Who knew a history show could be so sad?
All spoilers are unmarked!
Season 1
I Am Marie Curie
- Marie being disappointed that girls aren't allowed to go to university.
- Brad can't join the butterfly club because he's not 10 years old yet. He's utterly crushed by this.
- Brad being scared of the museum at night.
- Yadina not being able to read all the words in a big kid book.
- Helen being sad over not being able to say, see, or hear anything.
- Anne Sullivan feeling helpless to teach the girl, because she hasn't yet found the means to let Helen connect the hand signs she can feel to the concepts they pertain to.
- Brad not being able to talk, and no one listening to him.
- Yadina being upset over having hiccups, and Brad and Xavier merely using her for their entertainment.
- The little flower being crushed.
- Brad being upset that the bike rodeo course doesn't allow training wheels.
- One of Golda's friends, Regina, got detention because she didn't have a schoolbook, even though her family can't afford schoolbooks.
- The turtle almost being hit by a kid riding a trike.
- Jin and Charlie ignoring Brad when the latter wants to build a castle with them.
- Benjamin and Theodore ignoring Winston's plan on how to win at capture the flag.
- Brad being worried that he won't make any friends at day camp because he's too shy to make friends.
- Yadina being embarrassed to share her quilt with everyone.
- When Yadina discovers that she's been leading the team in the wrong direction, she's visibly heartbroken, feeling that she has failed the love of her life (George Washington). She even almost starts crying.Yadina: I've failed you, George Washington!
- Xavier and Yadina ignoring Brad and not letting him have a vote.
- Susan being disappointed that women aren't allowed to vote.
- Brad being too embarrassed to share his very personal story.
- Xavier and Yadina giving up on their egg dropping experiment because they failed too many times, which is very out of character for them.
- Brad not being able to come up with any story ideas, and thinking that the Bike Man series will be discontinued.
- Xavier having his arm in a sling, and cancelling his comedy show because there's nothing funny about a broken arm.
- Brian not letting Yadina on the swings for petty reasons (because of her coat).
- Jackie gets bullied by Sarah all because of his skin color, and Sarah's father does nothing to stop it.
- Jackie getting booed by everyone at the baseball stadium.
- Anna falling during her first recital.
- Xavier being disappointed that he can't do magic tricks.
- Yadina being nervous to start first grade.
- The animals not having anywhere to live.
- Good God, is this episode a tearjerker. Possibly one of the saddest episodes of the entire series, but that's what makes this series all the more great, and this episode is probably one of the most mature preschool show episodes in recent memory.
- Xavier, Yadina, and Brad are having an extremely crappy day. Xavier's favorite hoodie got a hole in it, Yadina and Dr. Zoom are having a fight, and Brad's favorite crayon broke.
- Lou laments that his failing health has caused him to not play baseball anymore. But he still feels like the luckiest guy on the face of the earth, and thanks his fans for everything before he retires.
- Xavier, Yadina, and Brad have a Group Hug immediately afterwards. This episode is pretty much heartwarming and sad at the same time.
- Brendan being too scared to tell Marie that he broke her doll.
- Yadina being discouraged that she won't be able to become president because all the previous presidents are male.
- Berby's untimely death and her drifting off into space. Luckily, it was a Disney Death.
- Xavier and Yadina fighting and refusing to speak to each other can hit close to home for those who have bad relationships with their siblings. When Maya Angelou recites her poem about the importance of kind words, Xavier and Yadina get memories of the mean things they said to each other, while looking at each other sadly.
- Brad is ashamed to be a boy who likes ballet, especially since everyone else in the ballet class is a girl. Brad feels pressured by societal expectations of what a boy should be and tries to be more masculine, but to no avail. Luckily, Billie Jean King teaches him that boys and girls can do the same things.
- Rosa gets treated like garbage by society throughout the episode. First, she tells the trio about how black schools are of worse quality than white schools and how black people and white people are segregated. Then, she gets shoved by a boy on rollerskates for absolutely no damn reason. Finally, the bus driver forces Rosa to go to the back of the bus, but she stands her ground and doesn't move an inch from her seat.
- Apart from being scary, this half-hour special is very depressing. Harriet is enslaved and forced to work in awful conditions and is separated from her family. She gets berated by her masters for the littlest things. Harriet risks her life to save her family from slavery. Xavier can be shown hugging Yadina when Harriet tells them about the horrors of slavery.
- The racism Jesse faces is really harsh.
- Similar to the Maya Angelou and Confucius episode, Xavier and Yadina argue, but this time Brad is involved. So it's not just a matter of family, but also friendship. The three temporarily break off their friendship until Jigonsaseh teaches them to solve problems peacefully. It can really hit hard for someone who lost friends.
- Berby and Jigonsaseh are the only sane people in this episode who wants the trio to quit fighting.
- Since the museum is closing for two weeks, this means that the trio can't go to the Secret Museum during that timeframe. Xavier is convinced that Brad won't be his friend anymore because he sincerely believes that the Secret Museum is his only special quality. Poor baby.
- Fred not having any friends to play with, which was sadly Truth in Television. He was ostracized for his wealth and for his weight.
- The end of the episode, where the gang sings "It's You I Like" will give you Tears of Joy.
