Top Five Episodes of Hey Arnold! That Hit Us Right In The Feels

[Music] i've said it before and i'll say it again hey arnold is a fantastic cartoon i might even say it's one of the most underrated nicktoons of all time one thing i love about this show is how it will tackle many serious subjects whether it be in a very subtle way or in a very blatant and straight-up way whether it's the subtle implication that helga's mother is an alcoholic who suffers with severe depression or the ostracization of people such as monkey man or pigeon man for not fitting into the societal norm it's clear that hey arnold is no stranger to serious topics i've talked about hey arnold before in my video showing the top five episodes that taught us important life lessons but i really feel like visiting hey ireland again for another video so here we are today we're looking at the top five episodes of hey arnold that hit us right in the fields just gotta say if you watch this video and you find yourself thinking oh well what about the christmas episode with mr win's daughter or oh what about the pigeon man episode well uh i can explain i covered those episodes and many more in previous videos i'll link those videos in the description box down below if you want to check them out if you feel like an important episode was missed check out those videos because maybe i've already covered it and you're missing out on an awesome video also i just wanted to say thank you very much to all my subscribers i took a little break from youtube for personal reasons and while i was gone i gained over 50 subscribers which is just crazy it might not seem like much but to me it's a huge deal because i actually haven't told any friends or family about my youtube channel which means that all of my subscribers are random people out there on the internet who find my content interesting and that means the world to me if you're subscribed to my channel thank you so much if you're new here then please subscribe so you don't miss any of my new videos and make sure you drop a like and leave a comment because it helps me a whole bunch without further ado let's get right into the video [Applause] number five chocolate boy most of the episodes i'm going to cover follow a relatively similar theme so i figured i'd start with an episode that has a separate theme all of its own the eponymous character that episode mainly follows is chocolate boy the episode begins with recess at ps118 we see kids playing and talking together then we panned a chocolate boy who's sitting on the ground obsessively licking chocolate wrappers wolfgang and edmund are in the background laughing at him and comparing his desperation to that of a hungry dog then they approach him and make him jump up and down and act like a dog in exchange for a chocolate bar all for their amusement edmond gets the idea for wolfgang to tell chocolate boy that he has a 10 pound bag of chocolate at home and that he'll give it to chocolate boy if he can go two whole weeks without eating any chocolate just the thought of it starts driving chocolate boy mad but he ends up agreeing to it and wolfgang ends up telling one of his fellow fifth graders mickey to follow chocolate boy and make sure he doesn't eat any chocolate at all for the whole two weeks licking chocolate off of rappers obsessing over chocolate and being willing to do any demeaning act in order to get his next fix for chocolate if you haven't made the obvious connection yet chocolate boy's mannerisms and tendencies are very similar to that of a drug addict chocolate boy ends up coming to arnold for help getting clean from chocolate for two weeks everyone tells arnold that'll be impossible regardless of arnold's long-standing track record for helping people but arnold doesn't shy away from the task he decides to help chocolate boy finally kick his chocolate obsession which is no easy task they start by clearing all of the chocolate that chocolate boy has stashed all around his bedroom [Music] yeah that's all of it [Music] i forgot that one the next day we see chocolate boy in class with his eyes beat red shaking and muttering about chocolate kind of similar to withdrawals that a drug addict would face after finally trying to get clean the bell rings and he sprints out of class and right up to the vending machine where he's talking to the chocolate in the machine at one point chocolate boy ends up in the corner of a hallway at school sitting down arnold comes up to check on him and chocolate boy falls asleep clearly suffering side effects from going a few days without chocolate days later chocolate boy ends up starting to behave differently hiding under a table at lunch while holding a glass of water and what seems to be a gi joe at 10 days clean things start to get really bizarre for chocolate boy look at these ants they're so happy in a line little ants in a line little chocolate ants in a little chocolate line willa curse then finally two weeks is up and chocolate boy ends up outside of school waiting obsessively for wolfgang to show up when wolfgang finally shows up he gives chocolate boy the 10-pound bag of chocolate and arnold is absolutely let down arnold gets disappointed because he thought chocolate boy really wanted to get off of chocolate for good