Airdate: October 29, 1996
Fed up with Francine being rude to everyone all the time, Muffy bets her a watch that she couldn't be nice for an entire week, but cannot tell anyone about the bet. When Arthur and his friends take notice, they worry her head might pop off if she continues to hold in her anger.
Meek for a Week provides examples of:
- Artistic License – Engineering: Despite Francine's watch being digital, when Binky ends up smashing it, gears and springs poke out of the destroyed watch as if it were an older mechanical analog watch!
- Comically Missing the Point: Francine once painted a pink elephant in her bedroom. When her parents came to investigate, her mother was aptly shocked. Her dad, however, studies the painting. He then compliments the accurate proportions.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- Francine once tried practicing her drumming at sunrise. Just as she got into her rhythm, the Frensky neighbors woke up with one screaming that the building was collapsing. When they realized it was a drummer on the roof, all of them came out to confront her. In later episodes, Francine is shown to only practice in the afternoon as a result.
- When Muffy initiates the bet, she doesn't realize that exactly a week from that moment will be right when the playoff hockey game ends.
- Dissonant Serenity: In the Imagine Spot of Francine's head flying off, her head is smiling and saying positive things.Francine: [flying through the air] My, but it's a lovely day!
Francine: [having landing in a yard] What a beautiful lawn! - Dramatic Thunder: The quick montage seen during Francine's Rage Breaking Point includes a quick shot of lightning flashing during a thunderstorm with thunder booming.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Francine's Jerkass behavior here is very jarring to see, almost feeling out of character if you're used to the later episodes. In addition, her willingly letting the other team play better would be extremely out of character for her in later episodes, as she would later develop into a much more sports-minded person. The song that appears on Arthur and Friends: The First Almost Real (Not Live) Music CD based on this episode (with the same name) is a lot more reflective of her future characterization.
- From Bad to Worse: When everyone notices Francine is being so nice, they fear disaster come a Rage Breaking Point. They attempt to make her mad to try and get her to let it out (such as buying her a flavor soda that she hates and telling her that Binky said he could always beat her at sports), but because of the bet, she has to keep holding it in.
- Imagine Spot: Probably one of the outright strangest ones in the whole series, where Francine's head literally pops off her body and lands in some random kid's front yard. The context is that Francine bottling her anger is compared to a soda bottle blowing off its lid, ergo Francine's head is treated as a bottle cap lid. The stranger parts are that (a) Francine loses her head over something small and random, like Mr. Ratburn saying the word "griffin", and (b) her head is still spouting pleasant and good-mannered stuff as it flies through the air.
- Jerkass: Francine in this episode.
- Losing Your Head: Occurs in the aforementioned Imagine Spot as the kids worry about what could happen if Francine continues to bottle up her anger; Francine sits at her desk in school with a flat expression on her face before her head suddenly shoots off like a rocket through the ceiling, flies across town, and lands in some kid's front yard.
- Parental Obliviousness: A rare case of one from Francine's parents in the cold opener; she's just made a life-size painting of an elephant. In her room. On the wall. What follows...Mrs. Frensky: Francine!Mr. Frensky: (examining the painting) Not bad. Accurate proportions.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: The song based on this episode (with the same name) that appeared on the first Arthur music album changes quite a few things to the plot, primarily avoiding the Early-Installment Weirdness involving Francine's characterization. First off, instead of only Muffy and Francine being in on the bet, all of her friends are in on it. Second, instead of being a Jerkass, she holds more of a Small Name, Big Ego tendency and believes she's above others. Also, the entire plot about the bet not ending before the hockey game is completely left out.
- Rage Breaking Point: Discussed early on in the episode, when the Brain fears that if Francine continues to hold in her anger, her head will literally pop off. It ultimately happens when the watch gets smashed to bits, though Francine's head stays on her shoulders.
- Recycled Animation: The building explosion briefly seen during Francine's Rage Breaking Point is the same footage from "D.W.'s Baby", when D.W. is trying to get Kate in trouble.
- Retcon: The cold opening stating that Francine practicing on the roof of her apartment complex only happening once (due to unhappy residents) was quietly retconned in future episodes, justified in that she started at sunrise. It's later implied that she always practices on the roof, such as in "To Beat or Not to Beat" and "Arthur, It's Only Rock and Roll" but in the afternoon this time.
- Skewed Priorities: After Francine returns to normal, Buster wonders if this means they won't get to see her head pop off.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: Justified under O.O.C. Is Serious Business; Arthur and Buster are concerned for Francine's well-being, because they can visibly see that being this nice (and in the process, bottling every bit of her anger inside) is stressing her out. They do all they can to make her mad, so that she'll hit her Rage Breaking Point earlier.
Buster brags on Arthur to the Tough Customers that he's the world's greatest gleeper, without realizing what that actually means. Needless to say, they are quite horrified when they learn it's slang for "steal." Unfortunately for Arthur, the Tough Customers and the rest of the school are already convinced he's telling the truth, putting him in an uncomfortable situation.
Arthur, World's Greatest Gleeper provides examples of:
- Buffy Speak: When Arthur is trying to explain his situation to Mrs. MacGrady, he uses intentionally vague terminology ("let's say you went along with it when someone said you did this thing...") to ask for advice without actually saying what he did. She ends up completely confused and is left with more questions than answers, at least until Muffy runs in accusing him of stealing her cellular phone.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Rattles, at the end of the episode.Rattles: You big liar! You lie! You're just a lie-y liar! You big...lying...lie-face!
- Digging Yourself Deeper: Arthur goes along with being the "world's greatest gleeper" even after he learns what the word actually means, which ends up pissing Francine off in the process. He quickly realizes the mistake he's making when Molly tells him "Just goes to show who your real friends are!"
- Easily Forgiven: Mrs. MacGrady is surprisingly forgiving of the fact that Arthur almost stole a bunch of ice cream from the cafeteria. In fact, she's less concerned than Mr. Haney was, who gave him a talking to before he even did anything.
- Gilligan Cut: Happens near the end.Mrs. MacGrady: Arthur. If you can tell them what you told me, I'm sure they'll understand.(cut from the kitchen to outside on the playground)Rattles: You big liar!
- Hypocrite: The Tough Customers harp on Arthur for "lying" and saying that it's a "very bad thing" to do, when they were the ones that were peer-pressuring him into stealing things in the first place.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The entire plot is set in motion because Buster brags on Arthur about gleeping to stop the Tough Customers' teasing, without actually realizing what it means.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Mrs. MacGrady figured that Arthur was being unfairly pressured to have a reputation he didn't want. She is waiting in the dark when he nearly steals ice-cream bars, and Arthur believes she'll probably tell Mr. Haney. Instead, she talks with him about how he doesn't want to do this, and that he doesn't have to give into peer pressure. This convinces Arthur to tell the truth to the Tough Customers.
- Unusual Euphemism: The Tough Customers use several of these, including "pulled a fizzer," "skipped a louie," and of course, "gleeping." We never learn what the former two mean.
