Sue Ellen Vegges Out

"Sue Ellen Vegges Out"
Main image Title card
Season/Series:	16
Number in season:	9b
Original Airdate:	May 9, 2013 April 24, 2013 December 20, 2012
Credits
Written by:	Jacqui Deegan
Storyboard by:	Raymond Jafelice
Episodes
Previous "Fern and the Case of the Stolen Story"	Next "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh"

Read transcript

"Sue Ellen Vegges Out" is the second half of the ninth episode in the sixteenth season of Arthur.

Summary

When Sue Ellen chooses to become a vegetarian (meaning that she is no longer eating meat), Muffy and Francine compete to be the best vegetarian. Can they successfully resist meat? Or was this a "mis-steak"?

Plot

Sue Ellen tells the viewers about a pig named Sally that she met while visiting a farm. The two quickly developed a bond and became friends in the time they knew each other. In fact, Sally means so much to Sue Ellen that she helped her make one of the biggest decisions of her life.

Sue Ellen Vegges Out

At school, everyone is celebrating Cinco De Mayo with a Mexican-themed lunch in the cafeteria. Sue Ellen passes on any meat-filled dishes and goes for steamed veggies. At the table, she informs Arthur, Buster, and Francine that she's recently decided to become a vegetarian. When her friends are surprised and question her on this, Sue Ellen explains it's actually something that she's been thinking about for quite some time at this point. Muffy overhears this and claims she has been thinking about becoming a vegetarian as well, ever since Capri di Vapida switched to a vegetarian diet (despite having a steak for lunch). Sue Ellen tries to warn her that vegetarianism is not a fashion idea while Francine doubts her sincerity. Still, Muffy declares she is a vegetarian from that very moment, after eating one last bite of steak.

However, it quickly becomes clear over the next few hours that Muffy can not handle not having meat in her life; she tries to order food from the mall's Chickin' Lickin', only to find that the sole vegetarian selection is a pickle sliced length-wise and covered in a zig-zag of mustard, and is very nearly tempted to eat her favorite extra-rare pot roast at dinner. Muffy reaches out to Sue Ellen in vain to try and weasel out of her commitment, asking if it counts if she just lets the roast fall in her open mouth. Sue Ellen reminds her that nobody is forcing her to be a vegetarian, but Muffy persists in order to prove a point to Francine.

The next day at the playground, Muffy finds out that Capri is now on a bologna only diet and is thrilled to proudly throw in the towel to go back to eating meat. Annoyed, Sue Ellen tries to explain to her that vegetarianism is done for personal reasons, but Francine interrupts and brags that she knew Muffy could not last without meat and berates her for resting on Sue Ellen's morals. When Muffy challenges her to do better, Francine blindly does exactly that by becoming a vegetarian as well. Sue Ellen starts to become concerned about how Francine and Muffy are using vegetarianism for competition.

Throughout the day, Muffy tries various methods to get Francine to slip up on her newfound diet and throw out her game. After school, she struts into the Ice Cream Shop and leaves behind double Bubsy Burgers on Francine's table to go with her and Sue Ellen's frozen yogurt, making Francine hallucinate one of the burgers coming to life. That evening, she orders meaty Chinese food to be delivered to Francine's apartment. However, Francine manages to resist every time, albeit with difficulty.

After school, Muffy seemingly calls a truce by apologizing to both Francine and Sue Ellen and invites them to a potluck at her home the next day, where everyone will bring a dish. Once again, Sue Ellen is worried for Francine and tries reminding her that she is not obligated to abstain from meat, but Francine insists on sticking to her vegetarianism.

Sure enough, Muffy plans to lure Francine into eating meat — she calls each of her friends in advance, making sure every dish at the potluck is meat-oriented.

