'Toon Reviews 16: Hey Arnold Season 3 Episode 12: Best Man/Cool Party

Best Man

The overly competitive Coach Wittenberg is back in this cartoon, and while in many ways, he’s still holding onto his old habits, he’s still fairly enjoyable and thankfully has more respect for Arnold than before. 

Remembering all the help Arnold gave him in his past coaching jobs, the coach appoints him to be his best man at his wedding.  Actually, interestingly enough, it’s a remarriage to his wife, Tish.  It’s a bit confusing as to how this remarriage even works since we never saw them divorce or anything like that.  It could relate to the fact that Tish did kick Coach Wittenberg out for constantly losing jobs in a previous cartoon, but I personally don’t get how you get having another wedding out of deciding to let him come back.  Maybe it’s just my lack of knowledge on how these things work. 

Anyway, while Arnold goes along with Coach Wittenberg’s occasionally cheap, but clearly devoted plans for the wedding, we get some background on his relationship with his wife herself.  Although their only major appearance together featured them as a tense couple with Coach Wittenberg having a hard time maintaining a job and he and Tish coaching different teams for the sole purpose of one-upping each other, as Tish explains, they both value each other over anything else.  As she explains to Helga, her bridesmaid, her husband may value winning a lot, but one time when he let her win at something proved to her that she truly loves him, and her belief in this is genuine enough to make where she’s coming from clear.  It should also be noted that these scenes are also aided in engagement by Helga fantasizing her own wedding to Arnold, humorously doing so out loud and being quick to cover her romantic emotions. 

Regarding Coach Wittenberg, given his inability to truly offer the best amenities for the wedding and constant talks of winning and being number one, that’s an indication that maybe what Tish says about him isn’t really true.  The final straw comes when Tish overhears him having a hard time deciding whether her or winning is the most important to him, and given how sure she was of him loving her the most, she’s easily sympathetic in this case.  Understandably, things slowly get tense between Coach Wittenberg and Tish.  Following wedding practice, they both get engrossed in random frivolous competitions with Coach Wittenberg desperate to be the best, and his attitude leads to them calling off the remarriage, and instead going for an air hockey match to decide who’s really Number 1.  It’s a clear test in morality here which hinders a potentially nice couple, though it does feel concerning that Coach Wittenberg’s ego would be this big when his family’s on the line.  Thankfully, his good side wins out in the end. 

During the following day’s air hockey match, after much suspense of the match that ends up attracting everyone, even kids we didn’t see participate in the wedding practice, Coach Wittenberg heeds Arnold’s earlier advice and lets Tish win, proving that he truly does love his wife more than being the best.  It further sells the heart of this couple which is nice, and also imaginative that this flashy arcade game leads us to the wedding built up through the runtime.  True, it’s followed by them immediately going back for a real competition when Tish guesses that Coach Wittenberg lost on purpose, but since their love has proven itself, it’s fine to accept the competitiveness as part of their chemistry. 

It makes the cartoon a strong performance for the Wittenberg couple playing to their strengths and development. 9/10

Cool Party

This cartoon is especially great for two reasons.  It follows the high-spirited convention of getting a lot of distinct characters together for a party which is always a ton of fun.  Also, it provides an interesting commentary on discrimination. 

Throughout history people have been excluded from certain things for a variety of reasons like skin color, religious beliefs, sexuality, etc.  Fortunately, in every era, even if it’s not all gone, more people realize the problems with discrimination and become more inclusive, including presenting them more in TV shows.  Regarding this cartoon, it features discrimination to a smaller extent, but is still poignant with it as a theme. 

