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it's so funny how Cotton is more tolerant of bobby's Mannerisms (🚬) than Hank

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Phoebe Cheats Hey Arnold Original air date: October 15, 1997 Part 2

[LINK TO PART 1] Phoebe meanwhile, thinking that her problem is solved. Returns home humming happily. Only to find Dickinson waiting for her there. Phoebe freaks out.

Dickinson begins to scold Phoebe about not putting in the hard work that she’s capable of and how she should have searched deep inside of herself like "all real poets do". Phoebe yells at Dickinson to leave her alone. Admitting that she knows she didn’t earn her and is ashamed.

Phoebe is tired of all the lying and cheating. She knows what she has to do.

At the open house, Phoebe comes clean to Mr. Simmons. Mr. Simmons, not angry but disappointed, asks Phoebe if she understands the full weight of what she did.

Simmons asks Phoebe, straight up: "Why was the contest so important to you that you decided to cheat?" Phoebe: "I’m used to being the best...that’s who I am."

Phoebe’s *entire* sense of self-worth is tied to always excelling in everything, especially academics.

Simmons responds: "Don’t you think there’s a lot more to Phoebe Heyerdahl than always being the best at winning awards?"

"I...really don’t know, sir", Phoebe responds, a tear going down her eye and having to look away from Simmons in shame.

It’s clearly a question that Phoebe has never asked herself before. She doesn’t even believe it to be true. "Well I’m sure of it", responds Simmons. Believing it for her.

Simmons encourages her to write a poem based on the feelings she has to be the best at everything and how it makes her feel when she doesn’t win. Simmons believes that there is a good poem hiding within *those* feelings.

And he’s absolutely correct. Phoebe has issues with self-worth and needs constant outside validation that she has value. She’s so used to getting it from teachers, grades, and school that the first time she doesn’t get it she isn’t able to handle it. It drives her to cheat.

It would do Phoebe some good to explore those feelings. A possible explanation could lie in Phoebe’s ethnic background. She’s Asian. Maybe there are some underlying overachieving and underloved issues stemming from that? It’s not unheard of.

Contrast that with Helga! Helga is smart too! But for Helga, doing well in school doesn’t matter to her, in fact, she could care less. Not because she’s dumb or whatever, but because Helga’s sense of self-worth comes from within (mostly).

She certainly wasn’t going to get validation from these two checked-out chucklefucks so Helga had to learn how to self-love pretty early on.

Not that Helga doesn’t have issues of her own, but one of the things she doesn’t struggle with the way Phoebe does is deriving her value from external sources. Sure, Helga cares if Arnold will love her back, but outside of that? Helga’s pretty comfortable with who she is. One thing that both Phoebe and Helga have in common however is that they both fear rejection of who they fundamentally are deep down inside.

Phoebe fears the rejection of her intelligence and Helga her emotions.

Remember when I wrote earlier about how writing is hard because it involves putting yourself out there? Writing isn’t the only way to do that. Look at artists of any stripe. It’s the same thing.

Hell, even just putting yourself out there *socially* is hard. It’s scary! What if we do it and people hate us? What if people tell us we’re no good? Could you handle that type of rejection?

I sympathize with Phoebe I really do. I’d be lying if I said there aren’t times when I really wish that people would validate me and my work. To tell me I’m good.

People steal and plagiarize for personal gain all the time, for sure that’s a thing. But I also think a fair amount of people do it because deep down their biggest fear is being vulnerable.

It takes courage to spill your guts out; to show the world how you really feel. Will they take it (you) well or will they reject it (you)?

At the end of the episode, Phoebe does the right thing and reads the legitimately best poem in her class. Written by "Anonymous".

Helga takes it well.

And that was Phoebe Cheats! A great episode and a poignant one about self-worth!

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Phoebe Cheats Hey Arnold Original air date: October 15, 1997 Part 1

Starts at school with their new teacher, Mr. Simmons, announcing the winner of the best essay. Helga comments on how since Phoebe is "the best at everything" naturally she will win. Phoebe says nothing, but her face says it all, she *also* expects to win. Expect, nope! The winner of the best essay in class goes to their classmate Sheena. Helga makes a comment that perhaps Phoebe is "slipping". Phoebe tries (badly) to brush it off, saying she’s happy to see her classmates win. But Helga isn’t buying it.

