I watched the new episodes yesterday.
"Home Is Where the Hero Is" was a great episode.
Lincoln is asking Lynn Sr. for his help in writing a paper about his hero, prompting him to head to the basement to gather mementos of his past. Meanwhile, Rita is doing laundry and finding the kids' stuff like Hops in the piles of clothes. She finds a coupon for the Royal Woods Spa that is set to expire tomorrow just as Lynn Sr. tells her about Lincoln, completely unaware. Once he goes upstairs, he shows Linc the varsity letter of his friend Gary. He finds Lincoln's writing about Rip Hardcore as his hero for a contest to hang out with him and read the essay on his TV show, as well as get the tickets. He is asked to camp out with him and Clyde to get a chance for the golden ticket. This requires him to get to the place early and set up camp. When he tells Rita about it, he feels rather inadequate. She assures him he's perfect. However, she refuses to help him, since she wants to get the massage. He wakes up at 3:15 AM to take out the tent and then carries Lincoln to Vanzilla.
Lori is in Michigan competing at a golf course when someone mocks her socks. The mockery's from Taylor Wedge, a rival from Smacktauk University. Lori fails to give a good comeback, and Taylor confronts her about the upcoming championship. She challenges her to strike a ball in exchange for Taylor's forfeit. In a panic, she bails and heads for the Loud House. Rita is about to head to the Spa when Lynn offers to massage her instead. Lori comes in, claiming the match is out because her equipment manager Raine left the balls and bailed. Rita and Lynn tell her that they're leaving for the massage and to sprint to the water tower, respectively. Before they do, Leni rushes in crying out that she lost her iconic sunglasses. Everyone is reluctant to stay longer inside. But she says the sunglasses have been with her for so long she considers them her best friend. The others decide to go help her.
At Rip Hardcore Enterprises, Lynn Sr., Lincoln, and Clyde have been camping out on the line for hours. When the announcement of the winner of the contest to meet Rip comes on, Lincoln and Clyde come out as the winners. They're driven home before Lynn Sr. falls asleep on the driveway. The boys go over their checklist of activities. They get giddy when they hear the doorbell, only to find a chubby guy in a Rip Hardcore get up. When Lincoln says as much, the guy explains that Rip had some business to take care of and hands them a certificate and photographs them. Rita searches Leni's room as she talks about how she wakes up in the morning with her sunglasses and talks to Tanya the mannequin. When Rita suggests looking for it near Tanya, Leni finds her favorite scarf instead, to her dismay. Meanwhile, Lynn Sr. confronts the man about it. The man defends himself with the fine print of the contract stating that they will be visited by Rip or a guy bearing his likeness. He demands that he either call Rip or run him over. The man decides to back up instead.
In the living room, Lori thinks she found the sunglasses in the couch, but Lynn tackles her and explains it's just Luan's joke glasses. Lori chastises her, saying not everything is about winning. Lynn hears Lori's phone ringing and answers it when she walks off; Taylor is on the other end. She tells her what happened at the golf course and she will tell everyone Lori got scared. Lynn promptly retorts that Lori will be back. Upstairs, the boys mope in the bathtub. Lynn Sr. comes in and Lincoln asks him to throw out their list. He goes and returns dressed as Rip Hardcore, declaring that they'll do everything on the list! Meanwhile, Lori checks Lucy's bed. Lynn takes out a piece of paper from her pocket as Lori is scared off by a bat (possibly Fangs?). Lori spots it: it's a certificate of completing a new golfing record at Green Tee Golf Course – beating Lori's record score over there. She claims ignorance, saying that it isn't a big deal, and that golf wasn't a real sport. That last one offends Lori.
Downstairs, Lynn Sr. and the boys drink up a "secret survival smoothie" apparently mixed with sawdust to hydrate. Lynn Sr. doesn't seem to take it well. Meanwhile, Lori challenges Lynn to a round of house golf, where they hit the ball around the house. Outside, the guys run up to a trampoline and jump over a bear cut-out affixed to the fence. Lynn Sr. ends up tripping and hitting the bear. Then they go and lift weights. He ends up lifting a heavy set of barbells over him, and falls over. Then they do an agility test to dodge punches with a Rip Hardcore figure and tubes. Lynn Sr. tries, and the thing actually kicks him in the balls. And as he keels over, a tube hits him. Soon, there's one item left on the list: scaling Mount Deathpeak. Lynn Sr. bursts in messed up when Lincoln wonders where he is. He took too many blows to the head.
