Saira’s Review: "Downtown As Fruits"/"Eugine's Bike"

“Downtown As Fruits”

Welcome to my first recap in which I’ll be talking about the first Hey Arnold episode ever – Downtown as Fruits. It’s been a real treat starting this project. I was so excited just hearing/seeing the Hey Arnold theme song so let’s get started. 

I think this episode does a great job depicting the setting of the series. One of my favorite things about Hey Arnold is that it takes place in a city environment. I grew up in Jersey City, NJ and I always loved how Arnold’s city was very similar to my city. I felt that most shows would depict either a suburb or a recognizable city like New York. No other television show depicted a city that felt authentic – a city that was a little gritty or a city that was low-income class. I will obviously be relating to Arnold’s city experiences throughout this recap series.

Hey Arnold starts these city references by taking a public transportation bus to their school play which I love. In 6th grade, I would take the NJ Transit buses with the rest of the Jersey City population to get to my middle school. 

fave fruits

“Downtown As Fruits” is a very catchy phrase just for its absurdity.  I’m not sure if Downtown is supposed to be the sketchier area of town. It seemed like it with the way people were saying “Wow, people downtown sure are friendly.” And, of course, being thrown loads of cash out of the blue is sketchy af. It was incredibly brave and a little stupid of Arnold and Gerald to not get off at their correct stop. If I was in 4th grade I would be terrified of getting lost, not knowing where I am, and having to stay alive in a dangerous neighborhood.

groovy af

I thought it was hilarious how those two older criminal guys were wearing the SAME EXACT costumes as Arnold and Gerald.  What a coincidence – amiright?  At the end of the episode, when those two guys got arrested, you can hear the police radio say “Officer shot in the-“. Very sketchy and very dangerous.

Arnold and Gerald’s banana and strawberry costumes were visually hilarious. So were their funky outfits.

I thought it was great how Helga was so invested in her play. “I ate nothing but dairy products for two weeks!” she says about her role as milk. It shows that right from the beginning, Helga really cares about her art. I was delighted to see that the Helga-punching-Stinky meme was evident as far as the first episode. 

I like how in the end Arnold gives his money to a woman whose car has broken down. I thought that was super sweet and generous. As a 23 year old, I know a broken down car can cause a lot of stress and money problems. 

Arnold/Helga shipper goggles: 😍 when Arnold realized he had hurt Helga and knew he had to go back and make it right 😍

"If I ever get my hands on that Arnold I'll-I'll soothe his fevered brow. Oh my poor lost sweetheart. How I love you. And yet I hate you. And yet I love you. And yet I hate you. And yet I love you" - Helga

Stray Observations:

• Payphones: Every-time I see a payphone in older television shows I’m like omg wow a payphone lol.
• “The journey is the destination, man” – Gerald. He is so cool.
• “Sodas for everyone.” - Arnold. My kind of party.

“Eugene’s Bike”

In this episode, Arnold accidentally breaks Eugene’s bike and spends the entire episode trying to make up for it. I was very impressed with how Arnold took apart Eugene’s messed up bike and rebuilt it so expertly. I think if Abner hadn’t taken away the brake cable, the bike might have been good as new. I was very impressed with Arnold’s kindness throughout the episode. When fixing the bike didn’t work, he tries to give Eugene a fun filled day by taking him out to a ballgame and other fun activities. Of course, Eugene gets hurt in all of them. I’m a sensitive soul so it was discouraging seeing Eugene get hurt over and over again. Like Arnold, I also believe every geek should have his day.

Stray Observations:

• Eugene got his bike for Flag Day? What a hipster holiday haha.
• I never noticed that Eugene underwear sticks out from his pants until today. 
• Eugene got his tonsils AND spleen removed accidentally at the hospital. I cringed the most when this happened.  
• “Stuff like this always happens to the geeky kids.” – Gerald.