Friday, March 1, 2019

The Beeper Queen / Oskar Can't Read? (Hey Arnold Season 4 Episode 5) - 'Toon Reviews 28

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The Beeper Queen
It’s well-established that Helga’s bad side is a result of her bad home life, mostly from her parents neglecting her.  However, despite both her mom and dad not being good at their jobs on the whole, even they have moments.  For this cartoon, we get a sense of that with Miriam who gets away from her alcoholic habits around the house and enters the work world. 
A freak event causes Big Bob to throw out his back which means he has to stay home to heal and won’t be able to run his beeper emporium.  Miriam is the only option to cover for him, and there’s some believable hesitation with this move given what she’s usually like.  Shortly after the first day, it turns out that Miriam can pull off running the emporium very well.  She doesn’t succumb to any of her usual shortcomings, gets the work done, and establishes a good rapport with the investors.  It’s like she’s a whole different person without her lethargic habits and “smoothies.”  Have her get out more, and she’s a productive individual with potential. 
The most noteworthy thing of all is what it does for Miriam’s role as a mother.  She and Helga become much closer than ever, for when work is done, they bond through socializing as Helga does her homework.  Plus, she’s far more attentive of things she usually neglects, mainly preparing Helga’s lunches.  All this seems like a positive change of pace the Pataki family desperately needs.  Miriam pulls off the usual workload with a positive attitude while Big Bob takes it easy for once by obsessing over soap operas.  Helga being happy with everything for once seals the deal. 
Then comes the very sad part of the affair.  Even with these positive changes, Helga gradually faces the same neglect.  It’s not because Miriam is somehow swayed back into her old habits.  She just adopts new ones where the job she enjoys consumes her so much, she values it over every other thing, including her family.  As a result, over time, because of her attachment to her job, she pays less and less attention to Helga who’s left unnoticed again.  This job may not be alcoholic, but Miriam’s attachment to it is honestly not far off from what she usually indulges in.  It goes to show that you can put either of Helga’s parents in different settings, but their faults will still persist. 
Rather than being annoyed by all this, Helga is surprisingly depressed and saddened, and believably so.  She really thought things would get better now that her mom is working, but they really haven't.  Then, in an interesting scene of Arnold taking interest in Helga’s problem despite hearing nothing about it earlier, she’s moved to actually talk to her mom about how she feels.  She does so when Miriam is dong an elaborate Broadway-like commercial for beepers, which is kind of ironic considering how irrelevant they are today.  She blows off her daughter’s request to talk, but when she sees herself tell her to go on a TV later, Miriam shows her humanity is intact.  This brings a heartfelt scene where Miriam walks out on the commercial, and personally lets Helga know that she’ll always be there to be her mom. 
The last scene suggests some change as she goes back to the status quo, but does so in a much healthier positive attitude.  Like her taking the job though, it’s also disappointing.  As before in an earlier cartoon, “Road Trip,” after all her genuine development, it doesn’t carry over into other cartoons, and Miriam’s back to her old habits.  This is an unfortunate sting for sure, but through the character moments and emotions, this cartoon as a work by itself is very pleasing and endearing.
A

Oskar Can’t Read?
If you were to ask me who my favorite resident of Arnold’s boarding house is, it’s Oskar Kokoshka.  Sure, he’s a lazy, self-absorbed, conman always looking for the easy way out, but as a character like that, he’s a lot of fun to watch.  His feeble attempts to get money and duck out of the hard work it takes to live a healthy life are just certain things that get a laugh out of me.  Part of his appeal is how his lazy ways are frequently called out, and how it never really feels like he’s trying to be unlikable.  He feels more naïve and unaware of how to act socially appropriate.  As an interesting change of pace, what he goes through in this cartoon is not about him doing something beneficial because of how other people react to his laziness.  Rather, it’s about him acting as a result of what his laziness does to him personally. 
It’s shown right away when he makes mistakes or feeble excuses when people ask for his help.  Arnold deduces this behavior as Oskar covering up the fact that he apparently doesn’t know how to read.  It goes without saying that reading is an important skill to know to get around in life.  With Oskar never learning how to do it, that really shows the depths of his faults.  It begs the question on how he can possibly be a paperboy since that involves reading routes.  However, they do reference this fact, so maybe the reason for keeping the job is something that shouldn’t be read too deeply into.  Arnold sets up basic exercises to help Oskar learn to read, but in typical Oskar Kokoshka fashion, he doesn’t put in an ounce of work, even if the exercises are so easy.  Excuses for not filling out the sheets and bribes to make it look like he can read something complex abound just so he can win a bet, but by the middle of the cartoon, they’re discovered. 
The thing is, although Oskar is admonished for faking that he was getting better at reading, that doesn’t feel like the biggest reason he’s crushed.  As he observes the world around him, it feels like he’s saddened that he can’t read signs or directions like everyone else.  Ultimately, Oskar decides he doesn’t want to read for a bet or for others, but rather for himself, and for the rest of the cartoon, his efforts to do that are so genuine. 
It makes for many memorable moments, in particular a scene where he reads a simple book about petting a kitty. The appeal comes from a grown man delighting in reading something for really young children. 
Following this scene is a special stunt to determine if Oskar can read once and for all where Arnold leaves him across town to read directions to find his way home.  Some may call this move extreme for an illiterate person, but I’m not too bothered and see this as an interesting exercise.  Not to mention, Oskar does a pretty good job of reading the routes, towns, and street signs, and only messes up because of an honest mistake anyone could’ve made.  Even when despondent over it, he’s reading without even trying.  Even if this does get him lost for a long time, he’s endearingly moved to realize that literacy was inside him all along as finding a stray cat makes him think of the one book he read.  As a result, we close with an endearing moment of Oskar finally coming home, as well as a hilarious scene of Oskar reading Pet the Kitty while everyone’s trying to sleep into the credits. 
There’s a great sense of strong comedy, genuine heart, and an overall sympathetic portrayal of Oskar here. You really don’t need to read too hard into this cartoon to see it as his best starring role.

A+


The Ranking
  1. Oskar Can’t Read?
  2. Dinner for Four
  3. The Beeper Queen
  4. Stinky’s Pumpkin
  5. Big Gino
  6. Phoebe Skips
  7. Eugene’s Birthday
  8. Student Teacher
  9. Jamie O in Love
  10. Full Moon
The next Hey Arnold review takes on a spooky tone with the tale of the Headless Cabbie and things going wrong on Friday the 13th.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a special review for March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss.
If you would like to check out other Hey Arnold reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

1 comment:

  1. Woah. I expected Beeper Queen to get an A, but I did not expect Oskar Can't Read to get an A+. Now I'll have to go back and watch that one. All I remember about that one is "pat the kitty."

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