D.W. The Picky EaterArthur teases D.W. about "doesn't like anything" after she rejects most of the groceries, especially spinach. Things become serious, however, when she throws a tantrum at a restaurant because her salad had spinach, and she's forbidden to go on family outings. Arthur has to scramble to make D.W. behave or they won't go to the whimsical Once Upon a Restaurant.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Actually Pretty Funny; Arthur at first finds it hilarious that D.W. exploded her salad all over the waiter until his parents shoot him a Death Glare when he recaps what happened to Grandma Thora.
- Adaptation Distillation: In the book, D.W. was left with a stern babysitter several times while the family went out to eat. Before it can get to that point in here, Arthur intervenes because Thora doesn't want to go out to the Once Upon a Restaurant if D.W. won't be there for her birthday. D.W. is also more stubborn and less ashamed.
- Adaptational Dumbass: In the book, D.W. figured out on her own that she should be willing to try new foods and eat it all. Here, Arthur has to manipulate her to get her to agree.
- Batman Gambit: Arthur tries a few:
- He takes D.W. to the Once Upon a Restaurant to convince her that she wants to go. This backfires as she has a hard time about how they can bring the unicorn to their house.
- Buster suggests tricking D.W. into thinking she's eating spinach. He makes a bunch of PB&J-sandwiches filled with spinach, then he and Arthur talk about them loudly in the treehouse, and pushes back when Arthur "warns" D.W. that their mother didn't make them. This backfires because when he reveals that they have spinach — and raw spinach is a pretty gross thing to put in peanut butter — D.W. throws up the mouthfuls that she swallowed.
- The final one works: Arthur fakes a phone call with Buster, pretending that Grandma Thora changed her mind and wants to go to the restaurant without D.W. D.W., incensed on realizing she'd be left out, demands the phone, saying she can go wherever she wants. Arthur reminds her that the restaurant may have spinach, which causes Reverse Psychology; she shouts into the phone that she'll "be lots of fun" and goes to tell her parents she'll try something new for dinner.
- Berserk Button: At the beginning of the episode, the presence of spinach is enough to set D.W. ranting.
- Big "NO!": In Arthur's daydream when he is a NASA astronaut yells "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" after being told D.W. is not going and therefore the mission is canceled. He dreamt this cause he feared he won't be able to do anything in his life without her.
- Call-Back: D.W. was disgusted with spinach back in season one.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Jane calls out D.W. by her full name (Dora Winifred Read) after causing a scene at the restaurant.
- Gross-Up Close-Up: D.W. vomitting her sandwich onto the camera, upon learning it contains spinach.
- Her Own Worst Enemy: If D.W. simply apologized to her parents for causing a tantrum, and promising to try new things, the whole episode would have been avoided. She's oblivious to the fact that while Arthur's gambits are Secretly Selfish in that he doesn't want to miss the restaurant experience, it would benefit her as well since she would miss out on a fun birthday party. The book had her suffer a Jerkass Realization about it when Arthur shows her the umbrella he got from a Chinese restaurant.
- Hope Spot: It seems that D.W. would try to behave after seeing Muffy's example of eating spinach for lunch, except Muffy panics because a fly was on her spinach. Then Francine's plan nearly gets D.W. to try spinach, until Kate spits up her lunch.
- Idiot Ball: Someone at the fancy dinner that kickstarts the plot ordered a spinach salad for D.W. Even if her parents reasonably expected her to behave, they have also heard her complaining about it endlessly.
- I Ate WHAT?!:
- Played for Laughs; D.W. throws up the sandwiches Buster made for himself and Arthur, after Buster reveals he added spinach to them.
- Subverted at the end when it turns out the Little Bo Peep pot pie D.W. just ate is a pie platter with spinach. After a Mass "Oh, Crap!" from the whole family, D.W. decides to conform, lie that she loves spinach and eats up the crumbs.
- Never My Fault: D.W. has a perfect opportunity to apologize to her parents after she tosses the spinach when Arthur is telling Grandma Thora what happened. Instead, she complains about how everyone's making a big deal about her tantrum. Jane understandably tells her Go to Your Room! and that she can't go to restaurants anymore until she learns to behave and is more open to trying new foods. It takes Arthur lying that Thora doesn't want to go to the restaurant with her granddaughter for D.W. to give the equivalent of an apology, that she'll try a new food and eat it all.
- Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: Francine's plan involves getting Kate to eat mashed spinach in D.W.'s earshot, and Arthur pointing out how Kate is such a good girl who never throws tantrums like a "baby". D.W. tries to argue that she's not a baby, with Francine telling her to prove it. This almost convinces D.W. to try a spoon of the mashed spinach, until Kate spits up her food.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: It's shown David and Jane actively tolerate D.W.'s pickiness; they won't make alternative food for her while encouraging her to try what's in front of her like the Hawaiian shrimp David makes. All in all, that's a fairly reasonable response but D.W. doesn't even want to meet them halfway. Then the temper tantrum happens at the restaurant; Jane gives a Full-Name Ultimatum, as both parents glare at D.W. for her bad behavior. They proceed to glare at Arthur when he talks about how "her plate exploded!" and Jane lays down the line when D.W. complains everyone is making a big deal out of nothing. She says D.W. is not allowed to go to any more restaurants with the family unless she learns to behave and actually eat what's in front of her.
- Picky Eater: D.W., of course. She labels the groceries in two categories: "yucky" and "yum". The "yucky" pile is noticeably larger and primarily consists of vegetables.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: “This is spinach…. And I! HATE! SPINACH!”
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The waiter of the Reads' table decides to quit his job when D.W.'s tantrum leads to him getting his head covered in a bowl of spinach.
- Smug Snake: D.W. is pretty smug throughout the episode whenever one of Arthur’s plans to get her to eat spinach backfires, and when Arthur’s reverse psychology works and she believes she’s won. She's oblivious to the fact that if she keeps resisting the schemes, it means she won't get to go to the restaurant.
- Suddenly Shouting: D.W. Says “This is spinach… And I! HATE! SPINACH!” When she throws her salad at the waiter.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Arthur has this reaction when D.W. starts dissecting her salad and realizes the main leaf in it is spinach.
- Trademark Favorite Food: D.W. loves PB&J sandwiches. Buster and Arthur try to trick her into eating one with spinach, but that backfires when she realizes what she swallowed. Later, spinach when she eats the Little Bo Peep Pot Pie.
- Trojan Veggies: Arthur and Buster give D.W. a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and she eats it. D.W. learns that the boys tricked her by putting spinach in the sandwich to get her to like it, only for her to spit it out. In the end of the episode, D.W. eats a Little Bo Peep Pot Pie and she loves it. It is revealed that the pie has spinach in it, which she admits that she loves.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: When D.W. finds out the peanut butter and jelly sandwich she was eating had spinach in it, she vomits right into the camera.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- David and Jane call out D.W. on her bratty behavior and tell her "no more restaurants for you, young lady, until you can learn to eat what's in front of you." Later, at the restaurant, Jane reminds D.W. that she's going to try something new and eat it all.
- Parodied in Arthur's Imagine Spot where NASA cancels his trip to Jupiter because D.W.'s not coming with him and being inconsiderate of her being scared.
Buster and The DaredevilsArthur and Buster see two older kids doing cool skateboard and rollerblade tricks in the park. They try to ask for skating lessons despite getting rebuffed several times. Eventually, Toby and Slink promise to teach them, if they do ridiculous dares. Arthur backs out, leaving Buster alone.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Berserk Button: Don't even think about insulting Binky about his mother, unless you want a sundae in your eye.
- The Cake Is a Lie: Buster, on seeing Arthur's firm headshake from the crowd, refuses to do the climactic dare and instead dares Slink. Toby asks rhetorically, "How stupid do you think he is?", revealing that they were never going to teach Buster the skating tricks. Buster leaves them with the bug.
- Character Name and the Noun Phrase: "Buster and the Daredevils".
- Crazy-Prepared: Brain's robot toy can turn into a washing machine on request.
- Forceful Kiss: One of the dares Buster receives is to kiss Francine against her will. She... doesn't take it well.Francine: BUSTER BAXTER, I'M GONNA PULVERIZE YOU!!!
- Humiliation Conga: Buster goes through it as he says, does and refuses to speak according to the various dares.
- Hypocritical Humor: Buster believes that some older kids will want to be his friends and does a bunch of embarrassing dares to get on good terms with them. At the end of the episode, after he learns his lesson, he tells Brain not to do dares and says something like, "I thought everybody knew that!"
- Insistent Terminology: "He's not a peanut, he's a pecan."
- Shout-Out: Toby and Slink read a comic called "Pea Brain and Nut Head".
- Transforming Mecha: The episode is bookended by Arthur, Buster and later Brain, playing with these.
- Troll: Toby and Slink tell Buster to do stupid stuff to amuse them, on the promise of teaching him cool skating tricks.
- Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: When Buster turns the tables on Toby and Slink, and dares Slink to eat the bug they want him to eat, Toby asks "How stupid do you think he is?" Buster then asks them if you should never do stupid stuff because you're told; they agree, and he ditches them.
- Your Mom: Buster is dared to say to Binky, "Your mother eats gym shorts!"
