Draw!

Summary
Fern draws an unflattering comic strip making fun of Francine, and pretty soon everyone else is trying it, too.

Plot
One day at school, Mr. Ratburn's class is interrupted by the screeching boom of the school microphone. After adjusting it, Mr. Haney announces the upcoming Teacher Charity Carnival, where the students can watch their teachers perform various acts for the day on the school grounds.

At lunch, Francine remarks how silly Mr. Ratburn's puppet shows, mocking him with a sandwich she makes to look like one of his puppets by sticking on two olives for eyeballs. Arthur and Buster laugh, but Fern says she likes his shows. Francine then mocks her for liking "boring kid stuff". Offended, Fern rushes off, but Francine doesn't care and simply takes her cookie.

In the hallway, Arthur advises Francine to apologize to Fern, but Francine does not show remorse for her actions, instead calling Fern a "quiet little mouse" who should just get over it. Fern overhears this and becomes very angry.

To get back at her, Fern shows her friends a comic she drew of a conceited cow named Frank who makes fun of everybody else. The kids find this hilarious, but when Francine discovers this, she is less than amused and asks if the cow represents her. The kids deny this as Frank is a boy, but one kid teases Francine by saying cows are female and bulls are male, so the comic might be about her. Francine is not amused and angrily storms off. The next day, all the students draw their own depictions of Francine, all of them deciding to give Francine a taste of her own medicine.

Meanwhile, the teachers are preparing for the carnival, so Mrs. Tingley comes into the lounge to learn what their plans are. Mr. Ratburn scares her with his "Many-Headed Hydra vs. Sinbad the Sailor" act, and Mrs. Sweetwater plans on a sing-along. When she sees Mrs. Tingley does not look happy, Mrs. Sweetwater tries to cheer her up with "I Like Fudge" on her guitar, scaring Mrs. Tingley off. She tries to take cover in Mr. Haney's office, only to find that he plans on a magic act where he will saw her in half in box. His demonstration with a board or wood goes badly, scaring her off once again.

At lunch, the kids share their comics, which are all ambiguously about Francine, among them including "Frannie Foghorn", "Frantic Frog", "Bully Bulldozer", and "Fran the Stinky Sneaker", and all laugh at what they have created. Arthur sees Francine sitting alone, apparently upset, and wonders if maybe they should stop. Fern insists that "she'll get over it". When Arthur tries to talk to Francine, she snaps at him to back off, denying that she is insulted. Arthur then reads Buster's comic, "The Giant Slime That Came to School".

In the comic, a huge lump of green slime (who probably represents Francine because of her hair and the fact that they were going through a phase of Francine-themed comics) proceeds to consume anyone who gets in her way, including Mr. Ratburn and Bionic Bunny. In the comic, a hungry boy (probably representing Buster as he had simliar looks and personality) wanders in the dark looking for food, and comes across the Giant Slime, which he thinks is lime. He finds it delicious and tries to eat the blob, who runs off in a panic. Buster chases it and eats it in one giant bite, saving Mr. Ratburn and Bionic Bunny in the process, who say that they are glad he eats like a pig.

At this point, Mr. Haney announces the carnival's beginning, so everyone goes outside, except Francine. Mrs. MacGrady finds the comics lying around and it gives her an idea.

At the carnival, all of the kids are having fun watching their teachers and eating food. Fern is called into Mrs. MacGrady's fortune teller tent, where Mrs. MacGrady shows off the comics and says she has a plan to make Francine look silly. Eager to see Francine humiliated, Fern gathers everyone who drew the comics. Mrs. MacGrady says she plans for the kids to hide behind the drapes and dump a vat of green gloop all over her when she says "green gloop".

Everyone hides as Francine comes in, and Mrs. MacGrady sees the comics in her crystal ball. Francine admits that they are all probably of her, and doesn't laugh. Eventually, she begins crying. At this point, Francine admits to Mrs. MacGrady that her friends' teasing is really hurting her and understands it was wrong of her to insult Fern.

Everyone overhears this and are shocked. Francine actually DOES have feelings! At this point, Mrs. MacGrady says "green gloop", but the kids can't bring themselves to hurt Francine again.

Mrs. MacGrady comforts Francine and she soon leaves. The kids decide to go and apologize to Francine. After they leave, Mrs. MacGrady pulls open the box; her "green gloop" was actually a huge assortment of streamers and balloons.

After a while, Francine and her friends finally make up, and Francine finally enjoys the carnival. Even Fern seems happy that things are back to normal.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Sweetwater and Mr. Haney are still chasing Mrs. Tingley away as she desperately tries to avoid their acts. Especially Mr. Haney's as this episode ends.

Major

 * Francine Frensky
 * Leah MacGrady
 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * The Brain
 * Fern Walters
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * Francis Haney
 * Nigel Ratburn

Minor

 * Mrs. Sweetwater
 * Cecilia Tingley
 * Ms. Bryan
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Ms. Flynn

Cameo

 * George Lundgren
 * Otis
 * Maria Pappas
 * Alex
 * Brian
 * Steve
 * Nancy
 * Edwin
 * Kenny
 * Nancy
 * Helen
 * 3rd Grade Male Rabbit
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark
 * 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)
 * Luke
 * Patrick
 * Mary
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 2)

Songs

 * "I Like Fudge"

Trivia

 * The answer to the math problem 3,630,279,148 divided by 7,681 (the math problem Mr. Ratburn asks in the comic) is 472,631.0568936336, which is  not  a whole number.
 * When Francine tells Arthur to "go eat an ant sandwich," it is a reference to how aardvarks eat ants in real life.
 * For unknown reasons, starting in the 2010s, the opening scene of the episode and the final scene where Mrs. Sweetwater and Mr. Haney are chasing Mrs. Tingley were removed from UK airings.
 * In Spanish, this episode is named "Arte cruel," which translates to "Cruel art."

Episode connections

 * Arthur mentions this episode later in "Francine Goes to War."

Errors

 * Brain is there when Mrs. MacGrady tells them to pour the gloop on Francine, but he isn't with his friends when they hide.
 * When all the kids start drawing their comics, the shot of Francine reading is from "My Dad, the Garbage Man." This is out of place as it shows Fern sitting across from Francine when the shot before that shows Alex sitting across from her.

Home Video
DVD:
 * Arthur: The Complete Series 2
 * Arthur's Eyes