Review: Arthur | Season 1 Episode 6

6A: Locked In The Library!

We've already seen how rocky Arthur and Francine's relationship can be in "Arthur's Eyes", but this episode takes things to a whole other level. Similar in to Loud House's "Space Invader", (the review for which is on the blog right now) "Locked In The Library" sees Arthur and Francine getting locked inside the library after unintentionally failing to acknowledge the closing time of 5:00, and they must cooperate to find a way out. Now, in the pre-show presented before this cartoon, Francine finds out that Arthur called her a "marshmallow" behind her back, and she does not take this sitting down. Once the actual cartoon starts, the two are paired up for an oral report, much to Arthur's dismay.  After getting locked in, the two begin to fight, berating each other for failing to tell each other that it was near closing time. Then we're treated to some humorous scenes of Arthur and Francine striving to escape. Already their complicated friendship is greatly demonstrated to us. Afterwards, the two part ways after another argument, and Arthur hears screams coming from the back of the library. He sees Francine eating pizza in the supposed staff room, and Arthur and Francine both learn the importance of heroism. At school, people are dying to hear about their night in the library, and their report gets a well-deserved grade. This episode really did a good job of teaching kids about caring for each other through witty humor and put lots of great emphasis on the fact that even though they do fight occasionally, Arthur and Francine are still really good friends. 9/10

6B: Arthur Accused!

Like I said in my review of 'Buster's Dino Dilemma", Buster is one of my very favorite Arthur characters. He's funny, yet loyal to his best friend Arthur. This cartoon greatly demonstrates how much he cares for him when Arthur is accused of stealing a bunch of quarters meant for Mrs. MacGrady's fundraising drive. It's up to Buster to clear Arthur's name, and figure out what really happened to the quarters. He interviews a number of suspects and finds almost no evidence. The next morning, before the bus left for the annual school picnic, (which Arthur was banned from attending for losing the quarters) he cracks the case, and discovers that the quarters were mistakenly baked into Mrs. MacGrady's brownies. Ergo, Arthur is allowed on the picnic, and everything turns out great. This cartoon was absolutely FANTASTIC. While a bit light on the humor, it easily makes up for it with Buster's outstanding performance as a detective, and it proves to the audience that Buster will do anything for his best friend Arthur. It's definitely one of the show's most quintessential cartoons, and it's extremely easy for me to recommend. 10/10

Season 1 Ranking

1. Arthur Accused

2. D.W's Imaginary Friend

3. D.W. All Wet

4. Locked In The Library

5. Arthur's Spelling Trubble

6. Arthur's Teacher Trouble

7. D.W. The Copycat

8. Francine's Bad Hair Day

9. Arthur's Lost Library Book

10. Buster's Dino Dilemma

11. Arthur's Pet Business

12. Arthur's Eyes

Next time, watch as Arthur tries to get the girls and the boys to band together to win the scavenger hunt against another camp in "Arthur Goes To Camp", and watch as Buster desperately tries to avoid flunking third grade in "Buster Makes The Grade."

Review: The Loud House | Season 1 Episode 6

6A: The Sound Of Silence:

The story of this cartoon proves that growing up with 10 sisters is no cakewalk, when Lincoln purchases a pair of sound-cancelling earbuds to block out the noise caused by his sisters. This proves to be successful, until Lola reminds him that he promised to do something for her by 3:00 that afternoon. This constant point makes the episode very intriguing, as he starts hearing about past experiences with some of his sisters when they step foot into Lola's bad side, which is a pure highlight for the episode. Unlike most spoiled brats, Lola is shown to be more hush-hush when it comes to playing dirty. Instead of throwing a fit, she'd take matters into her own hands, which is what's so unique about her character. Not only that, but great emphasis is put on the mass destruction she can cause, like boiling Lori's phone when she ignored her sneeze, or burying one of Lana's frogs after he messed up her mascara. He hears about these stories whilst doing favors his sisters claim he agreed to do when he was wearing the earbuds the day prior. But ultimately, everything he did that day was a trick hatched by Lola to teach him a lesson about ignoring them all. Now a lot of people dissed this episode for not having a good lesson and for the sister's treatment of Lincoln. But I argue that shutting your family out of life isn't OK really is an important lesson, ESPECIALLY if you have a lot of siblings. As for the sisters, I agree that maybe they crossed the line a little with their treatment of Lincoln, since they didn't even thank Lincoln for the favors he did but he WAS in the wrong as well for ignoring all them. And plus, the message is something we'll see more of in the episodes to follow, so there's that. To cap off this review, the episode was fantastic and very memorable for it's lesson, humor, and relatability, and it's the episode that got me to fall in love with Lola in the first place. This is one of Michael Rubiner's best works. 8.5/10

