Mutiny on the Pitch

Summary
The Lakewood Elementary soccer team has seen too much of Francine's bossy behavior. To show the team how much they need her, Francine gives up her post to the most unlikely teammate...Buster!

Plot
In the introduction, Arthur mentions that nobody likes being told what to do. He gives an acceptable example of a policewoman stopping him and Buster from walking in front of a truck and a questionable example of Mrs. Baxter making her son wear a face mask because of an animal disease in the Amazon. His final example is D.W.’s doll telling Arthur to hug it. The worst thing, however, is being ordered about by a friend.

Mutiny on the Pitch

Lakewood plays soccer against Mighty Mountain. Francine shouts at everyone and takes the ball from Arthur when he has a great opportunity to score himself. Despite winning the fourth game in a row, the others are annoyed because of Francine's bossiness. She reminds them that she is captain and coach Crosswire is busy planning a car sale. When that does not convince the others, she puts the captain's badge on Buster, who is goofing around.

Buster is worried, but Arthur tells him that they only need to win two out of four games to make the playoffs.

At the next practice, Mr. Crosswire leaves and puts Buster in charge. Buster asks the others what they want to do, which nobody has ever asked them before. Binky suggests watching cartoons and Buster agrees.

The morning before the next game, Francine calls Buster. She pretends to be helpful, but asks questions to unsettle him.

During the game, Buster fails to notice that Fern and Muffy are having a chat, but he does score the winning goal through dumb luck. The team cheers Buster, but Francine is bitter.

During the following game, Buster lets Fern play forward and she scores a spectacular goal. Then he lets Binky, the keeper, play forward as well, and the other team shoots into an undefended goal and wins. Francine wants to take over as captain again, but the others do not mind losing, because they had fun and they only need one more win.

Francine confesses to Muffy that she only picked Buster hoping he would be so bad that everyone would want her back. Muffy is unsympathetic.

Since Muffy told Francine she had to do what Buster says, Francine decides to do just that. When Buster wants the team to pass more, Francine asks for an exact number of passes. Then she uses his answer as an excuse to pass when she could have shot the winning goal. Buster benches her, which leads to Lakewood losing.

At night, Buster and Francine share a nightmare. Buster is threatened first by his teammates, then by a giant captain's badge, while Francine is exasperated that the others do not want to win.

During recess, the Lakewood players make a list of Francine's and Buster's strengths. That afternoon, Arthur and Muffy ask for Buster's badge and he is happy to be rid of it. They expect to have to beg Francine, but instead, Francine begs them to let her be captain again.

During the final game, Francine, who is captain again, lets Brain shoot a goal and Lakewood wins. Francine tells the others to train hard for the playoffs, but asks Buster's opinion, since he is now her assistant.

Major

 * Francine Frensky
 * Buster Baxter
 * Arthur Read
 * Binky Barnes
 * Brain
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Fern Walters

Minor

 * Ed Crosswire
 * Bitzi Baxter
 * D.W. Read

Cameo

 * George Lundgren
 * Rubella Deegan
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Mrs. Morgan
 * Laverne Frensky
 * Mr. Armstrong
 * Mrs. Armstrong
 * Mr. Barnes
 * Mrs. Walters
 * Mrs. Crosswire
 * Mr. Lundgren
 * Mrs. Lundgren
 * David Read
 * Jane Read
 * Alex
 * Mrs. Fink
 * Molly MacDonald
 * Maria Pappas
 * Ladonna Compson
 * Bud Compson
 * Harry Mills
 * Leah MacGrady
 * 3rd Grade Male Cat
 * Cheikh
 * Cheikh's father
 * Peter
 * 3rd Grade Male Rabbit (Number 3)

Trivia

 * Moral: Don't overreact for your own benifits.
 * Karma: Francine was being bossy so she got fired by her team.

Cultural references

 * The other soccer teams' cities, Belmont, Southside, and Brainbridge are references to locations in the USA state, . This is probably because WGBH, the company that makes the show, is located in, the capital of Massachusetts.
 * Belmont is a reference to the city.
 * Southside is a reference to the area.
 * Brainbridge is a reference to the cities and.

Errors

 * When the giant C is chasing Buster to the goal, the teams' names are missing on the scoreboard.