"L" is for Love

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"**Template:'LTemplate:' is for Love**" is the twenty-ninth episode of the second season of the American animated television series *The Loud House*, and the 42nd episode of the series overall. "'L' is for Love" originally aired in the United States on Nickelodeon on June 15, 2017. In the episode, a love letter ambiguously addressed to an "L. Loud" arrives in the mail and the Loud children try to determine who it was meant for.

This episode is the first episode to establish Luna Loud as bisexual. This episode features a special guest appearance from Richard Horvitz. It received a positive reception from critics and was the highest rated of the four episodes that premiered the week of June 12, 2017. This episode has been made available for digital purchase though various providers.

## Plot

Lincoln abruptly calls his sisters together for a "sibling meeting" to announce he found a mysterious love letter ambiguously addressed to "L. Loud" in the mail. The letter explains that the sender is a secret admirer of the intended recipient who is too shy to come forward directly. Lincoln and his sisters are left uncertain as to who the intended recipient is, as everyone's first name starts with the letter "L". In a quick montage each sibling has a flashback to a positive interactions they had with various people who could be their potential secret admirer. Lucy suggests that everyone send a subtle signal of interest to their suspected admirer from their flashback, and await a more specific follow-up letter, to determine who the intended recipient is

In a follow-up meeting each sibling announces that they have each sent signals to their suspected admirers. During the meeting Luna announces that a second follow-up letter has arrived in the mail. The follow-up letter reveals that the intended recipient has brown hair, meaning the intended recipient is either Luna, Luan, Lynn or Lisa. While Luan, Lynn and Lisa become excited Luna becomes visibly upset. When questioned, Luna explains that she never sent a signal to her potential admirer/crush, Sam, because she felt they weren't in the same league. Her siblings immediately disregard the claim as nonsense. Lucy suggests that the sisters with brown hair should give a gift to each of their respective suspected admirers.

Later, a third letter arrives at the house claiming they "dig your sweet sounds and love of all things British", which convinces everyone that Luna was the intended recipient. The letter requests they meet up together at "Banger's Mosh", a British-themed restaurant. Luna, along with all of her siblings appear at the restaurant to discover that Sam is nowhere to be found. They do, however, find their parents celebrating the 20th anniversary of their first date. Their mother explains that she had sent the letter to her husband. She goes on to explain that she had a crush on him before they started dating and eventually gathered the courage to successfully ask him to diner in the form of a love letter.

Luna becomes inspired when hearing her mother's story, and decides to send Sam a letter herself. Following the dinner, a short montage is shown of Luna's siblings sending their own letters to their crushes. Luna is seen at her school gathering the courage to put her letter in Sam's locker before quickly running away. Sam (who is revealed to the audience to be a girl) opens her locker and proceeds to read the letter and smile. Luna, who was watching from behind the corner unbeknownst to Sam, smiles seeing her happy while reading the letter.

## Production

"'L' is for Love" was written by Kevin Sullivan from a story by Darin McGowan, storyboarded by Jordan Koch, and directed by the series creator Chris Savino. It originally aired in the United States on Nickelodeon on June 15, 2017, as part of a week consisting of four first-run episodes. "'L' is for Love" features a guest appearance from veteran voice-actor Richard Horvitz who provided the voices of Chaz, Skippy, and David; the respective potential admirers/crushes of Leni, Lana, and Lisa. The episode was given the parental advisory rating TV-Y7.

This is the first episode to establish Luna Loud as bisexual and the first episode to introduce Sam, her female love interest. *The Loud House* had previously received widespread attention and a nomination at the 28th GLAAD Media Awards for its introduction of Howard and Harold McBride, two supporting characters who are a same-sex couple.

## Reception

In its original American broadcast on June 15, 2017, "'L' is for Love" was watched by 1.89 million viewers. It was a slight improvement over the previous episode, "Potty Mouth", which was watched by 1.81 million viewers, when it first premiered one day earlier. This episode was highest rated of the four episodes that premiered the week of June 12, 2017.

Kaydee Eleanor Donohoo from Odyssey gave a positive review of the episode. Donohoo called the ending scene "pure and super adorable". She praised the fact that the character Luna was supported by her family, and wasn't treated differently by her heterosexual siblings. She praised the episode for not solely focusing on heterosexual characters saying "it's only fair to have some non-straight representation to reflect the diversity of the real world of the kids watching".

Valerie Anne of Autostraddle gave a positive review of the episode. Anne positively mentioned the notion of a child seeing this and growing up to have a stronger tolerance against discrimination. She also praised the montage scenes in the episode calling them "cute". Generally speaking Anne also mentioned LGBT story-lines in children's programming a "wonder to behold".

Peter Jurado of ComicsVerse gave a positive review of the episode. Jurado recalled growing up without seeing LGBT content on television and only hearing the word "gay" in the opening of *The Flintstones*, when it was used to mean "happy". He felt society might be more accepting to LGBT people if it were more common in the media. He stated that the episode was simply about young love and is not "malice" nor did it have an agenda. He also hoped that viewers like the character Sam and not view her in a negative light.

## Home release

This episode (packaged with "Potty Mouth") is available in HD and SD for digital purchase on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Video, Microsoft, and Vudu.

## Notes

1. ↑ Luna Loud also had a crush on Lincoln's male tutor, Hugh, in the season one episode "Study Muffin".

## References

1. ↑ Opening credits at the beginning of *The Loud House* episode "'L' is for Love".
2. ↑ The Loud House Season 2 Episode Guide. *Screener*.
3. ↑ Closing credits at the end of *The Loud House* episode "'L' is for Love".
4. ↑ *The Loud House* at Spectrum.
5. ↑ Michele (June 22, 2017) "Loud and Proud with Luna Loud!". Geeks OUT. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
6. ↑ Coggan, Devan (January 31, 2017). GLAAD Media Awards honor *Moonlight*, *Supergirl*, *Black Mirror*, and more. *Entertainment Weekly*. Time Inc..
7. ↑ Mitch Metcalf (June 16, 2017). Top 150 Thursday Cable Originals: 6.15.2017. *Showbuzz Daily*.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Mitch Metcalf (June 15, 2017). Top 150 Wednesday Cable Originals: 6.14.2017. *Showbuzz Daily*.
9. ↑ Mitch Metcalf (June 13, 2017). Top 150 Monday Cable Originals: 6.12.2017. *Showbuzz Daily*.
10. ↑ Mitch Metcalf (June 14, 2017). Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals: 6.13.2017. *Showbuzz Daily*.
11. ↑ "The Loud House" Continues To Break LGBT Barriers. Odyssey (23 June 2017). Retrieved on July 2, 2017.
12. ↑ I Have a Lesbian Crush on This “Loud House” Storyline About Girls Having Crushes on Girls. Autostraddle (16 June 2017). Retrieved on June 18, 2017.
13. ↑ The Loud House VS Heteronormativity. ComicsVerse. Retrieved on June 30, 2017.
14. ↑ *The Loud House*, Vol. 4 on iTunes.
15. ↑ Potty Mouth/"L" is for Love on Google Play.
16. ↑ *The Loud House* Season 4 on Amazon Video
17. ↑ *The Loud House* Season 4 on Microsoft.
18. ↑ The Loud House: Potty Mouth/"L" is for Love on Vudu.

## External links

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