The first episode of the first season of Hey Arnold!.
Downtown as Fruits
Arnold and Gerald are cast as a banana and a strawberry in Helga's play about the four food groups. On their way to the school, they decide to ditch the play and hang around the city, where they get mistaken for a pair of criminals in identical costumes.
Eugene's Bike
Arnold tries to make it up to Eugene after accidentally destroying his bicycle and getting him hospitalized. Unfortunately for Arnold, anything that can go wrong does go wrong.
"Downtown as Fruits" provides examples of:
- Contrived Coincidence: By skipping the school play, Arnold and Gerald end up at the drop off point for presumably illicit money, in the costumes the people set to pick it up (giant fruit), and the people who were supposed to be there ran late.
- Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: On their way to the school play, Arnold and Gerald come across a family whose car has broken down. Arnold stops the taxi and gives the family some of his money so they can afford to make the repairs.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When Arnold and Gerald visit Zamboni Jones, Zamboni asks them if they wronged someone in the past. Arnold realizes that he and Gerald were supposed to be at their school play, and now they've let Helga and all the other students down. He then rushes to make things right.
- Oh, Crap!: Arnold and Gerald, when they overheard the robbers talking about the money (see Strange Minds Think Alike). They tried to sneak way when the man who threw the money to the boys noticed them, due to Arnold still wearing his banana shoes. Fortunately the boys were able to get away from the robbers who later got arrested.
- Say My Name: Helga screams for Arnold reacting that he and Gerald didn't make it to the play which it's heard around outside the school. We then cut back to the boys, and Arnold asked Gerald if he heard something.
- School Play: The 4 Food Groups Musical directed by Helga who doesn't treat her classmates fairly in this, so Arnold and Gerald ditch it due to humiliation from her they'll have.
- Strange Minds Think Alike:
- While they are dressed as fruits, a man just throws a bag of money to them without saying more, and the kids just left with without a second thought. Then the actual robbers who were supposed to get the money, Vic and Morrie, apparently had agreed to arrive at the point also in strawberry and banana costumes.
- Then Arnold and Gerald receive the Money, Arnold simply says, "Boy, people downtown sure are friendly." When all the shenanigans have ocurred and the boys were going back to the play, they decided to just give the rest of the money to a family stranded with a bad car, who then exclaim the same thing.
- The Show Must Go On: Helga stalls for time in her play because Arnold and Gerald aren't there when it's their turn to go on.
"Eugene's Bike" provides examples of:
- An Aesop: Sometimes it’s the thought that counts.
- Apologizes a Lot: Whenever Arnold causes an accident, he'll constantly say he's sorry to show his remorse. In this episode, Arnold inadvertently causes a lot of problems for Eugene, from his biking accident to accidentally flipping a switch on the hospital bed causing Eugene to get hurt.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: This line from Eugene when he rides his bike after Arnold repairs it:Eugene: Whee! I'm a bird! I'm a plane! I'm... (Eugene suddenly sees an open car door. He tries to steer around it, but the handlebars to his bike come off.) About to be hurt very badly.
- Butt-Monkey: Eugene. Arnold accidentally knocks his bike into the street when he stops to tie his shoe, resulting in the bike being run over and destroyed by a street sweeper. When Arnold tries to fix the bike, he accidentally forgets to install the brake cable, resulting in Eugene being unable to stop and getting hospitalized when he crashes into an open car door. When Arnold comes to visit him, the 9 on Eugene's hospital door becomes a 6, resulting in Eugene getting his tonsils and spleen removed. When Arnold feels guilty about getting Eugene hospitalized, flashbacks show that Eugene was accidentally knocked off a seesaw at daycare, had a crab accidentally tossed onto his head, and got his finger stuck to his lips when he accidentally tasted Arnold's paste instead of his frosting. When Arnold tries to give Eugene a grand day out together, things get worse from there. Eugene falls down an open manhole, gets hit by a foul ball, chokes on a hot dog, hit in the eye with it when Arnold gives him the Heimlich Maneuver, and falls into the river when he tries to look out a tower viewer.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Some nerd named Billy introduced and disappeared without a trace after this season.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: This line from Arnold when Abner brings him the brake cable to Eugene's bike:Arnold: Hey, Abner. What you got there? The brake cable? (Beat) The brake cable?! Eugene!
- Imagine Spot: At the beginning of this episode, while waiting for the traffic light to turn green, Arnold has one where he's an explorer in the jungle, trying to catch a butterfly and being chased by ferocious animals. His fantasy is cut short when Gerald tells him they need to cross the street while the light's still green.
- The Pollyanna: Eugene is almost always freakishly happy and optimistic, despite his luck issues. His usual action after an insane run of bad luck-based injuries? "I'm okay."
- Removable Steering Wheel: A variant: The handlebars to Eugene's bike come off when he tries to steer out of the way of an open car door.
- 6 Is 9: After Arnold visits Eugene in a hospital room following Eugene's bike accident, the loose screw on the 9 of the door's room number causes it to become a 6. Eugene, therefore, gets his tonsils and his spleen removed by mistake.
- Sticky Situation: In a flashback, a four-year-old Arnold uses a jar of paste to make a picture of a snowflake, and sets his jar of paste down next to Eugene's jar of frosting. Eugene accidentally sticks his finger in Arnold's jar of paste instead of his jar of frosting, and when he puts it in his mouth, it results in his finger getting stuck to his lips and everyone laughing at him.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Arnold fixing Eugene's bike. Although the bike comes out looking like new, Arnold is still a nine-year old boy with little experience in mechanical engineering. Soon after Eugene leaves, Abner comes by with the brake cable in his mouth. Eugene rides down a hill unable to stop, made worse when he rips the handlebars off trying to steer. Eugene crashes and is sent to the hospital.
- The Tonsillitis Episode: Eugene's tonsils go bad although he was fine by it as they're an unnecessary pair of organs and never wanted a Useless Spleen.
- Unfortunate Item Swap: After Arnold feels bad about getting Eugene hospitalized, flashbacks are shown of the times Arnold had inadvertently caused trouble for Eugene. One of them is of a four-year-old Arnold using a jar of paste to make a picture of a snowflake. He sets the jar of paste right next to Eugene's jar of frosting, as Eugene was frosting a cake. Eugene accidentally puts his finger in Arnold's jar of paste instead of his jar of frosting, and when he puts it in his mouth, his finger gets stuck to his lips and everyone laughs at him.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Arnold serves as this to Eugene. While Arnold does not mean any harm to Eugene and feels guilty whenever something bad happens to him, he ends up doing something that leads to something bad happening to Eugene anyway, as explained in the Butt-Monkey section.
