The question: Can an actor separate himself from a role he plays in a production, even if he's one of the United States' most infamous traitors?
That's what Peter has to work his way through as he realizes that he's meant to be Benedict Arnold in a school play ... and that "Everyone Can't Be George Washington."
Peter, now in eighth grade, wants to play the lead role in a school production about the American Revolution. But in auditioning for the part, he does so well that he is cast in the No. 2 role: That of Benedict Arnold. Seems that the director had a lot of faith that Peter could handle the much more demanding role of the villainous Arnold.
Peter contemplates dropping out of the play, but Carol suggests to Peter that he was chosen as Benedict Arnold for a reason and that he has never been a quitter. Peter realizes that Mom is right and decides to give it his all.
He's so enthusiastic that he tells all his friends that he's playing Benedict Arnold in the school play. But what happens instead?
"Traitor!"
"TRAITOR!"
"TRAITOR!!!!"
This is the exclamation all Peter's friends shout out, alienating him in the process. In an attempt to get his friends back on his side, Peter tries to get the play rewritten to make Benedict Arnold a good guy. (After all, all the history books in the world might've made a mistake about the traitor.) The director, Miss Baily doesn't buy it, and Peter finds himself in hot water with his one co-star, whom is provoked enough to give him a bloody nose. Instead of breaking his promise to his parents, Peter decides to get himself kicked out of the play. First, he pretends to forget all his lines, but Miss Baily simply pastes his script onto a prop should he forget again. Then, he fakes an ankle injury, and pretends to have a limp, but it turns out, Benedict Arnold also had a limp from a gunshot would in the same leg.
Peter finally succeeds in getting kicked out of the show, by pretending to fall ill with laryngitis. But Mike sees right through that and rather than allow Peter to make the decision on his own to be honest and say "I quit," he convinces him to follow through, noting that many professional actors have faced the same dilemma — getting hate mail sometimes for playing parts of infamous dictators, traitors, criminals and so forth. But even more importantly, and the point the Brady patriarch stresses, is that if Peter quits the play, he'll let the entire cast and production down (just as the historical Benedict Arnold did), as they'll have to cancel the show, as they couldn't get a replacement actor in time, and that they are counting on him to come through and give the best performance he is capable of.
Peter realizes his father is right and all of a sudden becomes "well" again. He goes on to give a masterful performance and wins over the crowd (with an added scene showing an aged and dying Benedict Arnold regretting his actions). And all is forgiven with his classmates, who now realize that Peter Brady is definitely no Benedict Arnold.
Meanwhile, Jan gets the position of set designer, as she has the best qualification of any student: her father, the architect. But the now seventh-grade Jan is already starting to develop her artistic talents ... and oh, how far they will take her.
Tropes present in this episode:
- Foreshadowing: This episode drops another hint at Jan's future as an architect when she's picked as the set designer for the play. She even cites Mike being her father as a major reason she was chosen, and does a bang-up job with his and her siblings' help.
- I Am Not Spock: In-universe: Peter's classmates, who are junior high students but yet cannot separate the actor (good ol' lovable Peter) from the role (the U.S.'s most famous traitor).
- Playing Sick: When Peter is at the end of his rope dealing with his friends' stupid remarks about him playing Benedict Arnold, he schemes to come down with laryngitis. Mike quickly cures this "illness" by convincing Peter how critical his role is.
- School Play: A historical presentation about the Revolutionary War.
