Lincoln has brought along Leni, Lucy, Lana, and Lynn Sr., who has wanted to be on the show from the beginning. The reason he's never shown up on the show before is because Lincoln promised to have him on the show the moment he found, or was sent, a story with Lynn Sr. as the main focus, which they were sent recently, titled What's Cooking?.
The story opens with the Loud siblings at dinner, despite the fact that Lynn Sr. hasn't come home yet. When he does come home, he's tired due to the restaurant having been busier than usual, yet Lori immediately asks him what's for dinner. The real Lynn Sr. tells the kids to wait for him to hang up his hat, which Leni takes literally as per the usual.
The Lynn Sr. in the story feels too tired to cook, so Lynn Jr. wants pizza, which Rita vetoes as they had that the previous night. Lana (the real one) wants pizza on a bagel. In the story, Lincoln wants to cook, but Luan is afraid he'll hurt himself. The real Lincoln retorts that he isn't that clumsy, but Lynn Sr. says that everybody who cooks on the regular hurts themselves. Leni adds that she learnt that while trying to make... cold cereal.
The story continues, with Lincoln deciding to cook some burgers, but it takes two hours and the other Louds fall asleep. Lincoln serves them hamburgers, which his sisters enjoy (Lori even moans). The real Lynn Sr. suggests teaching Lincoln how to cook, and Leni points out that Lincoln can already bake. Lynn Sr. points out that cooking is different from baking, since when you bake, you must follow the instructions, but when you cook, you can experiment.
Back in the story, Lynn Sr. is the only one who dislikes Lincoln's hamburgers. He claims the meat "isn't strong enough", causing the kids and Lynn Sr. on the couch to joke about bringing the cow to life and making her exercise, with Luan joining in. Then, the story's Lynn Sr. claims Lincoln put too much mustard... in the burgers. Everyone else disagrees, with Rita even wondering if Lynn Sr. is sick. Lincoln decides to make pizza the next night, much to his sisters' joy.
The next night, Lincoln makes pizzas and even puts them in boxes. Lynn Sr. has the first try and remarks, "Meh, not good", offending the real Lincoln and Leni. Fanfic Lynn Sr. reveals that he thinks the pizza has "too much meat", and Lynn Jr. points out that, as a pepperoni pizza, it needs to have meat. He claims that there needs to be a "balance", so the real Lincoln tells him to pick it off. Lynn Sr. says he would, as long as someone else ate it as they already waste enough food. As if to prove his point, Luan throws bread at Lucy.
Story Lincoln serves everyone else the pizza, and they enjoy it. The real Lana wonders why Lynn Sr. is the only one who doesn't like Lincoln's food, and Lynn Sr. tries to defend himself by saying his taste buds have become "sensitive and refined", but that only makes him sound like a "pretentious twit" to his kids.
In the fanfic, Lincoln is determined to please his dad, so the next night, he makes a slice of pizza, only for Lynn Sr. to claim it has too much cheese. Lincoln tries again, but Lynn Sr. thinks it has too much sauce. The real Lynn Sr. brings up a time when he told Kotaro that he put too much sauce in some Lynn-sagnas, causing Kotaro to become rigid and make strange noises until he was offered a promotion. In the story, Lincoln tries again and again, but still can't please Lynn Sr., which causes the real Lincoln and Lynn Sr. to call him an "unpleasable jerk".
Rita in the story sends Lincoln to bed and then tells Lynn Sr. off. Lana in the story goes up to check on Lincoln and he laments about not being able to impress Lynn Sr., so Lana suggests trying something new.
The next night, Lincoln serves his experimental pizza (with Lucy suggesting gross ingredients to Lynn Sr.'s disgust) only for Lynn Sr. to find it too spicy. Lincoln rants at Lynn Sr. angrily, so Lynn Sr. admits that he was lying the whole time! It turns out that he was jealous.