presumably later that day we see chocolate boy finish that ten pound bag of chocolate wolfgang and a bunch of fifth graders approach and call chocolate boy pathetic for begging for more chocolate they make chocolate boy do a dance while they throw chocolate at him which is very traumatizing for chocolate boy later on we see this scene occur which ends up being a massive wake-up call for chocolate boy he comes back to arnold begging for his help to finally drop chocolate once and for all arnold shows him a shocking video about what chocolate can do to you he takes chocolate boy into a sauna to sweat out all the chocolate from his system and he even tries to introduce chocolate boy to a chocolate substitute but none of that seems to work then arnold gets the idea to really get to the root of the problem he tries to use a watch to perform hypnotherapy on chocolate boy with the goal of finding out where his obsession with chocolate comes from we learned that when chocolate boy was little he had a nanny that loved him dearly and she took really good care of him she would feed him chocolate every so often as a special treat but one day he came home and found out that his nanny was leaving and she had to move away which really scarred chocolate boy he loved his nanny and misses her dearly as a result he's trying to fill the void she left behind with chocolate and arnold helps him realize that doing that is not a healthy coping mechanism chocolate boy realizes that if his nanny saw him digging through dumpsters for chocolate and dancing for it she really wouldn't be proud which finally sets him free you don't need chalk i don't eat chocolate you're free i'm free i'm free free of chocolate yeah i freak no more chocolate by the end of the episode chocolate boy ends up surprising everyone and thanking arnold for finally helping him kick his habit we learn that he's picked up a new obsession radishes it's nice that the episode ends on a positive note with chocolate boy's success in leaving behind his addiction with the help of arnold even if he did just replace one unhealthy addiction with one more healthy addiction number four miss perfect this episode introduces lila as a new kid in class it's her first day at school after living out in the country for her entire life she's new to city life and really just wants to fit in helga and the other girls give her this whole convoluted spiel about how she needs to learn from them to fit in and make friends which helga says will take two years or one if she's lucky almost immediately some other kids come up and invite lila to play kickball with them which is an absolutely blatant display of how helga and her friends have no idea what they're talking about lila ends up unintentionally stepping on the other girl's toes she answers a question in class that phoebe wanted to answer she impresses the sixth grade girls with her outfit when ronda was trying to impress them and she disregards helga's instructions to not be kind to the lunch ladies which really just pisses helga off look at her she said two days it's like she runs the place who does she think she is anyway little miss perfect after seeing all the boys in school fawning over lila they decide to plot an evil scheme to mess with her don't worry we'll fix her wagon by the time we get through with her she won't be a little miss perfect no more okay they start by filling her locker with 16 pounds of kiwi jello but at last second mr simmons comes up and tells lila that she's getting assigned to a new locker her old locker gets assigned to paddy who ends up getting covered in the jello and subsequently beats the living snot out of helga next the girls replace lila's lunch with fake meat wax fruit and pickle juice lila who is friends with patty decides to trade lunch with her naturally this plan also leads to helga getting the snot beaten out of her again finally they concoct a really nasty plan that leads to lila getting covered in what seems to be muck and fish remains lila being humiliated and laughed at by everyone in school ends up running out of the lunchroom crying the next thing we see is when the episode starts to take a more serious tone the scene cuts to a not so clean looking tattered building with trash all over the ground outside and part of the fence falling down we then see lila inside sitting at a small table with folding chairs alongside her dad they're eating meat substitute right out of the can for dinner in a room that's lit by one single hanging light bulb has cobwebs in the cupboards and the bathroom in the background is absolutely filthy this is the sad moment where we get a glimpse into the actual home life of lila well you sure are quiet tonight something wrong no daddy i'm okay the next day at school helga and the other girls are talking bad about lila when mr simmons walks in and informs the class that lila won't be coming to school today for personal reasons and asks for a volunteer to bring lyla her homework helga is quick to volunteer and next we see helga and the other girls heading over to lila's house they're quick to mention how the neighborhood and lila's house is a dump what a dump i assumed miss perfect would live in a more luxury lila's dad invites helga in who doesn't even seem to pay any mind