The character initiating the plot is Rhonda, a rich big-shot who’s judgmental about anyone in a lower social class.  Behavior like this would make her one I normally wouldn’t like, but since her stuck-up ways always lead to karma getting her to see sense, I’m able to enjoy Rhonda just fine.  She’s throwing a party and only invites kids she deems “cool,” and Arnold is one of them.  Everyone else is deemed a geek in her eyes for their weird fashion sense, oddball personalities, and in Gerald’s case, beating her at something.  In other words, any kid deemed a geek is being discriminated against.  What Rhonda does demeans others for being who they are, and that is simply not right, one of the biggest flaws of the real world, and the kids’ constant complaints about not being invited illustrate this.  In addition, Rhonda’s party turns out to be completely dull with nothing to do except eat and listen to Rhonda talk about stuff.  The discrimination shows itself again when after Arnold decides to leave the party, Rhonda labels him as a geek for that, another take on an unfortunate element of society regarding conformity. 

With Arnold now out of that party, the cartoon gets really fun when he convinces his friends who are still ticked at being called geeks to use their pent up hurt feelings to have a party of their own on the boarding house roof.  The remainder is nothing but a wildly fun party with distinct characters all hanging out together.  Nearly every shot of the party has something brimming with animated energy with characters dancing and doing something fun all set to incredibly catchy background music.  The party also shines for being an accepting place where everyone can be themselves, contrasting to Rhonda’s rigid party built on conformity especially as more people are drawn to join the "geeks", including those at the “cool” party.  This leaves Rhonda to ponder that her calling everyone else a geek for not sticking with her has left her all alone, and that her customs weren’t the right ones to follow. 

Thankfully, she does something about this in the end when she lets go of her discrimination and declares herself a geek to join the rest of Arnold’s party, the moment staged as a big moment with the party stopping just for Rhonda to do so and starting again when she does.  It ends up being another example of Rhonda’s behavior putting her in an unfortunate position that gets her to see sense, enhancing her appeal, which is especially big for how it also shows how wrong discriminating is.  For this much power in its message, this is one party you don’t want to miss out on.

Now let’s free the animals from the zoo! 10/10

The Ranking

1. Helga Blabs it All
2. Harold the Butcher
3. Cool Party
4. Crabby Author
5. Mr. Hyunh Goes Country
6. Helga Vs. Big Patty
7. Hey Harold!
8. Curly Snaps
9. The Aptitude Test
10. Pre-Teen Scream
11. The Pig War
12. Olga Gets Engaged
13. Oskar Gets a Job
14. Phoebe Takes the Fall
15. Best Man
16. Career Day
17. Gerald’s Tonsils
18. Rich Kid
19. Dangerous Lumber
20. Casa Paradiso
21. Arnold’s Room
22. Helga and the Nanny
23. Stinky Goes Hollywood
24. Arnold Betrays Iggy

The next Hey Arnold review shows how Sid isn't always that great as a lead when he thinks he killed Principal Wartz, and straight man Arnold gets stuck with overly-optimistic Eugene on top of a roller coaster.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is another Steven Universe review, this one covering "Historical Friction."

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

'Toon Reviews 7: Hey Arnold Season 2 Episode 12

Eating Contest

This cartoon fits into the category of Arnold doing a basic life activity, but like most cartoons of this kind, it makes its basic setup feel like so much more with the characters involved and the quality of the storytelling.  As the title implies, a food festival is coming which includes a contest where all contestants are challenged to eat large assortments of food.  These types of activities always astounded me growing up, though I’ve grown to realize that eating contests are good ways to make a fool of yourself especially since shoving piles of food into your mouth isn’t exactly healthy.  It’s one of those things best suited for animation.  Anyway, the appeal of the first part of the cartoon is how the contest presents a conflict for Arnold.  He writes it off as something ridiculous to even try and doesn’t even see the point of trying to win when he hears of the reigning champion, Seymour “The Disposal,” who can practically eat everything without trouble.  At the same time, he’s constantly told of how competing in the eating contest is the family legacy as shown in an adorable flashback of Grandpa impressing his father through winning the contest in his youth.  Basically, Arnold has good reasons to take part and to not take part.  Although his final decision to be in the contest anyway is a bit on the manipulative side involving Grandpa fake-napping, the following scenes of Arnold training are fairly entertaining anyway, especially considering that they involve Arnold needing to eat a lot.  The intensity is also appropriate when you consider what Arnold’s put himself up against.  Then everything seen in this cartoon comes down to the actual contest.  It’s a fast-paced breeze through different meals from tacos and kielbasa to more bizarre ones like peppers apparently stuffed with socks aided by the music and animation of everyone eating and dropping out in their own way.  Speaking of dropping out, each time a contestant loses the urge to keep eating, the stakes are higher for Arnold to win, especially with Seymour still feeling fine.  When they reach dessert though, Seymour finally makes himself full, and the moment of him passing out in the ice cream cake makes for a dramatic moment of the supposed unbeatable meeting his demise, though he’s most likely still alive....right?  As for Arnold, he wins it all with just one bite while feeling full himself.  Overall, everything the contest provides shows that it was worth the build-up and is full on memorable moments with so many feels mined from something as simple as Arnold and the contestants eating a lot.  It may be basic and not all that important, but the cartoon is executed as a helping you’ll never forget. 9/10