The next night in the story, Lincoln and Lynn Sr. make soup together, which everyone enjoys. Thus, the story ends, and Lynn Sr. says that he liked being on the show, with the exception of how he was, as he puts it, "written as some insecure jerk". He thinks that Rita, being a writer, should give the authors advice.
This episode provides examples of
- Adaptational Jerkass: The story's version of Lynn Sr. is very persnickety and unpleasable when it comes to food, rejecting everything Lincoln makes. This turns out to be an act, but this doesn't make it any less mean, since he lied to his son out of petty jealousy. At least he comes around.
- Amusing Injuries: Discussed when Leni mentions she once cut or burned herself while trying to make some cold cereal.
- Big "WHAT?!": Lola in the story says, "Whaaaaaat?!" when Lynn Sr. reveals he lied.
- Bizarre Taste in Food: Lana thinks pizza can be eaten anytime, as long as it's on a bagel.
- Black Comedy:
- When Lincoln in the story says that he doesn't want his family to starve, the real Lucy says that she wants her death to be more graceful... like Virginia Woolf drowning in a lake with her pockets full of stones.
- Lana claims she'd consider eating one of her siblings or parents if she had to wait two hours for food.
- Lucy refers to eating meat as "becoming more powerful by consuming the flesh of others".
- Continuity Nod: Lincoln and the others saving Scotland in the movie is brought up.
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: Lincoln in the story apparently put mustard in his hamburgers instead of on them.
- Everyone Has Standards: Lynn Sr. is a chef and believes in the value of criticism, but he still agrees that his fanfic counterpart is being a jerk in how unpleasable he is.
- Extreme Omnivore: Lucy suggests salamander tongues, crow talons, poison oak, spider larvae, and scales as pizza ingredients.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Discussed when Lana says she'd consider eating a family member if she had to wait two hours for a meal.
- Informed Wrongness: In-Universe— in the story, Lynn Sr. is treated as wrong for giving Lincoln constructive criticism, but the real Lynn Sr. sees nothing wrong with it.
- Jumping-to-Conclusions Diagnosis: Lincoln in the story thinks his father is sick because he came home tired. Later, when he doesn't like the hamburgers, Rita starts to wonder if he's sick.
- Lame Pun Reaction:
- Lincoln, Leni, Lucy, and Lana all groan when Lynn Sr. makes a joke about a cow "beefing up".
- Luna in the story cringes when Lincoln and Lynn Sr. call their soup "Lynn-coln soup".
- Lost My Appetite: Defied when Lynn Sr. tells Lucy to stop joking about putting gross or poisonous ingredients into pizza before he loses his appetite forever.
- Noodle Incident: Leni once either cut or burned herself while trying to make a bowl of cereal.
- No Sympathy: In the story, Lynn Sr. is described as looking extremely tired, yet Lori is more concerned about dinner.
- Only One Finds It Fun: The only one not to groan at Lynn Sr.'s cow pun is Luan, which is typical for her.
- Out Sick: Downplayed in the story, where Lincoln is cooking instead of Lynn Sr. simply because Lynn Sr. is tired after a busy day. Lincoln and Rita seem to think he's actually sick, though.
- Pun:
- When Lynn Sr. in the story says that the hamburger meat "isn't strong enough", the real kids wonder if that meant the cow didn't exercise enough. Lucy says that they'd have to bring the cow back and make her exercise, so Lynn Sr. jokes that they'll be making her "beef up", to which Luan replies that they'd be doing "necro-moo-ncy".
- In the story, Luan says that it wasn't very "slice" of Lynn Sr. to diss Lincoln's pizza.
- Shout-Out: Lana says with pizza on a bagel, you can eat pizza anytime. This is a reference to the famous Bagel Bites jingle.
- Unconventional Food Usage: Luan throws bread at Lucy as a prank, which Lynn Sr. cites as wasteful.
- Vulgar Humour: Lynn Sr. makes an awkward pause when the Lori in the story moans while eating a hamburger.
