It’s a common occurrence for
someone with a crush on someone to want to do something to make them jealous,
so it’s natural that we get a cartoon in which Helga tries to do that to
Arnold. Specifically, she attempts to do
that by getting one of the classmates, Stinky, to act as her boyfriend in front
of Arnold. While we’re on the subject,
I’d like to point out my opinion on Stinky.
He’s one of those characters where the most interesting thing about him
is the type of character he is. He’s a
simple-minded country kid living in a city where nearly everyone else has a
more intellectual way of thinking, even those who aren’t all that smart. In here, and cartoons that came before and
after this one, this makes for some enjoyable interactions between characters
and moments on his own, but there isn’t much that makes him very
interesting. Because of this, the
cartoon present is merely decent for what it is. Still, there’s some good appeal in
spots. They include the ways Stinky’s simple
way of thinking cause many of Helga’s acts to make Arnold jealous backfire, and
the way he approaches his possible infatuation for Helga as a result of their
time together and later try to win her over.
The appeal is especially strong if you get a laugh out of country boys
approaching normal everyday situations amusing.
Other than that, there’s nothing noteworthy or exciting to take away
from. Though, I will say that near the
end of the cartoon, it’s nice that Helga lets Stinky down maturely by explaining
that them as a couple just won’t work out instead of being a jerk about it, at
least not as much of a jerk as she usually is.
Plus, it’s interesting that Stinky ultimately finds new love with a girl
who’s basically a polar opposite of Helga, previously thought to only exist in
Helga’s dreams. Maybe there’s more to
what she witnessed in “Magic Show” than previously perceived. So, for focusing on a decent character with a
few standout moments, this cartoon is worth a look, but you’ll constantly be
reminded that this show has way more engaging material than this. 7/10
Crush
on Teacher
We’ve seen Arnold crush on girls
older than him, so it makes sense that he’d fall under the trope of students
getting smitten with a hot-looking teacher.
It all unfolds when his class gets a substitute teacher named Ms.
Felter. Arnold takes in some clear
admiration of her impression of his knowledge as a student as well as her
fondness for the name Arnold and eventually just can’t stop thinking about her. Moments of Arnold showing some admiration for
Ms. Felter are somewhat cute in their own right, but there’s one thing that
makes them really work, and that is how his feelings are perceived as a
problem. On several occurrences, Gerald
notices that Arnold is acting weird by constantly relating Ms. Felter to
everything he sees. The reason these
moments make Arnold crushing on Ms. Felter work is because it’s implied that
crushing on someone who’s too old for you, especially teachers, is not healthy
and will just leave you depressed.
That’s something all kids need to know.
It’s not just the implications that make Arnold’s crush in this cartoon
work. It should also be noted that it
leads to a major part of the story in which Arnold and Gerald get the idea that
Ms. Felter is planning on inviting Arnold for dinner, implying that maybe she
does like Arnold. Plus, even when she
says the last name of the potential Arnold, the situation is still believable
since we don’t know the main Arnold’s last name (though recently, this show’s
creator, Craig Bartlett, revealed that it’s been said several times in the form of a supposed
nickname from his Grandpa). This makes it easy to get
behind Arnold as he prepares for his dinner date with Ms. Felter seeking Gerald
for advice on how to act while on the date.
All the while, we see things slowly fall into place as Arnold starts to
grow nervous about Ms. Felter possibly being serious about liking him a lot,
and Ms. Felter getting confused as to why Arnold is present for dinner. Then again, it would make sense that
something’s amiss since the kids never consider that she never invited Arnold
herself. Eventually, it’s revealed that the
Arnold Ms. Felter had in mind was a completely different one, and one that she
plans on marrying at that. This leaves
Arnold to realize the hard truth that he and his hot substitute teacher were
never meant to be, which qualifies as the relatable life moment of heartbreak,
but considering that this is the healthy way to go, it’s nice that he
ultimately shrugs it off as the cartoon ends.
This is another basic story involving a common trope, but it’s
interesting to note how much though it has put into it. 9/10
The Rankings
1. Pigeon Man
2. Arnold’s Christmas
3. Haunted Train
4. Stoop Kid
5. Arnold’s Hat
6. Wheezin’ Ed
7. Spelling Bee
8. Helga’s Makeover
9. Mugged
10. False Alarm
11. Magic Show
12. Tutoring Torvald
13. The Baseball
14. Olga Comes Home
15. The List
16. Das Subway
17. The Vacant Lot
18. Downtown as Fruits
19. The Old Building
20. Field Trip
21. The Sewer King
22. Sally’s Comet
23. Roughin’ It
24. Gerald Comes Over
25. Crush on Teacher
26. 6th Grade Girls
27. The Little Pink Book
28. 24 Hours to Live
29. Abner Come Home
30. Arnold as Cupid
31. Snow
32. Eugene’s Bike
33. Biosquare
34. Door #16
35. Heat
36. Helga’s Boyfriend
37. Part Time Friends
38. Benchwarmer
39. Operation Ruthless
40. World Records
41. Cool Jerk
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the 22nd episode of the season: "Hall Monitor/Harold's Bar Mitzvah."
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