Posting this here too in case there are any Loud House fans.
To catch everyone up if you don't watch The Loud House, it's about a boy named Lincoln Loud and his ten sisters. Recently, one of his sisters named Luna was revealed to be bisexual, as she had a crush on a guy in a previous episode, and now has a crush on a girl named Sam. At least one other episode has shown Luna and Sam hanging out together, and this one follows that up by having them officially going on their first date as a couple.
While I generally have mixed feelings about the Loud House as the quality varies wildly from moment to moment (characters are often played as one-note stereotypes, writing swings from brilliant to overly simplistic in the same episode, sometimes repeating dialogue over and over to an annoying degree), one of the best qualities in the writing is how the topic of gay relationships is handled in the context of a kid show. Specifically, it treats gay couples like every other couple on the show. Not showing anything that would be inappropriate for a younger audience, but also not having anyone awkwardly wink at the camera or otherwise calling too much attention to it. From the moment Season 1 introduced Clyde's two dads Harold and Howard, none of the characters bat an eye, and it's the same here with Luna and Sam. In fact, back when Luna first talks about her crush, it's debatable whether the rest of her family even knew Sam was a girl. But this episode makes it clear with commentary from Lori and Leni, everyone knows who Sam is, they know Sam and Luna are a couple, and they're excited for their sister. I feel like this is important because there are still other shows that try to tackle gay relationships in a more subtle way, but it either ends up having the Dumbledore effect (only thrown in after the fact; see also: Marceline and Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time), or it tries to pass off two obviously gay characters as "best friends" (Lyra and Bon-bon fans know what I'm talking about). And of course, there's also Steven Universe, which sometimes does a good job with the topic, but then other times, it makes you wonder how they got certain things passed the censors (Garnet slamming Pearl into the wall for one example). So The Loud House comes as a surprising example for how to do this well.
Back to the actual episode, though, Sam and Luna are adorable together. Sam is very likeable, the conflict of the two having trouble finding common interests is relatable, and the ending feels balanced, not exactly solving the problem, but promising to put extra effort into a relationship-in-progress. Plus, there's a cute hug with a messy face smoosh (not lewd messy; they get covered with ingredients while trying to bake). Overall, I found this to be one of the more enjoyable episodes of the show, and I hope to see more like this in the future (though with 11 main characters, it's probably going to be a while before Luna gets another dedicated episode, so we're more likely to see something going on in the background).
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5 years, 1 month ago
07 Mar 2019 06:22 CET
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