Arnold's Valentine is the 25th episode of the 1st season of Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold! animated television series. The episode was written by series writers Rachel Lipman (who wrote many first season episodes) and late writer and series co-developer Steven Viksten (1960-2014) and directed by Jamie Mitchell. The episode premiered on Nickelodeon on Wednesday, February 12, 1997 and again on Friday, February 14th, 1997 -- St. Valentine's Day at 8:00 p.m. EST. Run time of 24 minutes.
The special episode is the second holiday episode of season one following Arnold's Christmas (Season 1, Episode 20), Arnold's Valentine also serves as the culmination of the season one story arc concerning the title character's season-long unrequited crush on a 6th grade girl named Ruth which began in the episode Operation Ruthless (Season 1, Episode 7a) -- the latter episode also having been written by Viksten and Lipman respectively.
This episode holds some special significance for yours truly that I discussed in a previous blog post.
It aired on the same day I graduated from U.S. Navy boot camp -- Friday, February 14, 1997. At the time I was in a hotel room with another graduate and my Grandmother Carolyn (God rest her soul!), who'd made the bus trip from South Carolina to Great Lakes, Illinois to see me graduate and visit for the weekend.
While I was visiting and eating Pepperoni and mushroom pizza and drinking Dr. Pepper (the first real junk food I'd had in about 9 weeks!) the episode came on television replayed from two days before when it premiered on Nickelodeon and I found myself totally immersed in it while my grandmother and shipmate were talking about his family.
Now, as I mentioned in a previous blog post, I'd begun watching Hey Arnold! casually when the first season began, but didn't really have time to get into the series too deeply before shipping off to Great Lakes in December of 1996 -- three months after the first season began. When I saw it again upon graduation, the first episode I'd seen was Arnold's Valentine, and I was taken with the story elements of the episode.
It's also probably my second all-time favorite Valentine's Day story in animation behind Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (1975) from childhood -- which I will probably do a nostalgic review of at some point down the road.
I watch the episode as a yearly tradition on, or close to, Valentine's Day. Yep, just me sitting in my living room chair in my pajamas and a bowl of popcorn in front of the television....also pretty much my normal February 14th tradition, alas.
Anyhow, without further ado, let's get this nostalgic review started.
The Story
The episode beings on St. Valentine's Day (February 14th) at P.S. 118 where our two main protagonists, Arnold and Helga are both admiring their mutual crushes from afar: Arnold smiling as 6th grader Ruth McDougal passed in the hallway -- and still completely oblivious to the fact he even exists; and Helga smiling from her desk as Arnold walks past her entering the 4th grade classroom.
The students are assigned by their teacher, Miss Slovak (voiced by the talented Miss Tress MacNeille), to make Valentine cards for someone that's important or special to them. Helga tries to make one for Arnold, but her wording never seems to come out right and becomes more and more hostile due to her insecurities (example: Arnold, be my Valentine, or I'll pound you!) until finally she becomes discouraged by the whole thing.
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| How about "Be My Valentine, Football-head!" |
Arnold seems to have a weakness for older girls and women; a point that continues to crop up a few more times throughout the run of the series.
Miss Slovak then starts handing out postcards from
the students' pen-pals, including a sad little postcard from Helga's
pen-pal begging for money. When she laments that she never gets fancy gifts from her
pen-pal (unlike Rhonda who got gourmet chocolates from her Italian
pen-pal), Miss Slovak offers some words of wisdom to Helga, "Sometimes the most beautiful gift can come in the plainest box." Remember this line because this is important later on.
Before
she can next give Arnold a letter from
his French pen-pal, a girl named Cecile,
the bell rings for recess. In the fact she was about to hand it out to
Arnold, who was ready to take it, Miss Slovak returns the letter to the
bag to finish giving them out after recess -- this detail (despite
making no sense at all) will shortly be important in moving the plot
forward.
At recess, Arnold practices some slick ninja skills as he slips his card
for Ruth in with her other Valentine cards when she's not paying attention. When she picks it up and reads it, she apparently does show some genuine interest.
