"A Bug's Strife" is the tenth episode of the sixth season, and the two-hundred-fifty-sixth episode of The Loud House.
Plot[]
Dad tears the house apart trying to find the cricket ruining his peaceful day alone in the house.
Synopsis[]
The Loud family is going to be spending their day at Aunt Ruth's. As the siblings begrudgingly enter Vanzilla, Lynn Sr. exits the house to reveal that he's sick, making Rita tell him that he should stay home. Once the family leaves, Lynn Sr. enters the house and reveals that he was actually faking being sick in order to get out of visiting Ruth's. Now having the whole house to himself, he decides to make the most of what he can.
Lynn Sr. decides to spend his alone time watching Dessert Storm, but as he watches his show, Charles, Cliff, Geo and Walt would get in the way, prompting Lynn Sr. to take them outside of the house. When Lynn Sr. decides to go sleep in complete quietness, he suddenly hears a cricket chirping nearby. Not wanting his perfect day to be ruined, Lynn Sr. investigates around the kitchen to find the intruder. He hears the cricket hiding under the sink and attempts to attack it with spray-on butter, but accidentally sprays the stuff onto himself, making him slip. Soon enough, Lynn Sr. and the cricket begin to play a game of cat-and-mouse, where Lynn Sr. struggles to catch the prey, while simultaneously trashing the house. Meanwhile, at Ruth's house, Ruth shows Rita and the siblings a slideshow about the malls in the Midwest, with Leni being the only one showing interest.
Back at the Loud House, much of the living room has been trashed and, after a failed attempt to catching the cricket in his bedroom, Lynn Sr. chases the insect upstairs. After causing some damage and after a bathroom break, Lynn Sr. succeeds in catching the cricket. Exiting the house through the back door, Lynn Sr. lets the cricket loose, but when he tries to get back in, he discovers to his horror that he has been locked out and left the key inside the house, making the pets laugh at his expense. Lynn Sr. tries to go through the front door but is disappointed to learn that it too is locked. Suddenly, Lynn Sr. remembers that he once gave a spare key to Mr. Grouse, so he goes over to his house to ask for the spare key. After pulling out a bowl full of keys, Mr. Grouse tells him that the spare key should have a keychain. After Lynn Sr. is unable to find it, Mr. Grouse remembers where it is: it's in the Loud House because he didn't want the responsibility of holding it for them, so he used the key to enter their house while they were away to place the key back.
As Lynn Sr. begins to think on how he could get back into the house, he discovers that the twins' bedroom window is open. Grabbing a ladder, he intends to climb through the window to get back in, but as he runs towards the house, he accidentally disrupts a beehive, where they attack him as he climbs, causing him to fall break all the ladder's rungs. With the ladder broken, Lynn Sr. proceeds to use one of the broken halves to try and pole vault into the window but hits the wall instead and falls onto a cactus. Using a trampoline now, Lynn Sr. tries to bounce into the window, but overshoots his jump and lands on the roof instead. Seeing the chimney, Lynn Sr. tries to climb down it, but he's too wide to go down it. Now at his wits end, Lynn Sr. chops the tree on the front yard down to make a log, which he uses as a battering ram to break down the door. Despite the immense damage, Lynn Sr. finally relaxes, having gotten back into the house, but his victory is short-lived upon hearing the cricket chirp again.
Meanwhile, the remaining Louds are driving back home after sitting through Ruth's 700-page long slideshow. Upon arriving home, they discover the destruction their house has taken. Exiting the van, they encounter Lynn Sr., having gone crazy from trying to find the cricket. Thinking Lynn Sr. is delusional from his "sickness", Rita says that he needs to lie down, but not at their house due to the immense damage. When Rita suggests that they stay at Ruth's until the house is repaired, the family jumps into Vanzilla, where Lynn Sr. once again hears the cricket chirp. Suddenly, Lana reveals that she had found the cricket and has decided to keep it, naming him Paul. This causes Lynn Sr. to scream in anguish, as his burden is now stuck him while the family drives back to Ruth's.
Cast[]
- Bentley Griffin as Lincoln (expressions; uncredited)
- Liliana Mumy as Leni
- Nika Futterman as Luna (expressions; uncredited)
- Cristina Pucelli as Luan (expressions; uncredited)
- Jessica DiCicco as Lynn / Lucy (expressions; uncredited) / Female TV Announcer
- Grey Griffin as Lana / Lola / Lily (expressions; uncredited) / Aunt Ruth
- Lara Jill Miller as Lisa
- Jill Talley as Rita
- Brian Stepanek as Lynn Sr.
- John DiMaggio as Mr. Grouse
Lincoln, Luna, Luan, Lucy and Lily have no lines in this episode but can be heard groaning.
Trivia[]
- This episode is similar to "Two Boys and a Baby", as they both involve one of the Loud family members managing to get out of visiting Ruth, face their own personal yet comical trouble, and end with said Loud going to Ruth's anyway.
- This is the seventeenth episode in which the Loud kids and Clyde are not the main characters.
- The first sixteen were in "Relative Chaos", "Breaking Dad", "The Spies Who Loved Me", "Friended!", "Power Play, "Room for Improvement", "Roll Model", "No Show", "Face the Music", "Pranks for the Memories", "Store Wars", "Lucha Fever", "Love Birds", "A Flipmas Carol", "For Sale by Loner", and "Runaway McBride".
- Because the topic of Ruth's slideshow was all about malls, Leni was the only Loud kid who had a good time during the visit.
- According to Leni, she could look at malls all day.
- According to Lynn Sr.:
- Waffles are his favorite food that starts with "W".
- His shoe size is 11.
- He took part in father-daughter pole vaulting lessons with Lynn.
- Lynn Sr. mentions the events of "Schooled!" by bringing up how he was able to get back into the house by climbing down the chimney.
- However, he's incapable of squeezing down the chimney in this episode due to gaining weight.
- If one is quick to notice when Lynn Sr. anguishes over Lana keeping the cricket, Rita can be seen with a smug smile, suggesting that she was aware that Lynn Sr. was faking being sick.
- This and its sister episode are currently the lowest-viewed episodes of Season 6.