Shalini's Review" “Downtown as Fruits”/ “Eugene’s Bicycle”

Welcome to the first Hey Arnold!  recap! Like you, I grew up on Nickelodeon and Hey Arnold!  was a particular favorite of mine. Not only was it wildly entertaining and hilarious, but it was also capable of tearing your heart right out of your chest (who could forget the emotional “Helga on the Couch” episode ?).

             

So as you can imagine, coming back and re-watching these episodes after the original series ended a little more than a decade ago has been a treat. It also caused me to notice a few things I hadn’t before; for instance, Arnold’s head looks a lot more oblong in this episode than in subsequent seasons. Also, both halves of the episode begin with Arnold daydreaming- I’m not certain, but I think that this happened with less frequency as the series progressed.

            

The storyline in the first half of the episode is centered on a play about the food pyramid that the class is performing later that night. Weirdly enough, Miss Slovak and Mr. Simmons don’t appear in this episode - even though it is a school play. Instead, directing duties fall on the irreplaceable and irascible Helga G. Pataki. The opening moments of the show quickly establish Helga as both a bully (“If anybody is late, they’re gonna have to answer to old Betsy *shows fist*”) and a huge nerd (“I want to hear what’s in your souls!”). In fact, Helga is so invested in this play, I’m going speculate that she probably wrote the play herself (it’s certainly within her capabilities).

She orders everyone show up early so they can have another run-through before the play. Later, Harold and Arnold (dressed as a strawberry and banana, respectively) get on the bus to get to the school. Both Harold and Arnold are less than thrilled with this, so when Harold suggests that they skip out on the whole thing, it’s not surprising that Arnold goes along with it (albeit after a few moments of indecisiveness). They get off on the last stop and realize they are stuck downtown with no money. This problem is easily solved when a random dude (mistaking them for the goons he works with) tosses them a bag of money. They ditch their costumes, get new duds, and let loose.

Meanwhile, the food pyramid play is falling apart and Helga wants to rip them both into pieces. However, she takes a break from her rant to do her standard back-and-forth “I-love you’s” and “I-hate-you’s” speech to Arnold’s picture. And then ends it by punching Brainy in the face. Classic Helga.

Arnold and Harold are chased out of a bar by the goons who should’ve received the money. They run into a fortune teller who asks them if they have wronged anyone. Arnold immediately feels bad about what they did to Helga and decides to fix things. They get their costumes, give the money to a random family, and head back to school. They perform their song and the play is a rousing success.

In “Eugene’s Bicycle” we’re introduced to the perpetually unlucky Eugene Horowitz. In this episode, he shows off the bike he received for Flag Day. However, his moment in the sun is cut short when Arnold accidentally sends Eugene’s “dream bike” into the path of an oncoming street cleaner. The bike is completely destroyed.

Arnold tries to make it up to him by fixing it for him. Eugene is elated- at least until the bike falls apart and he crashes into a car door. Later, a guilt-ridden Arnold visits him at the hospital and vows to make things right. After a trip down memory lane (during which he remembers how he’s indirectly responsible for all of Eugene’s bad luck moments), Arnold decides to take Eugene out for an action-packed fun day. However, Eugene keeps getting injured. He falls down a manhole, gets hit with a baseball, chokes on a hot dog…it’s safe to say that all of Arnold’s noble efforts have been in vain. 

But since Eugene is an optimist who sees a glass half-full, rather than half- empty, he warmly thanks Arnold for giving him such a great day. 

So, based on these two episodes, what kind of person is Arnold? He is a person with a moral compass, who makes mistakes (what kid doesn’t?), but is also capable of fixing them. I couldn’t think of a more worthy protagonist.