Arthur Accused! (episode)

	"Arthur Accused!"
	Main image; Title card;
Season/Series:	1
Number in season:	6b
Original Airdate:	October 14, 1996; January 13, 1997; December 14, 2001;
	Credits
Written by:	James Greenberg
Storyboard by:	Sarô
	Episodes
Previous; "Locked in the Library!"	Next; "Arthur Goes to Camp"

This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the book.

"Arthur Accused!" is the second half of the sixth episode in the first season of Arthur. It was later adapted into the book Arthur Accused!.

Summary

Buster opens a detective agency, and the chief suspect in his first case is Arthur.

Plot

We enter Buster's home and into his bedroom. We see Buster drinking a soda and dressed up like a detective. He tells the viewers about how he solved his first mystery. "It involved my pal Arthur, some missing quarters, and a whole lot of trouble," he says.

He shows us a flashback of Arthur in detention, when all of a sudden, a seemingly angry mob begins to crowd around the entrance to the classroom. In fear, Arthur hides behind the table as the doorknob begins to turn open. Not wanting to spoil anything, Buster decides to start back at the beginning of the story.

Arthur Accused!

Two days before, on a Wednesday, Binky walks down the school hallway and sees Arthur with a bowl full of quarters. Arthur explains that he is trying to save quarters as a fundraiser to buy a puppy for the fire department. Binky thinks if he should give a quarter or not. He eventually decides to give one.

Just after Arthur adds it to his fund, Buster arrives (wearing his detective outfit) and asks Arthur if he wants to go to the arcade with him and his mom. Arthur agrees, but has Buster wait, for he has to give the quarters to Mrs. MacGrady. Arthur notices Buster's outfit and Buster explains that it is part of his new detective kit.

He further explains that he was snooping around for any mysteries, but has had no luck so far. He tells Arthur something that he has managed to figure out, however: that there is a 3rd Grade picnic next Friday. Yet Arthur already knows, for there have been posters about it for two weeks. Buster yet stays determined to find a mystery.

Arthur hurries off to Mrs. MacGrady's kitchen to give her the quarters, but Mrs. MacGrady is talking on the phone about what the new fire department dog should be named. Arthur tries (unsuccessfully) to get her attention, but since he is in a hurry, he simply puts the bag of quarters on the counter and leaves.

Later that day, Buster and Bitzi walk to the arcade, while Buster looks around with his magnifying glass to find anything suspicious. Bitzi, worrying about her son as usual, is over-concerned about him getting eyestrain. Buster sees Arthur playing a pinball game and notices that he has beaten the high score. Buster is very proud of his friend.

The next day at school, Buster is still rather proud of Arthur's accomplishment and raves about it while walking down the hall. They suddenly meet up with Mr. Haney and the other school staff. Mr. Haney reminds Arthur to give the quarters to Mrs. MacGrady. Arthur says that he already did, but strangely, Mr. Haney claims that Mrs. MacGrady said she never have received them. Buster suspects the quarters were stolen, but Mr. Haney ignores him, and asks Arthur if he might have brought them home by accident. Buster explains that Arthur went with him to the arcade and that Arthur beat the high score on pinball. He further talks about how he did that once and that it cost him all his birthday money, a large amount of quarters. Buster stops himself, apparently realizing what it sounds like he is implying, and, sure enough, Mr. Haney and the others now suspect Arthur stole the quarters.

Arthur is sent to the principal's office, where Mr. Haney and Ms. Tingley tell Arthur that he was responsible for the missing quarters, and if they do not turn up, Arthur will receive a week of detention, starting that day, and that he will not be allowed to go on the picnic.

Later, in the cafeteria, Arthur exclaims to Buster how everybody thinks he is a criminal, and demands a lawyer. Buster thinks that is a preposterous idea and claims he needs a detective, like himself. Not sure if Buster will be able do it, Arthur decides to let him investigate.

The first person that Buster questions is Mrs. MacGrady. He asks about her whereabouts yesterday. She says that she was in the cafeteria, making brownies for the picnic. Buster suggests he should taste some of the brownies, but she knows what he is thinking and will not let him until the picnic. Mrs. MacGrady also tells Buster that Mr. Morris came over to mop up brownie mix when it overflowed. She suggests Buster should ask Mr. Morris if he knows anything. Thanking her for her information, Buster leaves while snitching some whipped cream off a slice of pie she was making.

Mr. Morris goes to his closet to grab a bag, while Buster disguises himself as one of the mops in his closet. Mr. Morris notices him and Buster begins to question the janitor, but promptly trips over a mop.

While Mr. Morris is washing the windows, Buster comes along. Mr. Morris explains to him that he went to Mrs. MacGrady's kitchen to clean up a spilled mix. Buster further asks if he cleans up after her often. Mr. Morris claims that actually, she is usually quite tidy. While Mr. Morris walks away, Buster hears jingling in his pocket. He suspects that it is quarters, but Mr. Morris shows him that it is just his keys.

Stumped, Buster decides to go to Arthur's house for more information. He begins to question D.W., although D.W. does not help much. She suspects Arthur buried the quarters somewhere and suggests to dig up the lawn. Buster begins to leave just at the same time as Arthur returns home. Arthur asks how the mystery is going. Buster nervously claims it is going fine, but Arthur is desperate to be proven innocent.

