The Sweet Spot: The night before the family road trip, Lincoln makes plans to claim the "sweet spot", the one comfortable seat in the family van.
A Tale of Two Tables: Lincoln tries to prove that he's mature enough to sit with his parents and older sisters at the "grown-up" table instead of at the "kiddie" table with his rowdy younger sisters.
"The Sweet Spot"
- Aesop Amnesia: Lincoln realizes that no matter how hard you try, you can't always have your way, especially in a large family... Only to then immediately pursue the "sweet spot in the living room".
- The Alleged Car: Vanzilla, which Dad claims was his first car. And his dad's first car. And his dad's first car.
- An Aesop: As Lincoln said, you can't control every little thing.
- You are not entitled to a specific seat in the car. You need to be considerate towards the rest of your family, and sometimes that means making sacrifices.
- Angrish: Lincoln does this as a Running Gag whenever Clyde mentions an oversight in his plan for the perfect road trip. He eventually gets tired of this and just ditches the walkie-talkie after Clyde almost mentions one more flaw.
- Big Ball of Violence: The kids create a huge ball when fighting for the sweet spot. By the time their parents call for a ceasefire and the dust clears, the van has been completely dismantled from the brawl.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: The sisters when they spy on Lincoln through their doors.
- Car Ride Games: Lincoln tells the viewers that he can't sit next to Lynn on his family's road trip, and a flashback shows the reason why; in the flashback, Lynn decides to play "Auto Attack", wherein she punches Lincoln every time she sees a car. Cue a car carrier trailer with many cars in it passing by Vanzilla and Lynn punching Lincoln many times.
- Chain of Deals: Lincoln makes a series of deals with his sisters to see who gets to sit next to him and to each other.
- Downer Ending: Since Lincoln and his sisters were the ones that destroyed the van from the fight, the road trip is called off and none of them won the sweet spot, forcing them to spend time together on the couch.
- E = MC Hammer: Lisa writes an equation in the dust on the van to deduce where the sweet spot is and why it's so sweet. This frustrates Lincoln because it took him eight months to figure it out.
- Facepalm: Lincoln does this when Lisa figures out what the sweet spot is.
- Flashback Cut: Several of them to show why Lincoln doesn't like the other van seats and which sisters he doesn't like sitting next to.
- Gross Gum Gag: One of the seats in Vanzilla is covered in chewed gum, and thus nobody wants to sit in it.
- Head Desk: In one of his flashbacks, Lincoln pounds his head against the seat in front of him when his father turns up the radio playing a sappy romance song, especially since he's sitting next to the one working speaker.
- Here We Go Again!: At the end, when the kids are confined to the couch for the weekend, Lincoln claims that he knows of another "sweet spot" there.
- Ironic Echo: "I'm sorry you had to see that."
- Lineage Ladder: When Vanzilla is destroyed from the siblings fighting for its "sweet spot", Dad claims while lamenting its destruction that it was his first car, as well as the one of his father and grandfather. This is explicitly confirmed in the later episode "Vantastic Voyage"."That was my first car! And my dad's first car! AND HIS DAD'S FIRST CAR!"
- Metal Scream: Luna lets out one during Lisa's flashback of sitting next to her in the van.Lisa: Where's a low-flying plane when you need one?
- Nice Job Breaking It, Rivals!: The siblings' fight over the sweet spot culminates in them destroying the van, causing the road trip to be cancelled and getting themselves grounded.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The Loud siblings frequently get involved in starting a Big Ball of Violence with each other, but in this episode, their fight for the sweet spot got so intense that they managed to completely reduce the van to scrap metal.
- No, You: Lola and Lana's staredown in one flashback:Lola: Stop looking at me.
Lana: YOU stop looking at ME! - Oh, Crap!: Lincoln, when he locks the door to prevent his sisters from sitting in the sweet spot, has this reaction when Luan simply opens the door on the other side:Lincoln: Dang it, I forgot about the broken lock.
- Out of Focus: Lily doesn't appear in this episode other than a voice-only cameo. As such, she's the only Loud child to not participate in the sweet spot competition. Likely for the best considering how brutal this competition gets with all of the baby's older siblings in this episode (see Big Ball of Violence above).
- Road Trip Plot: Subverted. The trip gets cancelled when the kids wreck the van with their fighting.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Lincoln's efforts of getting the sweet spot eventually gets undone when his sisters get suspicious of the true reason why he asked them to change seats in the van. When they find the seating chart in his room, they angrily confront him. Lincoln fails to convince them with his lies and they don't simply return to their rooms satisfied, as they are still standing at the van.
- Mrs. Loud ends up grounding all of the kids to the couch for the weekend, canceling the road trip in the process. It wasn't as if they had any immediate way of going on the road trip by that point, anyway, since all of the kids got into such a big fight in the family van that they literally destroyed it, and as such, their only way of taking said trip.
- Title Drop: Several times.
- Urine Trouble: The "soggy seat", named because Charles peed on it.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: A flashback shows Lori getting carsick from texting on her phone and vomiting on Lincoln in the seat in front of her. Luna dubs her the "Princess of Puke" and attempted to accept Lincoln's deal with the sweet spot if it meant avoiding being puked on by Lori.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The episode’s plot follows a similar formula to the Stuck in the Middle episode “Stuck in the Sweet Seat”. Coincidentally, both shows are about big families, and the seat the middle child and protagonist is going after is dubbed “sweet” in both ways.