Simmons starts to announce the "Citizens of the Month" awards: Helga: "Let me guess, Phoebe, Phoebe and....Phoebe?" Simmons: "Gerald, Nadine, and Harold!"

Again, Phoebe is shocked. Helga is quietly enjoying it.

Simmons announces the next contest. The poetry contest. The winner of which will get a trophy of famous poet, Emily Dickinson.

Phoebe tells Helga how "she must win this contest" and Helga responds to her telling her how she’d better "spill her guts" if she wants to win.

We then cut to both Phoebe and Helga at home, struggling to write their poems. Phoebe approaches her poem in a very...intellectual way. Whereas Helga is clearly taking a more emotional route.

It’s a pretty good way of demonstrating that "intelligence" in certain areas doesn’t necessarily translate to "competency" in others. For sure Phoebe is smart, but this type of writing requires drawing from different kinds of wells. Wells that Helga is already tapped into.

Helga’s about ready to give up until she finds some inspiration.

"Yearning" this, "Longing" that. Lemme show yall some *real* yearning. Watch and learn.

Meanwhile, Phoebe is still struggling. She decides to read a book of poems to use as a guide, but gets discouraged, thinking she isn’t able to write as good a poem as the people in the book. She puts the book aside and tries again.

But she "has to win", Phoebe says. She opens the book back up. She closes her blinds, turns off all the lights except her desk light, and waits for someone outside the room to walk past before copying a poem directly from her book. Word for word.

I do sympathize with Phoebe here. Writing is hard! Not just the physical act of it and not just following all the structural and grammatical rules, but also the constant nagging feeling that what you’re writing is complete dogshit. Especially when you start making comparisons.

It takes a special kind of courage to "spill your guts out" (as Helga commented earlier) on the page. It requires thinking, even for just a moment, that you have something worth saying.

It also begs the question of why out of all things Phoebe chooses a poetry contest to cheat at? She clearly has had the drive and motivation to push through difficult assignments; what makes this any different?

One of my favorite writers ever, Rod Serling, had a quote about writing and rejection.

A lot of writing requires putting yourself out there in such a way that when someone tells you it sucks that’s as if they’re saying *you* suck; not just as a writer, but as an individual.

It’s why you’ll sometimes see rich authors in their 50s on here name-searching themselves and starting fights with teenagers who riffed on their book or whatever.

We cut to Simmons reading Phoebe’s plagiarized poem to the class and announcing her as the winner. Stinky, impressed, asks her if she really did write all those "pretty words’ herself? Phoebe smiles awkwardly (and shamefully).

Simmons goes on to announce the second-place winner. A poem by "Anonymous". Helga immediately knows who it is and withdraws in her seat.

Phoebe goes home and her parents tell her how proud they are of her winning. Phoebe feels uncomfortable from all the attention and decides to retreat to her room.

Once there, she starts talking to the Emily Dickinson trophy and begins to justify her cheating to her: "It’s not as though I cheat all the time. And I know more about poetry than anyone else in class." Which like...oof...lot to unpack with that statement there.

The unresponsive Dickinson trophy pisses Phoebe off and she shoves her in a drawer in her desk.

Phoebe has trouble sleeping and in the middle of the night, her mom comes into her room and sees the trophy in the drawer. Her mom takes it out and places it on the small table next to Phoebe’s bed.

Phoebe wakes up the next morning, puts her glasses on, and is *freaked the fuck out* to see that the trophy is been watching her sleep.

As Phoebe leaves the room, she yells at the Dickinson trophy about how the poem Phoebe plagiarized was "rotting away" and how she "rescued it". Again, lot to unpack there lol.

Phoebe ends up having a one-on-one with Mr. Simmons. She tells Simmons how she ended up writing lots of poems, but how bad they were. Simmons responds by saying that that is part of the creative process.

She is trying to come clean to Mr. Simmons, but before she can, Principal Wartz comes in and asks Simmons for help with an upcoming open house. Simmons suggests having students do a reading and tells Wartz about Phoebe’s great poem. Wartz is impressed.

A funny scene plays out where Wartz says how the school is "proud of our multicultural heritage" and asks Phoebe where she comes from: Phoebe stares at Wartz blankly and says, "Kentucky, sir".