When he announces, "Now, who you going to climb that mountain with?", the real Rip Hardcore bursts through the door. The boys are overjoyed that he came after all, to Lynn Sr.'s disappointment. Soon, they're literally hanging with Rip. Meanwhile, Rita is on the phone with the spa, asking to push back her appointment for an hour. Leni finds something, but Rita's hopes are dashed when it turns out to be her diary instead. Disappointed, she opens the attic and Leni's favorite handbag drops down. Outside, the boys have a staring contest with a wolf…and win. Rip promptly declares them ready for Mount Deathpeak. Lynn and Lori continue with their game. At the last "hole", Lori needs one shot to win. She suddenly imagines Taylor in Lynn's spot mocking her. This drives her to take the shot, which is to land on a glass of lemonade that Rita set aside in the kitchen. It makes it there! Satisfied, she now has the confidence to head to the tournament.
As Rita finds the golf ball in the glass and takes it out, Leni cries out, "My glasses!". Alas, they were just designer drinking glasses. That was the last straw. When she asks her why she's taking a break, she replies that she's given up, because her spa appointment has passed, and the sunglasses were nowhere to be found, and that she has to accept that they may very well be gone for good. She is about to demonstrate by ripping the coupon when she finds the sunglasses in her purse – she had put it in there when she was doing the laundry! Leni soon comes to terms with it, and apologizes for putting her through all this. Then Rita shows her it, claiming that they were underneath the kitchen island. Leni tells her that she's the best mom in the world, gives her a hug, and offers a massage. Rita is reluctant since she hasn't done a massage before. That's when she takes out something Rita lost: her Muscle Buster massager – Leni had found it during the search!
At the golf course, Taylor dares Lori to take the shot. She takes a swing, and it hits a tree and rolls into the hole. Lincoln and Clyde come back from Mount Deathpeak and he announces that he'll be on Rip's show, only to find Lynn Sr. asleep on the recliner. He decides to return the favor and covers him up with a blanket. He has sacrificed so much. Some time later, Lincoln's appearance on Rip's show is set to air. Everyone is gathered around the TV as Leni gives Rita a massage. Lori tells Lynn she called the golf course and says she knows that Lynn didn't actually beat her. She gives Lynn her thanks for the confidence boost. Clyde is still amazed Linc got to read his essay on TV, and he says it's easy when it's about your hero. The show comes in and Linc reads his essay, which starts with Rip's traits. Then, to Rip's shock, he switches gears – it's about his real hero: his dad. He talks about all the things Lynn Sr. has done for him to get there, saying he didn't do it for Lincoln to like him, he did it because he loves his son. "I love you, dad," he says on the TV. Lynn Sr. returns the gesture as an emotional Rip goes off to call his dad.
This was a great episode. It was great seeing how much everything is all tied together for the theme of familial love. The A-plot of Lynn Sr., Lincoln, and Clyde is a sign of how much the dad cares so much for him. All the sacrifices he's made to give Lincoln the Rip Hardcore experience are quite clear in everything. He's willing to give his all. This is replicated on a smaller scale with the B- and C-plots. A desperately tired Rita ended up inadvertently causing the chain of events that led to Leni asking to search for her sunglasses, in a thematic contrast to the A-plot. It's a very effective use of Chekhov's gun with the laundry scene, showing how well the whole thing was set up. The C-plot of Lori's challenge from Taylor gives Lynn another chance to show the kinder side with the house golf match. Her confrontation with Taylor shows just how much she really cares for her family, and she's willing to do what it takes. Likewise, her interactions with Lori made for very nice viewing. It's something I don't think was explored yet. And Lincoln's letter at the end very much summarized the theme of being there for your family.
The episode ran without a hitch. Gags like the dodge test or the parallel conversation in the basement made for some fun viewing moments. The fake Rip Hardcore bit was made even more hilarious with the ironic usage of Europe's "The Final Countdown" throughout (although the captions indicate they were planning on using a completely different song, what's up with that?). The real Rip Hardcore (apparently recast for a third time) was also quite fun, with the ending also showing that he does have a soft side that makes him just as wonderful as he is masculine. If I could nitpick, it's Mount Deathpeak. It won't affect my score, but maybe it would have worked to the episode's advantage if it turns out it's not a real mountain, but Clincoln McLoud ended up still excited to climb it nonetheless. It would be hilarious. I'd watch it. The golf course scenes were fine, too. Don't have much to say about it except it set the tone for Lori's conflict quite well.
All in all, this episode gave a nice thematic approach to the show. I would like to give it a 10/10.
