Shalini's Review- "Arnold's Hat"/ "Stoop Kid"

"Arnold's Hat"                                                                

Arnold wakes up and gets ready for the day. When he goes down for breakfast, Grandma tells him   to take off his hat and tries to flip it off with her spatula. Arnold protests and says, "I never take off my hat!"

He heads to the the park to meet Gerald and they try to fly Arnold's kite. "Try" being the operative word- it doesn't seem to want to go up. As they discuss ways to improve the kite, Arnold takes out a wad of bubblegum from his mouth and sticks it underneath the park bench. Helga pops out from behind the bushes when they walk away and takes the gum back home with her.

Why does Helga need a piece of chewed gum? So she can stick it onto the statue of Arnold she made out of bubblegum! She's basically created a shrine to him in her closet (there are lights and candles surrounding the bubblegum statue). 

However, Helga realizes that the statue looks incomplete without Arnold's hat. So she sets out to rectify this by pretending to be a gargoyle statue and snatching it off his head (this fails).

                                                  Helga is fantastic at doing impressions
Then, she tries using a fishing pole to get it. Hilariously, the hook snags onto the back fender of a truck and drags her across the roof. She winds up in a bird shed, covered in bird poop. Dejected, she starts weeping in frustration. All is not lost, however. A gust of wind carries Arnold's hat away and it lands at her feet.

                         
She is ecstatic and races home to put the hat on the statue. Then, she puts on some romantic music and slow dances with the bubblegum shrine. Arnold, in contrast, feels dejected about losing his hat and has a flashback to his parents giving him the hat when he was a baby. He's so down in the dumps that he refuses to come outside when the Jolly Olly Man gives away free ice cream. Helga feels guilty about taking his hat when she overhears this and goes back home to get it.

To her horror, her mother has thrown away the shrine. While Helga is screaming her head off, Grandpa dispenses some words of wisdom to Arnold- it's what's on the inside that counts, not the outside. It works. Arnold feels better and starts going outside again.

Back at the dump, Helga gets lucky again and finds a bird wearing the hat. She then bumps into Arnold who is so overjoyed about having his hat back, he hugs Helga! She pretends to be disgusted by this, but is secretly pleased.

Extra Stuff

• The flashback to Arnold's parents giving him the hat is particularly poignant. Apart from Grandma and Grandpa, the hat is his one other connection to his parents. I'm surprised they didn't play up the angst by  focusing on this more. But maybe they didn't construct Arnold's backstory at this point.
• The fact that Helga's mother didn't ask her any questions about the shrine (which is really weird thing to find in your kid's closet) is an early clue about Miriam's neglect/flakiness.

"Stoop Kid"

                                                                    

Arnold and his friends are playing football in the street. Arnold kicks the football so hard that it lands on the stoop of  the infamous Stoop Kid. Gerald explains that Stoop Kid was left on the stoop as a baby (possibly by aliens) and left to fend for himself. He's really protective of his stoop (which he never leaves) and lashes out anyone who comes near his stoop. All of the kids are too afraid of him to get the football off the stoop. Arnold makes an attempt to retrieve it, is too afraid to go through with it. Instead, he decides sit in an empty garbage can (which is conveniently located across the stoop) and wait until Stoop Kid leaves to snatch the football.

                                                                                                                     

The only problem is that Stoop Kid never seems to leave. Arnold realizes that if Stoop Kid never leaves his stoop, then he can't chase him if he decides to take the football. He snatches the football and while Stoop Kid yells at  him ( "Come back and face me like a man!"), his hypothesis is proven correct; Stoop Kid is afraid to leave his stoop. All of the kids laugh and jeer at him.

                                                                   

Later, Arnold hears Stoop Kid crying and offers to help him leave the stoop. After various methods fail, Arnold shows Stoop Kid pictures of all the other stoops in the world and tells him that he could see all of them, if only he could get off of his stoop. This seems to work- Stoop Kid loudly declares that he will get off of his stoop.

The mailman overhears his declaration and tells everyone else. The media swarms to the stoop and a huge crowd gathers, cheering Stoop Kid on. Encouraged, Stoop Kid finally gets off the stoop!

However, Stoop Kid decides not to leave the stoop since it his entire identity. He thanks Arnold for teaching him that he can harass people on and off the stoop. Right at that moment, Harold begins  mocking him and gets a nasty surprise when Stoop Kid jumps off the stoop and chases after him.

Extra Stuff 

• How old is Stoop Kid anyway? He seems older than Arnold, but his favorite book is The Little Engine That Could
• Stoop Kid is mean and annoying, but I like how this episode makes us feel sympathetic towards him. He may have an unpleasant personality, but he's also isolated and (until the end of the episode) afraid. The thing I like about this show is that it's willing to look more deeply into unpleasant characters ( like Helga or Harold) and is not afraid to paint them in a more sympathetic light.