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| A simple hello might have been just as good, Arnold. |
Meanwhile, Helga gets an idea on how she can express her feelings to Arnold. She sneaks back into the classroom and takes out Cecile's letter for Arnold, adding a P.S. saying that she is flying into town for one night and wants to meet him at another French restaurant, Chez Paris, tonight. She tells him to please come alone and don't make any other plans.
Later that afternoon when school lets out, Arnold is reading the letter and he becomes worried as to how he's supposed to go on two dates at the same time. The two of them walk to the restaurants, which just happen to be right next to each other.
Gerald suggests that he should simply get a table at both places and if Ruth didn't show up (which Gerald was pretty sure wouldn't happen) then Arnold would be okay, but if she somehow did, then Arnold could make up some excuse to go across to the other restaurant. Arnold -- probably out of desperation and seeing no other way out -- agrees to this plan.
In the next scene between Gerald and Arnold as they are walking to the Sunset Arms Boarding House, Gerald asks his best friend what he knows about Ruth when Arnold asks what he should even say to her. When Arnold is forced to admit that he really doesn't know much about her, just that he likes her for a bunch of superficial reasons, Gerald laments that this is going to be harder than he thought.
Throughout the whole of season one of Hey Arnold! our football-headed protagonist has never once actually spoken to, or had any personal interaction with Ruth, other than seeing her seemingly smiling at him as they crossed paths with her wide, brace-faced smile on a few occasions. His crush on Ruth is based solely on what he sees as his idolized version of a lovely girl....or rather as much attraction as a 9-year-old can have with an 11-year-old.
On a personal note, at age nine, I was more obsessed with the original G-1 Transformers cartoon television series, 80s slasher horror films, and professional wrestling personalities. I wouldn't start noticing the opposite sex for at least four more years.
The writers for Hey Arnold! tended to treat their 4th grade characters more like young adults on occasions depending on the circumstances, sometimes contrasting the fact most of the children in the series were more seemingly mature than the adults around them behaved at times. This would also explain how, later in the episode, these 9 to 11-year-old kids can reserve tables at fancy French restaurants and be out late at night with no adult supervision -- in a major American city no less!
Meanwhile, Helga prepares for her own date with Arnold by rushing home and raiding her older sister's room for tapes on learning to speak French -- which she copies rather badly. She also seeks out and finds the most French-looking outfit from her sister's closet to alter. Later she goes to a salon to get her hair done in some French style -- not realizing that the salon was actually meant for dogs and getting her pigtails done up in a French poodle style and making her look totally ridiculous but certainly not like she usually looks so mission accomplished.
Back in Arnold's room Gerald attempts to coach Arnold on his date, to apparent success as Arnold delivers a small speech to give to Ruth to say how much he likes her and wanted her to know it. It even moves Gerald to tears a little. Then Arnold gets dressed up in his tuxedo and Gerald volunteers to sit at a bench between both restaurants to serve as lookout in case Ruth arrives.
Back at the Pataki household, Helga gets ready for her catfish date with Arnold, dressing up and delivering a monologue about finally getting Arnold out of the clutches of "that sixth grade yo-yo" and being able to express her true feelings for Arnold with no risk since she will be in disguise.
Then Helga ends this monologue with the bold remark, "Nothing can go wrong now." -- a dreaded phrase that's pretty much the equivalent of saying, "I'll be right back" in a slasher film, meaning she's inviting some negative karma on her well laid plan.
In the next brief scene we see a plane coming in for a landing with the real Cecile and her parents flying into the city from France, to make a surprise visit to see Arnold that very same day....uh oh.
Thus ending the first half of the episode.
The second half of the episode finds Arnold at Chez Paris sitting at a candlelit table near a large window waiting for his first date. Gerald is sitting on a bench outside between both restaurants pretending to read a paper, and gives Arnold a thumbs-up that Arnold returns.
Helga arrives as "Cecile" in her "frou-frou" hairdo, red high-heels, and the most French-looking outfit she could find in her sister's wardrobe, that she apparently altered enough to show off her....uh, curves?
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| Yeah, I never understood how a nine-year-old somehow has feminine curves. It didn't make sense the first time I saw it either. |
After slipping in her heels and needing help from Arnold, the latter remarks that she didn't look much like her photograph, which he holds out showing the actual Cecile. Helga promptly takes it from him and rips it up muttering something about a mix-up. Arnold also notices that her French accent is more American, to which she acts like its a complement.
