So Funny I Forgot to Laugh (Arthur)
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| "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh" | ||||||||||||||||
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 This episode is so funny that we forgot to laugh.
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"So Funny I Forgot to Laugh" is the first part of the season finale of season 16 of Arthur.
Plot
When Sue Ellen gets a new sweater, Arthur makes jokes about her looking like a sheepdog with it, but drags it on for too long.
Why It Was So Funny That It Made Us Forget to Laugh
- It is a rehash of "Arthur's Eyes", the series' premiere episode, but done wrong.
- That episode involved Arthur wearing glasses and getting bullied so much to the point that he tried to stop wearing glasses all together. Here, it involves a similar concept, but instead of Arthur getting bullied for wearing glasses, Sue Ellen is bullied by Arthur for wearing a jacket.
- Arthur is very unlikable and out of character in this episode, as he constantly makes jokes about Sue Ellen wearing a jacket that makes her "look like a sheepdog", even though the jacket makes her barely resemble a sheepdog.
- Having a character like Binky, Muffy, one of the Tough Customers, or even a new character bully Sue Ellen would be more understandable. So having Arthur be the bully feels very unfitting.
- While Sue Ellen was likeable, she didn't did much to stop Arthur From bullying her. She could have stand up to Arthur, tell him that he's hurting her feelings or told Jane and David Read (or her own parents and/or Mr. Haney) about he bullying her, confront him early on the episode about the sheepdog jokes are going too far or/and the fauxpology or threatened Arthur with a beating, if he bullies her again, considering she is very tough.
- Arthur's friends give him the silent treatment, which doesn't help the problem in the slightest. Maybe this would make sense for Buster, but Francine and Muffy should've known better.
- Speaking of Arthur's friends (while tolerable aside from Francine and Muffy) they are sort of useless in the episode. None of them stand up to Arthur for Sue Ellen, tell Arthur that he's hurting her feelings or told Jane and David Read (or Sue Ellen parents and/or Mr. Haney) about Arthur bullying her. They also never confront him early on the episode about the sheepdog jokes are going too far or/and the fauxpology. Because of this, this made Arthur's friends ultimately filler characters.
- Instead of giving him the silent treatment, they could have said that he is hurting Sue Ellen feelings, confront him about the fauxpology, They could also ask him to leave Sue Ellen alone or threatened/warned him.
- Francine could also threatened Arthur with a beating, if he bullies Sue Ellen again, considering That she Is also very tough.
- Buster even didn't even shown any concerned when Arthur called Sue Ellen "oversensitive"
- Instead of giving him the silent treatment, they could have said that he is hurting Sue Ellen feelings, confront him about the fauxpology, They could also ask him to leave Sue Ellen alone or threatened/warned him.
- Speaking of Arthur's friends (while tolerable aside from Francine and Muffy) they are sort of useless in the episode. None of them stand up to Arthur for Sue Ellen, tell Arthur that he's hurting her feelings or told Jane and David Read (or Sue Ellen parents and/or Mr. Haney) about Arthur bullying her. They also never confront him early on the episode about the sheepdog jokes are going too far or/and the fauxpology. Because of this, this made Arthur's friends ultimately filler characters.
- Mr. Ratburn is also sort of useless in this episode as he doesn't do anything to help Sue Ellen from getting bullied by Arthur, aside from just simply telling Arthur to apologize to Sue Ellen, to which Arthur gives her a fauxpology. He also never told Jane and David Read (or Sue Ellen parents and/or Mr. Haney) about Arthur bullying her.
- When Mr. Ratburn makes Arthur write Sue Ellen an apology letter, Arthur does write one, but the apology is insincere and backhanded since he makes the whole incident look like Sue Ellen’s fault by saying that she overreacted. Arthur’s insincerity is proven further when he decides to email a photoshopped picture of a sheepdog with Sue Ellen’s face on it to Sue Ellen.
- Francine and Muffy while not as bad as Arthur and is sorta justifiable to be mad at him, are no better. They refuse to be anywhere near Arthur, so why would they tell him that Sue Ellen is switching classes? (unless to make Arthur feel bad about what he did to Sue Ellen) Also, they never did it when Binky bullied everyone. This proves that they're hypocrites too.
- Keep in mind that Muffy is ocassionally a bully herself to some Of her classmates just because her family was rich, and yet she's ostracizing him as well and not trying to explain what he's done, which makes Muffy a double hypocrite.
- Also, If they Are really mad at Arthur, they could have just told Jane and David Read (or Sue Ellen parents and/or Mr. Haney) that Arthur bullied her or stand up to Arthur for Sue Ellen or confront him that the sheepdog jokes are going too far or/and the fauxpology.
- Sue Ellen, her mother, Mr. Ratburn and Arthur 's friends never even think about telling Arthur’s parents or the principal about Arthur’s behavior as Sue Ellen only reports to her mom to ask her about switching classes. Because of this, the episode does not have Arthur face the severity of his actions until the end of the episode.
- The scene where Arthur photo-shops a picture of a sheepdog's head onto Sue Ellen's body and then e-mails it to her was ultimately mean-spirited.
Redeeming Qualities
- The beginning of the episode is decent, until Arthur starts bullying Sue Ellen.
- The ending was okay as Arthur did learn his lesson in the end and apologizes for being rude to Sue Ellen.
- To be fair, Francine and Muffy being mad at Arthur was justifiable as they were mad about Arthur bullying Sue Ellen.
- Sue Ellen was likeable for the most part and can also be treated as sympathetic, due to her getting bullied by Arthur.
- The other characters are tolerable as they didn't bullied Sue Ellen at all.
- Even though Arthur didn’t get any severe punishment for bullying, he did got a little bit of comeuppance as his friends turning against him, give him the silent treatment while Mr. Ratburn have a talk with him and getting scolded by Francine and Muffy.
- He also at least feels remorseful for what he did at the ending.
- Buster ruining giving Arthur the silent treatment was the only good joke.
Reception
This episode was highly panned by fans and critics alike, mainly due to Arthur non-stop joking to Sue Ellen about "looking like a sheepdog". It is even considered to be one of the worst episodes of the series, with some saying that it is even worse than "Arthur's Big Hit", "D.W.'s Very Bad Mood", "Cast Away", "Play It Again, D.W." and "Nerves of Steal".
The episode along with "The Best Day Ever" received a 2.7 on IMDb, making this pairing the lowest rated Arthur episode ever on that website.
Trivia
- There was a theory that everyone in the Arthur universe looks like an animal, because of him being in a coma. The end of this episode where, Sue Ellen says Arthur wearing her sweater makes him look like a mouse kinda debunks this theory. Not as much as other episodes, like Buster Makes the Grade with Buster playing with his rabbit ears or Arthur’s Dummy Disaster with George blocking the ball with his antlers, but it’s still one to contradict this theory.
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