The High
Life
No matter how old you are, it’s not uncommon to want to do
whatever it takes to get a lot of money so you can buy what you want. Of course, in my case, I’m trying to earn
enough money to afford that and the true necessities of living, but personal
desires are more in line with the ages of the kids in the cast. However, this cartoon goes through the
somewhat frustrating motions of kids getting cocky with money when they get a
lot of it. The story is that Gerald
wants to buy a snazzy looking set of roller skates, but doesn’t have the money
for them. He gets a clever idea of
raising the money not by the common methods of kids his age such as lemonade
stands or lawn-mowing, but by working as a salesman for a watch company. As a salesman, Gerald seems to be very good
at selling the products, even giving an honest demonstration of how the watches
really are as great as they sound. So,
he gets his money, and you think that means he’s all set to get his
skates. However, that’s when the cartoon
turns frustrating with some decisions that didn’t need to be made. First of all, instead of doing the sensible
thing of getting what he set out to buy in the first place, Gerald just blows
his earnings on frivolous things like arcade games and ice cream for his
friends leaving him with nothing. Talk
about boneheaded. This means he has to
sell more watches, but he’s already sold one to everyone in the city, and his
house is left filled with boxes of the products. You know, maybe this wouldn’t have happened
if Gerald just agreed to sell the watches necessary for what he needed instead
of agreeing to sell so many shipments and acting like a bigshot businessman
about it while frittering away his earnings.
On another thing, somehow, his boss knew he would do this and seeks
complete pleasure in that making him a one-dimensional villainous boss which is
not the best decision to be made for a story. I mean, who can relate to someone who intentionally causes misery to someone else for malicious intent?
Thankfully, Gerald sees sense and cleverly sells his watch surplus back
to his boss getting him the money he needs for the skates he should’ve bought
in the first place. However, even after
Gerald clearly learned his lesson, the cartoon, for some reason, ends with a
downer when he loses his money to pay his bill-paying dad and cute little
sister leaving nothing accomplished. If
you know me, I feel that downer endings after a lesson’s learned really hurt a
story entertainment-wise. Even with that
ending, and unnecessary and stupid moments from Gerald, some enjoyable moments
and what Gerald goes through giving a strong warning to be conscious of your
money make the cartoon worth at least a few looks (but that’s my final offer). 7/10
Best Friends
Friend pairings are a common occurrence with this series,
which is not surprising considering the size of the cast. We have Arnold and Gerald, Helga and Phoebe,
Harold and his gang mostly including Stinky and Sid, but one friend pairing
that only makes sparse appearances and even rarer centers for a cartoon is of
Rhonda and Nadine. According to Arnold,
they’ve both been friends for a long time and can easily get along with each
other despite their major differences with their interests. However, just as this statement is made, the
plot is thrown into the common convention of best friends splitting up over
petty differences. Both Rhonda and Nadine disagree on the topic of a school
project they’re doing with Arnold, declare that they’re no longer friends, and
Arnold is roped into the middle of the bickering as the girls convince him to
join them for their own projects.
Normally, I’d find a plot fueled mostly on friends who are so close
mostly arguing and complaining grating and painful to sit through, but here
it’s tolerable since this is really the first time we see what Rhonda and
Nadine’s relationship is like, and there aren’t really any nice moments between
them from past cartoons to work off of.
Plus, even as we go through the tropes of Arnold going through both
their projects at once and putting up with their constant complaints about each
other and returning of things they borrowed from each other, there are some
appealing traits to both Rhonda and Nadine.
They both have a keen passion for what they value in life, Rhonda with
fashion and Nadine with insects, and show potential for making great projects. Though in Rhonda’s case, her passion shows
more of her judgmental side which makes for some strong cartoons for her down
the line (one coming later this season).
As for Nadine, since her passion for insects is all we see of her
character, it’s not surprising that she never gets any other starring roles
after this cartoon. Back to their
conflict, the way Arnold gets them to make up is pretty insightful. He goes about it by interviewing his friends
about what caused them to fight eventually coming to the mature conclusion that
their tensions were because of their inability to compromise. Then, when he brings them both together to
explain his findings, they finally put their disagreements aside and make
up. They even show appreciation for what
Arnold did by doing most of the project work which combines their interests
into an insect fashion show. As
ridiculous as it must be for Arnold, I’d say it’s an interesting and pleasing
way to end for the cartoon. Even with the
basic premise that can get on one’s nerves at times, this cartoon has its own
ways that make it work, so I can call this a good one. 8/10
The Ranking
- Harold’s Kitty
- Monkey Business
- Save the Tree
- New Teacher
- Ms. Perfect
- Big Caesar
- Ransom
- The Big Scoop
- Best Friends
- The High Life
- Hooky
- Arnold Saves Sid
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode which features a long thrashing of fourth graders from fifth graders in "Longest Monday," and the lovable jinx, Eugene, is put through the harsh event of dealing with death in "Eugene's Pet."
If you would like to check out other Hey Arnold reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