It was then that Arnold says, "There's just something about you. I feel like I know you already." Helga begins to panic until Arnold adds the he meant from Cecile's letters.
How Arnold can't tell that this girl is full of it, and more so that she's Helga is the comedy gold of the whole scene. I just assume that its the fact her hairstyle now covers her left eye giving here Clark Kent-level disguise powers....that or our Football-head hero is just really dense. Or both?
Arnold asks her about her life in France curiously, causing Helga to go on about Paris being quite a city. This confuses Arnold who mentioned she lived on a farm in the Loire Valley.
Yeah Helga, you probably should have read the rest of the letter and did a bit more background research before committing identity theft.
Helga deflects from this mistake asking about Arnold and what his school is like. Before he can go into details, a very snooty waiter named Jacques appears to take their order. Arnold just asks for a hamburger, which causes both the waiter and everyone else in the fancy French restaurant to gasp and look his way like he just farted in church.
Mr Snooty Waiter tells Arnold (in what I'm pretty sure is a fake French accent that he probably drops the moment he gets back to his apartment after work) that, "Chez Paris does not serve, le-amburger." He recommends the Steak Tartare, which Arnold accepts. When he attempts to add to that, the waiter just looks at him and says, "You are finished with your order." What a dick!
When Helga orders, she just finds the most French-sounding thing on the menu. Mr. Snooty Waiter complements Helga on her refined taste before departing. When Arnold asks what she ordered, she only deflects saying that she didn't know how to say it in English and that they have it all the time back home in France.
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| Well, at least she did not order the first one! |
As Helga begins to talk to Arnold -- about the shape of his head of all things -- Ruth appears at the window outside next to Chez Pierre next door and Arnold goes all foggy and the Jazz music plays in his mind. He promptly excuses himself awkwardly to go to the restroom and leaves to go greet Ruth.
After an entire season of never actually interacting, Arnold finally, FINALLY, gets to talk to Ruth directly.
Ruth McDougal is voiced by the talented Lacey Chabert, who is best remembered as the voice of Eliza Thornberry in Nickelodeon's The Wild Thornberrys animated series and the original voice for Meg Griffin in the first season of Family Guy. This is also the only time in the entire series where Ruth actually has a speaking role, rather than serving as a background character.
For her part Ruth seems to barely care about Arnold's presence as she asks about reservations with "Mr. A-non-y-mos." Yes, that's how she pronounces it, even having to look at the Valentine card to remember the name. Yeesh.
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| She needs to actually look at the Valentine to remember "Anonymous"? Dude, that should be red flag number one! |
Arnold escorts her to an outside table and asks if she wants anything. After saying she'll have a soda. Gerald -- still sitting nearby -- whispers to Arnold reminding him of his other date. He excuses himself to go back to Chez Paris. Once he leaves a busboy comes over and asks Ruth if she wants anything to drink, to which Ruth replies somewhat confused, "I just gave my order to that other busboy."
Oh crap.
Meanwhile, back at their table inside the other restaurant, Helga is practicing trying to tell Arnold that she loves him, but has as much luck saying it to herself as she did earlier trying to write it on her Valentine Day card.
Arnold returns, making an excuse about the line at the bathroom. Helga decides to go right for the throat, asking him if there's any girl he likes at his school. Arnold considers the question and then he kinda mentions Helga, who he says kinda bugs him sometimes. Not really the answer she was looking for and Helga almost blows her cover when Arnold tries to explain what "bugs" means.
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| I hope neither of them left this jerk a tip! |
Fortunately their food arrives, sparing Helga from another failed attempt to confess her feelings for him. She promptly digs in enjoying her pink-looking mushy food, that is until Mr. Snooty Waiter comments that not many of their younger customers appreciates "le-cow brains and eggs" -- which is probably the closest thing Chez Paris has to "le-amburger." Upon hearing that Helga gets up quickly and runs to the bathroom to barf, causing her hair to come undone for some reason.
