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Weird
Cousin
Many fans of this show can agree that Arnold is a nice guy
and role model to everyone around him.
This cartoon makes that cartoon stand out by introducing his cousin
Arnie who looks just like him, but is the total opposite of him. Whereas Arnold is friendly, helpful, and
social, Arnie is soft-spoken, has weird practices like reading ingredients on
things, and doesn’t have good social skills at all. In fact, Arnie can be just as disturbing to
the audience as he is to the other characters, except for one.
The major catalyst to the plot is once again
Arnold trying to win over Lila. The big
takeaway this time is that while Arnold puts in a lot of effort in setting up
activities for them to do, Lila calls him out by stating a big thing wrong with
this setup. She basically says that
Arnold is being pushy through trying to bring them together, with the activity
of going to the movies together seeming like a date. She sees it as one of Arnold’s usual stunts
to get her to like him-like him even though she’s told him many times that this
is not the case. It’s pretty refreshing
to see the show itself point out the problem with Arnold constantly trying to
win over Lila and not accepting that she’s simply not that into him. This is really not how love works and is not
in line with Arnold’s usual mature nature.
Heck, Lila even knows that someone else is already madly in love with Arnold, and there have been several signs of proof that they have better
chemistry despite their differences.
As
for what Arnie has to do with all this, when Lila first sees him, even though
he’s just as unsocial around her as he is with everyone else, she says she’s in
love with him. The thing is though, it’s
really hard to believe this is the case.
Arnie’s mannerisms are not very friendly, considerate, or in line
with Lila’s kind nature, let alone be good enough for a relationship. Well, maybe a relationship could work if
someone else shared his interests and traits, but that’s beside the point. It basically feels like Lila is only saying
she loves Arnie just to spite Arnold for all the times he’s tried to win her
over. This feeling really shows when
Arnold sees Lila going to a scary movie with Arnie when she usually doesn’t
like those kinds of films. It’s at this
point where for as flawed Arnold’s attempts at Lila are, he’s the more
sympathetic one. Lila acting so close
and affectionate towards Arnie gives the impression that she feels like Arnold
is a total creep who deserves to have his feelings hurt. Arnold may be wrong most of the time, but he
never means any harm.
However, he does
get help to at least break them up. The
tables are turned somewhat when Helga is the one to show interest in his
problem and give him advice. She plans
to help him break up Lila and Arnie by making them jealous of another couple,
and Arnold and Helga are going to act like a couple to make it work. Helga’s lead involves many edgy and at times
a little too intimate practices, but her will to help feels very genuine. It’s also effective as it gets Arnie to dump
Lila, opening up Arnold the chance to win her over. This doesn’t change the fact that she’s still
not into him, though she should be grateful that he’s bothering to comfort
her. There’s also a funny drawback to
the plan with Arnie now getting into Helga, but since he only has one other role in
the series, it hardly means anything.
This cartoon features the worst and the best of certain characters. With every majorly odd pairing and
over-the-top ways to make a point, there’s hints of chemistry in couples with
more potential, and honest facts of the matter are made clear.
B-
Baby Oskar
This season gives us not one, but two cartoons starring Oskar
Kokoshka. Regarding this one, if you
ever needed legit proof that he does have a heart despite being an unbelievable
mooch and lazy bum, this is one to watch.
As far as his laziness goes, it’s used to the funniest extent here,
particularly with his whines for his wife, Suzie, to make him a sandwich. That’s one of his lines that me and my family
quote all the time just so you know. His behavior
is in stark contrast when he and Suzie are asked to take care of a baby
belonging to Suzie’s sister.
Adding
intrigue to the setup, the baby was named Oskar before Suzie’s sister really
got to know the other Oskar. While Baby
Oskar is small and helpless and needs constant care, this is acceptable because
that’s the nature of all infants. Our
Oskar, on the other hand, is a grown man who doesn’t even care to do anything to
help himself. He just sits around the
house doing his own thing leaving his wife to take care of everything, is
inconsiderate of the baby’s well-being, and expects things to be done for
him. This is certainly not a good
character to get behind, but I still get a good laugh out of this stretch of
laziness, especially for one big thing.
The cartoon itself doesn’t support this kind of behavior and has
characters call Oskar out for his immaturity and irresponsibility. It’s especially shown where Suzie snaps and
calls her husband out for his ridiculousness and claiming that he’ll grow up
“tomorrow” but never today.
If that’s
not enough, Oskar gets a chance to do just that when Suzie is called into work
and he has to look after Baby Oskar. At
first, he just drags Arnold into helping him take care of the baby resulting in
a typical string of babysitting gags from feeding him to changing him. There is at least one creative occurrence
when he tries to bet Baby Oskar in poker though. This doesn’t last long when Arnold insists
that he has to go to school. Also, when Oskar tries to call him out for
abandoning the baby, Arnold firmly says that he’s Oskar’s responsibility, not
his. This is another refreshing instance
of Oskar getting called out for his inconsiderate and lazy behavior, and it
comes with a great change from him.
Alone with the baby, Oskar is at first tense towards him, but as he
watches him be cute and tends to him, they start genuinely bonding. His responsible side really shows when he
becomes nervous by the sounds of the baby coughing and believes he’s sick. Being the only person in the house, Oskar has
no choice but to take the extreme measure of taking the baby to the
hospital. It’s impressive how much effort
he puts into getting the baby there through not letting anyone stand in his
way, and even overtaking a marathon at one point. That’s a lot of heart while still playing to
Oskar’s usual traits as he pushes aside an old lady and still mentions gambling
at the racetrack while praying for the baby’s health. Baby Oskar is healthy after all with only a
minor case of the hiccups, but what Oskar did for him is still impactful
considering what he’s like. It’s also
not forgotten when the baby doesn’t want to leave Oskar at the end finalizing
his genuine care for the infant.
Ultimately, this is a funny and endearing cartoon of how virtue and care
can sometimes come from the most unlikely places.
P.S. If you love, then make me a sandwich!
A
The Ranking
- Veterans Day
- Headless Cabbie
- Back to School
- Helga’s Parrot
- Oskar Can’t Read?
- Dinner for Four
- The Beeper Queen
- Stinky’s Pumpkin
- It Girl
- Polishing Rhonda
- Baby Oskar
- Weighing Harold
- Big Gino
- Chocolate Turtles
- Friday the 13th
- Grudge Match
- Phoebe Skips
- Eugene’s Birthday
- Weird Cousin
- Egg Story
- Student Teacher
- Love and Cheese
- Jamie O in Love
- Deconstructing Arnold
- Full Moon
The next Hey Arnold is all about the antics of Helga keeping her love for Arnold a secret when she finds herself sleepwalking, and Arnold and his family get to compete in a game show.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the first part of another DuckTales story arc, "Super DuckTales."
If you would like to check out other Hey Arnold reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
