Now, here is an idea that is brewing in my head since the day it premiered. But before I lay the story, here are my thoughts about what is arguably the most awaited episode of The Loud House, One of the Boys. Solid theory on why it is the most awaited episode is because of its genderbent theme, which happens to most fandoms.
As for my thoughts, I find the episode mostly watchable. It delivered what it supposed to deliver, a what-if scenario where the Loud sisters are brothers. Its brief synopsis already gave out its obvious moral of being contented and grateful of what you have. And that is a timeless lesson that is still relevant until now. I also have to commend the efforts of guest voice actors Seth Green, Sean Astin, Greg Cipes and Rob Paulsen (who all voiced the current Ninja Turtles) to voice the male counterparts of Lori, Leni, Luna and Luan, respectively. I like Luan's male counterpart the most, all thanks to Rob Paulsen's vocal performance.
But for the viewers who are either disappointed or lukewarm with the episode, I easily understand why. I obviously have the same criticism, which is that the Loud brothers in that episode are basically cookie-cutter characters who have the fundamental personality of Lynn: being rowdy and brash. There is a lot of potential for them as characters but I do not think that a 10-minute segment can cover that. But even then, Adventure Time's genderbent episode had more depth than this.
However, I do not want to go more depth as a fan to look upon the nitpicks of an episode about gratefulness. I like it. I will continue to watch it in the future. And I give it a 7/10.
Now, for those still frustrated to see more depth from the genderbent Loud sisters, here is a story to make up for it. Let's start at that part before Lincoln goes to the portal away from the first dimension.
"Hey Stink-oln! I almost forgot something." Boy Lynn approaches Lincoln, pulls down his pants and walks away in a sneer.
Lincoln presses the watch. But before he can step in the portal hole, Leif and Lexx, who just finished piling on their dad, spot him but are more attracted on the presence of a portal.
"Oh, cool! What's that thing?" Leif asks, fascinated.
"Guys, don't go near here. I draw the line here," Lincoln tensely warns his twin brothers.
Loki, Loni, Luke, Lane, Boy Lynn, Lars and Levi enter the scene and are also fascinated by the portal.
"Oh, what's that Lincoln?" Loni asks.
"I think it's a space portal or something," Luke gives out his take.
"Scientifically impossible," Levi reacts.
"Come on guys! Let's check it out!" Loki charges his brothers to the portal.
In panic mode, Lincoln tries to stop his brothers from approaching the portal, pushing them like boxes. However, their combined body masses disable him from stopping them, causing the portal to shrink and zap to thin air. The Loud brothers notice this and fix themselves in response.
"Hey, where it go?" Lexx acknowledges the portal's disappearance.
Lincoln quickly gets up and hurriedly searches for its whereabouts, "What?! Oh no! No! No! No! Where's the portal?"
"Dude, what are you doing?" Luke wonders his aimless brother.
"Trying to get back home," Lincoln answers as he attempts to charge Lisa's watch transporter. But it does not activate. He tries his best to activate it, only for him to end up hopeless. "Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on!"
"Uhh, dude, you know you are at the right home?" Loki says, "And not some orphanage filled with little girls like you?" This makes the boys holler more, much to Lincoln's intense embarrassment and hopelessness.
Lincoln frustratingly rushes to his room by the linen closet but as he enters, he hits by the shelf and realizes that his spot is in Lynn and Lars' room. The boys witness this and laugh at it.
"Why did you rush to the linen closet?" Loki asks with a snicker.
"I was going to rush to my...room?" Lincoln answers.
"Being a weirdo again? AHAHAHA!" Lynn mocks his brother for recalling a past mistake with a punch to the arm.
"Uhmm Levi, I think you need to examine Lincoln 'cause I think he might had a memory loss," Loki ridicules him more, making Levi pull out his brainwave helmet and put it on Lincoln's head. "With pleasure!" Levi remarks with a mad scientist sneer. And at a press of a button, Levi stimulates electricity on to Lincoln's head, making him get electrocuted.
"Hey Lincoln, don't worry about. Just don't 'mind' the pain. It just needs 'energy'! Hahaha. Get it?" Lane jokingly comments, making the Loud brothers laugh harder. Lincoln can only witness each of his brother's horrific imagery when laughing. He imagines them in different hues, making do their loudest manic laugh possible. It becomes clear that Lincoln has faced his fate with no chance of turning back, and that he deserves what he wishes.
That night, while all the boys are snuggling in their beds...and snoring, Lincoln passes his time, hunching at the rooftop near the chimney and heeding from losing the chance to get back to his true home. He ultimately experiences regret he never had experienced before. He tries to look at the moon with grace but he can only deplore.
