History Recap / ArthurS5E6TheElectionFrancineGoesToWar

** Francine plans to get rid of Mrs. Pariso by planting a forged eviction notice to convince her she has to leave. Seems like a simple enough plan, right? Except, given she has the grammatical writing skills of a third grader, the notice has too many grammar errors, making it transparent it wasn't written by professional hands. And if Mrs. Pariso returning the letter to Francine with said-errors pointed out is any indication, it didn't work.
** Because they are kids, they don't really have good spelling skills.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Francine plans to get rid of Mrs. Pariso by planting a forged eviction notice to convince her she has to leave. Seems like a simple enough plan, right? Except, given she has the grammatical writing skills of a third grader, the notice has too many grammar errors, making it transparent it wasn't written by professional hands. And if Mrs. Pariso returning the letter to Francine with said-errors pointed out is any indication, it didn't work.

* AnAesop:
** Elections can be dirty business and no candidate is perfect. It's up to the voter to make an informed decision about the candidates and whose proposals and ideals line up the most with them. Muffy showers people with gifts but slanders her opponent and rudely criticizes any naysayers. Arthur is kind and genuine, but also shy and awkward and doesn't have Muffy's cash to fall back on.
** It's probably not best to pick a candidate because they're telling you everything you want to hear. Binky wins the election in a landslide because he makes a bunch of proposals like no homework, something he has no power to actually enforce.
** It's also best to pick a candidate who is qualified for the position. Binky wins but doesn't display any actual leadership abilities, he just says what he would like to see happen in school. Arthur is probably the most qualified of the three to lead in the episode given he isn't just in it for the glory like Muffy is.
** Keep in mind when things aren't serious enough to get so invested in. Muffy spends a lot of money and effort in her campaign for nothing but a mock class election, and later is outraged when she loses to Binky.

* AnAesop:
** Be considerate of your neighbors and your volume levels so that you're not inconveniencing or annoying them, especially when living in a shared setting like an apartment complex.
** There is every chance that your neighbors are actually kind, considerate friends to make, so don't assume the worst if you haven't gotten to know them.

* AllElectionsAreSeriousBusiness: Muffy takes the election ''[[SeriousBusiness far]]'' too seriously, even forbidding Francine from hanging out with Arthur because "he's the enemy." After they both lose to Binky, Muffy blames Arthur and vows she'll never forget it. Arthur even tells Buster that he hopes Muffy never loses a ''real'' election.

* AllElectionsAreSeriousBusiness: Muffy takes the election ''[[SeriousBusiness far]]'' too seriously, even forbidding Francine from hanging out with Arthur because "he's the enemy." After they both lose to Binky, Muffy blames him and says she'll never forget it. Arthur says to Buster that he hopes she never loses a ''real'' election.

** Elections can be dirty business and no candidate is perfect. It's up to the voter to make an informed decision about the candidates and whose proposals and ideals line up the most with them. Muffy showers people in gifts but slanders her opponent and rudely criticizes any naysayers. Arthur is kind and genuine, but is shy and awkward and doesn't have Muffy's cash to fall back on.
** It's probably not best to pick a candidate because they're telling you everything you want to hear. Binky wins the election in a landslide because he makes a bunch of proposals like no homework, something he has no power to actually make effective.

* HateSink: Muffy's [[SeriousBusiness taking the election too seriously]], forbidding Francine to be friends with their "opposition" and slandering Arthur is meant to give the viewers a reason to root for Arthur to win the election. No doubt, [[DarkHorseVictory Binky]] was a preferable option to her as well.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Francine admits to her dad at the end that he was right; Mrs. Pariso is actually quite cool and not a killjoy as she initially thought. He tells her that you have to give new neighbors a chance.

