Lola wants to be a part of her siblings' secrets club, but they refuse to let her in because of her tattletale-tendencies.
Synopsis
The Loud kids are having a secret meeting in Lori and Leni's room. They're discussing about their deepest secrets: Lincoln accidentally broke their Dad's disco ball with his remote-control airplane, Lori accidentally scratched the van with her rhinestone purse, Luna caused a citywide blackout during her jam session, and Lucy dyed their Mom's wedding dress black. The kids are having a good time, and Lincoln explains to the viewers that everybody has secrets, and they need to let them loose somewhere. So they started their secret meetings to tell each other, since they could always trust each other...except for a certain someone (that certain someone being Lola). Lola enters the room so she can join her siblings, but they all refuse to include her because of her reputation of being a tattletale. When she tries to tell them that she has changed, the doubtful siblings still deny her access, and in fury, she tosses her tiara aside and yells for their Mom. The moment Lola leaves, the kids go back to telling secrets.
The next day, Lincoln wakes up, and is horrified to see Lola in his room. She asks Lincoln if he would like to be her personal butler during her tea party. When Lincoln refuses to do so, Lola threatens him by telling Dad how he broke his disco ball. Not wanting to be tattled on, Lincoln is forced into doing Lola's favor, much to his frustration. Later that day, Lola is riding in her princess car and Lucy is sitting under the tree reading her poem book. Lola asks Lucy if she could drive the car so she can practice her pageant wave. When she denies to do so, Lola threatens to tattle on her to Mom for dying her dress black. Not wanting to be tattled on, Lucy is forced into doing Lola's task. Later, in the living room, Lori is on her phone, Luna is watching TV, and Lynn Sr. is reading the newspaper. Lola asks Luna if she can sit in the middle of the couch, but when she denies her this, Lola threatens to tattle on her for causing the blackout. Because they're right next to their Dad, Luna is forced to place Lola on the couch, while she angrily sits on the floor. Lola then asks Lori if she can scratch her head, Lori doesn't want to do it, claiming she needs both of her hands to text. When Lola threatens to tell Dad about her "scratching" incident, Lori is forced to do Lola's bidding. By now, Lola has forced all of her siblings into hanging out with or doing favors for her, such as Lana being her partner in her tea party, Lisa making the alphabet out of macaroni, Luna playing medieval music, Luan being her jester (by telling even worse jokes), and Lynn painting her toenails. Lola enjoys their service, but they don't.
That night, the kids are having another secret meeting and complaining about Lola. If they deny any of her requests, she'll tell Mom and Dad their secrets. Eventually, they get suspicious when they figure that someone is snitching on them. This results in the kids fighting. During their squabble, Lincoln falls out and notices Lola's tiara, which has a microphone attached to it. Realizing this, Lincoln tells the girls to stop fighting and points out that Lola's the one who discovered their secrets--when Lola tossed aside her tiara the night before, the microphone attached to it caught everything him and the rest of the sisters said. Lincoln points out to his nine other sisters that if they want to get back at Lola, they have to find a secret about her. Lynn tells him that the chances are unlikely because of Lola always being one step ahead, but Lincoln reassures them that everyone makes mistakes, even Lola.
The next day, as Lisa, Luna and Lynn pamper to Lola, Lincoln uses this distraction to snoop around Lana and Lola's room, hoping find some dirt on Lola. Unfortunately, as Lynn predicted, Lola is one step ahead of Lincoln, as every location he looks has a note saying that she would never leave a secret and to tell the reader to get out of her room. When Lincoln picks up one of Lola's tiaras and asks himself how Lola does it, he is warned that Lola is heading back into her room. This forces Lincoln to jump out the window. The Louds' neighbor, Mr. Grouse, sees Lincoln wearing Lola's tiara, and sarcastically asks him if he's going to participate in a beauty pageant. This inspires Lincoln to head to the pageant hall, and ask Lola's competitors if they know any dirt on her. Unfortunately, Lola's competitors are too scared to give Lincoln anything. However, Lincoln notices one of Lola's competitors hiding in a closet; she knows a secret about Lola and is willing to help Lincoln due to her deep malice towards her. She tells the secret to Lincoln, who is flabbergasted upon hearing it, as do the other sisters when he tells it to them. They then confront Lola and let her know they know her secret. Lola is shocked, because if she ever tells Mom and Dad about their secrets, Lincoln and the others will rat her out in return. The other kids then leave to go hang out, leaving Lola alone and at a stalemate.