Arnold uses this unexpected opportunity to rush back to Chez Pierre and Ruth, who said that she already got a soda from the other busboy. Arnold realizes she mistook him for a waiter and then sits down and starts to explain, asking if she wonders who Anonymous was. Ruth replies, somewhat annoyed that everyone knew who Anonymous was, that he was some sort of famous poet that they read about in class.
Yeah, you get the idea right then that this girl is a complete airhead and she's a few pounds light. However, despite this, Arnold suggests they talk a bit and get acquainted. Ruth responds indifferent, saying okay but once Anonymous shows up, he'll have to go. Ouch.
We cut back to Helga briefly, who is walking back to their table. Dress and shirt wrinkled and no longer showing off those impossible curves, and hair now loose -- though her Clark Kent-level bangs are still covering her left eye. Once back she realizes she's alone and stands getting ready to leave disappointed, thinking Arnold had abandoned her.
Then we cut back to Arnold, who looks completely bored and disappointed as Ruth, his crush, the sixth-grader that he admired for afar for a whole season goes on-and-on about herself and superficial things like how some other girl copied her hairstyle. Gerald nearby waves him over pointing to the window where Helga is standing up and getting ready to leave. Arnold quickly excuses himself from Ruth -- who is still babbling -- and rushes back to Helga before she can leave.
What happens next is probably one of the more touching scenes of the whole episode and why I personally love Hey Arnold! as a series.
Arnold sits at the table and opens up to Helga, telling her about how he thought he liked this one girl, but found out when he got to know her that the two of them had nothing in common. Helga responds sincerely that maybe she wasn't the girl for him, that the one for him might be someone he didn't expect. She then repeats the same line that Miss Slovak told her earlier in the episode: "After all the most beautiful gift can come in the plainest box."
You really feel in this scene that Helga was being open and honest when speaking to Arnold. She no longer tries to put in that fake-sounding French accent and just speaks to him in a soft, sincere way. Even her disguise falling apart with her long blonde hair now loose and hanging over one eye feels more natural somehow -- a nice touch there.
Arnold accepts that maybe she is right and then confesses to Helga that he was really glad she came and that he's having a really good time with her. This surprises Helga
who responds that she feels the same, then actually manages to say that she
really likes Arnold and then asks if he likes her back.
There's a long moment where Arnold looks down at their hands, which are close to each other on the small table, just inches apart. Arnold starts to reach for it, but then remembers that he has to deal with his other date -- if only to explain things and say goodbye to his now former crush -- and excuses himself one last time to take care of it. He briefly touches her hand before departing, leaving Helga smiling as she leans on the table.
The entire scene is beautifully done with the pair sitting between a candle-lit table and a guy playing a violin in the background. The music for the scene is just absolutely amazing all thanks to series composer Jim Lang's amazing romantic score. Both Arnold and Helga's young voice actors (Lane Toran and Francesca Smith -- who were both 13 and 11 respectively when they played the roles) do an absolutely wonderful job conveying the emotions of both characters in this scene.
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| "Say, did you do something different with your hair?" |
Arnold returns, only for Ruth to inform him that they were about to leave together, and he can go ahead and clear the plates. Dude....really?! Arnold is clearly not old enough to be a busboy.
Also, I'm pretty sure if that busboy is actually old enough to get employment at a restaurant, then he's way too old to be going out with a 6th grader. Again Ruth clearly isn't the sharpest knife in the draw.
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| She's all yours, buddy. |
Its about this time that Helga looks out the window and sees Arnold talking to Ruth, and is understandably upset. She takes off those ankle-spraining high heels and stops out of Chez Paris and demands to know what's going on. She slams her heels on the ground to emphasis that yeah, she's pissed off.
Arnold tries to explain, but Helga cuts him off with a finger to his nose, saying, "If there's one thing I can't stand its someone not being completely honest about who they are!"
Right on cue, a French-accented voice behind Helga asks for Arnold, saying she was Cecile -- leading to shock on Helga's part and confusion on Arnold's. Miss Hypocrite begins to babble and Cecile asks Arnold what is going on....yeah, like he's got a clue.