6B: Space Invader

One of the perks of being the only kid of it's kind in the Loud family is that Lincoln doesn't have to share a room. (even if it's technically a closet) But when after a fallout with Lucy causes Lynn to bunk with Lincoln for the night, he soon discovers how hard it is to share a room, because Lynn isn't exactly the most welcoming roomie. In this cartoon, we're given many awesome ideas of how Lynn is as a character. And she's not this rough, scrappy sports star that everyone thinks she is. (That's initially how I thought this whole thing would go down) Instead her energetic personality is presented through humor and really livens up the simplistic plot. She really is a fun and hugable teddy bear that just likes doing what she does best, despite being too rough for most tastes. This eventually proves to be too much for Lincoln after she performs her nighttime rituals. (Ex: she throws a ball at the wall to help her fall asleep) In one amazing sequence of heartfelt moments, we see that while Lynn and Lucy do have their ups and downs, (just like anyone with roommates)  they still have a lot of love for one another. Lynn has a book of Lucy's old poems, and Lucy has a ball she throws against a wall. Knowing this, Lincoln tries to get the two girls to make amends, by treating them to a dinner. But things go awry real fast, and the two break into a food fight. Afterwards, Lincoln succeeds in resolving their conflict, and it's a perfect heartwarming ending to a perfect episode. 10/10

Season 1 Ranking
1. Space Invader
2. The Sweet Spot
3. Driving Miss Hazy
4. No Guts, No Glori
5. Sound Of Silence
6. Project Loud House
7. Left In The Dark
8. Making The Case
9. A Tale Of Two Tables
10. Get The Message
11. Heavy Meddle
12. In Tents Debate

In review number seven, Lincoln strives to give his parents the perfect anniversary gift in "Picture Perfect", and watch as Lincoln is "Undie Pressure" from his siblings as they compete to see who can go the longest without laboring their annoying habits. All that and more next time.

Review: Arthur | Season 1 Episode 5

5A: Arthur's Pet Business

Arthur's Pet Business sees Arthur opening up his own pet-sitting service to prove to his parents that he's responsible enough to own a puppy, but it's harder than he imagined. He ends up caring for a puppy named Perky, who lives up to her nickname (Jaws) as she's almost always growling and ready to pounce. Eventually, he ends up taking care of all KINDS of pets, from a sneaky serpent to a frisky frog, resulting in a series of humorous antics. Arthur faces defeat, but then he discovers that Perky had babies, and that's why she was such a handful. As a reward, the owner lets Arthur keep one of the babies, much to his joy. Arthur's Pet Business was pretty good. It showed children the importance of responsibility which is necessary for getting them ready for life. My only complaint is that this episode was VERY light on the humor. With a story about animals, there really should've been a lot of laughable shenanigans. But apart from the frog scene, there wasn't much appeal to this cartoon. 4/10

5B: D.W. The Copycat

Wanting to get Arthur to play with her, D.W. starts copying Arthur's every move, and causes some confusion among his friends. Arthur is known for it's great morals and colorful, diverse cast of characters that some kids can relate to. The latter is greatly demonstrated in this cartoon as we get enjoyable scenes of D.W. trying to fit in with Arthur's friends. Even though they only appear for a few times, there still was some pretty stellar humor throughout the cartoon. And it was pretty nice to see Arthur's sisterly bond with D.W. grow. While it doesn't seem like much, this episode was pretty enjoyable nonetheless. 6/10

Season 1 Ranking:

1. D.W.'s Imaginary Friend

2. D.W. All Wet

3. Arthur's Spelling Trubble

4. Arthur's Teacher Trouble

5. D.W. The Copycat

6. Francine's Bad Hair Day

7. Arthur's Lost Library Book

8. Buster's Dino Dilemma

9. Arthur's Pet Business

10. Arthur's Eyes

Next time, Arthur and Francine must learn to cooperate when they get "Locked In The Library", and find out what happens when Arthur is accused of stealing the school's fundraising quarters in "Arthur Accused"!