"Well Phoebe, let’s make Ken-tuc-kai, proud with a prize-winning poem!"

Back at home, Phoebe is fencing with her dad, very aggressively. Her dad tells her that he made contact and Phoebe argues that he didn’t. Her dad accepts it gracefully because of how "honest" Phoebe always is.

Phoebe snaps and leaves in a huff. Leaving her dad confused. Her mom goes to ask her if anything is wrong. While soaking in the tub, she responds that everything is fine, but clearly Phoebe is having a hard time with things. Sick bathroom btw.

Later Phoebe has trouble sleeping again. The Dickinson trophy begins to talk, mocking her. Dickinson: "Well, if it isn’t Little Miss Smartypants." Phoebe: "You’re an inanimate object, you can’t talk!" Dickinson: "And *you*, can’t write poetry."

"Cheater....cheater!"

"Cheater."

Phoebe screams and throws her bonsai tree at her. Sitting there and just kind of taking in everything.

The next day, Phoebe decides to bury Dickinson in the sandbox at the park. Dickinson scolds her again calling her "naive". Phoebe finishes burying the trophy and leaves.

After she leaves, a kid jumps onto the mound of dirt that Phoebe made burying the trophy and the trophy ends up popping out onto the sidewalk. At that same moment, Arnold and Gerald happen to come across it and figure Phoebe must have lost it and they decide to return it.

[LINK TO PART 2]

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live Sam reaction

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Dale to the Chief

rest in peace Johnny Hardwick.

I'll miss you so much. You took King of the Hill from a good show to a great show.

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rest in peace Johnny Hardwick.

I'll miss you so much. You took King of the Hill from a good show to a great show.

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one of those warp balls from crash 3 but it take you to, like, the launch of the PS2 or somethin

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one of those warp balls from crash 3 but it take you to, like, the launch of the PS2 or somethin

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Joker: "i'm going to put a red shirt in with all the white clothing, Batman!"

Batman: "JOKER NO! THAT WILL TURN ALL THE WHITE CLOTHES PINK! YOU'LL RUIN THEM, JOKER!!!"

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DAVID WINS

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kaz: "remember Snake, you should blow on your french fries before you put them in your mouth. otherwise, you'll get a nasty burn on the roof of your mouth. that won't heal for like a week. it's super annoying."

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Fireworks with a friend.

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High Chancellor Sutler: "Tonight, I will speak directly to these people and make the situation perfectly clear to them. The security of this nation depends on complete and total compliance. Tonight, any boykisser, any kisser of boys or boys who kiss, will be made example of!"

Roger Dascombe: "Uh...Chancellor, there is a contingency that has not been addressed.."

High Chancellor Sutler: "And what is that, Mr. Dascombe?"

Roger Dascombe: "Should the boykissers succeed..."

High Chancellor Sutler: "They won't!"

Roger Dascombe: "I understand that it is highly unlikely, but if they do..."

High Chancellor Sutler: "If they do, and something happens to those boys..."

High Chancellor Sutler: "The only thing that will change, the only difference that it will make..."

High Chancellor Sutler: "Is that tomorrow morning, instead of a newspaper..."

High Chancellor Sutler: "I will be reading, HOW MR. CREEDY IS A BOYKISSER!"

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Yugi: "Hey Hank, do you want me to teach you how to play the game?"

Hank: "Well, I'm not sure Yugi. I'm not really into all those fancy card games."

Yugi: "That's alright, it's not as complicated as it looks. Let me show you how to play. First, you need to pick your deck of cards."

Hank: "Alright, I'll pick this one. What do I do next?"

Yugi: "Now, you need to shuffle your deck and draw five cards. These will be your starting hand."

Hank: "Okay ... Now what?"

Yugi: "During the game, you'll take turns with your opponent, putting monsters and traps on the field, and casting spells to defeat your opponent."

Hank: "Hold on a minute. What the heck are monsters and traps? And what do "spells" even do?"

Yugi: "Oh, I forgot to explain. Monsters are creatures that you can summon to fight for you or protect you from your opponent. Traps are cards you can set face-down on the field and activate later to defend yourself or hinder your opponent. And spells are cards that can enhance your monsters or hinder your opponent's monsters."

Hank: "Well how the hell am I supposed to know when to play a monster or a trap card or a dang spell card?"

