New Bully on the Block / Phoebe Breaks a Leg (Hey Arnold Season 5 Episode 4) - 'Toon Reviews 34

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New Bully on the Block

Ever since he first appeared, Wolfgang the fifth grade was never enjoyable.  It’s always been concerning that he was just doing things for the sake of being a thug.  There’s never any depth to his character or even the slightest reason for being a bully.  That isn’t in line with how this show handles its characters.  Nearly everyone else in the cast has a lot of material to explore their personalities, so why not him?  The one thing that’s made his appearances tolerable is that with the exception of his first cartoon “Longest Monday,” the fourth graders managed to triumph over him.  Why that’s not the case with his role in this cartoon is beyond me. 

First of all, the story brings an impression that Arnold and his friends have no power over Wolfgang simply because he’s in a higher grade than them.  They’re just playing football when Wolfgang and his gang show up and take it away despite all protests.  It’s bad enough that the fourth graders lose what’s rightfully theirs, but it gets worse.  Another bully who’s apparently just been released from juvenile hall, Ludwig, arrives claiming ownership of the field.  Apparently he owns the vacant lot Arnold and his friends cleaned up to use for sports way back in Season 1, but apart from one mention, this reveal is never developed.  As a character, Ludwig might as well be a Wolfgang clone.  He’s totally brutish, violent, and one-dimensional with little to no reasons for his need to show authority over kids younger than him.  If he really is straight out of juvenile hall, wouldn’t the cops keeping an eye on him? 

So with two bullies stealing the field and forcing the fourth graders into the streets, Arnold tries to get the field back.  His practices though sound very unethical and much less helpful than his usual plans.  First he tells both Ludwig and Edmund that one bully wants to give up the field to the other.  In other words, he’s straight-up lying to them despite the fact that they’ll easily find out the truth upon arrival to the field.  At least when they do, Arnold successfully convinces them to play football to see which bully can claim the field.  Somehow he figures that with one bully owning the field, he and his friends will find getting it back much easier.  Ultimately, with the help of their bare fists leaving black eyes, Wolfgang and Ludwig get groups of fourth graders as pawns in their vanity football game. 

From here the cartoon plays off as an average football game save for the fourth graders serving their enemies.  There aren’t many stand-out moments from average games, though a big comedic highlight comes from Curly.  He has a humorous bit where he frequently demands for the ball, scores a couple of points while moving like a ballerina, and then runs off with the ball like a madman. 

Later, Arnold sees that Wolfgang and Ludwig are starting to bond over the game, and has everyone let the game be a tie instead of letting one bully win.  It’s hard to see how that plan will work since it’s still going to be difficult for them to take back the field.  Sure enough, Wolfgang and Ludwig befriend, but the fourth graders don’t get what they want.  In fact, they get beaten up and hung over a pole at the end of the cartoon in a very unfair conclusion with nothing accomplished.  If the fifth graders can just get their way with punches, why don’t these fourth graders just learn boxing for the sake of self-defense? 

Through total one-dimensional bullies unjustly getting their way, even if this cartoon isn’t really the worst of the show, the story decisions don’t make for very good entertainment.

D

Phoebe Breaks a Leg

Sometimes, what characters seem like on the surface can bring unexpected results to their dynamics.  Helga and Phoebe are characters whose friendship fits the criteria.  Helga is a troubled person at home which leads her to act like a loud brutish bully, while Phoebe is very smart, nice, and soft-spoken.  They’re very different yet show a lot of care for each other as friends. That said, the start of this cartoon does portray their friendship as what one may expect from a loud mean girl and a soft nice girl together. 

Phoebe is constantly called to do favors for Helga, some completely devaluing of the hard work she puts in like sharpening pencils or majorly mooches off her like paying library fines.  After so much material of showing these characters work so well as friends, this opening scene doesn’t feel right. Then again, I suppose an argument can be made that Helga’s always had Phoebe do her favors, and she was bound to go too far with it at some point. 

By going too far with having Phoebe do favors for her, the cartoon gives interesting results to this overbearing behavior.  Phoebe eventually becomes so overloaded with favors for Helga that she crosses the street without seeing a bus coming.  Upon noticing that her friend following orders led to this incident, Helga starts showing her best traits as a friend to Phoebe by majorly regretting causing this.  Despite getting hit by a bus, it’s remarkable that Phoebe just got a broken leg out of it, though Helga is more than willing to make up for the injury.  She makes herself Phoebe’s humble servant in every element of her life with expert book arrangements, delectable lunches, and great bus seats.  Frequent mentions that she had to make a lot of deals to get Phoebe this special treatment show how devoted she can be to friendship.  That’s the kind of impressive depth that makes Helga endearing for who she is. 

As for Phoebe’s injury, it’s kind of crazy that after a short time, her leg is healed and her cast is ready to come off.  That’s disappointing for her given the extent of all the attention and favors Helga’s gotten her.  All of that has been so good to her that Phoebe decides to make her cast a souvenir, making Helga think she’s still injured.  It’s obviously dishonest for Phoebe to do this just to get Helga to keep being her servant, but it’s also understandable given what Helga herself put her through prior to the injury.  Since a makeshift cast isn’t something that can be hidden forever, Arnold eventually busts Phoebe when he spots it.  He responds to this by telling Phoebe that making Helga her servant makes her no different from her doing the same thing.  For that, Arnold’s presence is enough to make Phoebe feel guilt over every favor Helga gives her. 

As a culmination, just as Helga is about to be hit by a truck over Phoebe’s favors, Phoebe proves that she’s really not like Helga, takes the fake cast off, and rushes to save her.  That said, Helga ends up with a broken leg herself, and as Phoebe tells her what she did, you’d think Helga is in the clear to make Phoebe her servant.  However, Helga takes this very well and understands that she’s partly to blame for Phoebe’s actions.  The cartoon ends with her deciding that the two should just share the treatment to each other. I only wish this move appeared more genuine as Helga orders Phoebe about nearly the same as she did at the cartoon’s start. 

While depth is ignored in parts of the cartoon, when it does show up, there’s solid endearment most would expect between Helga and Phoebe by now.

A-

The Ranking

1.      Phoebe Breaks a Leg

2.      Principal Simmons

3.      Fishing Trip

4.      Sid the Vampire Slayer

5.      Gerald’s Game

6.      Big Sis

7.      New Bully on the Block

8.      Bag of Money

 

 

 

 

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode consisting of just Arnold, Eugene, and Harold, stuck in a tree, and Rhonda deals with the ultimate blow to her ego when she loses her entire wealth.

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