Review: The Loud House | Season 1 Episode 5

5A: Project Loud House

 I felt this episode would've been a better first episode than Left In The Dark. It did a better job of giving viewers a good idea of what Lincoln and all ten of his sisters are like. The story involves Lincoln getting his project out the door without damaging it, while of course dealing with his sister's needs along the way. Seeing Lincoln overcome every obstacle his sisters throw at him is just so awesome, and really livens up the simplistic plot. Towards the end, despite all his best efforts, Lincoln screws up and his diorama gets destroyed. It's what follows that really proves that despite all the chaos, the Loud sisters prove that they really do care for one another, by helping Lincoln pull off his project and get a good grade. My only real complaint was Lori. She was even brattier than Lola, and she was kind of a hypocrite when she complained about Lincoln having a pity party when SHE herself had one earlier. But despite that, the episode is still amaze-balls. It did a good job of highlighting each sibling's unique personalities and so much emphasis is put on the idea of the show. It's impossible not to recommend it. 8/10


5B: In Tent's Debate

Making decisions is hard for ANYONE. Especially for Lincoln, who gets caught up in a decision to either go to Aloha Beach or Dairy Land  for the Loud's annual vacation. Half the sisters choose the beach, while the other half chooses Dairy Land, and Lincoln is the sole vote. The rest of the cartoon involves each team doing nice things for Lincoln to get him to vote for their respective location. It's all in good fun but things start to go downhill when the teams start sabotaging the other, and it's just isn't amusing. At the end, the two teams go to war, and when Lincoln appears, the sisters berate him for not making up his mind sooner. And I say, good! He deserves it! This suits the story just fine but even though Lincoln WAS in the wrong for taking advantage of his sisters, EVERYONE is to blame for all the pain and frustration. In the end, the family DOES finish up at that crappy campground mentioned earlier in the show, but Lincoln caters to his sisters every need to make up for what happened throughout the cartoon. I wouldn't have a problem with this if it wasn't for the fact that the sisters have no sympathy for the pain they're causing him. And they go unpunished despite ALL of them being in the wrong, too, not just Lincoln. In conclusion, this is just a really bland episode with an awful payoff. I'd personally tend to skip this one. 3/10

Season 1 Rankings:
1. The Sweet Spot
2. Driving Miss Hazy
3. No Guts, No Glori
4. Project Loud House
5. Left In The Dark
6. Making The Case
7. A Tale Of Two Tables
8. Get The Message
9. Heavy Meddle
10. In Tent's Debate

Next time we'll see how Lincoln finds a loophole to the noisy chaos his sisters make in "Sound Of Silence" and get ready for even more shenanigans as Lynn bunks up with Lincoln in "Space Invader"!

Review: Arthur | Season 1 Episode 4

Episode 4A: DW's Imaginary Friend

D.W. never fails to keep us laughing with her childish antics. In today's episode, "D.W.'s Imaginary Friend", she unintentionally puts Arthur's social standing at stake when she and her imaginary friend, Nadine, go with Arthur to an amusement park...

This cartoon is full of good laughs. Even the start-up scene offers two very humorous moments, most notably the part where D.W. gives her friends a tour of Arthur's room. The actual episode sees Arthur trying to convince D.W. not to come with them to the Wonder Word Amusement Park, because if she comes, she'll humiliate Arthur with her "imaginary friend" game. The episode gives kids an important lesson about being inclusive and accept others for their differences. I really liked how D.W.'s "disorder" is portrayed as part of her personality instead of something to be diagnosed with. It was also very relatable telling Arthur's side of the story. Overall, an engaging and fantastic Arthur classic and a great watch for anyone. 9/10

Episode 4B: Arthur's Lost Library Book

Children often go to the library to discover new things or as just a fun way to pass the time. But did you ever think that you'd be in OUTRAGEOUS trouble just for losing one little book? It's something I myself feared as a kid and this episode, "Arthur's Lost Library Book", made everything seem absolutely fine.

This episode discusses the topic of losing a library book very well, with a few funny moments from Binky, as the two set out to find out who took Arthur's book. While a bit light on the humor it does present a lesson all kids should learn, along with some tips about being responsible, and the idea of the creepy narrator (which is revealed to be D.W. at the very end) was pretty creative. Is it worth the 11 minutes though? Well, the lesson is fantastic and the episode in general takes a very realistic approach, I don't think older viewers will appreciate it as much as other episodes. 5/10

Season 1 Ranking
1. D.W.'s Imaginary Friend
2. D.W. All Wet
3. Arthur's Spelling Trubble
4. Arthur's Teacher Trouble
5. Francine's Bad Hair Day
6. Arthur's Lost Library Book
7. Buster's Dino Dilemma
8. Arthur's Eyes

Tune in next time to see Arthur attempt to run a pet business with disastrous results in "Arthur's Pet Business", and see D.W. being her usual annoying self in "D.W. The Copycat".

