Arthur and the Square Dance

Summary
Binky convinces Arthur that Francine has a crush on him.

Plot
It starts as Arthur dreams he is running a catering business when he arrives home to find out that his wife is Francine and she tries to kiss him! Then Arthur wakes up says nightmares like that make him never want to grow up. Then in real life, Francine and Arthur are partners for Mrs. MacGrady's square dance class.

Muffy is shown struggling with Binky as her partner. Then Binky inadvertently gives Muffy a high five too hard inadvertently pushing her into Sue Ellen and The Brain causing everyone to fall over like dominoes Alex kicks the chair and Mrs. MacGrady snatches it out of the air before it hits the floor.

So outside, Muffy asks Arthur if the next time they square dance he'll switch with her. Instantly when Arthur agrees, Francine gets mad and demands to know who her partner is and offers Arthur a ride home.

Then when Binky and Muffy are left alone on the steps they are down to think that Francine and Arthur are in love, due to what Francine said. Next morning, when Arthur is walking past Binky, Binky states that Francine and Arthur are dating, which makes them girlfriend and boyfriend.

Arthur assumes this is a joke at first until he goes on to tell Francine what Binky said to him, but she stops him and tells him about the two cowboy hats she bought for them to wear. Then they start dancing randomly, as a joke.Then when he sees Binky looking at him, he says he has to leave.

The next scene, Muffy and Francine are in the locker room preparing to play baseball for gym, when Francine says she got a new glove and she offers her old glove to Muffy, the glove is very important because it won last year's championship, but Muffy refuses because her hand is too small for the glove so Francine tells her to give it to Arthur because she thinks it may make him play better.

When Muffy gets out on the field, she gives the glove to Arthur. Making Arthur think that maybe she will be in love with him, because she will never let anyone keep her glove, but then he changes his mind saying she would never like him. But when Francine gives him a thumbs up and says good luck for the game, he starts thinking she likes him.

Next, they are both at the Sugar Bowl, he wants to ask Francine if she likes him or not, but then he sees Binky through the window making smoochy faces, he gets shocked and leaves, making Francine suspicious.

Arthur on the other hand, tries avoiding her because Buster said to avoid her to make her stop liking you. But he does awfully weird things like almost going into the girls washroom and when Francine saved a spot for him in the cafeteria, he refused and said he wanted to sit with new people and sat with older kids. After that, in recess, Francine goes up to Prunella and tells her Arthur is acting weird lately.

Then Prunella asked Francine questions like does his cheeks go red when he's around you and does he stutter when he talks to you, when Francine says yes to all of these, Prunella suggests he likes her, she gets confused and refuses that suggestion, but Prunella tells her it just might happen. When Mrs. MacGrady tells them it is going to rain which means square dancing, they tell each other, they shouldn't dance with each other. When it is time for square dancing, they tell each other to stop dancing with each other, they both say "I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH YOU!" and they question each other. Concluding this episode, Francine and Arthur promise to each other to not let a stupid thing like love come between their friendship.

Major characters

 * Arthur Read
 * Francine Frensky
 * Binky Barnes

Minor characters

 * Leah MacGrady
 * Alex
 * Buster Baxter
 * Jane Read
 * Prunella Deegan
 * Muffy Crosswire

Background characters

 * Alan Powers
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * George Lundgren
 * Fern Walters
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog
 * Mary
 * 4th Grade Male Dog
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Oliver Frensky
 * Maria Pappas
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)
 * Coach Grimslid
 * David Read
 * Kenny
 * 3rd Grade Male Rabbit
 * Jessica
 * Fletcher
 * Rattles
 * 4th Grade Male Rabbit
 * Kiefer
 * Billy
 * 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark
 * 3rd Grade Male Rat
 * 3rd Grade Male Cat

Trivia

 * This is Buster's first cameo appearance since he left in "Arthur's Faraway Friend."
 * In the second episode, Arthur calls Buster and he is playing a video game, but the episode when he comes back didn't come out, so Buster is in his house and not traveling with his dad.
 * The boys' and girls' restrooms switched sides from "Arthur's Eyes".
 * The painting seen at Buster's house is the same as Binky Barnes, Art Expert.

Episode connections

 * When Arthur asks if Francine ever wanted to kiss him, she says she'd rather have head lice. The entire school suffers a lice outbreak later in "The Lousy Week".

Errors

 * Arthur and his friends mention that the worn-out glove was a "glove that won last year's championship". However, Arthur did not have the talent for baseball until in "Arthur Makes the Team", which took place in his and his classmates' third grade year.

Home Video
VHS: DVD:
 * Arthur's Best School Days (VHS)
 * Arthur's Best School Days (DVD)

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