"Spelling and Doorbelling" was a good episode.
Lisa and her robot Todd are waiting for the family to celebrate winning a contest for quantum computing. However, when they come in, they come with Lynn and her baseball team instead. They've won their 17th game in a row, with Lynn Sr. as the assistant to the assistant assistant coach (or assistant assistant assistant coach, responsible for orange slices) and a lucky hat Lynn's been wearing for 41 days. Real ripe. Anyway, they just need to win the championship. Lisa goes up, but Todd joins in the scrum, as apparently there's pineapple pizza. Meanwhile, Lincoln breaks off with his box of pizza to answer the door: Clyde's arrived for the agenda. For 3 1/2 years, they've been ding-dong ditching houses around town. It's a bit out of character for them. Now, they have done it at every house in Royal Woods, including Lily's own little house in the family backyard. How rude. Anyway, they have only one house left: Mr. Grouse's.
Suddenly, someone comes hoarsely warning them against it. It's Luan, and she says that there's more to him than meets the eye. She tells them what happened when she pranked him. Ten years ago, she was spraying whipped cream in his mailbox when Mr. Grouse caught her. When Clyde asks what happened, she refuses to say. Likewise with Lincoln on why she's telling them about him in the first place. How mysterious. She will say that it "changed the course of my pranking career forever". In the backyard, Lisa watches Lynn practice her bat swing. She wants to ask her questions, but she declines. She keeps bothering her in bed and in the shower. That's when she reveals that she joined an after-school baseball team. Lynn expresses some delight, but she doesn't want to be distracted, so Lisa walks away, only to encounter Lynn Sr., who is willing to answer her questions. She declines, but she takes his orange slices instead.
Later that night, the boys prepare to ring Mr. Grouse's doorbell, and record themselves doing so. They argue briefly about their taglines before they ring the fateful doorbell. Once they do so, they run only to find Mr. Grouse standing there, confronting them about ding-dong ditching him. When Lincoln says that it was just a harmless prank, he promptly declares a prank war on the two and goes back inside. And then they find him standing behind them outside again, telling them it was a warm-up and to skee-daddle. The next day, Lynn and the baseball team pace the school. Lisa told her the game was at 3, only to go find the field empty. One of her teammates notices that the cafeteria is hosting a competition between "Bees vs. Owls". They come in to find Lisa doing indoor baseball with the other kids; she's batting for the Owls, and they're way behind the Bees. It turns out they're not even using real balls: their opponents are pretending to pitch words to spell – spell right and you move forward; spell wrong and you're out, as a kid named Denunzio faces the hard way. And Lisa is clueless. An eager Lisa approaches Lynn and co. about her game. Unfortunately, her teammates tease Lisa about it before Lynn leaves with them.
Meanwhile, Lincoln survives the night unscathed. He tells us that Luan was wrong about Mr. Grouse. Unfortunately, when he enters the bathroom, he is covered in blue powder. He comes out to find Clyde all covered in it as well. And they hear him teasing them and responding to every comment they make with his really good hearing. They decide to plan retaliation by mailing themselves to Mr. Grouse's house, which would take two business days, after which they deploy smoke bombs and spiders, cut the power, ring the doorbell, and run (Clyde wonders about that). Luan tells them off, saying that it's a dumb idea. Pressing her to explain, she tells them about the Day of Pigs (not to be confused with the Bay of Pigs – this happened on March 12, 1963). The town raised his electric bill by 20¢. He retaliated by releasing a hundred greased pigs in the town hall. Apparently, everyone forgot about it afterwards. She offers to help them, but they decline. They try to leave only to find they had their shoes stuck to the floor.
Lynn encounters Lisa and Todd, who pretend not to hear her after what happened yesterday. She explains that she didn't mean to hurt her feelings and in her defense, she didn't laugh at her at all. She claims she was just surprised. Todd senses that she's lying and he's about to fire at her when Lisa admits that her team is horrible in athletics and plans to call off practice for the next game. Worried, Lynn decides to take over and make sure her team wins. Later, the boys mail themselves and emerge out of the box, only to find themselves in the desert: Mr. Grouse had switched the shipping label. When they get back, they go to the basement and ask for help. Luan invites them to sit. They end up sitting on whoopee cushions, and Luan gives them rule #1: "Never trust anyone." Then she shows them her arsenal of pranks. Upstairs, the Lynns direct the team's practice for coaching. Luan teaches the element of surprise. Cue Clyde being hit by a boxing glove from the fridge and Linc finding she shook a can. Lynn tells the team to be on their toes. She drills Lisa with "I before E except after…" "C!" Lynn Sr. suddenly yells, causing her to fall down. Back inside, Luan tells the boys "know where your enemies are at all times". She inked the eyepieces of Linc's binoculars and put a "Kick me!!!" sign on Clyde's back, causing them to kick each other down.