- You Are Grounded!: The kids get punished for destroying the van by being forced to sit on the couch for the weekend/week until they can get along.
- Serves them all right for destroying the family van and for being Rowdy Little Shits
"A Tale of Two Tables"
- Age-Stereotypical Food: At the beginning, it's explained that only chicken nuggets are served at the kiddie table, while the people at the grown-up table have to eat liver and don't even dessert.
- An Aesop: You'll have to grow up sooner or later, so enjoy childhood while you can. But don’t rush into adulthood.
- Ban on Politics: One of Clyde's lessons to Lincoln on proper dinner etiquette is to never talk politics.
- Boredom Montage: Lincoln goes through one at the grown-up table when he has to eat liver while listening to small talk between his parents and older sisters.
- Catapult Nightmare: Lincoln wakes up from his nightmare this way.
- Chekhov's Gun: Lincoln tries to get sent back to the kiddie table by imitating his younger sisters' messy and inappropriate behavior that he himself was previously annoyed at.
- Double Entendre: Clyde reminds Lincoln not to take Lori's bread at the adult table. He then flirts with the cutout of her saying "I'll share my buns with you" before Lincoln snaps him out of it.
- Dreaded Kids' Table: The whole plot resolves around Lincoln wanting to convince his parents to let him leave the kiddie table, since he hates it there. Said table has only been seen occasionally since then.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- Arturo Santiago, Bobby and Ronnie Anne's dad, is casually brought up in conversation, despite being nowhere to be seen later on until the spin-off.
- The main conflict of the episode is this, considering that later episodes show Lincoln and eventually his younger sisters dining with the others at the grown-up table. It's also a plot point that the younger kids get "kiddie food" (like chicken nuggets) while the rest of the family has a more traditional meal (like liver). Later episodes make it clear that the family really can't afford to indulge picky eaters and the kids have to eat what's on their plate.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: The episode ends with all the kids having a food fight and laughing. Even their parents can't resist joining in the fun!
- Fartillery: Lincoln performs this at the grown-up table when singing "Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit". It had enough force to lift the tablecloth.
- Foodfight!: Lincoln's younger sisters do this at the kiddie table, much to his annoyance. At the end, he and the older sisters end up joining them.
- Foreshadowing: When Lincoln is misbehaving at the grown-up table to get sent back to the kiddie table and tries to start a food fight, Lynn prepares to fight back before remembering to behave. This gives her and the rest of the older sisters the motivation to have fun at the kiddie table.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Lincoln turns on a congressional debate, the caption on the TV is shown to read "Should bologna be considered 'meat'???"
- Gone Horribly Right: Lincoln manages to get to the grown-up table, only to face the consequences of sitting there.
- Growing Up Sucks: After Lincoln is able to join the grown-up table, he realizes how much more strict, bland, and boring the table is and attempts to get rejected back to the kiddie table.
- Hypocritical Humor: The Loud parents prohibit Lincoln from eating at the grown-up table on account of immature behavior, when they themselves are not above said behavior.
- Imagine Spot: While sitting at the kiddie table at the beginning, Lincoln imagines the experience of sitting at the adult table, which he believes is a classy, societal affair. However, he discovers that in reality things were better for him back at the kids table.
- Ironic Echo Cut:Dad: Say, how's it feel sitting at the old grown-up table, huh?Lincoln: It's everything I dreamed it would be.(cut to Lincoln in his bed talking into his walkie-talkie)Lincoln: Clyde, the grown-up table is a nightmare!
- Nightmare Sequence: "You can't go back. You can never go back, bro!"
- Not So Above It All:
- This is by the older sisters at the end of the episode, joining Lincoln to have some fun with him and the younger sisters at the kiddie table.
- After all the kids move to the kiddie table, Dad comments that there's now some peace and quiet at the grown-up table, only for his wife to humor him with the Running Gag mentioned below.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Luan, despite being the jokester, cannot tell jokes or prank at the grown-up table; she even has to remind Lincoln herself.
- Playground Song: The song "Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit" plays a major role in this episode, as it's how Lincoln finally escapes the grown-up table.
- Running Gag: "Did you say peas?"
- Shackle Seat Trap: Happens to Lincoln during his nightmare of never being able to leave the grown-up table.
- Shave And A Haircut: Lola and Lana whack Lincoln with sausages near the beginning this way.
- Shout-Out: "One of us! One of us! One of us!"
- Literary Allusion Title: The title is a parody of A Tale of Two Cities.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Lincoln attempts this to impress his parents and sisters at the adult table. He eventually drops it when he's bored out of his mind.
- Stock "Yuck!": Lincoln doesn't seem pleased at having liver at first, but has to accept it since he's at the grown-up table.
- There Will Be Toilet Paper: One of Lincoln's efforts to prove himself mature is to shave his face despite having no facial hair. The very next scene has him covered in toilet paper bandages:Lincoln: Maybe I shouldn't have used the razor Mom uses to shave her legs with.
- Verbal Backspace:Lincoln: Liver? I thought we were having chicken nuggets.Mom: That's just for the younger kids, honey. At the "grown-up" table, we eat "grown-up" food.Lincoln: And thank goodness for that!
- Wanting Is Better Than Having: Lincoln desperately wants to sit with his parents and older sisters at the grown-up table. When he finally gets permission to sit there, however, he finds that the food is lame, he can't tell jokes or sing songs, and he finds the small talk boring, leading him to try to find a way back to the kiddie table.