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| Surprise Arnold, the real Cecile has arrived. Gerald....help! |
Thankfully, Gerald makes his presence known and comes to the rescue, saying that he's Arnold and offers to take Cecile to a local hamburger joint down the street -- which Cecile happily accepts.
You see, Mr. Snooty Waiter, she's French and she likes "le-amburger" you stuck-up prick!
Gerald and Cecile walk away arm-in-arm leaving two very awkward kids standing there on the cobblestones. Helga remarks that its been a crazy night, which Arnold agrees with. She bends to pick up her shoes, only to have Arnold pick up the other one and look at it before asking, "There's one thing I still don't understand, who are you?"
The fake Cecile finally responds that she can't tell him, but doesn't give an excuse why. Arnold accepts this and then asks, "Will I ever see you again?" At this Helga smiles and says, "Oh, probably."
Arnold takes her hand and tells her this has been the best Valentine's Day he's ever had. Helga agrees and then says she has to go. Then, in a line right out of the 1942 film Casablanca, Arnold says, "Well, we'll always have Chez Paris" before smoothly kissing her hand. Helga lets out a small, loving sigh and says, "Au revoir, Arnold."
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| "Later football-head....er, I mean, Au revoir, Arnold." |
This is an another touching scene between these two characters.
Certainly Arnold is curious about who his mysterious dinner date actually is. It was established in an earlier episode of the series The Little Pink Book (Season 1, Episode 6a) that Arnold has a secret admirer with a major crush on him. Even as dense as Arnold is he has to know this must be the same girl who wrote those mushy poems about him.
Yet, rather than pry any further, Arnold chooses to respect her privacy and allows her to say goodbye with her secret intact. This shows a great deal of class on Arnold's part.
Helga in turn also seems to forgive Arnold for his own deception in seeing Ruth behind her back on their date. She does so, not just because she'd also been deceiving him; but because, in spite of everything, Arnold still holds her heart and she simply cannot stay mad at him for long.
The fact that the two of them actually enjoyed each other's company in spite of everything was also a good thing. Helga's "au revoir" (French for goodbye till next time) is her way of confirming to him that yes, he will see her again....next day in class, duh!
As Helga walks away holding onto one of her red shoes, she wonders if it was her that Arnold liked, or the her she acted like when she was pretending to be Cecile -- which by the way is a good question, but one that won't be answered for some time in the series.
The final scene shows Arnold walking home and standing at the top of the stairs in front of the open doorway holding Helga's other shoe and looking up at the night sky overhead wondering who his secret admirer actually was as the ending credits begin.
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| I wonder who she was? Also, that waiter was such a dick! |
My Thoughts
Arnold's Valentine is a great special holiday episode of the series, and certainly one of my favorites in terms of the story arc regarding the relationship between the two main protagonists, Arnold and Helga.
For many fans who enjoy the relationship arc, this episode is really one of the first indications -- if only subtly -- that Helga's feelings for Arnold run deeper than just some crush, and that Arnold might actually like Helga back romantically.
In point of fact, the creator of the show, Craig Bartlett, has stated in interviews with fans that Arnold and Helga are in fact soulmates.
There would be other moments between these two in scenes throughout the next four seasons of the series that would build on this and expand on the nature of why Helga loves Arnold in the first place. Seasons four and five have some especially great moments between the two characters.
The build up and the story arc itself is done very well for a series that is allegedly developed for kids and written so beautifully that people into their early adulthood can get into the story.
In fact, the emotional investment in this romantic story arc has inspired a large number of fanfiction stories and fan artwork on over a hundred fan sites throughout the decades, and continues to do so today in spite of the series having long since ended. Not just from teenagers, but also from people in their 20s and even 30s who enjoyed this cult classic animated series -- myself included.
It would take an entire series of five seasons and two movies (the second of which made about 20 years after the series actually premiered in fact!) before the Hey Arnold! fandom would finally get a definitive answer to the question: Do Arnold and Helga end up together?
Spoiler alert: Yes they do!
Anyhow I hope y'all enjoyed my Southern Fried Nostalgic & Fandom review of this special Valentine's Day episode. Please let me know in the comments below if you've seen it and what you thought of my review of this great holiday episode.
