Surprise!

"Surprise!"
Main image Title card
Season/Series:	Season 18 (USA) Series 18 (UK)
Number in season:	2b (USA) 3 (UK)
Original Airdate:	September 29, 2014 February 25, 2015 September 29, 2014
Credits
Written by:	Ken Scarborough
Storyboard by:	Allan Jeffery
Episodes
Previous "The Friend Who Wasn't There"	Next "The Case of the Girl with the Long Face"

Read transcript

"Surprise!" is the second half of the second episode in the eighteenth season of Arthur.

Summary

It's Catherine's 16th birthday, and Francine has been cordially UN-invited to the party. With the help of her friends, Francine whips up the perfect present for her big sister...a sneaky surprise with a side of payback!

Plot

Francine is looking through a drawer and tells the audience she wishes she was invisible. That way, she can get away with eating all the cookies and even eavesdrop. She then says it could also be bad, like when Catherine pretended not to notice her for a week. Francine pulls out a blue book and with a green aura shining from it, she lets out a maniacal laugh.

Surprise!

After the title card, the episode opens with Francine, Muffy, Buster, and Arthur at The Sugar Bowl, discussing what to get Catherine for her 16th birthday. The next scene shows Francine and her dad, Oliver, in the kitchen icing Catherine's birthday cake.

Oliver informs Francine that she is not invited to Catherine's party and that it is only for people Catherine's age. Filled with anger, Francine bursts into her and Catherine's room to let her know that she is mad at her. Catherine then yells for Oliver, saying that she has to study.

Oliver then tells Francine to leave her sister alone. After that, Francine goes to the roof to relieve anger by playing the drums. Oliver enters and tries to cheer up Francine, but has no luck. In the next scene, Francine is talking to her friends about the situation. She states that not inviting her to the party is the meanest thing Catherine has ever done to her.

She then lists other mean things her sister has done to her, such as telling her that a monster lived in the bathtub, calling her a payaso (clown in Spanish), and tagging her in a game of freeze tag, then leaving her all alone. Her friends suggest ways to get revenge. Buster tells her to get a roll of the world's stinkiest cheese and put it in Catherine's coat pocket before she goes to the party, but Muffy figures Catherine would notice the smell.

Binky suggests putting glue in the bowling ball before the party starts, but it is determined this plan would also fail because the glue would not stay wet long and Francine would not know which bowling ball Catherine would use. Binky gets upset about how reality always get in the way of his great ideas.

Muffy suggests getting a hand-writing specialist (Fern) to write notes to give to Alberto to give to Catherine and Sean (Catherine's crush). The notes would say to meet in the hallway of the bowling alley. Buster would be in the security camera room filming while Binky would be producing sound. When Catherine says, "Oh, Sean, kiss me", it would air on the screens of the bowling alley with everyone watching.

Binky thinks it is genius, but he also does not think they have a hallway or security cameras at the bowling alley, much to Muffy's frustration. Francine then gets an idea, which Muffy wants to know. Francine says to wait and see. Later at the party, she sneaks in the DJ booth. Over the P.A., she threatens to read Catherine's diary.

Later, she tells her friends what happened. She decided not to read the diary after all, because she remembered how bad she felt about the bad things Catherine did to her and did not want her to suffer on her special day. She did tease Catherine about loving Sean, however, which caused Catherine to chase her. Francine says that Catherine told her they could even go bowling together, when Francine is finished being grounded (which, she adds, should be around her own 16th birthday).

Characters

Major

• Francine Frensky
• Catherine Frensky
• Muffy Crosswire
• Buster Baxter
• Binky Barnes

Minor

• Debi
• Oliver Frensky
• Pal
• D.W. Read
• Arthur Read
• Sean
• Chip Crosswire

Cameo

• Brain
• George Lundgren
• Alex Davidson
• Jenna Morgan
• Rafi
• Slink
• Rattles
• Fern Walters
• Prunella Deegan
• Molly MacDonald
• Sue Ellen Armstrong
• Maria Pappas
• Mrs. Lancaster
• Unknown Female Adult Rabbit (Number 7)
• Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 16)
• Ballerina
• Teenage babysitter
• Unknown Male Adult Rabbit (Number 4)
• 3rd Grade Male Aardvark
• Angi
• Tami
• Alberto Molina
• Bakery Guy
• Laverne Frensky

Trivia

• This is the first episode to reveal Catherine's age: She is turning 16.
• It is revealed that Catherine has a crush on Sean, according to her diary. Judging from Sean's behavior, the feeling is mutual.
• Francine describes Sean as "look[ing] like a rodent". He is revealed to be an anthropomorphic rat.

Episode connections

• Francine and Brain wrote a fake love letter to Muffy in "Love Notes for Muffy." Arthur and Buster wrote fake apology letters to Francine and Brain in "The Big Blow-Up."
• Buster's wheel of Vieux-Boulogne was seen in "The Cherry Tree."
• Chip Crosswire is at the party. He and Catherine became friends, though not lovers, in "Matchmaker, Match Breaker."

Errors

• Oliver says that Catherine is a junior in high school in this episode. He should have said "sophomore" for two reasons:
  • In "Vomitrocious," Catherine mentions an event that happened "five years ago" in fifth grade, implying she is now in 10th grade (sophomore).
  • High school sophomores are typically already 15, turning 16. Catherine celebrates her 16th birthday in this episode.

Gallery

Screenshots

Home Video

DVD

• PBS Kids: Happy Birthday