to how rough the living conditions are helga walks out and immediately starts talking bad about lila to the other girls when they hear crying through the window they all stand on some garbage cans to get a better view of what's going on they overhear lila venting to her dad about how mean the girls at school are and how she just wants to be friends and fit in with everyone all the meanwhile lila's dad gets a call about a job he applied for being informed that he didn't get the job don't worry about dinner daddy we've still got one can of beans left in the fridge no we don't i ate him for lunch [Music] after seeing the struggle that lila and her dad are going through the girls all feel awful for how they treated lila they realized that they treated her really unfairly when all she wanted was to be friends with them they end up going inside of her house and making a truly heartfelt apology to lila our actions were petty and most likely motivated by deep-seated insecurities within ourselves the scene ends with all the girls gathering for a group hug and at that exact moment lila's dad gets another call about that same job he applied for and turns out the hiring manager had changed his mind and decides to give lila's dad the job the episode ends with everything going back to normal at school lila telling all the boys a story all the boys fawning over her except this time the girls instead of talking bad about lila decide to talk about how much they like her instead if there's anything we can take from this episode it's that obviously bullying is terrible and toxic and that you shouldn't be so quick to judge someone because you never know what kind of struggle they're facing in their private life number three parents day this episode begins with two people running through an island jungle being chased by the island's indigenous people they escape indiana jones style and fly off into the sunset in their plane those two people are arnold's parents and arnold's grandpa's telling him a bedtime story about how they were able to obtain a serum for a deadly sickness from the forbidden jungle the next day at school mr simmons is reminding everyone about the parents day celebration coming up where each family is going to compete for a trophy understandably arnold seems relatively upset about this yeah i don't think i want to go though why not everyone's going to be there with their parents and i've just got my grandparents arnold gets home and his grandparents are busy training for parents day which seems to reinforce how much he is dreading that day i'm sure i speak for everyone when i say that i really feel for arnold in the scene because he really misses his parents he even ends up skipping his nightly story because he's so upset the next day the parents day tournament begins and there's a large amount of tension between arnold's family and helga's family stemming from the men of each family we gotta beat these characters oh the trophy's practically ours you're gonna be looking at it crossing the finish line pataki the competition ensues and by the final event of day one helga's family is in first place and we get a glimpse of just how much of a sore loser big bob pataki is listen i have taken time off from my busy schedule running a beefer empire to show up here today so i deserve to win that best parent trophy and losing it is unacceptable dad this just in we're ahead during the final event of the day which is an egg toss relay race helga's family ends up getting out before arnold's family does which prompts big bob to go on a yelling tirade at his daughter and big bob says this specific line that even when i was a child absolutely made my blood boil we are not gonna let some orphan boy and his ancestors win this parents weekend thing you understand which completely hits arnold right where it hurts and causes him to get eliminated from the egg toss helga simply just to clear her guilty conscience makes the saddest attempt at a backhanded apology that i've ever heard literally calling arnold an orphan and telling him he's all alone in the world in the process that night at dinner arnold ends up confessing to his grandparents that he doesn't feel comfortable at parents day and that as much as he loves them they aren't his real parents in a state of sadness arnold goes to his room to go to bed the interaction between arnold's grandparents that follows is enough to bring a tear to my eye well now what pookie you better go talk to him phil i don't know somehow i don't think another bedtime story about his parents is gonna fix this he needs you phil you better go talk to him anyway okay wish me luck the love that they both have for arnold is so true and pure and they're really faced with a hard situation where there isn't really much that they can do to ease the pain that arnold feels that night arnold's grandpa tells him the story of how his parents met and fell in love which leads to arnold asking about what happened to his parents and where they are now his grandpa tells him about how one day his dad's old friend eduardo came to visit and begged arnold's parents to help him find a serum for a disease that's eradicating an entire village of people in his home country they left arnold with his grandparents and were supposed