Kiss and Tell

Summary
After Emily brags about being turned into a princess because of a boy's kiss, D.W. tries to make James MacDonald kiss her.

Plot
The introduction parodies the balcony scene from “Romeo and Juliet”. D.W. (Juliet) is waiting for Romeo while a young man climbs up the ivy. He turns out to be a prince looking for Rapunzel.

Title Card

Emily has returned from a trip to Paris. She shows off her souvenirs and brags about being kissed by a French boy named Pierre and that the kiss turned her into a princess. D.W. wants the same.

D.W. talks it over with Nadine. She has kissed her family but only kissing a boy her own age works. The Tibble Twins overhear her wanting to kiss a boy. They can not decide whether this is because of a dare or if D.W. wants to get rid of her cooties, but they are horrified and run away.

At preschool the playgroup votes whether to listen to D.W.’s or Emily’s CD at naptime. The tie is broken by James who sides with D.W.. D.W. decides to kiss him, but Emily says that the boy has to kiss her, otherwise “something terrible might happen”. D.W. has a fantasy of kissing James and turning first him, then herself into frogs.

D.W. asks Arthur about kissing. She sees a copy of “Romeo and Juliet” in his room. He gives her a brief summary of the story and mentions that they kiss at a ball in disguises.

The next day, D.W. puts on a disguise and introduces herself to James as Nora. James thinks it is Show and Tell day.

While shopping with her mother, D.W. sees a western movie in which a lady is saved from a train by a man she then kisses.

In the preschool playground D.W. spins the merry-go-round and calls for help. James stops the merry-go-round so abruptly that D.W. falls off.

When Mrs. Read comes home very tired with Kate and a shopping bag, Mr. Read takes Kate and kisses his wife.

In preschool D.W. stages a similar scene with a doll and cookies and milk. James pays no attention to her and she stumbles and falls. Angrily she tells him that she just wanted a kiss, but she chose the one kid who does not even notice her. James kisses her on the cheek, then goes to get his cookies off the radiator.

Emily congratulates D.W. on being kissed on the cheek (Pierre only only kissed her on the hand), but D.W. does not feel much different. She would rather do cannonballs with the Tibbles, but when she asks them, they run away again.

Characters

 * D.W. Read
 * Emily
 * James MacDonald
 * Ms. Morgan
 * Arthur Read
 * David Read
 * Jane Read
 * Kate Read
 * Nadine Flumberghast
 * Timmy and Tommy Tibble
 * Edwin (cameo)
 * Lisa (cameo)
 * Liam (cameo)
 * Maryann (cameo)
 * Amanda Hulser (cameo)
 * Kyle (cameo)
 * Sarah (cameo)
 * Lucy (cameo)
 * William Shakespeare (mentioned)
 * Pierre (mentioned)

Trivia

 * This is the first episode in which the title card has noises happening while the title is read.

Cultural references

 * The introduction parodies the balcony scene from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet with D.W. as Juliet and Nadine as the nurse.
 * "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" is an actual line from the play, but is used incorrectly. It is Middle English for "Why are you Romeo?". Juliet says it after discovering that the boy she fell in love with is the son of her family's greatest enemy.
 * Rapunzel is a character from Grimm's Fairy Tales. Prince Charming is a name given to several fairy tale heroes who have no names in the original tales.
 * Emily mentions several Paris tourist attractions (the Seine river, the Louvre, Luxembourg Gardens) and uses several French words (trés charmant - very charming, la tours de vaches - the tower of cows, amour - love).
 * "Alouette" (lark) is a popular French folk song.
 * Arthur's recap of Romeo and Juliet is correct, but leaves out a lot. Romeo and Juliet first meet (and kiss) at a masquerade ball, because Romeo was not welcome at Juliet's house, due to their parents' feud.

Episode connections

 * Thunderdance (from "D.W., Dancing Queen") is mentioned.
 * This is also the second time one of the main characters was kissed by one of their friends (the first being "Buster and the Daredevils").
 * In "Arthur Makes Waves," James asks D.W., "You're not here to kiss me again, are you?"