'Toon Reviews 16: Hey Arnold Season 3 Episode 17: Girl Trouble/School Dance

Girl Trouble

Because of the background to where she gets her bully behavior, Helga acting mean and using it to hide her love for Arnold is understandable and believable.  She’s not only one of the most interesting characters, but also, in my opinion, the best of the cast.  However, even the best characters can have moments that don’t do them justice, and sadly this cartoon has some of them. 

When the class is doing group projects, which includes Arnold teaming up with Helga, her mean behavior becomes particularly concerning.  She doesn’t just boss everyone around like she usually does.  She also looks like she intends to make Arnold look bad by pulling nasty practical jokes on him in front of the whole classroom.  Under normal circumstances, Helga would be discrete with being mean, doing so in mostly secluded areas or playing innocent when confronted, so the fact that she simply gets away with humiliating Arnold out in the open costs her major value.  As for Arnold, while it’s believable that he’d get fed up with Helga’s bullying at some point, the fact that his annoyances come from Helga simply saying what the group can and can’t do in the project make his reactions a little extreme, so it’s hard to accept that he’d be this scornful this quickly.  This leaves us with a conflict with both sides being too hard to get behind. 

It’s at least nice that several scenes show that what Helga did was indeed a cover, but this too becomes concerning considering what happens when Arnold tells Grandpa about his trouble.  Grandpa relates this to him constantly getting pranked by a girl in his school days, concluding that girls picking on boys means the girl likes the boy since his prankster turned out to be Arnold’s Grandma.  As much as I enjoy hearing about the pasts of likable characters, there are so many unfortunate implications with this story.  It’s condescending to girls, treating them like other creatures whose actions mean something completely different than they would from a boy when the reality is that a girl bullying a boy can easily mean the same thing as the other way around.  It also further devalues Helga as a character.  We know that the stress fueling her meanness is from her bad home life, not because she’s simply mean by nature like young Grandma.  Even if this is known, this cartoon acts like the depths of Helga’s character don’t even matter.  

What’s worse is that this stereotype is enforced outside of Grandpa’s mindset during another bad project session when after more bullying from Helga gets paint on him, Arnold snaps and deliberately gets paint on her.  The kicker is that Arnold is the one to get in trouble and called out for his wrongdoings in front of everyone even though Helga, who did the same, is never called out.  I suppose I can’t count the paint incident since it just poured on Arnold by accident when she let the jar go, but maybe this could’ve been avoided if she was called out for her pranks the previous day. 

There are some things that lighten the frustrating weights though.  Arnold’s apology to Helga is handled fine, it’s commendable that Helga genuinely regrets her actions when she’s alone, and Grandpa and Grandma do provide some solid light-hearted moments big on laughs.  On the whole, it’s not all bad, but its flaws mess with the appeal of many strong characters and base everything on an unhealthy stereotype.  It’s a rare cartoon from this show I can’t recommend. 4/10

School Dance

Teamed with a really weak cartoon that doesn’t do justice for the characters involved, this is one with strong positives but also has a fair share of underlying negatives.  It’s a relatable and believable cartoon to people in the arts which has much of the appeal. 

Arnold is assigned to book entertainment for an upcoming school dance which is where the weak points lie with everyone constantly on Arnold’s case on getting someone good.  The problem is that they’re all unnecessarily scornful towards Arnold as if they don’t believe he can pull it off despite his great track record of reliability.  Plus, it’s extremely uncomfortable to see them get this worked up over a dance.  At least the first bit of mean moments are followed by more pleasing scenes of Arnold finding entertainment which includes funny moments from kids who audition. 

Eventually, with some encouragement from his grandparents, Arnold decides to book lounge singer, Dino Spumoni, for the dance, and considering the music he’s turned out in his few major appearances, I’d say that would be a great and classy choice.  However, when Arnold tries to recruit him, Dino is not open to performing feeling that no one likes his music due to low sales, and is so depressed that he plans on retiring, going out with a depressing song.  It’s during this conversation that shows interesting aspects of Dino’s character.  He relates to franchises that have certain interests when it comes to entertainment, but when they’re not reaching the heights they used to, they get understandably depressed.  He even recounts attempts to get back by latching onto current trends like rap and hip-hop which only made his sales worse, which is also relatable to franchises struggling to stay relevant.  As for him doing the dance, Dino agrees only because he can’t get a spot for his farewell concert at the place he was aiming for. 

Even though Arnold now has his entertainment, the other kids are still relentless jerks, not open to the idea of Dino performing or believing that he’s any good.  Again, did they forget Arnold’s trustworthiness?  How can they be so dense to shoot down his entertainment suggestion without really knowing much about him, especially since his songs are legitimately good? 

To be fair, their behavior is somewhat justified when the dance comes and Dino performs his depressing ballad, “My Last Bow.”  If you know what you’re in for with the song, it’s good and soulful as a depressing one, but it’s not appropriate for a dance where kids just want to have fun.  It’s still uncomfortable for all the moments of the kids calling out Arnold for the depression.  However, since he was the one who hired Dino, it’s nice that Arnold goes to talk some sense into Dino if he really wants to stop and if he really likes the songs he used to perform.  It doesn’t solve the sales problem, but it does bring to mind that how much money something makes doesn’t always equate to how people like it, which is yet another believable message for the entertainment world. 

So, the finale for the cartoon turns out strong with Dino performing the much more upbeat, “Back in the Swing” which is fitting for the moment and the kids give Arnold the praise he deserves, even if it doesn’t excuse their rude attitude for most of their appearances. 

On the whole, this is a total mixed bag with nice relatable messages for life and breaking into the entertainment field, but the plot is fueled by many unnecessary mean moments.  It does have some good, but it might not be one worth watching multiple times. 7/10

The Ranking

1. Helga Blabs it All
2. Harold the Butcher
3. Cool Party
4. Grandpa’s Birthday
5. Crabby Author
6. Mr. Hyunh Goes Country
7. Road Trip
8. Helga Vs. Big Patty
9. Arnold’s Thanksgiving
10. Hey Harold!
11. Curly Snaps
12. The Aptitude Test
13. Pre-Teen Scream
14. The Pig War
15. Olga Gets Engaged
16. Oskar Gets a Job
17. Arnold and Lila
18. Phoebe Takes the Fall
19. Best Man
20. Career Day
21. Gerald’s Tonsils
22. Grand Prix
23. Rich Kid
24. Dangerous Lumber
25. Casa Paradiso
26. Arnold’s Room
27. Helga and the Nanny
28. Roller Coaster
29. Stinky Goes Hollywood
30. School Dance
31. Sid’s Revenge
32. Girl Trouble
33. Arnold Betrays Iggy

The next Hey Arnold review offers a cartoon with more interesting messages on entertainment when Helga puts on a show, and another highly interesting story idea comes into play in which all of Mr. Simmons' class is stranded by a flood.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is more fun with Rocko's Modern Life with a review of "Power Trip" and "To Heck and Back."

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

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