'Toon Reviews 7: Hey Arnold Season 2 Episode 5

Monkey Business

Whenever you hear about a certain disease, it’s only natural that you fear getting it.  I know I tend to worry a lot about that, which is why I make sure to take good care of my health.  This cartoon centers on an interesting sounding disease and nicely depicts the motions of how one may react to catching it.  The class learns about obscure ancient diseases, including one called monkeynucleosis where the victim develops monkey-like characteristics that later kill them after physical contact with a monkey.  At first, Helga mocks the idea of the disease, and for fair reasons since it does sound ridiculous.  Then, everything changes when she happens upon an organ grinder and his monkey, and the monkey gives Helga a nasty scratch.  Suddenly, everything Helga learned about the disease starts to haunt her leading her to look into it out of fear for her health.  Much of what we get from here on mostly consists of Helga reading up on the symptoms of monkeynucleosis, and the little moments she experiences as she goes about her life slowly convince her that she’s doomed to become a monkey.  With every symptom, Helga’s fear grows into something frightening capped off by a dream sequence of her reduced to a small helpless monkey feared by everyone, including Arnold, without a place to go.  While this may not be the outcome for most people with serious illnesses, Helga’s reactions to what seems like a confirmation for having this disease greatly mirror others who fear the worst.  All this drama doesn’t even stop there since it leads to a highly emotional moment when Helga realizes she has four of the five symptoms only leaving one of expiration.  Following is a very realistic scenario of Helga preparing for her death by offering her possessions to her friends who all arrive in black and don’t understand what’s going on since Helga is vague about the whole thing.  It’s a heavy scene that’s sure to bring memories of a sick friend or relative preparing for the inevitable.  Helga’s even willing to come clean with her love for Arnold at this low point, but at the last minute, Phoebe finds out what this thing is all about and points out that getting scratched by a monkey does not lead to the other reported monkeynucleosis symptoms, meaning that Helga is still in good health.  In addition to her relief, this moment leads to a nice moment for Helga and Arnold where she has the strength to tell him he’s ok, and Arnold responds positively, saying she’s ok too, leaving Helga in satisfying bliss.  It’s a good example of how this pairing can work if both are willing to show their good nature.  In the end, we have an emotional, dramatic, and relatable look at believing you’re very sick with an appropriately relieving payoff. 10/10

Big Caesar

This cartoon is one of those that focus on Arnold and his friends doing an average life activity made a bit more interesting by a hint of urban legend-spinning.  In most slice-of-life shows, it’s common for there to be plots about going fishing.  It makes for a good opportunity to get characters out on the water, and do an activity relaxing enough to fit the simple, easy-going tone.  That’s the activity in question here as the gang enters a fishing contest.  The urban legend angle comes in when Arnold and Gerald plan on catching a prehistoric fish called Big Caesar.  By prehistoric, this fish has been around since the dinosaur days, and remained in the lake that would become the city lake which grew smaller over time.  This creative background for Big Caesar is all we get to the urban legend, and it’s really all we need to know regarding what Arnold and Gerald are up against.  The background is further expanded when Grandpa reveals that he once tried to catch Big Caesar, ending up with a broken fishing line.  By the way, Grandpa’s story leads to a funny gag of Grandma constantly claiming that he made the story up that occurs later on.  As for Arnold and Gerald, they’re led to work on their fishing, and the scenes of their practicing may go on too long, but they do build up appropriate tension.  They show their less-than-masterful fishing skills, and the skills combine with them being forced to fish in a swan boat, lowering the chances of them catching Big Caesar.  When it comes time to fish, they’re led into a foggy part of the lake, and after a while, they find the fish they’re after, and we get a tense scene of the boys experiencing how much of a powerful fish Big Caesar is.  They ultimately come up with a creative plan to use the swan boat’s foot pedals to catch him and reel him in, and he’s successfully in their clutches.  However, Arnold feels bad for how sad Big Caesar is being caught, and decides that they should let him go, even if this will cost him and Gerald genuine fame and fortune for catching a rare, historic beast.  Seriously, why can’t he just let him go after people see they caught him?  Still, it’s nice to see him show consideration for Big Caesar, further showcasing that even frightening and destructive beings have feelings too.  Even if the story is of a mundane activity and the conclusion has a bit of a headscratcher, there’s plenty of merit in Big Caesar’s creative background, some exciting and humorous moments, and heart from the final decision. 9/10

The Ranking

1. Harold’s Kitty
2. Monkey Business
3. Save the Tree
4. New Teacher
5. Ms. Perfect
6. Big Caesar
7. Ransom
8. The Big Scoop
9. Hooky
10. Arnold Saves Sid

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Gerald is roped into the cliché of money making people stupid in "The High Life," and Arnold is roped into a grudge match between Rhonda and Nadine, two supposed "Best Friends."