That night, they try again. They ring the doorbell, and Mr. Grouse appears to be bombarded in all sorts of pranks, concluding with fireworks. They hear sirens, only to realize that wasn't part of the plan. Lisa catches Lynn hoping to be accompanied to her game. However, Lynn reminds her that she has her own championship game to attend, and that she only promised that Lisa would win her match, not her and Lisa. Disappointed, she's about to go up when the boys run inside asking to hide. She asks if they could come to her spelling baseball game, but they refuse, believing it wouldn't work as an alibi. As she despondently goes back up, the boys spot a paramedic taking Mr. Grouse out on a gurney covered in a shroud. Realizing they could go to jail, they rush back out to say they're sorry for hurting him.
Suddenly he pops up from the gurney, and surprises them: he was never inside the house at all. And he had help from none other than Luan Loud! She reminds them of rule #1. Meanwhile, as the baseball team heads for the championship, Lynn starts imagining Lisa calling her out for flaking on her by literally spelling it out. Feeling guilty, she orders the van to double back. Back home, Mr. Grouse reveals that the two of them were working together…and have been doing so for some time. In fact, when Luan first pranked him, he promptly took her under his wing. That's how she became the prankster we know. When Lincoln applauds him, he responds that the pranks they've been going through were all Luan's: they're for ding-dong ditching her mentor. Then he tells them about the last thing he taught her: the importance of sportsmanship. He offers to shake on a truce. They reach out and get zapped by the joy buzzers on their hands. They quickly get their comeuppance when they then high-five each other.
At Lisa's game, the Italian Denunzio fails to spell "gnocchi". Lisa goes up to bat, the Bees leading 3-0. She finds that Lynn and the baseball team came after all! She hands Lisa her baseball cap, telling her she wouldn't miss it for the world. Lisa calls for a home run, and she is pitched. The word is "ubiquitous", and she spells it perfectly, imagining it as a ball hitting the lights on the outside of the field. In a dazzling shower of sparks, she takes the home run! Everyone cheers for her as they bring her home. Admitting she never expected to feel the rush, she says to Lynn that she's asking her science teacher to form a periodic table football league, and Lynn Sr. offers to be their assistant coach. She thanks Lynn and hands back the cap. However, Lynn insists that Lisa should keep it, and they do a fist bump. Then Lisa comments on the irony of Lynn's presence and the word "ubiquitous" being what won the game, to her confusion. Then they go off to feast and celebrate.
This was a pretty nice episode. Of course, I felt that Lisa and Lynn's plot was the stronger of the two. It's clear that she feels like the odd one out with her intelligence and her propensity for building robots compared to Lynn. Obviously, it's relative (no pun intended), but it does show how much she wants to be recognized for something more than just the nerdy kid. It was like the inverse of "Friday Night Fights" from the original series, which I liked. And Lynn once again shows just how much she cares for her family, being willing to help out Lisa, as well as being just as concerned about keeping her promise with her. It was quite nice. Other things, Todd was quite subdued here. He's definitely something best taken in small doses. Also, Lynn Sr. was a delight, and that Denunzio kid was an absolute riot. We have got to see more of him. My criticism is we should have seen what happened with Lynn's ballgame. I mean, can you really walk away from a championship?
For the Clincoln McLoud storyline, I don't really buy them to be the kind of people who ding-dong ditch. I don't see cartoon Lincoln and Clyde doing that at all. It doesn't fit. Having said that, it was quite fun to see a devious side to Mr. Grouse. While Peter Breitmayer doesn't sound like John DiMaggio, he does give quite an edge that makes him quite enjoyable. I also like how he got involved with Luan. Catherine Bradley does her job quite well, selling us the possibility that she and Mr. Grouse could work together. This has me quite convinced. The plot was full of funny if sometimes incredulous moments like being shipped in a box. The montage at the beginning of the episode was pretty funny though. It leaned into the cartoonishness without being outlandish, and I liked Lily's cameo where they ding-dong ditch her play house. That was hilariously rude and funny. Also, the last part really went with the dark humor here. Overall, this felt like a combination of Seinfeld and Malcolm in the Middle.
Ultimately, this was a pretty good episode. I would give this a 9/10.