D.W., Bossy Boots

Summary
For D.W., there's nothing better than getting her own way—until all her friends start refusing to play with her.

Plot
In the beginning, Arthur points out that one thing about being a child is having lots of bosses. He uses Brain's Boss-O-Meter to measure the level of bossiness. When his father loads the top and tells Arthur to load the bottom, Arthur points out that his bossing is tough, but fair (which is setting an example).

Then his mother asks him to push Kate on the baby swing for a minute as she just loves it. Arthur points out that her bossing is by acting otherwise, so she barely registers.

In Mr. Ratburn's class, Arthur decides there is no question who's the boss. Finally, he measures "the bossiest boss of all" who orders him to get out of her way. In fact, she is so bossy (over 10 on the scale) that the Boss-o-Meter blows up.

After the title card, D.W. is shopping with her mother to buy a birthday present for her friend Emily. She begs her to buy a Marie Antoinette doll, though it is a little pricey. She even tests it out.

When she gets to the birthday party and gives her present to Emily, she asks her if she isn't going to open it. Emily refuses because of a schedule, involving 35 things to do, and that she opens the presents last, much to D.W.'s disappointment.

During a cabaret dance, D.W. claps unenthusiastically. She gets bored and tired when a mime performs. As the kids are watching a French silent film, D.W. complains over only the balloon in the movie being yellow while the rest are in grayscale, and because nobody talks. By that point most of the kids soon were getting angry and if not feeling very disappointed with their friend's behavior throughout the party.

Later, D.W. impatiently blows out the candles on an Eiffel-tower-shaped cake before Emily and demands she "hurry up before [she] turns six." Finally, at the last part, after Emily has neatly opened a present consisting of a mask, D.W. impatiently shoves James out of the way and just rips off the wrapping paper on her present.

Just after giving Emily her present, D.W. takes it away to test the doll's pullstring. On the way home, while D.W. is playing peek-a-boo with Kate, the former declares that Emily doesn't know the first thing about opening presents.

At home, D.W. calls Emily and James who "kindly accept" the offer, but decline respectively because they have to "practice conjugating French verbs" and "dust his stamp collection." Seeing the Tibbles pass, D.W. asks to play with them, but they just shout and run away, and she asks herself, "What's gotten into them?"

As Arthur is going to the library, D.W. goes with him, not knowing Emily had lied to her to get out of playing with her (as Emily is bouncing on a trampoline with another kid). She then finds James and the Tibbles playing in the pool and Tommy pretends to scare Timmy and James, saying he is D.W. ("even scarier [than a monster]").

D.W. sourly says she doesn't want to play with her friends anyway, and later that she doesn't need any. She tries playing ping-pong by herself, only to find it boring. Back in the house, D.W. sees that Arthur and his best friend Buster are watching a horror movie called Children of the Beans.

After D.W. asks why nobody wants to play with her and says she is the life of the party, Buster reminds her of the time James came over: D.W. was being bossy and demanding James act as a prince the right way. Back in the present, D.W. says she can't help it if people do things wrong. But Arthur reminds her of a time in gymnastics, a time she did something wrong too.

When D.W. had been called to take a turn on the balance beam, she lost her balance (due to the Tibble Twins fighting), and she refused to count it. So she shoved the twins out of the way and was told to apologize. Back in the present, D.W. says the mistake wasn't her fault, but Arthur tells her that she has to be fun to have fun or other kids won't want to play with her. She says everyone else is who is no fun because they're not being any more like her. She bossily tells Arthur to move over. She ends up falling asleep trying to watch the movie until the doorbell rings.

She finds a clone of herself asking her to come out and play, which she accepts, only for the clone to shove her out of the way before she can get on the slide and tells her she can't help it if she does it wrong.

The real D.W. then goes to a sandbox where another clone of herself is playing, asking to play, too, but that clone takes away the shovel and refuses. More clones come and surround the real D.W. bossing her around until Arthur wakes her up, telling her it's time for her gymnastics class. D.W. has changed, but will her friends notice?

No. Emily, the Tibble twins and James complain over D.W.'s arrival. She calls to tell them something, but they say they know: her first. But not this time, she says she was going to say "Me last," because she always goes first. Nobody believes her at first, but Emily reluctantly takes her turn.

D.W. tells Emily that it was so... close to being perfect and she just needs more practice. She advises her to hold her hands out more. And it works. D.W. refuses her turn, as she already said she'd go last. The Tibbles each fight over which one should go last.

Major characters

 * D.W. Read
 * Emily
 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * James MacDonald
 * Tibble Twins

Minor characters

 * Kate Read
 * Amanda Holser
 * Brian
 * Helen
 * Lisa
 * Alan Powers
 * Jane Read
 * David Read
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * Unknown Female Aardvark (Number 2)
 * Miss Morgan

Background characters

 * Edwin
 * Mary Ann
 * Steve
 * John
 * Norman Hedgehog
 * Binky Barnes
 * Fern Walters
 * Francine Frensky
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * Mrs. MacDonald
 * Emily's mother
 * Marie-Helene
 * Unknown Male Bear
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 2)

Trivia

 * The Tibbles Twins are well behaved throughout the episode, until the end, when they start arguing.
 * Some third graders, many fourth graders, and D.W.'s cousin are all seen at Emily's birthday party.

Cultural references

 * "Children of the Beans ", the horror film Arthur and Buster are watching, is a parody of Stephen King's "Children of the Corn".
 * The Yellow Balloon is a parody of Albert Lamorisse's.

Errors

 * Amanda is referred as Vicita on the Video Description of Arthur: Season 10.

Home video
DVD:
 * Arthur: Season 10
 * Arthur's D.W., Bossy Boots

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