Suspended / Ernie in Love (Hey Arnold Season 5 Episode 9) - 'Toon Reviews 34

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Suspended

In most of his starring roles, Harold has gotten mostly interesting and thought-provoking material.  This is remarkable mainly due to his role as a fat, insecure, immature, and sometimes relentlessly mocking figure.  However, with his starring role here, it noticeably lacks anything thought-provoking and plays to his usual immature ways. 

He starts off very vocal about how much he hates school and wishes he could just not go.  Of course, not liking school is common for kids his age, but the way Harold approaches it makes him seem like a total brat, and that isn’t really the best portrayal for a lead.  True, even in his best roles, he was like this, but here, unlike those times, it’s hard to take seriously, at first at least. 

Anyway, Harold finds a great way to get out of school, if only for a time upon noticing Wolfgang get suspended for horsing around with a fire extinguisher.  While imitating this action himself doesn’t work, Harold does get his wish for a far more minor offense of calling Principal Wartz an inconsequential name.  This does make for an interesting perspective on the concept of being suspended.  Almost everyone in real life and in shows always seem to point out how it’s a bad thing even though you’re technically off of school.  Harold seeing it as good makes sense for the very reason of being off for a week, almost exactly what he wanted.  It’s like he doesn’t have anything to worry about because of this, and no one really explains how getting suspended isn’t supposed to be good. 

Now, there should be drawbacks to Harold’s plan, but the ones the cartoon has in mind are either really hard to believe or play to his childish attitude.  I personally find it ridiculous that his parents wouldn’t have any sort of food in the house for a week or that every single TV stations would have the same boring conference playing.  The drawbacks could have been more relatable.  However, things like Harold breaking his bed while jumping on it and getting bored while playing basketball by himself are far too easy to see coming.  Still, it gives Harold his reasons to want to go back to school. 

Because he’s suspended, he resorts to many extreme stunts to get back in like dropping in on a wire, delivering a pizza, tunnels, and sling shots, all childlike as the way Harold thinks.  Even if there are down-to-Earth reasons to how they’d never work, it’s still grueling to see Harold get caught by Principal Wartz who adds a week of suspension for every offence.  It reaches the point where he truly starts going too far with enforcing the rules without thinking anything of Harold’s desperation and proof that he’s learned his lesson.  It’s like he learned nothing from “Principal Simmons.”  The biggest kicker is that he gives Arnold a suspension too just because he was sticking up for Harold, which is further messed up for attacking the innocent like that. 

They both try to find a way around it by playing to Principal Wartz’s claims of the school constitution. However, a long sequence of research goes to waste as they pull up an outdated one.  Fortunately, he’s not heartless enough to think nothing of Harold’s emotional breakdown over an apology, at least as a way of seeing that he learned his lesson.  Basically, the ending is satisfying.  It unfolds in a cartoon that’s immature in premise and one that can get hard to watch, but everything comes together in an interesting approach to a school punishment at least.

B-

Ernie in Love

For how eccentric the boarders of Arnold’s home can be, it’s nice that there’s plenty of room for endearment in much of their material.  Such is the case for this cartoon about one of them finding love.  Ernie has often been defined by his love for his demolition job, short temper, and short stature.  What he goes through in this cartoon presents him at his most human. 

As he tells Arnold, he recently caught sight of a very attractive girl called Lola whose job is to keep up her figure as a model.  Ever since then, he’s always making sure to see her whenever she comes and leaves for her work, though he never gets the idea to go up and talk to her.  He’s under the impression that people can’t accept him all because of his size.  That’s a huge showing of insecurities if I’ve ever seen one, and it’s a believable reason that Ernie would be unable to simply talk with Lola.

In the process though, Arnold constantly notices signs that Ernie can’t stop thinking about Lola whether it’s through photos of her modeling or making full sculptures of her.  In other words, Ernie is thinking of Lola too much to do nothing about getting to know her, so Arnold insists that he just go and meet her and talk to her.  Despite constantly bringing up his fears of being rejected for his height, Ernie is able to push on and go along with the plan.  Impressively, his first conversation with Lola in the park doesn’t feel the least bit awkward.  He invokes small talk about what she’s up to currently, lets her know when she’s leaving something behind, and most importantly, arranges a with her.  So early on in the cartoon, Ernie appears to really be making good progress with finding love and sees that Arnold had a point all along.  He does still share a few insecurities such as insisting on going out for the date wearing elevator shoes, but they don’t last long.  Honestly, if his goal is to get anywhere, it’s truly for the best that the shoes show up for one scene and are forgotten about.  Just think of how much they’d complicate the date. 

This is especially good when you consider the genuine chemistry between Ernie and Lola all throughout the affair spent at the boardwalk.  They have even more conversations about their jobs and interests, grab a few bites to eat in accordance with Lola’s model job, and Ernie even shows her pleasures she never knew.  It’s practically a cute highlight when she tries whack-a-mole for the first time.  As you can tell, the featured characters make for a charming couple. This makes what happens later all the more unfortunate. 

At the end of the date, Ernie tries to arrange another date, but Lola shows clear discomfort over that.  Through reading her words closely, Ernie can tell exactly what’s making her hesitant, and that’s his height which literally and figuratively can’t ever measure up to hers.  Basically, Ernie’s fears about being rejected over such things have turned out to be right all along, and it seems that as long as he’s short, he really can’t get anywhere.  I’m just grateful that he never once blames Arnold for getting his hopes up.  If anything, it’s Lola Ernie’s the most disappointed in for not accepting him for who he really is.  In my mind, that’s the healthiest mindset to have towards people like her, allowing one to accept that some people just aren’t the right fit.  As it turns out, Lola doesn’t really want Ernie to see her like this, and the next day comes to apologize for what she said about his shortness.  They slowly rekindle their bond and things seem to end well for them.  If only Lola showed up more times after this so to see where things go for the potential couple. 

In the end, for a conflict that only lasts for one cartoon, it’s surprising how nice and humane the whole thing turns out to be.

A

The Ranking

1.      Beaned

2.      Helga’s Locket

3.      Ghost Bride

4.      Ernie in Love

5.      Rhonda Goes Broke

6.      Sid and Germs

7.      Phoebe Breaks a Leg

8.      Principal Simmons

9.      Fishing Trip

10.  Sid the Vampire Slayer

11.  Old Iron Man

12.  Gerald’s Game

13.  Suspended

14.  Stuck in a Tree

15.  Big Sis

16.  Gerald vs Jamie O

17.  New Bully on the Block

18.  Bag of Money

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Arnold ends up in a strange alternate town where all his friends seem to have swapped personalities, and we learn the backstory of Chocolate Boy.

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