Arthur's Treasure Hunt
While skipping rocks, the kids find out that Buster discovered an arrowhead. They all become inspired to dig for ancient artifacts and buried treasure. Arthur gets permission to only dig in one spot behind the house, but he's worried that what he finds won't be enough.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Brick Joke: D.W. scares Arthur with a "root" by pretending it's a snake. Binky later brings a root he found shaped like an iguana.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Arthur admits at the end of the episode that he was trying too hard to find something cool. Sometimes, you have to find value in the things that you do find.
- Didn't Think This Through: The kids try to fill all the holes in the backyard and fix the damage Arthur did. It isn't enough to hide that he dug up the whole yard against his mother's wishes.
- Disappointed in You: Jane tells Arthur this when she sees what he did to the backyard.
- Failure Montage: We see one of Arthur digging up the entire backyard after he convinces D.W. that he can dig "a little" to find something exciting.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Arthur and his friends acknowledge that D.W. was right in that he broke the rules by digging away from behind the house. His mother lays into him when she finds out.
- You Are Grounded!: For digging up the entire backyard, Arthur is grounded and has to clean the garage for two weeks.
The Return of the King
Mr. Ratburn takes the kids to a Renaissance Faire, where they can compete to win a Golden Griffin trophy. Their competition? A class of elite third-graders led by his former teacher, Mr. Pryce-Jones. As Ratburn's class suffers loss after loss, the kids worry that Ratburn will become even tougher.
Tropes for this episode include:
- All There in the Manual: Francine and Muffy's rivals Colleen and Buffy are only named in the book version.
- Always Someone Better: Mr. Pryce-Jones' class is full of counterparts to Mr. Ratburn's class, each of whom beats their counterparts at what they do best (e.g. Buster loses an eating contest to his counterpart).
- Eating Contest: Buster enters a mince pie eating contest against his counterpart. He loses despite a strong start because the other kid prepared several days in advance by eating large breakfasts.
- Exact Words: According to the host of the Sword in the Stone challenge, "All your might won't make things right. 'Tis a gentle hand 'twill rule the land". Arthur eventually figures out that the trick to pulling out the sword isn't to use all your strength, but to gently wiggle it loose from the stone.
- Fat and Proud: Buster's opponent in the eating contest makes no bones about how he's gained weight preparing for the contest by eating larger meals, but is proud of his victory nonetheless.
- Foil: Unlike Mr. Pryce-Jones, who pushes his kids so much that they can't even enjoy the competition, Mr. Ratburn trusts his students to think for themselves and not be "robots".
- Graceful Loser: While he's disappointed in constantly losing to Mr. Pryce-Jones and his class, Mr. Ratburn is very polite about it and doesn't blame the kids. At the end, he even tells his students he's proud of them.
- Hidden Depths: It's revealed Muffy is an accomplished tennis player... at least when playing with modern tennis equipment. She loses when her opponent uses a medieval ball and racquet.
- Hope Spot: For a moment, it seems the kids have won the castle making competition with their operable drawbridge, which impresses the judge. They lose, however, because they used cardboard and didn't make the details historically accurate.
- Insane Troll Logic: Brain is baffled that in a trivia game, you don't provide the right answers, but what medieval people thought.
- Second Place Is for Winners: They don't win the Golden Griffin, but Mr. Ratburn is happy that Arthur figured out the sword riddle and was crowned king. The kids are also relieved that Arthur misheard Mr. Haney — their principal was asking Mr. Pryce-Jones to tutor his niece and nephew, not replace Mr. Ratburn.
- Similar Squad: Mr. Pryce-Jones is basically is a really snooty, much meaner version of Mr. Ratburn, who is just a goofy, nerdy, but well-meaning guy who has an affinity for giving a lot of homework to challenge his students' minds; Mr. Pryce-Jones seems intent on producing a bunch of snobby learning machines, and his students behave as such, with an evil Big Eater opposed to Buster, an evil The Smart Guy for the Brain (his counterpart is called "I. Q."), an evil Rich Bitch for Muffy, and an evil Unlucky Everydude for Arthur (named "Chester"). Arthur and Buster even Lampshade the trope's use:Arthur: They look familiar. Did we play soccer against those guys?
Buster: No way! I'd remember a bunch of goofy-looking kids like that. - So Proud of You: After the kids lose the castle competition, Mr. Ratburn consoles them by saying that he's proud of the hard work they did and he'll display the castle they made in the classroom. As they lampshade, they're more worried about him getting replaced than about losing.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Buster loses the Eating Contest to his opponent. While Buster is the group's resident Big Eater, he mostly eats for pleasure and gluttony. His opponent knew of the contest ahead of time and actually trained by eating more and more to prepare himself. Buster ends up tiring out, while his opponent comfortably eats well past Buster's defeat due to being ready for it. Real-life competitive eaters undergo intensive diets and even exercise regimes to keep themselves in shape to eat a lot.
- Sweet and Sour Grapes: Mr. Ratburn may be a little saddened his students couldn't beat Mr. Pryce-Jones and his class, but he nonetheless lauds his students for thinking for themselves. Ultimately, his kindness towards them pays off when Arthur tops them all by pulling the sword from the stone.