"It's all my fault. If I wouldn't had wished I have brothers instead of sisters, none of this wouldn't happen," Lincoln laments. "I should haven't been grateful enough." Right after that, he pulls out a Polaroid photograph of him and his sisters on Lincoln's eleventh birthday. It was a great time wherein Lincoln's sisters try to pull off a surprise birthday party, but things went awry that Lincoln shows up early and helps them stop the mess. He ultimately assisted them on baking the cake, only it ended with a food fight, then eventually a boodle fight. Lincoln also used his new Polaroid camera, which was given by their parents, to capture a well-timed selfie.
Lincoln reminisces those times with joyful tears. He cannot hold those tears back that he wishes to express his love for them while hugging the photograph. "I am sorry guys that I wished for brothers, instead of perfect sisters like you. Never gonna replace. Love you Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa and Lily," Lincoln heartbreakingly confesses.
Luke overhears this, thanks to the thin walls, and calls out to his melodramatic brother, "Hey bro! Quit whining about your multiple girlfriends. Some people are trying to sleep here!"
Levi also joins in the discussion, saying, "Now if you biologically related homo sapiens sapiens would not maintain a code of respectful reticence, I would commission a warning to the beloved matriarch."
"What does he mean?" Loni comments through the walls.
"It means you're a moron," Loki mocks his dumb brother.
"We'll you shut up! I am trying to sleep here!" Lexx demands in a spoiled manner.
"Agreed on what he said?" Levi comments back, finding same ground with Lexx.
Just by that, Lincoln hatches an idea to get back to his real home. But before rushing to the best person he can ask for help, he gets back to the Polaroid photograph to see it fading to black film. He hurriedly flips it to restore its color and sighs in relief over its restored color. "I promise guys. I will be back…in time for dinner," Lincoln vows, then kisses the photograph.
Getting down from the rooftop, Lincoln locks himself in the linen closet and sets up to rest there for the night since he cannot tolerate Lynn's snoring and Lars' sudden bursts. He sets himself to rest and eventually wakes at exactly 6:00 AM, Saturday, in a period where Lincoln's brothers are still asleep.
The 11-year-old gets up and prepares for the day, or sets up a boxing glove prank for Lynn as revenge for his rowdy behavior. However, he is spotted by Levi.
"Top of the morning, brethren," Levi addresses in a posh-like manner. "I witness that you are setting a hilarity-making contraption for our fellow brethren."
"Uhhh what?" Lincoln replies in confusion of Levi's pretentious word choices.
"I was going to ask what makes you want to set a prank for Lynn?" Levi continues, "Lane already set surreptitious bear traps around the house."
"And what makes you think tha…" Lincoln asks, but he is interrupted at the step on the floor that triggers a pile of garbage from a garbage can to fall on him.
Instinctively, Lane wakes up from this and laughs at Lincoln, "I know you 'can' try, but you 'can' not seem to expect for the garbage to actually fall on you, Stink-oln! Hahaha!" Then after mocking him, the jokester goes back to bed.
"That was clever trash talk," Levi replies with a rather evil snicker.
Out of frustration, Lincoln marches back to the linen closet for relief.
"Where do you think you're going?" Levi asks.
"Where else do you think I'm going?!" Lincoln angrily replies.
"That's again the linen closet."
"I know! I am packing my way home!"
"Lincoln, I suggest that you take electroconvulsive therapy to avoid lunacy in your nervous system.
"I am telling you! I am not crazy. I belong to another dimension where I have ten sisters, instead of ten brothers."
"Right…Like I would believe such a hyperbolically implausible theory…"
But before Levi can finish, Lincoln shows to him the Polaroid photograph with his sisters, causing Levi to get stunned with a "What?!" at this discovery of an uncanny resemblance. He snatches the photo and has it scanned to his photo matcher to validate if Lincoln's claim is true. The final results come out, and it shows that Lincoln's sisters indeed have resemblance to Lincoln's brothers. But Levi refuses to believe.
"No, this is preposterous," Levi gives his claims. "This may be one of your pranks. You think you can fool me that these aren't your girlfriends in goofy outfits?!"
"Well, you believe that portals are real," Lincoln delivers a blowing counter-argument.
"Touché," Levi replies, realizing the end of the argument. "Now even though I would believe that portal travelling exists, how come you arrived at this dimension?"
Lincoln then pulls out the watch that Lisa invented for him. "Using this," he shows.
Levi gets the watch from Lincoln and examines it further. "It has elaborate materials than normal. And I sense a time-space rift being executed from this contraption."
