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"Arthur and the Square Dance"
Season/Series: 2
Number in season: 12B
Original Airdate: United States April 7, 1998[1]
Canada September 8, 1998[3]
United Kingdom July 27, 1999[2]
Germany February 8, 2002[4]
Credits
Written by: Peter K. Hirsch
Storyboard by: Gerry Capelle
Episodes
Previous
"Arthur's Faraway Friend"
Next
"Water and the Brain"
Read transcript

"Arthur and the Square Dance" is the second half of the twelfth episode in the second season of Arthur. It was later adapted into the book Who's in Love with Arthur?.

Summary[]

Binky convinces Arthur that Francine has a crush on him.[5]

Plot[]

The episode starts with Arthur dreaming that he's an adult, running a catering business, having a chauffeur, and even shopping for dinner. When he gets home, he is greeted by his son who looks exactly like him, who then alerts his mother that his father is home. It turns out that the mother is none other than an older Francine. She tries to kiss Arthur, only for him to wake up from his nightmare.

Arthur and the Square Dance

Francine and Arthur are partners for Mrs. MacGrady's square dancing class, which they take whenever it rains. Muffy is shown struggling with Binky as her partner. Then Binky inadvertently gives Muffy a high five too hard, pushing her into Sue Ellen and Brain, which causes everyone to fall over like dominoes, and the radio even gets knocked into Mrs. MacGrady's arms.

Outside, Muffy asks Arthur if he'll switch with her the next time they square dance. When Arthur instantly agrees, Francine interjects and says that Arthur is her partner before the pair hitch a ride in Mr. Frensky's garbage truck. While Binky and Muffy are left alone on the steps, Muffy jokes that Arthur and Francine are acting like they're married, but Binky thinks that they're actually together. He teases Arthur about it the next day at school.

Arthur assumes this is a joke at first until he goes on to tell Francine what Binky said to him, but she stops him and tells him about the two cowboy hats she found in her basement for them to wear the next time there is a square dance. They start dancing randomly, as a joke, but when Arthur sees Binky and a few other kids looking at him, he leaves.

Later on, as the kids get ready to play baseball, Muffy comes out onto the field and gives Francine's old baseball glove to Arthur, since Francine has a new one. This time, Arthur starts to think that maybe Francine is in love with him. They are later seen at The Sugar Bowl, and Arthur wants to ask Francine if she likes him or not, but then he sees Binky through the window making smoochy faces with Brain. He panics and leaves, confusing Francine.

Arthur later calls Buster, who says that he should avoid Francine. Arthur initially objects, but then changes his mind after imagining that he had been diagnosed with "cooties", due to Buster saying that girls kiss boys they're in love with. Later, Arthur begins to act weird because he's distracted, such as almost going into the girls' restroom and when Francine saves a spot for him in the cafeteria, he refuses and mentions he wants to sit with new people and older kids. He sits with the Tough Customers and tells them that Francine is not his girlfriend despite the fact they did not bring this up. At recess, Francine tells Prunella that Arthur has been behaving in a weird manner lately.

Prunella asks Francine questions like whether or not Arthur's cheeks go red when he is around her and whether or not he stutters when he talks to her. When Francine says yes to all of these, Prunella suggests he likes her. She gets confused and dismisses that suggestion, but Prunella tells her it just might happen. When Mrs. MacGrady tells them it is going to rain which means there will be square dancing that day, they tell each other they shouldn't dance with each other. When it is time for square dancing, they accidentally end up together despite initially having different partners. They tell each other to stop dancing with each other and then they both say, "I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH YOU!" They realize that they in fact don't have crushes on each other. Finishing the episode, Francine and Arthur promise to each other to not let a stupid thing like love come between their friendship ever again.

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Cameo[]

Trivia[]

  • This is Buster's first cameo appearance since he left in "Arthur's Faraway Friend."
  • In this episode, Arthur calls Buster, who's playing a video game, although he was still traveling with his dad. Because of the room Buster is in appearing different than anywhere in his house, it is likely Arthur called Buster while he was staying with his dad.
  • When Arthur dreams he's an adult he's wearing the same exact clothes like Mr. Ratburn does.
  • The boys' and girls' bathrooms switched sides from "Arthur's Eyes".
  • The painting seen at Buster's house is the same as "Binky Barnes, Art Expert."
  • The "cooties" that are on Arthur are really lipstick marks.
  • It's been implied in the Arthur franchise that Arthur and Francine do have crushes on each other and that they end up getting married when they become adults.
  • The video game controller Buster use to play his video game looks like a Nintendo controller.
  • Although this episode aired in 1998, it was produced in 1997, according to the credits.
  • Morals:
    • Just because a boy and girl are friends, it doesn't mean they're in love with each other.
    • Do not spread rumors about people. It can hurt them and yourself.

Episode connections[]

  • When Arthur asks if Francine ever wanted to kiss him, she says she'd rather have head lice. The entire school suffers a lice outbreak later in "The Lousy Week".
  • Arthur accidentally entering the girls' bathroom is a callback to "Arthur's Eyes," but in that episode Arthur went inside the girls' bathroom, while in this episode Francine stops him.
  • Francine later on teases Arthur about being in love with someone in order to get his swing in the episode "The Long, Dull Winter."
  • Although Francine tells Arthur that she doesn't want to kiss him in this episode, Francine previously wanted to play spin the bottle (a game that involves kissing) at his 8th birthday party in "Arthur's Birthday". She also wanted to do a romantic scene with him when the gang was filming a movie in "Arthur Makes a Movie".

Errors[]

  • Arthur and his friends mention that the worn-out glove was a "glove that won last year's championship". However, Arthur did not have the talent for baseball until in "Arthur Makes the Team", which took place in his and his classmates' third grade year.
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  • Xfinity has an incorrect description for this episode ("Arthur avoids Francine after Buster convinces him that she has a crush on him"), even though Buster left in the previous episode.

Production notes[]

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