to be gone for only a week i promise you'll be a good boy for grandpa and grandma okay we'll be back next week little buddy then i'll take you to the park mommy loves you so much [Music] daddy loves you arnold [Music] bye's mommy bye daddy [Music] arnold's parents loaded up their plane and flew off for one last time and sadly they never came back and their plane was never found that night arnold has a dream of a memory from when he was really little he remembers crawling through the house in the middle of the night crying scared because he can't find his mom and dad his grandpa comes out and comforts him [Music] i'm scared i can't find my mommy and daddy oh now don't cry you poor little fella hey how about i tell you a warm mythical bedtime story tonight yeah that's the ticket did i ever tell you about the time your mom and dad work for a circus in peking no tell me the story oh why they're natural-born acrobats your mom and dad this was the night where grandpa first started his routine telling arnold stories about his parents every night he also dreams of all the great memories he's had of growing up with his grandparents arnold wakes up in a better headspace and he decides that he does want to go to parent's day again realizing how lucky he is to have such great grandparents looking out for him that day the events culminate when it comes down to arnold's family versus helga's family in a triathlon which results in a 1v1 battle over a giant bowl of jello between grandpa phil and big bob pataki in the end phil kicks big bob's ass and sends him down into the jello phoebe's family ends up winning the entire competition for best overall score over the two days but what really matters is that big bob didn't win the trophy the episode ends with arnold going to bed that night and dreaming that he's getting on an airplane and flying off into the sunset presumably to find his parents i feel like this was some heavy foreshadowing for what the creator of the show had planned for later on in the show all in all there's a lot one could take from this episode but one of the biggest sentiments i took was to be thankful for the loved ones that you have in your life number two helga on the couch grab some tissues and get ready for a good cry because this episode really has a way of tugging at your heartstrings this episode begins with a child psychologist dr bliss being assigned to p.s 118 to more or less check on the mental state of all the children who attend the school principal warts seems sure that ps118 is the school best known for picture-perfect mental health and he is sure that she won't find anything out of the ordinary there as soon as she walks out of his office she sees helga who's blatantly walking down the hallway bullying everyone in her path which gets the immediate attention of dr bliss she decides to sit in on helga's class where she takes notice of all the noteworthy behaviors that helga is exhibiting finally dr bliss witnesses helga punching brainy in the face as she usually does which results in her being sent to the principal's office he doesn't mind i do it all the time what you'd suck him too if he was standing there behind you breathing breathing yes breathing the result is dr bliss scheduling for helga to come to her office after school every tuesday and thursday to discuss her anti-social tendencies and uncover the true emotions that she may be hiding helga's big concern in that moment is dr bliss uncovering the fact that she has a crush on arnold but as we will see dr bliss ends up uncovering a lot more than that that night helga's parents end up having a rather alarming conversation with her about how she shouldn't blab anything to dr bliss because things are meant to be swept under the rug and how this would have never happened to olga helga's older sister whom they idolize later that night helga ends up praising her shrine to arnold and thinking to herself about how that psychologist will never uncover her deepest darkest secret her love for arnold which again seems to be her primary concern helga ends up falling down and her parents end up seeing her with the arnold mask on her head getting ready for bed oh okay well sleep well yeesh what a nut job i need a smoothie this to me foreshadows a lot helga having a crush on arnold is just the tip of the iceberg in this scene the real issue implied is her parents from this scene it's easy enough to infer that helga's father is a callous brash controlling neanderthal and her mother is an alcoholic who probably suffers from severe depression helga ends up going to therapy and is very apprehensive at first she ends up taking control of the session and asking all the questions which ends up being a good method of getting her to open up and talk about herself more dr bliss and helga end up bonding over jump rope and talking more about their personal lives this is what they say boys are rotten made out of cotton girls are sassy made from molasses boys go to jupiter to get more stupider girls go to college to get more knowledge helga goes on to explain about how olga is perfect in her parents eyes and how she's usually overlooked whenever olga is around she opens up about how she feels like no one in her house even knows that she exists how she had to walk to