Prunella and the Disappointing Ending

Summary
The final volume of the Henry Skreever series, The Knights of the Bouillabaisse, is released at last. Prunella and Marina compete to see who will be first to finish the book, but the two friends soon learn that speed Reading NEVER pays off.

Plot
The episode begins backstage with Prunella in her director's chair telling the viewers how great this episode is going to be. When she remarks that the ending is the best part, Marina rushes in to tell her to not to spoil the episode and let the viewers find out what happens for themselves. To support her argument, Marina asks Prunella if how she would feel if the former spoiled the endings of Cinderella and Snow White, only for the titular characters to come on stage and remark that Prunella already knows their endings. Prunella dismisses Marina and continues to talk, but Marina covers her mouth and cues Greg to begin the episode before Prunella spoils anything.

Prunella and the Disappointing Ending

Outside Trident Bookstore, a huge line is forming for the last Henry Skreever book, Henry Skreever and the Kinghts of the Bouillabaisse. Inside the bookstore, Marina and Prunella each buy a copy and make a pact that they will read at the same pace in order to discuss the story with each other as they go along. Specifically for tomorrow, they must only have read through the first three chapters.

Back at her house, Prunella is reading her book, only to find that she has reached the beginning of the fourth chapter. She initially hesitates and plans only to take a little peek, but ends up reading through it.

The doorbell rings and Ms. Deegan opens it to let Marina outside. Prunella quickly finishes the chapter before coming out to greet her. As they walk up the stairs, Prunella accidentally reveals a detail from chapter four, and Marina realizes that she had read ahead.

An imaginary sequence happens with Marina as a giant red-robed wizard scolding Prunella for breaking the pact. Prunella apologizes and promises to let Marina catch up. Marina shrinks down to normal size and the scene cuts back to reality, with Marina saying that by tomorrow they will only read up to Chapter six.

The next day, Prunella is excitedly telling her mother and sister about what is happening in the book. The phone rings and Prunella answers it to find Marina on the other line. They have a friendly conversation before Marina mistakenly mentions a raven from Chapter six. Prunella then realizes that Marina had now read ahead, and an argument starts between the pair. It intensifies when Marina accuses Prunella of implying that she reads faster than her. Prunella confirms this assertion and Marina calls off the pact as they each choose to finish the book first on their own.

A montage follows as the girls read their books nonstop throughout their normal routines.

During a school assembly, Principal Haney informs everybody about the Harvest Day Festival, only to notice Prunella not paying attention. Prunella is not listening as she imagines that  Mr. Haney is Master Albacore, who then takes her book. She heads to the office to retrieve it, but runs into a dragon (Mr. Morris). She makes it past the dragon and reaches Principal Haney's door guarded by a ghoul, Griselda (Ms. Tingley). Prunella again makes it past and enters Principal Haney's office, only to be caught. Principal Haney again confiscates the book and instructs Prunella to retrieve the book when school is dismissed for the day.

At The Sugar Bowl, both Prunella and Marina are speed-reading their books at opposite tables as Arthur, Buster, Francine, and Muffy make bets on who will finish first. Distracted, Prunella and Marina leave to read at the library. Prunella finishes and brags to Marina that she finished first, who retorts that she had already finished five minutes ago and is just rereading the last page. They storm off, each of them thinking that they had beaten the other.

At school, the other students ask Prunella to clarify what happened in the earlier chapters. However, Prunella finds that she is unable to remember any of the details so she attempts to brush their questions aside as insignificant.

That evening, Prunella tells her mother how great the book was as she is tucked into bed. Prunella falls asleep and dreams that she is Persephone who must prove her knowledge on the book in order to cross a rickety bridge hanging over a ravine. Two judges resembling Francine and Buster ask her two questions from the book. Prunella cannot answer either of them, and the judges accuse her of page-skimming as Lord Moldywart appears behind her.

The next day, Prunella goes to the Datillo's house to visit Marina. They discover that neither of them can remember what happened in the book, and admit to each other that they read it too fast to truly enjoy or remember the story. The girls then agree to reread the book together by reading aloud to each other as the episode finishes.

Major

 * Prunella Deegan
 * Marina Datillo

Minor

 * Snow White
 * Cinderella
 * Wanda Deegan
 * Francis Haney
 * Mr. Morris
 * Ms. Tingley
 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Francine Frensky
 * The Brain

Cameo

 * Binky Barnes
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * 4th Grade Male Bear
 * Trident Books owner
 * Beulah McInnerny
 * Rubella Deegan
 * Lord Moldywart
 * 4th Grade Female Bear
 * Otis
 * Brian
 * Helen
 * Nancy
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 2)
 * Kenny
 * Luke
 * Patrick (4th grader)
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Maria Pappas

Mentioned

 * Greg Bailey

Trivia

 * Prunella pronounces Bouillabaisse as "Boulliabase". In reality, the American saying of Bouillabaise is "Boolabuse".
 * This is the last Arthur episode aired in the 2000s.
 * 4th Wall Break: Before the title card, Marina says "Greg, start the show!" This refers to the Arthur director, Greg Bailey.
 * Moral: Reading never pays off.
 * Timeline: This episode takes place within the time frame of "Arthur's Number Nightmare", because Mr. Haney mentions the Harvest Day Celebration in his speech.

Cultural References

 * The Henry Skreever series is a parody of the Harry Potter series, with JR Ticklepenny likely a reference to the author JK Rowling.
 * The names from Henry Skreever are mostly food-themed: bouillabaisse is fish soup, “magret de canard” means “duck breast”, albacore is a kind of tuna, tapenade is a kind of spread, “amuse bouche” means appetizer, pad thai is a Thai dish, “brulée” means “burnt” as in Crème brûlée and Stilton is a kind of cheese.
 * Mr. Morris’ line “Thou shalt not pass” is commonly associated with Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings (though Gandalf actually says “You shall not pass”).

Errors

 * When Marina is phoning Prunella, she is in her bedroom but after the phone call she is downstairs in what appears to be the living room although she did not go downstairs.
 * In the lunch room, when Prunella says, "I think it's open to interpretation," her hair bow turns orange for a frame.
 * In the Sugar Bowl Arthur says Marina Datillo has only got 3 chapters left. He would need to be able to read Braille.

Production notes

 * Most sites list this and its sister episode, No Acting, Please, as the first of Season 13 due to going by U.S. airing order.
 * Although many online episode listings call this episode "Prunella Deegan and the Disappointing Ending", the title card indicates it is called "Prunella and the Disappointing Ending".

Episode Connection(s)

 * Marina putting lotion on her hands probably refers to her joke in “Prunella Sees the Light” about getting blisters from fast reading.