On the Lam / Family Man (Hey Arnold Season 5 Episode 13) - 'Toon Reviews 34

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

On the Lam

While this cartoon stars some of the less intelligent kids in the cast, two of which typically don’t get the best material, it turns out to be a very fun story with an exciting premise.  It’s all about a desire for fun gone too far where the actual results are completely harmless, but the guilt factor of the whole thing drives the central characters’ actions. 

The beginning features Harold, Stinky, and Sid enamored by an exciting science experiment with rockets, baking soda, and vinegar.  The thrill of the rocket launch inspires them to do the experiment on a much larger scale, so they take a whole bunch of the required ingredients without Mr. Simmons knowing.  They take everything to a lot behind an old police station and set the rockets off there.  At the same time, Ernie and his demolition crew are at the same police station ready to blow it up as part of their schedule.  By coincidence, the rockets hit the police station at the same time Ernie and his crew unleash the dynamite. 

From their perspective, it seems like Harold, Stinky, and Sid’s prank is to blame for this explosion, and they’re sore afraid.  Fearing the possibility of jail time and living out the rest of their lives in a chain gang, they all decide to leave their old lives behind and go on the lam.  All throughout, the paranoia and guilt over what they felt their vandalism of the rockets and fuel caused are portrayed as heavy and genuine.  That’s enough to show that for all their childish recklessness, they are relatable human beings with a good showing of conscience.  At the same time, the story setup works in a comedic sense.  It does bring the suspense factor down as it’s well known that someone else took care of the police station’s demolition.  It’s even debatable if those rockets even could actually blow something up. 

However, there’s a right amount of ridiculousness to allow everything to work.  Much of it comes from a convoluted plan Harold, Stinky, and Sid have to escape punishment.  They put on wild disguises as they aim to hop on an actual train and become hobos.  In addition, they put Arnold, who points out that they should investigate what really happened before going through this crazy plan, in a just as crazy predicament.  They time him up to make doubly sure he won’t rat them out as everyone who passes by thinks he’s playing secret agent. 

The humor factor of this whole thing continues to work when you consider that Harold, Stinky, and Sid actually do go through with becoming hobos.  Nothing makes them back down from going to the train yard to find a boxcar.  They even come across actual hobos at one point.  Nevertheless, there’s still room for drama with their parents filled with genuine fear when their boys don’t come home, being quick to get out posters of them.  The drama continues when Arnold and the cops track them down, and there’s a chase scene backed by some of the most suspenseful music composed for the series.  In the end, the guys can’t run anymore and confess what they did, only for Ernie to tell them the truth.  So, all that drama turns to relief for the boys as they find out they never did anything wrong.  That said, it’s sad punishment enough that they have to face Mr. Simmons for stealing all the science equipment after he saw the whole news report on TV. 

Drama and comedy go hand in hand in this thrilling cartoon starring arguably the most bumbling trio of kids in the cast.

A

Family Man

At its core, this is another simple escapade at the boarding house.  However, it’s a good one to demonstrate the decent showing of its family dynamic despite how different everyone really is. 

The boarder at the center is arguably one of the most family-oriented residents, Mr. Hyunh.  He’s a friendly guy trying to make a good living in a neighborhood in an entirely different country.  At the restaurant he works at, he has a good opportunity to become head chef, the facility’s most coveted position, but fears one thing stands in his way.  The restaurant is under new management whose manager wants to turn it into a more family oriented place.  Therefore, the employee he feels should be head chef should be one with the best family.  The most likely candidate meets those qualifications, but isn’t the best cook, which apparently doesn’t matter. 

Mr. Hyunh can hardly compete with those qualifications since the best family he has is a nontraditional family.  He does mention his daughter, Mai, but no word is made about where she’s been since the Christmas special, nor does she show up when Mr. Hyunh tries impressing the manager.  The boarders sympathize with this plight and set out to do what they can to help Mr. Hyunh.  The only boarder who truly acts selfish in this scenario is, unsurprisingly, Oskar.  Under the impression that Mr. Hyunh being head chef means he’ll get free food, he suggests that Mr. Hyunh get the position by lying about his family.  Mr. Hyunh is quick to object to that idea knowing it’s a lie he can’t possibly keep up, but Oskar slips in a fabricated picture anyway, and the manager finds it.  It’s kind of contrived that he buys into the family portrait considering photos are clearly taped on, but that’s the way the story goes. 

However, the challenge to keep up the lie becomes apparent when Mr. Hyunh has to invite his manger to dinner to meet his family.  It’s here where the boarders come together as one to act as a convincing family.  You’d think that they’re actually a family already.  A montage shows a lot of effort gone into them seeming convincing with Arnold as Mr. Hyunh’s son, Suzie as his wife, Grandpa as his father, and Ernie as his brother. 

Then once the manager arrives, all the effort seems to go to waste with a huge onslaught of awkwardness.  Everyone has a hard time remembering the fabricated backgrounds of Mr. Hyunh’s family.  There’s constant contradictions of how he and his ‘wife’ met and who’s adopted.  On a comedic level, things get more complicated when Oskar, and later Grandma, show up as impromptu siblings.  Rather than going along with this without question, the story goes in a smart route with the manager calling out the awkwardness knowing something weird is going on. 

Mr. Hyunh has to confess to the lie, and is met with not just not becoming head chef, but also being fired.  Out of this is justified defense as Arnold tells the manager that firing him is going too far.  There’s also a passionate speech on how even though no one here is related, they look out for each other like a family, and one that works just as good as a traditional nuclear one.  To show that he’s not so dense, the manager takes back the firing and even understands that a good head chef should also be one who knows how to cook.  For that, all the pieces are in place for Mr. Hyunh to get what he was after in a satisfying conclusion. 

Questionable story beats aside, this is a very charming showing of how the idea of family works in this particular boarding house.

A-

The Ranking

1.      Arnold Visits Arnie

2.      Chocolate Boy

3.      Beaned

4.      Helga’s Locket

5.      The Racing Mule

6.      On the Lam

7.      Ghost Bride

8.      Ernie in Love

9.      Rhonda Goes Broke

10.  Sid and Germs

11.  Family Man

12.  Phoebe Breaks a Leg

13.  Rich Guy

14.  Principal Simmons

15.  Harold vs Patty

16.  Fishing Trip

17.  Sid the Vampire Slayer

18.  Old Iron Man

19.  Gerald’s Game

20.  Suspended

21.  Stuck in a Tree

22.  Big Sis

23.  Gerald vs Jamie O

24.  New Bully on the Block

25.  Curly’s Girl

26.  Bag of Money

 

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where one cartoon makes a big deal of Phoebe farting, but another one is a fun mystery involving Grandpa's Packard.

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