Gains, Hero Today, Gone Tomorrow, and maybe even Sitting Bull (even though that one has kind of grown off of me a little), that really make me think that the crew took the criticisms of Lynn to heart, and gave her more time in the spotlight than I expected to focus on developing her. And they did a fantastic job, I would say. While I have always liked her character, she's only grown on me with this season, and I think I can say the same for a lot of other fans of the show, even some who may not have liked or didn't care for her before. Taking criticisms of a character and applying it to future episodes absolutely earns the crew credit. While we have no solid proof that these Lynn episodes were because of the fans' criticisms of her, I think it's plausible. Finally, and I think the biggest risk the show took this season, the fact that Lincoln doesn't carry the show as much anymore. Don't get me wrong, I like Lincoln, I think he works as a protagonist, but he's not all there is to the show. Other characters are present and relevant to the show, and they deserve their moments to shine. Thankfully, there are plenty of those this season, and even a few Lincoln-less episodes. Honestly, they still work without him.
Now, onto the not-so positives/negatives. A lot of people, including myself, have criticized the show for repeating its morals throughout different episodes, and that can be a recurring problem with Season 3. An episode where this unfortunately tanks it in my opinion is City Slickers. If this isn't the worst episode of the season, it's definitely up there. I could go on and on with the problems this episode has, and I have in the past, such as its misleading promotion, rushed storyline, trying to cram two plots together at once in 11 minutes. But one of its greatest flaws is that it repeats the message to just be yourself. Basically, Ronnie Anne is worried that her new friends in the city will think less of her if she admits she's from a small town, but in the end, you'll never guess, they have absolutely no problem with it. One thing I do give the show credit for is when it can teach a moral in multiple episodes while still changing up how they teach it to make it interesting, and while City Slickers fails at doing that, a certain pair of Season 3 episodes that does that right is The Mad Scientist and Ruthless People, which both convey the message of being careful what you wish for. Yes, I still will defend Ruthless People from the hate it gets. C'mon people, it was fine! That's the risk you take when you make a trade like this! But I digress. Other episodes that really run the "be yourself" theme into the ground are White Hare and Predict Ability, neither of which are particularly interesting. And as for the former episode, it may give City Slickers a run for its money in terms of how rushed it was. The rabbit scene is completely pointless, and anything Lincoln may have learned from that segment is completely negated within 45 seconds. But I do find the scene of his sisters comforting him at the end heartwarming, so there's that. Another problem that arises from time to time is when an episode fails to do something interesting with its plot. The best example of this is What Wood Lincoln Do?. Lincoln passes off other people's work as his own for his woodworking projects, then he's forced to admit to his teacher he lied, and then tries it himself to make it up to her. Yeah, that's something that hasn't been used in almost every other TV show before. And the episode does absolutely nothing to separate itself from those other episodes of other shows that use this plotline. And it's not like they're incapable of doing that; they've done great at it several times, including in this season. So, that episode feels particularly lazy. Also, the most recent episode to air, Antiqued Off, pun totally intended, really ticked me off in some aspect. It felt extremely hypocritical, what with Liam, Rusty, and Stella lying to Lincoln about having other plans to get out of going to a magic show with him, when they basically tell Lincoln he should be a good friend and go with Clyde and Zach to an antique show even if he's not into it. I don't know about you, but there's very little, if anything at all, that grinds my gears more than hypocrisy. Not to mention, the ending of Lincoln agreeing to go to the antique show is a little frustrating, because Clyde specifically says he shouldn't have tried to make it all about antiques when he's both with Lincoln and Zach, knowing Lincoln's not into them. So, I wish it wasn't the episode we had to close the season on, but it doesn't hold back the season too much.
Overall, as you can see, there is a lot of good and bad to go with this season. The highlights of it include character development and storylines, while its only real reoccurring low point is its tendency to repeat the same morals and get lazy with them. But other than that, the highs still far outweigh the lows. The characters have become more relatable, many of the jokes work, many risks were taken, many of which paid off, and my wish came true! In conclusion, I'd say that Season 3 of The Loud House is a strong 4 out of 5.
What did you guys think of this season? Did you love it? Did you hate it? I know there's some other positives/negatives I didn't mention, so what was good and bad about this season to you? Are you excited for Season 4? Let me know down in the comments, and I'll see you guys next time! Take care!