                                                    

                                       

                                              

     

Saira’s Review: "Little Pink Book"/"Field Trip"

“Little Pink Book”

Helga's obsessive crush

As you guys know, I am a huge Helga/Arnold shipper so I was very excited to watch this episode of Hey Arnold because I knew it would be very Helga/Arnold-centric. I like how it gives more detail to Helga’s crush on him. She bullies him in class by throwing spitballs at him but secretly she’s in love with him. One thing I like is how it subverts the trope that “boys are mean to girls they like” by flipping the script and making Helga be the mean one to Arnold.

"Arnold – what a boob- and yet, what a dream boat. You’re eyes, like two green jelly beans, are pools I want to bathe in. In the classroom my heart doth swoon and yet I want to beat your face in."

I love how Helga thinks Arnold’s eyes are green when they clearly are not. Though her poems may be corny, they are pretty good for a fourth grader.

Helga's corny poetry

When Helga accidentally drops her little pink book into Arnold and Gerald’s vicinity, she immediately freaks out which is to be expected.

"Why? WHY did I sign my name?! I was too bold! Those poems weren’t meant to be seen until I’m dead and buried and worms have consumed my flesh!"

I agree - signing her name was a bold move, and now she must recover the book before Arnold and Gerald get to the last page. Being revealed as the author of the little pink books would be the most embarrassing things to ever happen to her. Her secret crush would be revealed and she’d be mocked relentlessly for it.

Helga proceeds to break into Arnold room, gets trapped, and forced to stay the night in a closet. I loved Helga’s reaction to being in Arnold room. “A place I have often visited in my dreams” – haha. She lays on his bed, sniffs his pillow and says "what is that shampoo." She is so cute. 

I also loved the literal growl Helga mutters every time Arnold shows his affection for Ruth.

Arnold and Gerald get to Helga’s name in the yearbook and burst out laughing at the thought of Helga crushing on Arnold. I mean there’s no way Helga could like Arnold when she’s constantly teasing him, right? They are so blind to it.

Arnold/Helga shipper goggles: 😍 “You know it IS kinda cool - obsessive - but cool” – Arnold accepting the Helga's crush on him. 😍

The episode ends with Helga doing some quick thinking to prevent Arnold from reading the entirety of the last page. I mean, Arnold got through almost half of that page. I was at the edge of my seat, thinking "oh no, Helga was too late, What's going to happen." But then Helga does something genius. She runs in, rips the page out, chews it up and makes a spitball to throw onto his head. Brilliant. And so in character with who she is as a person. "First spitball of the day, Football Head."

“Field Trip”

I remember the episode, “Field Trip,” was a very moving episode for me as a child. There’s just something beautiful about watching that turtle swim away from the city filled with pollutants, litter, and a factory in the background. This episode highlights Arnold’s empathy and maturity in contrast to his classmates. The classmates are super crazy on the school bus while Arnold and Gerald muse that hopefully they get to the aquarium soon. 

Arnold’s classmates hype him up about all the cool creatures in the aquarium – one of which is Lock Jaw.

I have to admit – I was disappointed in the reveal of lock jaw. He did look tiny in the first frame. All of Arnold’s classmates are disappointed and Harold shows his lack of empathy by throwing ice cream at him. Arnold, being a sweet man, puts himself in Lock Jaw’s shoes. He wouldn’t want to be trapped in a cage, graffiti all over him, in a dirty environment, with kids constantly mocking him.

When he comes home he keeps on thinking about the turtle. The Girl Scout selling the chocolate turtles, Grandpa wearing a turtle neck and looking for his tortoise shell glasses – Arnold just looks so sad in these scenes. Arnold tells Grandma about his feelings, and Grandma does some empathetic thinking of her own. She keeps on focusing on how Arnold called the turtle old, and realizes that they must act to break Lock Jaw out of the aquarium.

As a kid, I never noticed how cooky Arnold’s grandma was. “I haven't seen you this down since Von Kluck swept through Belgium back in August '14.” As a person writing this recap in 2016, I was confused. 2014?? Nah, she obviously means 1914. Now I don’t know much about history, but I do know Arnold wasn’t around during that time. Is grandma confusing him with someone else? It can’t be Arnold’s dad, because he probably wasn’t born then. It had to be a peer of Grandma because she was probably Arnold’s age in 1914.

Grandma is VERY cooky. She finds a red sweater for Arnold for the heist? That doesn’t make sense. Red is so easy to see. “From now on, call me, “Chief,” and you’re “Agent Nine.” – Grandma making code names from them. She throws gear at Arnold and it’s just knitting supplies. And of course this gem:

Grandma, do you know how to drive?

Overall, I thought this was both a heart-felt AND funny episode.

