The Loud House S 6 E 5 The Taunting Hour Musical Chairs / YMMV - TV Tropes (2024)

"The Taunting Hour"

• Angst? What Angst?: Lincoln takes his family, including his parents, calling him a "life-ruiner" surprisingly well.
• Broken Base: Arguably rivaling "Brawl in the Family" and "No Such Luck" as one of the most divisive episodes of the series. People like this episode because it gives a good message about ignoring bullies. Others hate it because of how mean-spirited the critics, Loud parents, and Loud sisters behaved in this episode.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Fans generally prefer to ignore this episode and its messages and themes, especially since it portrays half of the family as quite pathetic and runs against the morals of older episodes such as "Head Poet's Anxiety", which are otherwise beloved.
• Signature Scene: Whenever people think about this episode, it's usually, if not, only the infamous scene where Lincoln's family, minus Lori, Leni, Lucy, Lana, and Lily, call Lincoln a "life-ruiner".
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Most fans believe while the moral was good, the execution of the episode isn't and it also wasted potential characters that would've made a second appearance. For example, instead of Mr. Grouse being Lynn Sr.'s critic, a much better suit for his critic would be Steak Stankco from "Legends", Principal Huggins, or Lord Tetherby from "Out on a Limo". As for Luna's critic, instead of the Burnt Bean manager (the latter hired the former to play background music at the café), Michelle and Doug from "Really Loud Music" could've been her critics given how arrogant they were to her in the aforementioned episode.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Pretty much every Loud who isn't Lincoln ^note. Any sympathy for their plight gets thrown out the window when they scapegoat Lincoln for causing them to have panic attacks, even going so far as to call him a life-ruiner. This is especially when you consider the fact that Lincoln has a thick enough skin to remain composed in the face of harsh criticism, whereas the slightest bit of criticism is enough to make the rest of his family all have complete and total meltdowns.
• Wangst: All of the Louds, minus Lincoln ^note, come off as this. The conflict comes from them discovering that they have people who heckle them during their activities/job. However, most of these so-called hecklers aren't even that bad, with the most egregious one, Luan's "heckler", simply thinking she's not funny, yet their opinion is treated as a supposed hurtful comment. It makes the Louds come off as thin-skinned crybabies who can't handle any criticism whatsoever. The fact that they scapegoat Lincoln and say he ruins lives makes it feel like the other Louds are getting what they deserve.

"Musical Chairs"

• Catharsis Factor: After how much of a cruel tyrant he's been towards him, it's pretty satisfying to see Lincoln standing up to Mr. Bolhofner in the end. What makes it even better is that the latter actually realizes what he did to Lincoln and his father was wrong, and decides to let him keep his new seat out of respect for standing up for what he believes.
  • Also, after being an insufferable little Jerkass for most of the episode, it's pretty hilarious to see Chandler getting bitten by Hank the piranha after attempting to steal Lincoln's new seat.