school in the snow with no jacket and how she had nothing but a can of beans and a spoon packed for lunch because her parents were too busy ignoring her for olga things press onward with the session and helga struggles more and more with not mentioning arnold when dr bliss brings him up directly dr bliss keeps pushing but helga keeps changing the subject which allows dr bliss the perfect opportunity to bring apelgas family life again they end up talking about how lonely it is living life feeling like no one in your house notices you helga tells about a time when she was late for school and her mom who was passed out on the couch made her lunch for school and packed her a pack of moist towelettes a single pack of crackers and some shaving cream she then tells the story of how when she was really little and she was asking her dad to take her to preschool but her dad was too preoccupied with listening to olga play piano to take her makes me proud to be a battagious hey who's taking me to preschool yeah in a minute olga no i'm hell good dad whatever go play outside would you i'm going to preschool what do you know one minute flat which led to helga as a young child having to walk to school by herself on a stormy and rainy day she got soaked by cars driving by and even had a big angry dog steal her lunch on the way to school she ends up telling dr bliss about how there was one person who always noticed her as a kid and that was arnold he shared his umbrella with her in the rain complimented her bow and even offered his crackers when harold stole hers but as a result of her having a crush on him everyone made fun of her which in turn made helga into an angry person who bullied all the other kids then finally helga admits what she's been too scared to tell anyone she finally tells the psychiatrist that she is in love with arnold which dr bliss responds to by validating her feelings she tells helga that it's okay to be in love with him and keep it a secret as long as she isn't hurting anyone which leads to helga leaving her appointment seeing life in a new light she is still mean to arnold in an effort to hide her secret but she is nice to brainy for the first time and tries in the nicest way possible to tell him to stop being so weird as a parent who loves both of my children equally it's hard for me to watch this episode nowadays i can't imagine ever treating my daughter the way that bob and miriam treat helga adult or child there's a lot you can take away from this episode you should always be respectful of others and if you're a parent make sure that your child feels noticed and that they know just how much you love them number one the journal [Music] this episode was the final episode made for tv so naturally they just had to do it tia they just had to hit you right in the heart with this one the episode starts with arnold on a ship with his parents when all of a sudden the ship is attacked by pirates and arnold's parents go to fight the pirates his parents end up destroying the attacking pirate ship but are lost in the wreckage leaving arnold alone on his ship begging for them to come back suddenly arnold jolts awake he looks over to see his calendar which is on the date october the 5th he pulls out a picture of his parents as grandpa phil comes in to bring arnold breakfast in bed his demeanor seems to reflect that he expects arnold to be in a bad headspace today we next see arnold sitting by himself on his stoop it's a dark gloomy and rainy day all of his friends walk by and invite him to go to dinoland for half price day but he says he just wants to stay home today as everyone leaves he explains to gerald that it's the anniversary of the day that his parents left and never came back it's just that i want to be by myself today that's all you sure you don't want some company no thanks go on gerald have fun at dinoland ride one for me okay okay catch you later arnold spends the day lamenting the fact that he doesn't know if his parents will ever come back he gets angry and decides to pack up all the stuff he has from his parents and put it away in the attic so he never has to think about them again when putting it all away he stumbles upon a mysterious journal in the attic that turns out to be his dad's journal arnold and his grandparents decide to sit down and read the journal as a family the journal is a documentation of arnold's dad's time in san lorenzo in south america beginning with the time when he met arnold's mom stella they quickly fell in love and began adventuring in san lorenzo together they end up in a bad situation where they were caught in the current of a river which was flowing towards a waterfall hundreds of feet in the air stella miles i love you as they fall down the waterfall they're caught and rescued by a mysterious and unknown person that they could only identify as a member of the green eyes an ancient civilization that is very mysterious and lives in seclusion from the rest of society arnold's parents miles and stella want to repay the green eyes for saving them and they're told about a group of pirates that stole a precious artifact from the green eyes to repay them miles and stella track down the pirates and take the ancient artifact back with intentions of returning it to the green