Review: The Loud House | Season 1 Episode 4

Episode 4A: The Sweet Spot

*Only decent quality screenshot of the title card I could find. Sorry. :(

This is one of the funniest if not THE funniest episode of the first season. It revolves around Lincoln, who embarks on a mission to snag the best seat in the car for himself, labeled "The Sweet Spot." From there, we're treated to some humorous scenes highlighting some embarrassing road trip habits each sister has, which displays their quirky characteristics extraordinarily well. After all this, though, there comes the part where Lincoln's sisters figure out his scheme and confront him first-hand, which is the main reason why many fans hate this episode. First off, Lincoln kind of brought it onto himself for overscheming. Second, you have to keep in mind that nobody wins in the end, and everything is fine. As for the fighting, I found it to be more of a parody of sibling rivalry, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially Lisa's battle cry and the kids destroying Vanzilla at the very end. Needless to say, the kids get hit with a punishment and everyone learns their lesson. I feel that this episode EXTREMELY underrated because all everyone cares about is their precious Lincoln coming out on top in the end. There's more to this episode than just fighting. Overall, it's an instant classic and one of my very-favorite Season 1 highlights. 10/10

Episode 4B: The Tale Of Two Tables

Tired of eating supper at the kiddie table with his five younger sisters, Lincoln hatches a plan to convince his parents to let him eat at the grown-up table with his five older sisters. Afterwards, we get a humorous scene where Clyde tries to prepare Lincoln for the grown-up table. He stumbles a lot, and it's very relatable with tons of other kids, making it's motives even more powerful. Eventually, Lincoln does manage to snag a spot at the grown-up table, where he is forced to get used to some very far-fetched customs. Again, very relatable with kids. It's then that Lincoln realizes that it's important to be grateful for all that you have in life, and he gets himself sent back to the kiddie table by acting immature the next day at supper time. This episode, overall, is very decent. The message was demonstrated very well although it's pretty light on the humor. It would get a higher score ifd more good jokes were slipped in, but it's very far from a bad watch. 6/10

Season 1 Ranking
1. The Sweet Spot
2. Driving Miss Hazy
3. No Guts, No Glori
4. Left In The Dark
5. Making The Case
6. A Tale Of Two Tables
7. Get The Message
8. Heavy Meddle

Come back next time for another glimpse at a day in the life of Lincoln Loud in "Project Loud House", then watch as the siblings decide where to go for a vacation in "Tents Debate".

Review: Arthur | Season 1 Episode 3

Episode 3A: DW All Wet

Trips to the shore is one of my favorite summer activities, but for whatever reason, D.W. Read is terrified of the water. Does it have to do with her trip to the aquarium a few weeks ago, or is her mind playing tricks on her? Let's find out...

This episode is one of my favorite Season 1 episodes. Mostly because of it's great humor, including D.W. asking where animals take a piss, the enjoyable secondary story where Buster tries to avoid wearing his embarrassing bathing cap, and the infamous scene where Arthur scares D.W. with a plastic spider. This is one of  D.W.'s many great performances and an easy recommendation. 9/10

Episode 3B: Buster's Dino Dilemma

Obsession can be a hard thing to control, and it's a crucial life-skill for all kids to learn. In "Buster's Dino Dilemma", Buster makes an astounding discovery.  Let's see what happens...

Buster is one of my very-favorite Arthur characters. He's full of surprises and lots of good chuckles. In this episode, though, his usual charm is replaced with fear and hysteria. And is this a good thing? In this case, not really. I was kind of expecting him to crack a few memorable jokes in this one, but he was very bland almost the entire way through. Since the episode is centered around Buster, you'd think he'd be fun to watch, but sadly, that's not the case. Honestly, I thought this episode was just disappointing and a HUGE expectation destroyer. 4/10

Season 1 Rankings
1. D.W. All Wet
2. Arthur's Spelling Trubble
3. Arthur's Teacher Trouble
4. Francine's Bad Hair Day
5. Buster's Dino Dilemma
6. Arthur's Eyes

Tune in next time as D.W. introduces us to her new pal, Nadine, in "D.W.'s Imaginary Friend", and watch Arthur crack the case of his lost library book in "Arthur's Lost Library Book".