'Toon Reviews 7: Hey Arnold Season 2 Episode 11

Steely Phil

Arnold’s Grandpa has always been one of the most entertaining parts of this show from the beginning.  Not only is it unique for the main protagonist of a show to be brought up by grandparents, but Grandpa has quickly proven to be one of the greatest grandparent characters in animation.  He has his own style of giving his grandson advice, can easily relate to him when it comes to his pastimes despite his old age, and is skilled in a lot more things than one might expect.  With all these entertaining layers to Grandpa, it’s great that we start getting cartoons focused on him with this one.  Arnold learns that his Grandpa used to be a master of Chinese checkers under the nickname of Steely Phil.  However, despite all his skills, he let the pressures of winning get to him while playing against another Chinese checker master called Robbie Fisher and blew a perfect chance to tie the game.  Now that he’s come across Robbie Fisher again, Grandpa gets the opportunity to try and beat him in an upcoming Chinese checkers championship.  During the time preparing for the championship, we’re introduced to a relatable insecure side to Grandpa.  We’re so used to seeing him be so confident and laid-back when looking after and spending time with Arnold that it turns out to be such a big deal to hear how unconfident he is to try Chinese checkers again.  However, with a good, determined grandson like Arnold, he slowly fights through his anxieties.  It’s especially felt through an exciting training montage where he falters a lot at first through basic exercises, but as the montage continues, he starts making some significant improvements just as the scene’s music ends with a triumphant note.  It may not be much different from other training montages TV shows and movies tend to use, but it’s a favorite common convention that’s always welcomed in telling a story.  Even with the progress, Grandpa still doesn’t have enough confidence to compete going on to talk to Arnold in the middle of the night.  This scene also shows that his lack of confidence doesn’t just apply to Chinese checkers when he tells Arnold that his confidence that he could do certain things given to his grandson was on the off chance everyone else would lose.  Even with this reveal, Arnold still is all for encouraging his Grandpa to compete and conquer his fears.  All this training proves to pay off when the Chinese checker tournament comes, Grandpa makes it to Robbie Fisher, and just when it looks like he’s about to lose the same way he did all those years ago, he remembers to have the game end in a tie.  It’s a well-deserved victory that pays off Grandpa’s relatable conflict making this cartoon a solid start to his many starring roles.  It’s an instance where a character’s old age makes him all the more engaging. 9.5/10

Quantity Time

This cartoon is a prime example of how bad Helga has it at home.  Being raised by a fortune-obsessed dad and a drug addict mom both of whom clearly show more favor to her perfect older sister, it’s no surprise that this lifestyle is the source of her meanness.  Unfortunately for her in this cartoon, everything bad about her family infringes on her spring break from school.  It all happens when her break as well as her dad, Big Bob’s, break from running his beeper emporium become known to her mom, Miriam.  Miriam takes the initiative to get out of the house infringing on her alone time for a whole week under the guise of taking care of her sick mother, suggesting that Helga and Big Bob bond while she’s gone.  Not only are her actions a clear sign of neglect, albeit one she tries to keep subtle, but Big Bob is a major detracting factor to his time with his daughter turning out good.  He expresses clear disdain towards spending quality time with her and treats it like a chore instead of something genuine.  In fact, in all his actions, there’s nothing genuine at all in his attempts to bond with Helga.  He purchases foods she either hates or can’t eat when grocery shopping, drags Helga along for his monotonous errands against her will, and when she complains that they’re just doing things he wants to do, he ropes her into activities she’s long grown out of.  Big Bob just goes through the motions of his life, thinking that he and Helga can bond just because she’s with him when he’s doing his things, showing no believable love for her in the slightest.  It’s mean and uncaring of him, but it makes the life Helga lives somewhat fascinating as it’s a fine example of how dysfunctional some families can be.  True, it’s common to see some dysfunction in most TV shows, but what Helga has to put up with goes beyond the usual standards given what we see of Big Bob here.  Also, we also see that while Big Bob truly is a bad parent, he’s not one-dimensional.  When Helga’s complaints of him failing at bonding don’t get to him, her lamenting to Phoebe of how she can’t see the one thing she wanted to see the most during her break does.  Big Bob actually shows regret for his daughter’s misery and takes it upon himself to get her tickets for the event.  In an interesting turn of events, the tickets he gets are for a stage musical advertised on the back of the ad of what Helga really wanted to see, a wrestling match.  Despite the mess-up, it finally gets Helga and Big Bob to bond while riffing on how stupid the musical is.  It’s both a hilarious and heartwarming way of showing that even the worst events in life have something good to them.  While Big Bob may turn some people off, the look at Helga’s less-than-ideal life and the charm of the ending bond are considerably worth watching. 9/10

The Ranking

1. Harold’s Kitty
2. Helga’s Love Potion
3. Monkey Business
4. Eugene’s Pet
5. Freeze Frame
6. Steely Phil
7. Gerald’s Secret
8. Save the Tree
9. Phoebe Cheats
10. Gerald Moves Out
11. New Teacher
12. Mudbowl
13. Quantity Time
14. Ms. Perfect
15. Big Caesar
16. Ransom
17. The Big Scoop
18. Best Friends
19. The High Life
20. Hooky
21. Arnold Saves Sid
22. Longest Monday

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Arnold enters an "Eating Contest," and we see an interesting take on one of the most famous civil rights acts in history in "Rhonda's Glasses."

If you would like to check out other Hey Arnold reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.