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 1: Hey Arnold Season 1 Episode 3

Arnold’s Hat

Next to his football-shaped head, Arnold’s little blue hat is perhaps one of his most defining characteristics, and it’s also interesting to note that it’s the central part of a story that adds some good depth to his, as well as Helga’s, character.  For Arnold himself, it’s not too surprising that his hat means a lot to him, which includes always wearing it and never taking it off for anything as the opening scene shows.  His attachment to the hat is given some beneficial depth when it’s later revealed that it was given to him by his parents who left when he was very young and never came back, which is one of the most emotional parts of the show that has never been resolved until later this year, but that’s a topic for another day.  The point is, there’s enough emotional weight to help you understand Arnold’s connection to his hat, and so when it gets lost and no one recognizes him, it’s easy to genuinely sympathize with Arnold.  Now, as you’d probably expect, Arnold eventually learns that his hat doesn’t make him who he is, in a nice scene of him getting advice from Grandpa, which we’ll be seeing a lot more of, and while that lesson is a standard one, it’s fitting for this story.  Plus, so that the story isn’t totally predictable, a lot of time is spent with what Helga gets up to.  This cartoon is an example of just how powerful her crush on Arnold is.  We already know she write poems about him, but her crush leads her to express her love in other creative ways such as building a shrine dedicated to him, including a bust of his head made up of used chewing gum.  It’s no wonder she needs a huge dose of bullying to hide these feelings for Arnold.  She practically worships him.  Regarding the bust, Arnold’s hat comes into play when she realizes she needs just that to complete the project.  After failing to get it through some hilarious hijinks, the hat finally appears to her by chance.  However, this leads to a moment that shows that Helga’s love for Arnold is about caring for him as much as it’s about admiring his appearance.  When she sees Arnold miserable without his hat, she goes to great lengths to get it back to him, including digging through a dumpster after realizing the bust was thrown out.  Then, Helga’s gesture of devotion is capped off with her returning the hat to Arnold while still keeping her crush and good side a secret, which we’ll also be seeing a lot more of.  This is truly a nice thought-provoking story made even better by how it does wonders for Arnold and Helga’s characters. 9.5/10

 

 

Stoop Kid



 

Back at the beginning of these Hey Arnold Season 1 reviews, I said one of the things this show does a lot is look into the lives of this city’s strange inhabitants.  This is the first cartoon to focus on that.  When Arnold punts his football hard, it lands on a stoop, but not just any stoop.  It lands on a stoop of a kid simply called Stoop Kid, and there’s a pretty mysterious air to him.  The catch is that he literally never leaves his stoop which gives the impression that he’s very protective of it and will harm anyone who comes near it.  At the same time, we as an audience are left with a lot of questions about Stoop Kid.  How did he end up at the stoop?  Did he ever have parents?  How did he get by without going to school?  We later see how he gets water to drink and wash himself, but what does he do for food?  It may seem like a problem that we never get answers to these questions but maybe that works in showing off just how mysterious Stoop Kid really is.  Anyway, the cartoon goes in the smart direction of showing that even those who act strange are just as human as any of us when Arnold watches Stoop Kid from a distance going about his life peacefully including a nice scene of him reading a children’s book to himself.  The real human side of Stoop Kid though comes in when Arnold comes to the conclusion why he never leaves his stoop. When Arnold grabs his football and runs and all Stoop Kid does is stand on his stoop and yell without chasing him it’s shown that “Stoop Kid’s afraid to leave his stoop!”  We all have our fears in life, and I believe that most of them stem from how we lived most of our lives, so Stoop Kid’s fears of leaving his stoop make perfect sense, and it’s not hard to feel bad for him when the whole city teases him for them.  For Stoop Kid’s sake though, it’s great that Arnold, the one kid brave enough to watch him and understand him, is around to help him conquer his fear through encouraging him to leave his stoop so to potentially explore other stoops and reminding him of that children’s book from earlier.  The latter tactic is especially helpful in making the moment where Stoop Kid finally steps off his stoop in front of the whole city big and grand.  Then, as the cartoon ends, we’re left knowing that Stoop Kid is now destined to live a healthier lifestyle by being brave enough to leave his stoop, even if he’s just going to continue harassing people at the moment; well, it’s more true to real life that it’ll take time for him to see the world.  This is one of many cartoons of the show that explore how diverse in personality the many characters are, which helps make this show so great. 10/10

The Rankings

1.      Stoop Kid

2.      Arnold’s Hat

3.      Downtown as Fruits

4.      Field Trip

5.      The Little Pink Book

6.      Eugene’s Bike

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the fourth episode of Hey Arnold Season 1: "Helga's Makeover"/"The Old Building."