That night, as the Loud kids have another meeting, Luan tells the others that she'd just seen Lola entering their parents' bedroom. Fearing that Lola's ratting them out, they quickly head downstairs, only to find Lola sadly walking out of their parents' room. Lola glumly explains to her siblings that she took the blame for all the stuff that they did, and that their parents grounded her for a month. Upon being questioned why she did it, Lola explains that all she ever wanted was to join their group, and she had blackmailed them into doing those favors for her because she initially assumed that it was the only way to get them to spend time with her. But now she realizes that she went about it the wrong way--instead of using her siblings' secrets against them, what she should've done was earn their trust, so that way they would've been willing to spend time with her. Lola then excuses herself, intending to stay in her room for the next thirty days and work on earning her siblings' trust again, while they look on with sympathy.
Lola is happy to be in her siblings' secrets club.
Later, as Lola lays on her bed (in a style similar to a prison cell), Lincoln invites himself into her room, saying that after a lot of thinking, and feeling sorry for her, she's allowed to be in the club. This causes Lola to jump off her bed in excitement. As the other sisters enter the room and tell their secrets, Lola looks on with joy, knowing that she's finally one with the group. Later, as Lincoln and the sisters leave, Lola proceeds to tell her stuffed dolls her siblings' secrets, telling the viewers that she's Lola Loud, she has to spill some secrets somehow, and decides to tell them to her dolls, since they're not alive, and thus, won't tell anyone.
Lynn Sr. and Lola's rivals have no lines in this episode.
Trivia
This is the first time Lucy and Lily are seen in their pajamas, meaning that, as of this episode, all of the Loud kids have been shown in their pajamas at least once.
The way Lola made her siblings do menial things for her is similar of how the girls made Lincoln do menial things for them in "Sound of Silence", which was also started by Lola.
This is the second episode where Lincoln noticeably sounds different, the first was "Come Sale Away". In this case, he has a new voice actor named Collin Dean.
At the end of the episode, Lola speaks to the audience, making her the fourth character apart from Lincoln to do so.
This is the second time Lana is seen wearing earrings, the first was "Cover Girls". This is also the third time she wears a dress. The first time was "Toads and Tiaras", and the second being "Cover Girls".
This is the first time Lily is seen fighting with her siblings.
If counting the Loud children fighting over and/or with Lily, this will be the second time as the first one is "Changing the Baby".
This episode reveals that Lola has won so many beauty pageants, her competitors fear her. In fact, one of Lola's competitors downright despises her, due to always coming in second to her. It's unknown who it is, but it's hinted that it is Lindsey Sweetwater, who was previously mentioned in "Making the Case".
The newspaper Dad holds is call Morgan News, which references Jared Morgan, a staff member of the show.
Also, there are various smaller headlines that reference others members of the show's staff, including "Savino trial takes a turn", "Rynda Quarantined", "One too many Jordan defenders claim", "Freilich finished burrito in record time".
Edwin, Lucy's vampire bust from "Making the Case", appears in the basement during Lucy's pretend betrothal.
This is the first time Luan's not seen being enthusiastic about telling a joke, because she was forced to tell it by Lola. Although, she was charmed by Lynn's joke, involving a burger.
Also, Luan wears different PJs in this episode, and they are her current PJs as of now.
In addition to spiders, Leni also dislikes rats.
Lola choosing to take the blame for all the bad things her siblings did so they don't get in trouble is similar to what Lincoln did for Lucy in "Sleuth or Consequences".
The hat Lincoln wears when he's snooping around is the same hat he wore in "Get the Message".
While we never see Lola blackmail Luan, Lynn, Lana, or Lisa, they are the ones being forced to partake in Lola's make believe game, with all of them dressed in fancy clothing.
Lynn wears a dress in this episode, albeit against her will.
The scene of Luna turning her amp up to max, and preparing to strum, is reused from "No Guts, No Glori".
This is the first time Lynn Sr. appears without any lines of dialogue.
As of this episode, both of the Loud parents have made at least one non-speaking appearance in an episode (Rita in "Overnight Success").
The siblings' known secrets (in order):
Lincoln - Smashed Dad's disco ball with his remote control plane.
Lori - Scratched the side of the van with her rhinestone purse.
Luna - Caused a citywide blackout by setting her amp to "super max" when jamming.
Lucy - Painted Mom's wedding dress black to use for her play in her dark betrothal to Edwin.
Lana - Chewed Dad's boots, but pinned the blame on Charles.
Lisa - Burnt Mom and Dad's bedspread with one of her experiments.
Lynn - Broke Mom's ironing board while practicing wrestling moves.
Leni, Luan, and Lily were the only siblings who did not share a secret. Although Luan didn't tell a secret, she was still forced to do something for Lola like the above mentioned siblings.
Lana - Forces her to dress up and have a tea party with her.
Lisa - Forces her to do her homework and organize her cereal.
