'Toon Reviews 16: Hey Arnold Season 3 Episode 2: Curly Snaps/Pre-Teen Scream

Curly Snaps

The best way to describe Curly is that he’s a peculiar enigma.  When he’s in the background, you don’t think much of him, but whenever he’s given a lot of focus, he provides an approach to life that’s incredibly unethical and psychotic by committing huge felonies over very little things.  In fact his biggest role covered at this point featured him causing a false alarm just because his pencil got used up.  This cartoon is like that scenario on a much larger scale, and the ensuing craziness makes the viewing experience an awesome one. 

Curly is anxious of becoming ball monitor for the week, which means he has to collect, distribute, and return a big bag of kickballs every day for recess, and is incredibly sure he’ll get chosen.  This factor alone is the first sign of Curly’s insane mindset with him actually considering this chore and burden something great.  Well, his insanity isn’t that obvious at first, but these feelings take on a whole new meaning due to what happens later.  After a sequence of Curly doing a lot of nice things to build up to the big event, which is set up as a fantasy but confusingly turns out to be real, the dramatic shift in tone occurs when Sid is chosen to be ball monitor instead.  Most mature functioning people would be accepting of the disappointment and move on with their lives since in the long run it doesn’t matter.  Curly, however, isn’t like those people. 

Sometime after Sid is named ball monitor, he responds by stealing the big bag of kickballs from the supply closet, and locking himself in Principal Wartz’s office.  If that’s not enough, instead of just staying there in a pout over his disappointment, Curly goes for a more physical and violent route against the entire school body, by throwing all the kickballs at everyone who passes by.  It’s crazy to see something so extreme happen in a public school, but not only does this fit Curly’s character, this scenario also propels the cartoon into intense yet intriguing status.  It shows the extent of Curly’s inner madness regarding how far he can go when things don’t go his way.  He’s brave enough to trespass into the part of the school exclusive to the highest authority, assault anyone he sees, even random bystanders who have nothing to do with the issue, and aggressively state his pity party over a system as valuable as Principal Wartz’s PA system.  These are the kinds of things that most kids wouldn’t dare even try to do since there’s very little chance of actually getting away with them, so to see something of this magnitude happening is an interesting change of pace. 

The way Curly’s actions are treated make them feel believable should someone be crazy enough to do something like he’s doing.  You got word spreading rapidly and frantically about the chaos, kids near the office running for cover, and conflict on how to deal with Curly with Principal Wartz losing his temper and wanting to get physical while Mr. Simmons strives to remain calm through the unruliness.  Still, for how unacceptable Curly is acting, he’s treated like the human being he is when some of the school body listen to what’s upset him and try to reason with him.  They also uncover deeper details to the situation like Curly having a schedule showing that this WAS his week to be ball monitor, and Curly is reasonable with letting Sid finish the week and agreeing to wait for his own. 

The fact that Curly is even slightly open to reason helps keep him likable despite his clear insanity.  It shows that even those who seem crazy CAN still have a heart others can see if they’re patient enough.  Along with the excitement and scope of Curly’s scene over something so petty, this is a very interesting, if out-of-control, viewing experience. 9.5/10

Pre-Teen Scream

Surprisingly, this cartoon is pretty relevant today when you consider reports of some dark truths about famous people in the entertainment industry like Louis C.K. and Harvey Weinstein, Loud House creator Chris Savino, and even chief of Pixar, John Lasseter.  The harsh celebrity truth this cartoon presents is nowhere near as harmful as what I mentioned, but the message it gives can greatly relate to anyone unfortunate enough to learn these bad things about the media giants they looked up to. 

Phoebe is a huge fan of a singer named Ronnie Matthews, and it’s somewhat easy to see why with the song he sings which, while being your basic cheesy pop ballad, is catchy enough to have playing in your head.  Regardless how you may feel about the song itself, the reasons Phoebe has for loving it as much as she does are solid enough with emphasis on good melodies and smart inspirational lyrics.  Those are always the best things to hope for in a song, and it’s only logical that those whose songs contain those elements would be some of the best in one’s eyes. 

Anyway Phoebe wins free concert tickets and a night with Ronnie in an essay contest and ropes Helga, who’s not a fan in the slightest and is just there for the free stuff, into coming along with her.  For the first part of the night, we’re treated to the basic concert treatment with the show going on in a big flashy auditorium as Ronnie Matthews performs his song, and Phoebe, as the big fan she’s been established as, clearly having the better time. 

Once she and Helga go back stage to meet the singing sensation, that’s when the cartoon starts getting interesting.  Instead of caring the most about the quality of the music and lyrics, Ronnie Matthews, with a lot of servants in tow, instead puts all his attention on looking nice, getting free stuff, and eating.  Slowly, the tables start to turn with Phoebe being more turned off by Ronnie while Helga starts latching onto him due to the fact that he’s not who he seems. 

The final straw comes when Ronnie Matthews lets the girls know that he plays no part in what makes him so successful.  He doesn’t write his own songs, and he doesn’t even actually sing or play the guitar.  He just parades himself around on stage looking nice while other people do the work.  It’s somewhat enjoyable to see Helga grow to like Ronnie for who he is, and Phoebe’s disgust with him is both sympathetic for her and relatable for anyone finding out that certain entertainment giants aren’t the great people they appear to be.  It’s not perfect in execution though since Ronnie reveals his fraudulency in a public diner and no one else seems to notice despite being near him.  Also, while it’s appropriate that the hard truth of Ronnie Matthews isn’t as bad as certain hard truths of real famous people, it does feel a little extreme for Phoebe to turn against him for not being the devoted songwriter she thought he was.  It’s unfortunate, but he’s not hurting anyone, so it wouldn’t really make sense for her to be this mad at him. 

At least the whole thing ends with a nice scene between Phoebe and Helga where, after calling each other out for their faults in this whole matter, they grow to understand one’s hurt feelings and the other’s enjoyment of the fraud’s mannerisms, selling them as a respectable friend pairing despite their differences.  It also drives home the message that knowing the artist can sometimes effect your enjoyment of the art, and after the many reports we’ve gotten, I feel this message will stick better than ever. 

For that, this cartoon a very prominent one in addition to being a charming display of characterization. 9.5/10

The Ranking

1. Curly Snaps
2. The Aptitude Test
3. Pre-Teen Scream
4. Oskar Gets a Job

The next Hey Arnold review features a cartoon attempting to make something big of Stinky who becomes the new spokesperson for Yahoo Soda, and Helga is moved to help her sister Olga, whose overachievements cause her major neglect, out of trouble when Olga gets engaged to a fraud.

The next MC Toon Reviews upload will be of Steven Universe Season 2 Episode 3.

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