"Can you study it?" Lincoln asks.
"I can give observations of the intricate details of this watch," Levi replies.
"But can you fix it?"
"And why would I do that?"
"Because…" Lincoln tries to reason his genius brother, but the best thing he can do is cite the scientific recognition he can achieve with the dimension-jumping watch. "This might be a big breakthrough for you. Think about it. The first ever –year-old to ever invented a watch that can transport to possible dimensions? Seeing it?"
Levi considers Lincoln's defense and says, "You captured my essence at the 'big breakthrough'. Okay, I'll do it for a week."
"A week?! How come a week?"
"Lincoln, science does not have longevity from magic. It needs a long scientific process to achieve its purpose."
With no other choice, Lincoln certifies the deal, "Fine."
But Levi reroutes the negotiation, "Only in one condition. You need to control our brothers, including me."
And at that swindle on the agreement, Lincoln complains, "What?! Why would you want me to do that?!"
"I need concentration in this elaborate experiment," Levi justifies, "In addition, Lynn has been intentionally pestering with my chemicals, so I want him off limits as well."
"But how could I control my brothers?" Lincoln addresses his ultimate concern.
"Well, that's not my issue to handle right now. I think you are the proper sibling who can address this concern," Levi substantiates, making Lincoln sigh. "Why don't we conclude this agreement with an appropriate gesture?" he suggests, reaching out a hand, implying that he wants to finalize through the shaking of hands.
With no other choice to get back to his own dimension, Lincoln seals the deal with Levi, "Fine." But, as Lincoln is about to shake his hand to his younger brother, an electric current flow through his body that electrocuted him as signaled with a buzzing sound. He learns that Levi slid an electric buzzer on his hand.
"Hahaha! Got ya!" Levi ridicules Lincoln, obtains the watch from his brother and speeds to his room. Though he pranked his brother, Levi will still continue to fix Lincoln's dimension-jumping watch.
The clock strikes at 6:35 AM, a period still too early for Lincoln's heavy-sleeping brothers. He ponders how he can manage ten brothers. He knows that he is able to manage his ten sisters but finds it different with ten brothers. They are basically Lynns with his sisters' personalities. Nevertheless, Lincoln brainstorms where to start with this conundrum. While at it, he walks to the bathroom for a morning wash but he instantly discovers that their bathroom is a filth-filled horror house.
Lincoln sighs at this sight, "Ughhh…great. This bathroom." He then looks back at his brothers' rooms, thinking that he can dump the entire mess of the bathroom to their rooms. The 11-year-old thinks it is what they deserved since they have been rowdy, annoying and cruel brothers, who led him to his terrible fate. With that, Lincoln brings out a mop and a bucket. "Now I know where to start! Revenge…" Lincoln says in a character motivation. But as he is about to walk in to the bathroom, his picture with his sister drops from his pocket, and Lincoln quickly retrieves it.
Lincoln looks back at it, checking if it got stained or soaked. However, nothing altered it. This gives him a sigh of relief, yet offers him another reflection. He realizes that his sisters are also rowdy, annoying and cruel as well. What keeps him being dedicated, caring and loving to his sisters is that he loves them regardless. He thinks if he can apply this to his brothers, he might receive the same response. However, his abhorrence for them is heavier than this. But as he holds the cleaning tools by his hands, Lincoln has to settle on a final decision.
Eventually, the clock hits at 9:00 AM. And this is the time when the Loud brothers would get up bushed. Loni gets up first on his light teal pajamas. He walks to the bathroom and drags himself to the sink. Little does he know of a revelation that is awaiting him inside. In response, he screams, "AHHHH!"
"Loni, what's going on there?" Loki says, in response to Loni's screams that woke him up.
"What's the deal, bro?" Luke walks in the bathroom, only to have the same response.
Lane, Lynn, Lars, Lexx and Leif check the other guys out, making them have the same awestruck reaction.
"Would you impede the strident revulsion of your aghast faces because some people are trying to concentrate?" Levi demands, only for him to receive the similar reaction.
Loki enters the scene and asks, "Why you guys like that? You walk in the bathroom and you see it…" but he stops to marvel at the bathroom's squeaky clean spotlessness, "…clean?" The brothers try to discuss how come their totally messy bathroom got so clean in a jiffy.
Then, as the hubbub fills the halls, Lincoln, who is carrying a mop and a bucket on his hand, calls them with a whistle, "Now, if anyone of you wishes for the bathroom to be filthy again, feel free to let me know. But as for me, you're welcome! You can now bathe in peace.
At that statement, Lincoln's brothers are left astounded, making Loni react, "What he said?"