eyes upon returning the ancient artifact to them the green eyes were so grateful that they had accepted miles and stella as members of their family the story continues on with the next entry in the journal being when miles and stella got married on the day of their wedding there was a massive earthquake but they didn't let that ruin their day also the green eyes were kind enough to give them a wedding gift a piglet they would name abner and decide to keep as a pet from there they end up going on their honeymoon in rio de janeiro where they end up saving a group of people trapped in a broken cable car they end up getting hurt themselves in the process though miles specifically takes almost all of the injury in the accident while they're still on their honeymoon miles's friend eduardo comes to find them with a letter from the green eyes they've been plagued with a mysterious illness that's wiping out a significant portion of their population the only people they trust in the outside world are miles and stella so they call on them to save their people they end up jumping through some serious hoops and they spend days on end working on a serum for the sickness plaguing the green eyes stella finally gets the serum stable and delivers it to the green eyes and as miles and eduardo are toasting to celebrate stella she immediately feels ill they take her to the emergency clinic in san lorenzo and find out that she is pregnant and dealing with morning sickness many months pass and the day finally comes that stella goes into labor eduardo and miles end up putting her on a handmade stretcher and attempting to walk her all the way to the nearest hospital on the way they come across a gigantic volcano that just so happens to be erupting at the exact time they're trying to get past it and the lava flowing ends up trapping them they come across a temple belonging to the green eyes who left a small bed with a few supplies for miles and stella to deliver their baby and in the middle of the jungle with a volcano erupting in the background arnold was born they struggled to raise arnold amongst the dangers of the jungle and they decided to move back to the united states and back into the boarding house with arnold's grandparents we get a touching glimpse into arnold's early childhood living in the house with his parents and grandparents we get to see arnold's first birthday and miles and stella taking him to the park and seeing all the other kids that would end up being arnold's friends and classmates the last few pages of the journal are where things really start to pull on your heartstrings and open up some old familiar wounds i love every day of our lives together i'm looking forward to living near my mom and dad and watching arnold grow and learn more and more i feel so lucky i would do anything in the world for my lovely stella and for our dear little son arnold the final page is a retelling of the familiar story the day that eduardo came and told him about the sickness that's plaguing the green eyes once again this time a lot more deadly than before miles and stella feel like they owe it to the green eyes after how much they've done for them and how they were there for them on the day arnold was born i really really don't want to leave arnold but our trip back to san lorenzo will be quick mom and dad can look after him before we know it we'll be back playing with our boy i know that the whole time we're there we'll both miss our arnold terribly after reading the last page of the journal with them arnold thanks his grandma and grandpa for everything and says he's gonna go outside and sit on the stoop while he's out there flipping through the journal he finds a page that they missed before which is a map of the area where they were going to on their final trip to san lorenzo there's a lot to unpack in this episode any episode involving arnold's parents really just hits hard in my opinion but one of the saddest parts of the episode to me at least is the ending the amount of foreshadowing the creator of the show put in here is absolutely heartbreaking it's obvious that he wanted to continue the story in a direction that involved arnold going to san lorenzo and it's sad that the series didn't get the green light to go in that direction and let him resolve the main plot line until 15 years after this episode aired if you made it this far thank you so much for watching i really appreciate you if you enjoyed the video please drop a like and leave a comment letting me know what you think and please subscribe to my channel if you haven't already because it helps me a ton i will see in the next one have a good day

Channel: DuskTillShawn

Views: 958,807

Keywords: hey arnold helga, nickelodeon, top five, hey arnold!, hey arnold parents, Chocolate Boy, chocolate boy hey arnold, helga pataki mom, helga pataki dad, Helga Pataki, hey arnold grandpa, Hey Arnold Grandma, hey arnold lila, hey arnold lila dad, hey arnold ms perfect, hey arnold parents day, hey arnold the journal, hey arnold the jungle movie, Top Five Episodes of Hey Arnold! That Hit Us Right In The Feels, helga on the couch, Saddest episodes of Hey Arnold!, Nicktoons, 90s nick

Id: Z8X0LDtVN-s

Length: 29min 47sec (1787 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 22 2021