Walking home, Buster looks over his information, but is disappointed to see that everything seems to claim that Arthur is the criminal. Buster thinks it is possible that Arthur is really a mastermind and that he did steal the quarters.

Later that evening, Buster does not eat as much usual for he is too busy thinking. He goes to his room and looks over the suspects: Mrs. MacGrady, Mr. Morris, and Arthur. Suddenly, Bitzi walks in and tells him to get to bed. "You need your sleep, you're not a robot," she says. This gives Buster an idea.

The next day, Buster goes to Arthur's house and tells him that the quarters were taken by an army of robots. He thinks that they need metal for fuel and no one ever sees them because they can change into any shape. But by now, Buster realizes even he does not believe that theory.

On their way to school, Buster apologizes to Arthur for being a bad detective and comforts him by stating his belief that Arthur is innocent. Arthur thanks him for trying and admits that, while Buster may be a bad detective, he is a good friend.

All the students are already lined up by the bus for the picnic. Buster gets in line, but Arthur is sent by Mr. Ratburn to the classroom for detention. As the kids are getting onto the bus, Buster is rather sad that he could not think straight enough to figure out the mystery. Brain tells him that he feels the same way when his brain is overflowing with data when working on a difficult math problem.

At the mention of overflowing, Buster gets another idea and runs into the school with Mr. Haney. They run down the hall into the kitchen where Mrs. MacGrady is preparing food. Buster asks again about her brownie mix overflowing. She claims that she just made too much, but Buster knows the answer: "There was too much because there was one extra ingredient: Quarters." He takes hold of one of the brownies, breaks it in half and out flies a quarter. Seeing this, Mrs. MacGrady deduces that she must have accidentally mixed the quarters into the brownie batter after Arthur had left the bag of quarter by the bag of flour she was using for the brownies. Mr. Haney then realizes Arthur was innocent all along.

Back at the parking lot, Buster announces that Arthur is innocent. With joy and excitement, all the students run to the classroom, where Arthur is in detention. Arthur hears the crowd of students (from the intro) and hides behind the table. The doorknob turns and opens with all the kids, including Buster cheering for Arthur and they take him to the school bus. Arthur is happy too for Buster's accomplishment. The kids get into the bus and they leave for the picnic.

Back in Buster's bedroom, Buster is finished telling his story. He further tells the viewers that Mrs. MacGrady is now more careful with her job. Each time she finishes baking a pastry, Mr. Morris comes and checks for any metal with his metal detector. We see an example of this in action. Thankfully, there is nothing in this particular baking.

Characters

Major

Minor

Cameo

Trivia

When Arthur pours the bowl of quarters into the bag, there seems to be a hole in the bottom.
Mrs. MacGrady's implied to have been married at least twice, because she mentioned at one point that her first husband was a man named Chester.
This is the first episode Buster introduces.
- This is also the first episode where someone other than Arthur introduces the show.
Curiously, when the brownie mix overflowed,the quarters in question apparently never surfaced when the mix was cleaned up. This is probably because metal is more dense than batter and so the quarters would mostly have sunk toward the bottom and not spilled out.
This is the first episode where the setting explicitly takes place in autumn.
Mrs. MacGrady breaks the 4th wall at the end by winking at the camera.
- This marks the first time that the 4th wall is broken in the series.
This is also the first time that Buster is a detective. He will be a detective in future episodes as well.

Episode connections

George later mentions Buster solving the missing quarters case in "The Buster Report."
Buster plays detective in episodes later on in the series, including "Binky Rules," "To Eat or Not to Eat, "The Case of the Girl with the Long Face", and "Cereal."

Cultural references

At school, Buster refers to Arthur as the pinball wizard. This is a reference from The Who's song, Pinball Wizard, and the 1975 movie, Tommy.
Arthur diving into the pile of quarters in Buster's fantasy is very similar to Scrooge McDuck's iconic money dive from the Disney animated series DuckTales.

Errors

When Mrs. MacGrady says "Nice try, but nobody touches them until the picnic", her position briefly flips back and forth.
The first time Arthur is in his cave with the quarters, his tongue is colored properly. The second time, it is not.
In one scene where Buster is suggesting to Mr. Haney that the quarters were stolen, Ms. Tingley is right behind Mr. Haney. In the next scene, however, she is not seen behind him.
At the end, in the detention room, Arthur is wearing his yellow v-neck sweater, but when his friends come in, he is wearing his jacket.
When Mr. Morris asks Buster if there is anything else he would like to know, Mr. Morris's eyes stay in place for a second while his head moves away.

Home video

VHS:

DVD:

Arthur: The Complete Series 1

Gallery

References

[1] ttps://web.archive.org/web/19970723021343/http://www.ket.org/Visions/Oct96/VL961014.html

[2] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20130719100407/http://ww3.tvo.org/program/157024/arthur/#1997

[3] ttps://www.fernsehserien.de/erdferkel-arthur-und-seine-freunde/episodenguide/staffel-1/3906/2

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