Now to an episode from the futuristic year of 2000. (Wow) We start with "The Big Dig", which is partnered with "Just Desserts" which I covered in 2016. This is episode 9b of Season 5.
The Cold Open: Arthur talks to us about how cool is grandpa Dave is, he's coming for sometime and Arthur and D.W are excited.
The Episode: Wait, this episode is about a grandpa and called the big dig, oh no! nooo! Anyway, it seems the kids are not happy that grandpa Dave is there after all because he's been boring and for the plot to work, he over hears the kids talking to their mom about how boring he's been. (Painful)
Grandpa Dave plays checkers but he isn't fun because he sleeps during the game. Which is not as fun as it sounds. Then a map falls out of grandpa's pocket and the kids are interested. Dave tells them abut their great (many) uncle who was a pirate. (what?) Anyway pirate dude hid his treasure and couldn't find it. It's buried in Elwood City. Dave says he intends in finding the treasure and he hopes to find it when them when he feels better.
This watch does everything but tell time/ Copyright WGBH
Arthur and D.W dream of what they can do with the treasure, so the plan is to take the map and go and find it for themselves. Arthur finds it and they go on the search and think the treasure is buried by the tree house. When they dig and figure out there's no treasure. Dave said the story wasn't real then he was going to hide some candy, but things got out of hand. He feels bad and gives them a real treasure , a gold compass. He tells them the story of how it saved their great uncle, Matthew. It ends with grandpa telling the story and the kids being entertained.
It's a basic episode, not bad, maybe the idea is for delayed anticipation for something, I don't know but it was an alright episode.
More after the jump
Arthur frames itself in to current times pop culture many times. They did a special with the Backstreet Boys, so yes. So this season 6 episode from 2001 will hit that some references of pop culture of 2001, that some people will not get today because reasons. This is season 6 episode 9a, since I already covered 9b (link above again).
The Cold Open: Arthur asks the question of will your friends will become famous, and if they did would they remember you? Which sets up a question I wasn't expecting. (Next time, Arthur talks about your death) It goes to a fake future where the Brain gets a Noble Peace prize and and Binky is a waiter and embarrasses him because oh no. Arthur is laying on the ice, he was ice skating, I didn't mention that earlier, and Francine hands him a paper to write an essay if he wants tickets to see her at the 2014 Winter Olympics. (Which thankfully is a long time .... what? No, your joking , really? The year 2014 happened? Next you are going to tell me that they made a whole this bit has gone on too long... I quit.) Also Michelle Kwan shows up.
The Episode: Oh hello, if you don't know who Michelle Kwan is , you can look it up at your local library, or use Yahoo! Search! She's a retired figure skater who won silver in 1998 and bronze in 2002, and 5 time World Champion. I'm not going to make this too long because this about Arthur. (He's kind of a diva) Michelle Kwan apparently went to the school Arthur and friends went to and I'm surprised. So, there's an athlete of the year thing and Francine thinks she's a shoe-in and is going to win and meet the figure skater.
I, an intellectual, am thinking that she won't be doing this after all. Francine imagines that she will be teaching Kwan to play hockey. (What?) So anyway Francine doesn't win the award because the plot synopsis said that background character , Jenna Morgan, is getting the focus this time. Francine seethes at the principal for not picking her and we the audience found out that Jenna does some good work.
Muffy starts a petition to change the winners because that's a normal reaction. (So the show was like 15 years a head of Twitter culture.) It seems Francine has to be a good sport (roll credits) thanks to her dad suggesting she should. The episode actually goes from Francine being annoyed that she lost to being annoying to Jenna.. It's actually uncomfortable , I'm scared. (weak!) I don't think Francine is being real here, and her speech seems to show that she's still annoyed and does a not drunk (somehow) passive aggressive speech.
This episode wants you to hate Francine. ( They are doing a good job at that, if that was the intention.) Jenna is crying in the bathroom, due to this annoyance. Muffy also annoying confronts here and makes things worse.
Oh Michelle Kwan is this episode and Francine is yelling at the TV and apparently trips out and has Michelle Kwan grab her through the TV and take her the ice rink. Francine has a hard time figure skating, I guess she learned a lesson. (That was a dream and people can't grab you through the TV)
The next day, she gets an autograph from Jenna from Michelle Kwan, and Francine makes a nice mends and they are friends again.
This is what happens when you insult this episode/ Copyright WGBH
It's an interesting episode showing the idea that people should be good sports and accept that sometimes they aren't going to win something and to accept it graciously. The writing made Francine annoying and I guess that was their intention to lay it on that she was acting the wrong way. It's a good episode, but it will depend on if you can tolerate Francine through the episode.
That's it for now, tune in next time, when we sue another blog for beating us!
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