Sue Ellen and Francine arrive, bringing sautéed breaded cauliflower and ratatouille to the potluck, respectively, which Muffy takes straight to the kitchen and throws away in the trash. When Francine finally snaps and begins to confront Muffy over setting her up to sabotage her diet, Buster suddenly comes in with a bushel of vegetables from the community garden. Muffy protests that he was supposed to bring pizza with chicken and sausage, to which Buster explains his mom did not have enough time to make it. Francine blows off Muffy's trap by gloating to her face and enjoys some of Ladonna’s collard greens. However, Ladonna reveals that she cooked the greens in duck fat before bringing them to the party, so they are not truly "vegetarian."

Muffy cheers that she is the "winner", causing her and Francine to begin arguing until Sue Ellen finally has enough. She angrily scolds them after it's clear that neither Francine nor Muffy really care about being vegetarian and are just using it to one-up each other. Sue Ellen reminds them that vegetarianism requires commitment and dedication, and reveals the primary reason she gave up meat: she considers animals friends and lost her taste for eating them. Sue Ellen then declares that she considers those animals to be better friends than people like Francine and Muffy before storming off.

After Sue Ellen leaves the party, everyone else follows suit, having “lost their appetites”. Realizing that they took it too far, Muffy and Francine apologize to each other and make amends. The two then enjoy the meat-themed potluck together.

On Monday at school during lunch, Muffy and Francine apologize to Sue Ellen for how they acted and admit that while vegetarianism just isn't for them, they fully support her. To Sue Ellen's pleasant surprise, the pair worked with Bailey to make more vegetarian options in the school cafeteria and introduced “Meatless Mondays” each week.

Characters

Major

• Francine Frensky
• Muffy Crosswire
• Sue Ellen Armstrong

Minor

• Ladonna Compson
• Arthur Read
• Buster Baxter
• Binky Barnes
• Sally
• Bubsy Burger
• George Lundgren (does not speak)
• Catherine Frensky
• Bitzi Baxter (does not speak)

Cameo

• Fern Walters
• The Brain
• Jenna Morgan
• Molly MacDonald
• Mr. Haney
• Rattles

Trivia

• Moral: Vegetarianism is a choice, not a fad or a competition or even an obligation. Nobody is making you do it, and if you do choose this lifestyle, do it for your sake, not because it makes you "better" than those who are not vegetarian.
• Catherine explains to Francine that, as a vegetarian, one of the most important things for your diet is to make sure you still eat plenty of iron and protein (since vegetarians generally cut most — if not all — meats out of their diets), and that foods like nuts and seeds are a good meatless source of them. This is recommended for vegetarians in real life.
• At Chickin' Lickin', the cashier explains that their chicken is actually poultry by-product with chicken flavoring. Many real-life fast-food chains use this in their food.

Episode connections

• The episode title references the Season 8 episode "Sue Ellen Chickens Out". In that episode, Sue Ellen did not reject meat as such, merely Chickin Lickin's plans to replace The Sugar Bowl.
• On Cinco de Mayo, in the cafeteria, the mariachi music from "Sue Ellen's Lost Diary" can be heard.
• Muffy following Capri di Vapida's fashion trends was last seen in the Season 14 episode "All the Rage".
• The mall looks like it did in "D.W.'s Time Trouble", with stores catering to cavemen, knights and pioneers.
• Sue Ellen eats the same kiwi soya milk frozen yogurt at the Ice Cream Shop which Rattles ate in "The Last Tough Customer."
• Francine's talking burger strongly resembles the talking burgers from "Best Enemies".
• This is the second time that Francine has given up a certain food in one manner or another; she attempted to fast through Yom Kippur in "Is That Kosher?".
• Francine's sister Catherine giving her advice on being a vegetarian is a nod to "The Frensky Family Fiasco", where Catherine is revealed to be a vegetarian.

Cultural references

• The special dishes used buy the cafeteria to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, which is on May 5, is also used for Taco Tuesday.

Errors

• Muffy has meaty Chinese food delivered to Francine despite the Frenskys being Jewish and the food not being Kosher.

Gallery

Main article: Sue Ellen Vegges Out/Gallery