Leni and Lily were the only siblings not seen being forced to do something for Lola.
From this episode onward, the feet of the elder sisters are more realistic and less cartoony in shape than in "Linc or Swim".
According to Instagram, Lola once stole Lincoln's diary and learned all his secrets. This is probably why Lola knew to not write secrets in her own diary.
Innuendo: When Lindsey Sweetwater tells Lincoln of Lola's secret, he almost says "Holy s**t" but it switches to Luan saying "shamoley".
Karma:
Lola blackmailed her siblings, and was then blackmailed by them in return.
It's unknown what bad Lola did to her beauty pageant rivals, but it was used by Lincoln against her, so she wouldn't escape from her misdeed.
The siblings paid for their misdeeds by doing menial deeds for Lola.
Moral: Being respectful towards others (and their personal matters) will earn you their trust.
References
Game & Watch - Lola's silhouette on the title card resembles the character sprites from Nintendo's Game & Watch series, as well as the Mr. Game & Watch character from his appearance in Super Smash Bros.
Cinderella - When Lynn is painting Lola's toenails, her outfit resembles Cinderella's maid uniform in the 1950 animated classic.
Edgar Allan Poe - Lucy's first shown book is called "Edgar Allan Poetry", a reference to the 19th century author.
H. P. Lovecraft - Lucy's second shown book is called "H.P. Love's Crafts", a reference to the 20th century author.
Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil - An episode of Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil is titled "Tattler's Tale" (which Chris Savino directed), and it involves the Buttowski's elderly next door neighbor, Ms. Chicarelli, grounding misbehaving children by tattling on the parents.
Errors
Possible Errors:
Luan has her bunny slippers on at the very beginning, but is barefoot when Lola enters; it's possible she took them off.
Lincoln is in his pajamas at the beginning of the episode, but the following morning, when he woke up to Lola right in front of him, he is in his underwear. He may have changed into his underwear once he returned to his room after the meeting.
Plot Hole: It's strange that Lola didn't know her siblings discovered how she was overhearing them, if her microphone was on the whole time.
When Luna is getting ready to tell her story, her nightshirt has long sleeves, even thought it's short sleeved.
Lana's incorrect pigtail band colors.
When Lana hits Leni with her pillow, Lana's pigtail bands are the same color as her shirt, instead of red.
When the siblings were looking at Lola in disbelief when she claims that she is not a tattle-tale, Lori's eyelashes are missing.
When Lola is in her room playing the harmonica, we can see that her bed has no bed linen, but when Lincoln comes in and says that he and the rest of the sisters earned Lola's trust, Lola's bed linen has magically appeared.
Lucy claims she dyed her Mom's wedding dress black for her dark betrothal to Edwin, but the dress she wore in the flashback looks nothing like Rita's wedding dress (seen in "Come Sale Away"), also, the dress in the flashback is painted purple, not black.
As Luna discovers Lola's knowledge of the blackout, Lori looks at them. But in the following scene, she's looking at her phone again.
When Lincoln tells his sisters to stop fighting when he learns Lola was the true rat, Lisa's glasses are intact. But when Leni assumed that Lisa was the rat, Lisa's glasses are cracked and she appears to have a black eye.
When Lincoln tells Lola that "those of us who can trust each other are going to hang out" Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lana, and Lily are all missing their eyelashes.
When the siblings are leaving Lola after telling her they know her secret, Lily is walking slower than the rest. But when the camera zooms to Lola, Lily is walking as fast as the rest.
In the end credits, John DiMaggio's name is misspelled as John Demaggio. This mistake would happen again in "Snow Bored".
When everyone is running to their parents' room, Leni is holding Lily, but when Lincoln ask why Lola is grounded for a month, Leni isn't holding Lily, in fact Lily is floating in mid-air.
When Lola is having her nails done by Lynn, there is a brief moment where her eyelashes are missing.
Lori's incorrect eyelid color.
During Lori's flashback to her secret, her eyelids are the same color as her skin tone, instead of light blue when she squeezes between cars.
After Luan tells the other kids that Lola might be ratting them out to their parents, the line "She wouldn't dare!", is heard in Lincoln's voice. However, if one looks close enough, it is Lucy's mouth that syncs with the dialogue.
In the Latin American dub of the segment, one of Luan's dialogues "Wait a second. Weren't those steel toe?", is muted.
Running Gags
The siblings telling and sharing secrets to each other.
Lola threatening her siblings by revealing she knows their secrets, and then them replying "who told you that?"
The siblings doing menial favors for Lola in order for her to not reveal their secrets.
Lincoln unsuccessfully finding dirt on Lola, and always finding a note from her saying to get out of her room.