* HiddenDepths: Once she visits Mrs. Pariso for tea, Francine learns there's more to her than a old killjoy who lives on the other side of her bedroom wall. As it turns out, as a young woman, Mrs. Pariso shared many interests similar to Francine, doesn't really like tea, and had an amazing life.
* MaliciousMisnaming: After recieving a complaint about her drumming, Francine mutters her nickname for Mrs. Pariso (Mrs. Parrot-face) under her breath.
* NoJustNo: When the superintendent tries to pass on Mrs. Pariso's message to not drum so loud, Francine asks him to pass on this message: "Tell her to go suck an egg." The superintendent merely gives her a long look before he responds "...I don't think I can tell her that."

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Mr. Frensky has ''never'' gotten mad at Francine before this episode. He's tolerated her drumming on the roof at odd hours, drawing an elephant in her room, and teasing Arthur during baseball camp. When does he start yelling at Francine? After he finds out that she was making prank calls to their new neighbor in an attempt to make her leave.

* GracefulLoser: Arthur takes it well that both he and Muffy lost to Binky since it ''was'' just a mock election. He jokes that they better hope Muffy never loses a real election.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Francine plans to get rid of Mrs. Pariso by planting a forged eviction notice to convince her she has to leave. Seems like a simple enough plan, right? Except, given she has the grammatical writing skills of a third grader, the notice has too many grammar errors, making it transparent it wasn't written by professional hands. And if Mrs. Pariso returning the letter to Francine with said-errors pointed out, it didn't work.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Mr. Frensky has '''never'' gotten mad at Francine before this episode. He's tolerated her drumming on the roof at odd hours, drawing an elephant in her room, and teasing Arthur during baseball camp. When does he start yelling at Francine? After he finds out that she was making prank calls to their new neighbor in an attempt to make her leave.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Francine plans to get rid of Mrs. Pariso by planting a forged eviction notice to convince her she has to leave. Seems like a simple enough plan, right? Except, given she has the grammatical writing skills of a third grader, the notice has too many grammar errors, making it transparent it wasn't written by professional hands. And if Mrs. Pariso returning the letter to Francine with said-errors pointed out, it didn't work.

* GracefulLoser: Arthur takes it well that both he and Muffy lost to Binky. He jokes that they better hope Muffy never loses a real election.

* SkewedPriorities: After seeing Muffy has a huge head start on the election by making posters and buttons, Arthur tells Buster to stop finding jokes and that they need to work on campaign issues.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Mr. Frensky has '''never'' gotten mad at Francine before this episode. He's tolerated her drumming on the roof at odd hours, drawing an elephant in her room, and teasing Arthur during baseball camp. When does he start yelling at Francine? After he finds out that she was making prank calls to their new neighbor in an attempt to make her leave.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Francine admits to her dad at the end that he was right; Ms. Pariso is actually quite cool and not a killjoy as she initially thought. He tells her that you have to give new neighbors a chance.

* MaliciousMisnaming: After recieving a complaint about her drumming, Francine mutters her nickname for Ms. Pariso (Ms. Parrot-face) under her breath.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Mr. Frensky has '''never'' gotten mad at Francine before this episode. He's tolerated her drumming on the roof at odd hours, drawing an elephant in her room, and teasing Arthur during baseball camp. When does he start yelling at Francine? After he finds out that she was making prank calls to their new neighbor in an attempt to make her leave.
* YouMakeMeSic: Muffy and Francine write a letter to Mrs. Pariso claiming the building has rats. It's later sent to Francine with multiple spelling corrections.

* AllElectionsAreSeriousBusiness: Muffy takes the election far too seriously, even forbidding Francine from hanging out with Arthur because "he's the enemy." After they both lose to Binky, Muffy blames him and says she'll never forget it. Arthur says to Buster that he hopes she never loses a ''real'' election.

* AllElectionsAreSeriousBusiness: Muffy takes the election far too seriously, even forbidding Francine from hanging out with Arthur because "he's the enemy." After they both lose, Muffy blames him and says she'll never forget it. Arthur says to Buster that he hopes she never loses a ''real'' election.

* AllElectionsAreSeriousBusiness: Muffy takes the election far too seriously, even forbidding Francine from hanging out with Arthur because "he's the enemy." After they both lose, Arthur says to Buster that he hopes she never loses a ''real'' election.