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Recap / The Loud House S 4 E 16 Deep Cuts Game Off

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"Deep Cuts"

When Luna discovers that the high school music club will be axed due to budget cuts, she leads a protest.

"Deep Cuts"

  • Beleaguered Assistant: Principal Rivers' assistant is aware that Rivers is a conflict shy ditherer who has difficulty making decisions (even about her own lunch). As a Running Joke, he tries in vain to make her stand by her decisions about budget cuts to the clubs (at least until the budget problems eventually become too big for even her to ignore.
  • A Day in the Limelight: For Luna first and foremost, but also for Luan and Lori to a lesser extent.
  • The Ditherer: Principal Rivers, of "The Wishy-Washy" type with shades of "The Insecure/Submissive". She's too spineless to actually assert her authority and just can't seem to make up her mind about anything. The pressure of trying to decide which school club to cut drives her to lie on the floor in the Troubled Fetal Position.
  • The Door Slams You: At the start of the episode, Luna ends up slammed in the wall by the janitor, when he comes out of the music room.
  • Foreshadowing: The episode's description says the music club is canceled as a result of budget cuts, resulting in Luna's protest. The title card shows Lori and Luan holding picket signs for sports and drama, showing that they get dragged into the conflict when Principal Rivers cuts their clubs.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: While Principal Rivers' assistant is a bit snooty, he's understandably frustrated with her ditherer personality and he's not wrong to point out that one of the three most expensive clubs (music, sports, and theater) has no choice but to get canceled because the school doesn't have enough money to keep all three of them up and running.
  • Mêlée à Trois: The episode's climax has a three-way battle between Luna's music club, Luan's theater club, and Lori's sports club when Principal Rivers is forced to cut out one of these three clubs to save the school's budget. Unfortunately, the damages caused by this battle were so severe that she was forced to cut every single club in the school, including all of the ones the sisters weren't even part of (much to their despair).
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Luna, Lori, and Luan have this reaction when their protests cause the front doors of their schools to be destroyed, forcing Principle Rivers to shut down all the clubs to make enough money to fix them.
  • Playing a Tree: Benny is relegated to playing a cactus in the theatre club's protest play.
  • Take a Third Option: In the end, the sports, theater, and music clubs all join forces to create a fundraiser event that makes enough money to repair the school and saves all of the clubs from being canceled to satisfy the school's budget.

"Game Off"

Desperate to play Lincoln's trash-themed video game Total Trash Takedown, Lana conspires to distract her brother away from the console.

"Game Off"

  • The Ace: Lincoln is shown to be very good at zombie-themed escape rooms, being able to beat one with 20 minutes to spare, much to Lucy's distress as she was trying to distract him from playing "Total Trash Takedown" again.
  • Apology Gift: Lana apologizes to Lincoln for losing his progress in his game by doing all of his chores and making him a snack tray of his favorite Flippy and a bowl of his favorite crackers.
  • Characterization Marches On: This episode finally shows Lana not wearing her hat to bed, indicating that she isn’t so uptight about displaying her tomboyish personality, as well as displaying her showing more hygiene.
  • A Day in the Limelight: For Lana.
  • Dream Sequence: Lana has one that puts her right in Total Trash Takedown. Quickly turns into a Nightmare Sequence when a gigantic, monstrous Lincoln appears and stops her progress, causing her to wake up.
  • Drench Celebration: Lynn dumps water on someone twice. The first time for Lana's first game accomplishment and the second time when Lana makes amends by helping Lincoln with one of the levels.
  • Exhausted Eye Bags: Lana gets these as she struggles to re-do the video game. This, along with the fact that she took off her hat and her hair is unkempt, gives her a very tired appearance.
  • Facepalm: Lily gives one after Lana confesses her mistake to the rest of her sisters. Later, while Lana races to finish the game Lucy phones Lynn to tell her Lincoln finished the Zombie Room at the mall much faster than anticipated, sending a picture of Lincoln showing off his victory, with Lucy facepalming in the background.
  • Irony: When Lincoln returns home and is about to discover the truth about his video game, Lynn Jr. and Lisa run to save their lives... even though Lynn has already hit Lincoln countless times!
  • The Glomp: At the end of the episode, Lincoln offers to let Lana share the game with her. This causes the overjoyed girl to slide along the couch and give him a big hug.
  • Leave Me Alone!: Lincoln tells Lana this when she offers to do something to make it up to him for this blunder. This leaves Lana to leave the room looking heartbroken. She even stops to share one last remorseful look at her brother.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Lana is devastated when she gets a Game Over and loses all of Lincoln's progress. She spends the rest of the episode trying to get back up to his point while the other sisters keep Lincoln distracted.
  • Nintendo Hard: Total Trash Takedown is an in-universe example, as Lincoln says it took him two weeks to get to the final level and Lana fails to make it past the seventh level even with a tips and tricks guide.
  • Not So Above It All: Lisa celebrates several times as Lana gets closer and closer to the point where Lincoln left off, helping her sister along with the game guide. She also is rather sheepish along with Lynn when Lincoln comes home and finds out.
  • Sequence Breaking: Lisa helps Lana by providing some ways of skipping a couple levels in order to get through Total Trash Takedown quicker. At the end of the episode, this is what allows Lana to make amends with Lincoln after he finds out what she did to his game.
  • Serious Business: Lincoln and his video games. Even with their tendency to walk all over him, his sisters know they never tamper with his games, noting how furious he gets when they mess with them. Lucy outright says if he finds out Lana lost all his progress that she'll be dead to him.
  • Shout-Out: The Total Trash Takedown game map bears a resemblance to Super Mario Bros. 3.
  • This Is Unforgivable!: Lincoln, who spent two weeks to nearly beat Total Trash Takedown, is not pleased after he finds out that Lana made him lose all of his progress, something she was trying to avoid to the point of asking all of her other sisters for assistance. Thankfully, Lana quickly redeems herself to him, enough for him to actually let her play his game once he's finished.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Lincoln to Lana once he finds out what she did.
  • Worthless Currency: Leni tries to pay with buttons, mistaking them for money. Lincoln implies that it, or something similar, has happened before.

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