Arthur Vs. The Very Mean Crossing Guard
Arthur and The Brain have trouble with a crossing guard who expects them to pay every time they cross the street. If they don't, he says he'll "send his goons" after them.
“Arthur vs the Very Mean Crossing Guard” contains examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: After they learn that Ted was just messing with him, Brain and Arthur happily banter with him about goons.
- Everyone Has Standards: When Ted learns that he has really scared the boys, he comes over and apologizes.
- Heel Realization: After Ted apologizes to Arthur and the Brain for the threats he made and reveals they weren't true, Arthur learns something about himself that very night. When about to go through the routine of scaring D.W. with ideas of what's under her bed or in her closet, it gives him pause. He realizes that him messing with his sister's head is no different than how Ted messed around with him and the Brain, even if he didn't intend to scare the boys. This convinces him to tell D.W. the truth about all the scary stuff he says to her.
- I Was Just Joking: When Grandma Thora asks Ted about his "threats" to the boys, Ted comes over and apologizes. He says that he was just messing with them.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Arthur reveals in the Cold Open that he was making up monster stories to scare D.W. Then he gets the same treatment from the crossing guard. Arthur realizes this in the end and tells D.W. that there are no monsters.
- Maniac Monkeys: When Arthur and the Brain are worried what Ted's "goons" are going to do to them, Arthur has an Imagine Spot where some monkeys invade his room. They're not the goons, just baboons; the actual goons are much scarier according to one of them.
- One-Shot Character: Ted isn't seen or mentioned again after this episode.
- Versus Title: "Arthur vs. the Very Mean Crossing Guard".
D.W.'s Very Bad Mood
As Francine hands out invitations to her birthday party, she notices Arthur is half-asleep. He explains that D.W. is banging the door to her room every night for hours on end and keeping him awake. Francine decides to help him get to the bottom of this day-long temper tantrum.
“D.W.’s Very Bad Mood” contains examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: Jane scolds D.W. for being a brat, but D.W. remains grumpy and incorrigible. Francine has to have a girls' talk with D.W. to find out what's wrong.
- Armor-Piercing Question:
- When Francine comes over to the Reads' house for dinner and sees D.W.'s extra-horrible attitude in person, she finally asks, "What's the matter with you?" This is enough to break D.W.'s nastiness and send her running from the table in tears, which is the first evidence that there is a deeper problem underlying her awful behavior.
- Later, when Francine pieces together that D.W. is feeling left out because Lisa, a girl in her class, didn't invite her to a birthday party, she asks if D.W. is actually Lisa's friend. D.W. is forced to admit that she isn't, which helps her realize how childish she's been acting.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Arthur listens in on a sleeping D.W., she seemingly talks into her sleep about why she's cranky. According to her, "Something's not right because... because Arthur is a dodo brain!" Comically, this tricks Arthur into relaying the message for Francine, who can't help but laugh about it over walkie-talkie.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Arthur says he thought the cops would come due to D.W.'s loud tantrum late at night and does an Imagine Spot about a TV show where special units are called on bratty kids, Binky gets excited and asks when it comes on TV.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even though she's not above having a little mischievous fun every now and again, Francine tells D.W. that wanting to ruin Lisa's party for the crime of not being invited is "mean".
- Freudian Excuse: After spending the better part of the episode helping Arthur try and figure out why D.W.'s become exceptionally bratty and nasty, Francine finally gets to the bottom of it following a run-in with some of D.W.'s classmates: As it turns out, D.W. wanted to be invited to Lisa's party, but was duly disappointed when she was excluded, even though her best friend Emily was invited. Her bad attitude and acting out is her way of coping with the situation, if but a poor way of going about it.
- Hard Truth Aesop: When Francine figures out that D.W. is feeling left out from Lisa inviting Emily and not her to the former's birthday party, she delivers it: sometimes people aren't going to invite you to events where you want to go. Instead of focusing on those that exclude you, you should find people that appreciate you. Francine does it by inviting D.W., along with Arthur, to her birthday party.
- Imagine Spotting: Binky is excited about the Temper Tantrum Patrol Squad show featured in Arthur's Imagine Spot and wants to know when it's going to be on, even though he wasn't there for the discussion that prompted the spot in the first place and is only just walking up to join the group as it's ending.
- Remember the New Guy?: Lisa, a character who hasn't been seen or mentioned before, is having a party that D.W. doesn't get invited to, which is the reason for her prolonged fit.
- RevengeSVP: D.W. has an Imagine Spot about it. She tells Francine she wants a blimp that will drain all of the colors from Lisa's party and melt her cake.
- Sarcasm-Blind: When Arthur's other friends bail on helping him find out what's wrong with D.W.Brain: Gee, I'd love to, but I have to clean the garage.
Binky: And I have to, um... I have to clean our garage, too. Yeah, wow, what a coincidence.
Arthur: Thanks a lot, guys.
Binky: Anytime. - Suspiciously Specific Denial: After forcing Arthur and Francine to take her to the movie that Lisa and her party guests are seeing, D.W. puts on a phony cheerful attitude to her classmates and claims that she isn't upset at all about not getting invited. Francine isn't fooled.
- Spoiled Brat: D.W. acts even worse in this episode than usual. Even with her parents and Arthur calling her out, she's grabbed the Jerkass Ball.
- Uninvited to the Party: The reason behind D.W.'s bad mood is that she wasn't invited to a classmate's birthday party while her friend Emily was. Since D.W. is forced to admit that she's not really friends with the birthday girl, this leads to the lesson that you can't expect to be invited to every event.
- Visual Pun: In D.W.'s Imagine Spot of how to satisfy her bad mood, she envisions using a giant blimp and pouring a magical liquid on the party that melts all the colors off. In other words, she wants to rain on their parade.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Both Arthur and Jane have been telling off D.W. for her bad behavior. Jane even says she's not taking D.W. to see a show to cheer her up because she's seen it twice, and she's not getting rewarded for a temper tantrum.