Yugi: "It's all about strategy, Hank. You need to think about what your opponent might do and plan your moves accordingly."

Hank: "Okay, but can you give me an example of when I should play a monster card versus a trap card?"

Yugi: "Let's say your opponent has a strong monster on the field. If you have a weaker monster, you might want to use a trap card to weaken their monster before attacking with your own.

Or, if your opponent has set a trap card, you might want to use a spell card to destroy it before making your move"

Hank: "Alright, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. But what the heck are these "phases" y'all keep talking about?"

Yugi: "Oh, the phases. Well, the game is divided into different phases, each with its own set of rules and actions you can take.

There's the draw phase, where you draw a card from your deck.

The standby phase, where some effects may activate.

The main phase, where you can play monsters, traps, and spells.

The battle phase, where you can attack your opponent's monsters or directly attack their life points.

And the end phase, where some effects may activate again."

Hank: "Oh, great. More rules to keep track of. This is makin' my head spin."

Yugi: "I know it can be a lot to take in, Hank, but don't worry. Once you get used to it, it'll become second nature."

Hank: "Alright, well I'll try to keep all of that in mind. Thanks for explaining it to me, Yugi."

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Hank: "Hey there, Yugi. I heard you talkin' about the heart of the cards. What's that all about?"

Yugi: "Well, Hank. The heart of the cards is a belief that if you trust in the power of your deck, the cards will guide you to victory."

Hank: "I don't know about all that. Seems like luck of the draw to me."

Yugi: "It's more than just luck, Hank. It's about having faith in yourself and your deck. If you believe in your cards, they will help you draw what you need."

Hank: "Uh, not sure I buy that, Yugi. It sounds kinda like hocus-pocus to me."

Yugi: "I understand your skepticism, Hank. But the heart of the cards has helped me win many duels. It's all about trusting in yourself and your deck."

Hank: "Well if it's all about trust, I 'trust' in propane and propane accessories. That's all the luck I need."

Yugi: "I respect your dedication to propane, Hank. But maybe one day you'll see the power of the heart of the cards."

Hank: "Confidence, huh? Well, I can certainly get behind that. Maybe I'll give this heart of the cards thing a try."

Yugi: "That's great to hear, Hank. Just remember, the cards are a reflection of your heart. If you believe in yourself, the cards will guide you to victory."

Hank: "Say, Yugi, what do you say to having a friendly duel sometime?" Yugi: "I'd love to, Hank. It'll be a good opportunity for you to experience the heart of the cards for yourself."

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Solid Snake: “Hey there, Hank. I hear you're an expert in propane”

Hank Hill: “You bet I am, Snake. I sell propane and propane accessories.”

Snake: “Interesting. Do you think propane could be useful in...espionage?”

Hank: “Well, I reckon propane can be used for just about anything, but how exactly do you plan on using it?”

Snake: “I've been thinking about using it to create distractions and concealment. For example, I could use it to create a controlled explosion to create a diversion.”

Hank: “Well, that sounds like a dangerous game you're playing, Snake. Propane is not something to be messed with lightly.”

Snake: “I understand the risks, but I believe the benefits could outweigh them. In a tight situation, a well-timed propane explosion could give me the edge I need to escape or take out my enemies.”

Hank: “Hmm, I see your point, but you gotta remember that propane is a valuable resource, and you don't wanna waste it on unnecessary explosions. You also need to be careful with how you handle it, or you could end up hurting yourself or others.”

Snake: “Of course, safety is always a top priority in any operation. But with proper training and equipment, I believe propane could be a valuable tool in my arsenal.”

Hank: “Ahehe, boy I'll tell you what, I never thought I'd be discussing propane in the context of tactical espionage. But I suppose anything's possible with the right know-how.”

Snake: “Thanks Hank. I'll be sure to keep you in mind if I ever need to stock up on propane for my next mission.”

Hank: “You got it, Snake. Just remember to always use propane responsibly.”

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WE HAD A GOOD THING GOING YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH

WE HAD ENHANCED INTELLIGENCE, WE HAD A TIME MACHINE, WE HAD PANTS, IT ALL RAN LIKE CLOCKWORK.

BUT NO, YOU AND YOUR WORLD DOMINATION. YOU JUST HAD TO KEEP PUSHING AND PUSHING.