The Racing Mule / Curly's Girl (Hey Arnold Season 5 Episode 12) - 'Toon Reviews 34

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The Racing Mule

The residents of Arnold’s boarding house are usually an eccentric mix of people living under one roof.  However, they’re not without their share of appealing story ideas and endearment.  At this late in the series, they turn out quite a nice story of all of them teaming up for an activity they all can gain from. 

It all starts when Ernie comes home with what he thinks is a racehorse, a species which is very common for people like Oskar to bet on at the track.  They plan on using the animal to run races, making lots of money for them to split.  However, upon further investigation, they actually don’t have a racehorse, but a mule instead, a species known to not be nearly as attractive.  Fortunately for them, there’s a spot for mule races too, so they have an opportunity to train their mule, whom they name Glueboy, for that. 

From there, the cartoon is all about the antics of these boarders trying to prepare Glueboy for the race.  Many of them result in the mule refusing to cooperate via many instances of going after the boarders or bucking them around as they pose as his jockey.  In the process, there are alternate perspectives from the attempts.  Ernie tries to be a reasonable mule owner, but money is always on his mind.  Oskar, known for being self-centered, doesn’t think before he speaks and makes Glueboy feel nervous with mentions of the glue factory and being a dumb animal.  Mr. Hyunh tries to be considerate of the animal, but is visibly nervous to ride. 

While it isn’t clear as to what Glueboy doesn’t trust about these men, it can possibly connect to how none of them can stop thinking about using him for money.  This is because when Arnold, who has little experience riding animals, comes up to Glueboy, not only does the mule trust him, but he lets him ride as well.  With a little more training, Glueboy even trains to run commendably fast, and is therefore ready for the race. 

The altering character chemistry continues though in a short scene of Glueboy feeling sick because of Oskar’s lack of intelligence leading him to give the mule protein shakes.  The boarders don’t have the cure for the animal, but it takes Arnold’s sense of caring to bring the needed results.  With good comfort, tea, and especially a sweet song, not only is Glueboy given the best care, he’s also well enough to race the next day. 

The actual mule race makes for an effective culmination to all the cartoon’s events.  There are obstacles in the way of Glueboy winning the competition.  He’s held up at the start with his banner caught in the gate.  However, once he pulls through, the triumphant direction, music, and cheers from the crowd make for a grand-scale showing of physical activity.  Then something else holds him back as a jerk jockey tries handicapping him with a whip.  To fight through this is something angelic to Arnold’s kindness as singing that same song is all Glueboy needs to keep running his fastest, and he wins by a nose. 

This finalizes the race working as a triumphant finish where hard work pays off, and the right mule comes out on top all because of a crew that cares about the animal more than money.  It’s all found in a charmingly told story of a slice of life moment.

A+

Curly’s Girl

No one should ever have to be forced into a relationship they don’t want to be a part of.  It just isn’t genuine nor is it healthy for anyone.  For that, this cartoon becomes rather uncomfortable in premise, and the denseness of the outside world doesn’t help as they forget who certain characters are. 

The conflict evolves when Rhonda hears of an exquisite mink coat her father got for her mother’s birthday.  Giving into its beautiful style, Rhonda decides that she must wear the mink coat to an art gallery going on at her school.  All goes well until a mishap gets a big red stain on the mink, and she fears that she can’t face her parents for this. 

This is where Curly enters as well as where the appeal of the cartoon really goes downhill.  You see, there have been a few moments in the past of Curly showing mad affection for Rhonda.  However, his love for her is really not worth supporting because it clearly isn’t reciprocated.  For how hard he tries to put the moves on her by acting pushy and aggressive, never letting her go no matter how much she objects, them together clearly is not healthy.  That’s not even mentioning how psychotic Curly acts on a regular basis whenever ticked off by one minor thing. 

Even in this cartoon Rhonda wants nothing to do with Curly.  However, when she ruins the mink and can’t fix the stain, she has no choice but to ask Curly for help.  He removes the stain easily, but to hold up her end of the bargain, Rhonda must pretend to be Curly’s girlfriend for a week.  In addition to unrightfully forcing love, he even goes as far as to blackmail Rhonda by photographing the same mink so she doesn’t back out.  So Rhonda is trapped in a romance with the ever-unsettling Curly who never ceases to tell everyone they’re happily in love, and everyone is actually happy for him.  It’s like they forget that Curly has serious mental problems and he earns their sympathy despite being a danger to their lives in so many instances.  Rhonda may also be materialistic and opinionated, but her flaws are nowhere near as bad as Curly’s, and she doesn’t even do anything wrong here. 

In fact, when the time comes for the relationship to end and she marks it by loudly breaking up with Curly, she’s in the right to do so.  However, since all the kids, including the reasonable Arnold and her best friend Nadine, believe Curly’s claims, they spend the entire cartoon making Rhonda look like the bad guy.  It’s endless frustration that forgets Curly’s problems and prevents everyone from learning the truth of the matter.  All they do is make Rhonda feel sympathetic in the wrong way and stand in the way of the nature of the cast. 

Plus, there are even more unhealthy implications to the couple when Rhonda insists Curly act like her boyfriend just so other people will like her again.  It works, but she’s certainly not happy about it.  Curly even overhears Rhonda complain about the situation, and breaks up with her for her happiness.  It’s only here when the kids feel sorry for Rhonda, but given their fickle nature in this story, it hardly matters.  Also, anything nice and generous about what Curly did for Rhonda is compromised when he immediately goes back to acting like a creep around her.  This only begs the question that if the story knows the real Curly, why not the characters? 

All this cartoon ends up being is a poorly told story of a character unjustly suffering in a world of people who act without getting proper understandings.  The characterization is usually one of this show’s strengths, but it sure doesn’t show here.

D-

The Ranking

1.      Arnold Visits Arnie

2.      Chocolate Boy

3.      Beaned

4.      Helga’s Locket

5.      The Racing Mule

6.      Ghost Bride

7.      Ernie in Love

8.      Rhonda Goes Broke

9.      Sid and Germs

10.  Phoebe Breaks a Leg

11.  Rich Guy

12.  Principal Simmons

13.  Harold vs Patty

14.  Fishing Trip

15.  Sid the Vampire Slayer

16.  Old Iron Man

17.  Gerald’s Game

18.  Suspended

19.  Stuck in a Tree

20.  Big Sis

21.  Gerald vs Jamie O

22.  New Bully on the Block

23.  Curly’s Girl

24.  Bag of Money

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Harold, Stinky, and Sid get up to something interesting when they fear that they blew up the police station and go on the lam, and Mr. Hyunh has the boarding house act as his biological family for his new boss.

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