Stray Observations:

• It took me a few seconds to get why sushi chefs were banned in the aquarium lol 
• At the end the security guard fell in the aquarium – oh no, he’s gonna die. But then again, he was exhibiting animal abuse by forcing that penguin to throw up cookies for his amusement.
• Grandma using a grappling hook on that tiny wall. I love Grandma.

Arnold/Helga shipper goggles: 😍 When Arnold asks Helga who Lock-Jaw is. It shows that maybe Arnold is a little friendly with her.. 😍

Shalini’s Review - “Little Pink Book”/ “Trip to the Aquarium”

Shalini’s Review - “Little Pink Book”/ “Trip to the Aquarium” 

 

“Little Pink Book”

The episode begins with Helga throwing spitballs at Arnold in class and her playing innocent when Arnold turns to glare at her. When he turns away, she pulls out a little pink diary and writes a sickeningly sweet poem about him that would make first-year Ginny Weasley gag.

The kids head off to board the bus and while she’s waiting, Helga cuts off a bit of his hair to put in her diary. She writes a poem rhapsodizing about (who else?) using the first letter of her name for every line. BIG MISTAKE, HELGA!!!

As she gets off the bus, the diary falls onto Gerald’s pile of books- a fact that she realizes a few minutes later when she searches through her bag. Helga’s face, when she realizes this, is a sight to behold.

                                    See this? This is the face you make when your life is about to end.

Meanwhile, Gerald finds the diary and begins reading the poems aloud in front of the entire neighborhood.  Arnold and Gerald decide to find out whose diary it is by letting Abner (Arnold’s pet pig) sniff it and follow the scent. As they follow Abner out of the boarding house, they miss Helga breaking  into Arnold’s room. She is immediately distracted by the fact that she is in his room. She even smells his pillow and proclaims, “Omigosh, what is that shampoo?!!!” Then, she spots the diary on the bookshelf, but just as she reaches for it, Arnold and Gerald return and she winds up hiding in the closet. 

Arnold and Gerald try to figure it out the diary’s author by testing out various items (like hair and a retainer) against the diary’s contents. Arnold hopes that Ruth McDougal, his sixth-grade crush, wrote the poems. Hilariously, Helga growls ominously every time her name is brought up.

Ruth McDougal-how many times did Helga fantasize about punching her in the face, I wonder?

When their efforts fail to produce any conclusive results, Arnold suggests comparing the handwriting in the yearbook to the writing in the diary. Fortunately, they stop before they reach Helga’s name. Gerald leaves and Arnold gets ready for bed.

Helga makes a call to “Grubworm” (who is really Phoebe) and tells Phoebe to call her mom and tell her that she is sleeping over at Phoebe’s place. She spends the night sleeping in Arnold’s closet.

 After a conversation with Grandpa, Arnold decides that it’s flattering that someone cares so much about him. Unfortunately, this does not prevent him from reading the poems aloud for his classmates’ amusement. Just as he reaches the last page (where Helga wrote her name), Helga, in a moment of sleep-deprived brilliance, rips out the page, chews it, and uses it as spitball against Arnold. She feels triumphant about averting a near disaster and she even managed to save Arnold’s hair.

Extra Stuff: 

 Arnold’s eyes are green, according to Helga’s poem

“Name poems” are actually called acrostic poems (the more you know!)

-           Ruth looks a lot like Arnold’s mom, minus the braces

-           Helga’s codename is “Mighty Falcon” 

“Trip to the Aquarium”

Arnold and the rest of the class are on a field trip to the aquarium. While the rest of his classmates have been to the aquarium before, Arnold has not. They keep going on and on about an animal called Lockjaw, who is apparently the scariest sea monster ever.

Unfortunately, Lockjaw (a giant sea turtle) doesn’t live up to the hype. He looks tired, his shell has been graffitied, and the kids laugh and jeer at him (Harold even throws his ice cream at him). Arnold is clearly shaken by what he has seen.

Back home, Arnold confides to his grandmother about Lockjaw and she is so angry that she comes up with a plan to free Lockjaw. On their way to the aquarium, Grandma (who apparently likes codenames as much as Helga does) calls herself “Chief” and Arnold “Agent 9”. They walk right past the security guard, clean Lockjaw’s shell, and roll him out on a skateboard to the car.

 

Wheeeeeee!!!!

Once there, they push Lockjaw out into the harbor. Arnold tells his grandmother that she is the best and Grandma says that he is too (Awww!). Then Grandma proclaims that she has a hankering for turtle soup… ruining that heartwarming moment. Thanks, Grandma (sarcastic voice).

Extra Stuff:

-          Grandma’s affinity for codenames and sneaky plans makes me think she and Helga would get along perfectly.

-          The AV Club posted two articles about Hey Arnold’s debut in 1996- you can read them here and here.

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