Rhonda’s Glasses

This cartoon is where Rhonda starts getting material completely devoted to her, and that’s great because she’s an interesting character to write for.  True, she does fall into an archetype that makes rich and popular people look bad coming off as vain and judgmental to anyone who isn’t in her status, but that poses as a strong basis for her to be taken down a peg and improve herself.  The opening scene here demonstrates this as she talks down to one girl for her appearance, particularly her glasses, and makes her sit in the back of the bus with other kids she deems geeks.  Then, Rhonda’s attitude gets the better of her when she ends up needing glasses herself.  As a result, she falls victim to all the judgmental practices she set up herself such as sitting in the back of the bus, grouping with the rest of the geeks, and being ridiculed from joining the other cool kids.  Although Rhonda did bring her hardships onto herself, it’s still easy to feel for her.  The taunting she receives from the kids for her glasses as well as other ways she messes up her appearance while trying to get by without her glasses really is no better than what she gave the geeks.  In fact, in some ways it’s harsher from the kids.  She never tries to redirect the taunting and is capable of understanding how hard the geeks have it since they’re excluded to good bus seats, good lunch tables and playground areas.  All the suffering she lives through and witnesses others live through are a major driving force to Rhonda realizing everything wrong with how kids are judged and excluded for their appearances and deserve equal treatment.  It shows that amidst her opinionated persona brought about by her rich status, she really does have a heart and is capable of learning acceptance.  This side of Rhonda’s is especially put to the test when she refuses to go to the back of the bus despite qualifying as a geek.  Once she makes her point of how being judged is wrong, everyone agrees that all kids should have a right to sit where they want, with Rhonda even letting the “geeks” sit in the front with her, further demonstrating her appeal despite her vanity.  One other major thing to note about what Rhonda goes through is how well it ties into the real-world issue of prejudice.  While some might not be aware, people are constantly being judged not just for their appearance, but also race, religion, and sexuality among other things.  It’s only oppressed members who are brave enough to take a stand to push for equal rights throughout history that stands a chance.  Material like this cartoon serves as a strong reminder for anyone dealing with prejudice today to keep fighting the good fight, and that’s why it’s so amazing.  Sure, Rhonda’s glasses themselves don’t appear again, which strongly hints that she went on to get contacts, but that hardly matters given how inspirational it is by itself.  It’s a great first starring role for Rhonda, and its relatability to anyone suffering prejudice out there make it one of this show’s most powerful entries. 10/10

The Ranking

1. Rhonda’s Glasses
2. Harold’s Kitty
3. Helga’s Love Potion
4. Monkey Business
5. Eugene’s Pet
6. Freeze Frame
7. Steely Phil
8. Gerald’s Secret
9. Save the Tree
10. Phoebe Cheats
11. Gerald Moves Out
12. New Teacher
13. Eating Contest
14. Mudbowl
15. Quantity Time
16. Ms. Perfect
17. Big Caesar
18. Ransom
19. The Big Scoop
20. Best Friends
21. The High Life
22. Hooky
23. Arnold Saves Sid
24. Longest Monday

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode when "Eugene Goes Bad" after seeing what goes on behind the scenes, and the show takes a creative and musical turn in "What's Opera Arnold?"

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