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"Best Enemies"
Season/Series: 15
Number in season: 8b
Original Airdate: United States May 23, 2012[1]
Canada February 14, 2012[3]
United Kingdom November 22, 2010[2]
Australia October 4, 2010[citation needed]
Credits
Written by: Jon Greenberg
Storyboard by: Jean-Marc Paradis
Alex Greychuck
Episodes
Previous
"Muffy's Classy Classics Club"
Next
"Buster's Garden of Grief"
Read transcript

"Best Enemies" is the second half of the eighth episode in the fifteenth season of Arthur.

Summary[]

D.W.'s parents think she will become the best of friends with a 4-year-old girl named W.D., but it turns out they have nothing in common.

Plot[]

Arthur and Buster are playing catch in the park. Arthur talks to the viewers about how some friends like different things. When the ball goes over the fence, Arthur says that he hates climbing fences, but Buster says he loves climbing fences. He climbs over, grabs the ball and throws it back to Arthur. At The Sugar Bowl, Arthur says that he hates pickles, but Buster loves them, even dipping one into his milk, much to Arthur's disgust. The food then comes to life. One burger loves being covered in mustard while the other one does not. The ketchup says that he hates when sandwiches talk during TV shows. The mustard and ketchup spray at each other and laugh. Arthur finishes up by saying how despite their differences, they are still best friends.

Best Enemies

One day at the Reads' house, Jane is focused on making the house perfect as they prepare for a visit from her new tax clients, the Merkles. The Merkles have a little girl D.W.'s age, and D.W. is excited to play with her. The doorbell rings, and D.W. rushes to answer the door. Herman and Ursa Merkle introduce themselves and their daughter, W.D. D.W. is surprised that W.D.'s initials are hers switched around, but Arthur interrupts and says D.W.'s full name (Dora Winifred), much to her dismay. Ursa reveals that W.D. stands for Wilhelmina Dagmar, much to W.D.'s annoyance.

D.W. leads W.D. to her room to show W.D. her toys and suggests they play the board game "Over the Rainbow Treasure Hunt". However, W.D. is not interested in unicorns and would rather play with race cars, being disappointed when D.W. does not have any. While Ursa and Jane hang out in the living room, they hear the two girls arguing. Arthur goes upstairs to check on them and finds D.W. upset that W.D. said unicorns are not real. He explains to W.D. that it is a touchy subject for D.W. and suggests that the girls come downstairs, because dinner is almost ready. W.D. weakly apologizes for what she had said. D.W. replies that she is lucky there were no unicorns in the room to hear her, to which W.D. scowls.

At dinner, W.D. excitedly shows off a race car track she bought, but D.W. is bored. The two girls wonder why grown-ups think that just because they are the same age, they are going to have lots in common. Later, W.D. and her family prepare to leave. Herman and Ursa have become friends with David and Jane, with Herman inviting the Reads to stay with them at their house up north next weekend (except Arthur, who has a sleepover), much to D.W. and W.D.'s horror.

Later that night, D.W. has a nightmare where W.D. sets her up in a race car, while W.D. has a nightmare where D.W. makes her take a unicorn ride. The two girls meet up in the air, wondering what the other is doing in their respective dreams. They wake up at the same moment.

Several days later, during the car ride to the house, D.W. is worried about getting along with W.D.. Nadine comes along in her rocket car and tells D.W. a plan to cut the weekend short. Meanwhile, at the Merkles' house, W.D.'s imaginary friend, an elephant named Maxine, also gives her advice and the two of them laugh. Soon, the Reads arrive, and Ursa tells Jane that the girls will have to share a room. W.D. sarcastically says, "Why would we mind?"

While the Reads and the Merkles go on a nature hike, D.W. and W.D. talk about their plans. The girls are pleasantly surprised to learn they both have imaginary friends. Their mothers are glad to see them hanging out together.

Later in W.D.'s bedroom, the girls plan to dump out the toy box and make a mess. Herman and David hear them arguing over sharing the toys, and they run upstairs to see them bickering about who dumped out the box. Herman suggests that D.W. and W.D. should go out on the porch to paint, because they need a creative activity.

D.W. and W.D. briefly enjoy painting together before enacting the second part of their plan. They start a paint fight, with all the parents hearing the splashing. They rush outside to see D.W. and W.D. covered in paint. Each girl points at each other and says, "She started it!"

After cleaning up, D.W. and W.D. are taken canoeing by their fathers to get some fresh air. The two girls argue about sitting in the front of the canoe and get into an arm fight, which causes the canoe to capsize. D.W. and W.D. then splash each other.

As planned, the Reads decide to leave early. Jane and Ursa realize that even though their girls are the same age, they do not have to get along if they have nothing in common. W.D. and D.W. admit that they actually had fun while pretending to fight. As the Reads drive away, D.W. suddenly changes her mind and convinces her parents to return to the house by claiming she left her Troll doll behind. D.W. assures them that there must be something she and W.D. have in common before winking at the viewers. The episode then finishes.

Characters[]

Major[]

Minor[]

Trivia[]

  • Morals:
    • Even if you appear to be different from somebody else, you should still try and get along with them. Chances are you will find something in common.
    • Just because two children are the same age does not necessarily mean they will get along with one another.
  • D.W. and W.D. initially believe they have nothing in common. However, in addition to preferring to be called by their initials, both have imaginary friends, enjoy painting, and are assertive, creative, and mischievous girls.
  • This is the last time the title card "Fairy D.W. Turns Arthur into a Frog" is used (in the U.S.)

Episode connections[]

Errors[]

D.W. playing on the Lakewood Elementary School playground.
  • If you look closely at the very beginning of the episode intro, D.W. can be seen playing on the Lakewood Elementary School grounds with the third graders.
  • At dinner time, Mr. Read tells Herman he has never been fly fishing before. But in "Cast Away" from Season 7, Mr. Read was teaching Arthur how to fly fish and had plenty of flies. In that episode, he also says that his own father took him fly fishing when he was a kid.
The first time the picture frame is shown.
The picture frame in W.D.'s room further to the left.
  • When D.W. and W.D. are pretending to have a fight in the latter's room, the picture frame on the wall seen earlier in the episode has moved further to the left than it was the previous time it was shown, and there is no longer a medal hanging on it.

Production notes[]

  • In the American version of this episode, the stinkhorn fungus is redrawn to have larger caps. This was likely done because the phallic shape of a real stinkhorn fungus (accurately depicted in the international version of the episode) was deemed inappropriate.

Gallery[]

Main article: Best Enemies/Gallery

Home Video[]

DVD[]

References[]


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