Arthur Recaps!

One thing I like about Arthur is how characters are very nuanced. Brain is the resident “smart kid” but his intelligence and analytical mind can sometimes cause him to be insensitive and harsh towards his friends’ feelings. This part of Brain’s character gets explored in the episode “Bugged”.

D.W. is enjoying her Mary Moo Cow show when Arthur enters the living room. He wants to know why he’s suddenly 20 feet tall even though he’s just an average third grader. D.W. explains that from her four year old perspective, Arthur is like a giant. 

Arthur remarks how it’s strange how people can see you differently from how you think of yourself. For example, Jane still thinks of Arthur as her little baby (and probably will even after he starts shaving and driving–I’m 21 years old and my mom treats me like I’m a child) while Pal sees Arthur as a waiter who brings him delicious food.

Well, so much for “man’s best friend”. 

Does a waiter let you sleep in his bed and tell you that he loves you and that you’re a good boy, Pal? They do? Jeez, what kind of restaurants are you going to?

Brain and Binky are watching an episode of Bionic Bunny together. Brain can’t help but complain about all the various cliches; which annoys Binky. “Why do you have to ruin the whole show?” complains Binky. “It really bugs me.”

Brain looks hurt but shuts up for the rest of the episode. I am also a “snarks while watching TV/movies” person, which I know can annoy people who actually want to sit in silence and enjoy the thing so I’ve learned to shut up and keep my snark to myself until afterwards. Don’t worry Brain, in about ten years, you and Binky will not so ironically be rewatching this episode and he will join you in lampooning everything  wrong about it. For now, keep your mouth shut and pretend to be surprised when Bionic Bunny saves the day. 

In class, the kids are learning about Pluto…until Brain interrupts to ask why they are learning about Pluto when there’s a controversy over whether or not it should be considered a planet at all. Even Mr. Ratburn is annoyed by Brain’s incessant questioning and pretends that they have run out of time to make Brain shut up.

After school, the kids are playing capture the flag. Francine is team captain and orders everyone what to do but Brain interrupts with a supposedly better plan. “Haven’t you learn anything from the battle of Agincourt?” he asks.

“The fucking what?” asks Francine and the whole audience at home who aren’t Hundred Year’s War history buffs.

Because Brain won’t stop talking, the other team successfully steals their flag which in my opinion shouldn’t count as a win, since Francine and her team were clearly still huddling (unless time already started). 

Afterwards, Brain overhears Francine complaining about him to Arthur. “He can be a real pest!” she exclaims.

“Mom, am I annoying?” Brain asks Mrs. Powers. Mrs. Powers tells him that of course he isn’t and wants to know where a question like that came from. Brain doesn’t explain what happened in school and instead lectures his mother on ending a sentence with a preposition.

“Okay: where did a question like that come from, you lil bitch?” she responds.

Brain goes to bed but when he wakes up, he finds himself transformed into a cockroach!

Metamorphosis reference! However, unlike the Kafka story, everyone else sees Brain’s transformation as nothing out of the ordinary.

At school, everyone treats Brain like, well, an annoying cockroach. Mr. Ratburn has no sympathy when Brain can’t finish a pop quiz due to his lack of opposable thumbs and Principal Haney tells Brain that he can’t eat in the cafeteria due to health codes.

However, we finally get back to the bug metaphor when the gang tells Brain to stay away from them because his know it all attitude is too annoying. They chase him to an underground lair that is reminiscent of the one from the Bionic Bunny cartoon that Brain was making fun of.

Even though his friends are planning to kill him with a drawn out Rube Goldberg-esque machine, Brain still can’t help but criticize them and tell them it would be much faster to just crush him.

Seriously?

After a useless dream interpretation consultation with Prunella, Brain decides the only way to fix is situation is to to take a vow of silence.
Of course, his vow of silence doesn’t go well. Brain misses opportunities to help his friends and the class because he worries they will just call him a pest afterwards. However, when they are about to lose capture the flag again, Brain breaks his vow to alert the team to warn them about George creeping on their flag and give them a plan to win the game.

Afterwards, Brain apologizes, much to their confusion. He explains that he overheard Francine call him a pest and for once in her life, Francine apologizes and admits she overreacted and got mean because she was mad about losing the game. Buster tells Brain that they don’t mind him being a know it all when it benefits them and Arthur adds that everyone is annoying in some way. Buster confirms this when he adds that Francine is a big mouth.

Well, that’s not the word I would have used.

The episode ends with Francine having a dream of her own where she wakes up with a seagull’s beak and screams at her reflection. ETA because someone reminded me that I usually title drop the episode here: Guess she is feeling bugged.

Grade: A+ (First of all, Francine admitted she was being mean. That was big, life changing moment. And additionally, this was a well-written episode that addresses a common, everyday problem. Sometimes we can be annoying but our friends still like us anyway, although we should be considerate and tone it down once in a while.)

Rating: 100% intense. FRANCINE. APOLOGIZED. FOR BEING. MEAN. That is intense.