The fifth episode of the third season of Hey Arnold!.
Helga Blabs it All
While Helga visits the dentist to have a cavity filled, she is given nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to relax her while the dentist works on her. 20 minutes later, when the dentist finishes, the gas makes Helga so loopy, she ends up calling the Boarding House and leaves a message professing her love for Arnold, then has to infiltrate the Boarding House to erase the message before Arnold hears it.
Harold the Butcher
Harold shoplifts a ham from Green Meats, ruining it in the process, and has to pay it off by working at the butcher shop for an entire week. At first, Harold considers it pretty boring, but eventually grows to love working there and would possibly want to pursue such a career when he grows up.
Tropes found in "Helga Blabs it All":
- Air-Vent Passageway: Helga uses the ventilation duct to sneak through the Boarding House to retrieve the tape inconspicuously.
- Brick Joke: The Campfire Lass, who Helga mugged for her uniform and cookies for to get into Arnold's house, returns at the end of the episode with her troop and they chase after Helga for the act.
- The Dentist Episode: Helga visits the dentist to have a cavity filled and is given nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to help relax her while the dentist works on her. However, the gas makes her so loopy, it causes her to leave the message for Arnold, kicking off the episode's plot.
- Embarrassing Voicemail: While she's still delirious from laughing gas, Helga tries to call Arnold to say she loves him, but it turns out she was actually speaking into his answering machine. When she realizes what she's done, she tries to get to the answering machine to take the message back before he gets to hear it.
- Mugged for Disguise: Helga steals a Campfire Lass's uniform to sneak into the Boarding House. At the end of the episode, she is chased by the Lass whom she mugged and the rest of her troop members for doing so.
- Oh, Crap!: After Helga leaves the message for Arnold, she realizes her wrong when the effects of the nitrous finally wears off.
- Tempting Fate: Just as Helga makes it out of the boarding house with the tape before Arnold could listen to her voicemail, Helga believes her troubles are over, only to run into the Campfire Lass whose uniform she stole and her troop who proceed to chase after her for it.
Tropes found in "Harold the Butcher":
- Character Development: Harold's attitude towards working at Mr. Green's shop is less than enthusiastic, to say the least. And even when Harold does put in the effort to be helpful, it's incompetent, as exemplified when he drags the sausage links on the floor. But as the week progresses and Harold learns all the interesting facts about being a butcher, he comes to appreciate the job, even falling in love with it. By the climax, Harold is on par with Mr. Green in preparing meat for customers.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Of the Gone Horribly Right variety. According to Rabbi Goldberg, working for Mr. Green was supposed to teach Harold that stealing is wrong because it diminishes all the hard work that goes into making the stolen item in question. However, Harold comes to enjoy working for Mr. Green so much that when he's paid off his debt, he eventually repeats the offense out of the vain hope he'll get to work for him again.
- Foreshadowing: The episode begins with Harold walking from school with friends as they talk about what they want to do with their lives. Harold is unsure what to do, but then spots the ham Mr. Green is preparing and blurts that he just wants to eat ham. This low-key hints Harold's character arc of finding purpose in being a butcher.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Mr. Green when he catches Harold with the stolen ham.Mr. Green: Harold Berman, I cannot believe my eyes! You stole my beautiful ham, and now it's ruined!
- Heroic BSoD: After he is essentially banned from working at Mr. Green's butcher shop again, Harold goes into a deep depression over being kept from a job he came to love. There's even a scene where he's rather quiet during a family dinner, and even his parents notice the change.
- I Have This Friend: When Harold is brought to Rabbi Goldberg to confess stealing the ham from Mr. Green, Goldberg tells him a story about someone from his childhood who stole a vest from a tailor shop and had to work there for a period of time to learn how much work it takes to produce such a product and run a business. This friend may or may not have been the Rabbi himself.
- "Not So Different" Remark: After the climax when Harold proves himself to Mr. Green, the latter points out that when he was the former's age, he too wanted to grow up to be a butcher.
- Work Off the Debt: Pretty debatable in this episode.
- After stealing the ham from Mr. Green's shop, Harold has to work at the butcher shop for the entire week to pay it off.
- The Rabbi mentions he that he had a friend during childhood (who may or may not have been the rabbi himself) who stole a vest from a tailor's shop, and had to work there for a period of time so he could learn how much work goes into producing a vest like that and running a business. In fact, that's where the rabbi gets the idea to have Harold work in the butcher's shop.
- Unishment: Despite his earlier reluctance, Harold comes to love working at Mr. Green's shop to the point he's dismayed when he learns the week is up and his debt is paid. Not long after, he tries to steal from Mr. Green and allows himself to be caught, out of vain hope he'll be "punished" and made to work there again. Unfortunately for Harold, Mr. Green sees right through this and instead makes it clear he's not working there again.
