D.W., Bossy Boots

Summary
For D.W., there's nothing better than getting her own way—until all her friends start refusing to play with her.

Plot
In the beginning, Arthur points out that one thing about being a child is having lots of bosses. He uses Brain's Boss-O-Meter to measure the level of bossiness. When his father loads the top and tells Arthur to load the bottom, Arthur points out that his bossing is tough, but fair (which is setting an example).

Then his mother asks him to push Kate on the baby swing for a minute as she just loves it. Arthur points out that her bossing is by acting otherwise, so she barely registers.

In Mr. Ratburn's class, Arthur chooses there is no question who's the boss. Finally, he measures "the bossiest boss of all" who orders him to get out of her way. In fact, she is so bossy (over 10 on the scale) that the Boss-o-Meter blows up.

After the title card, D.W. is shopping with her mother to buy a birthday present for her friend Emily. She begs her to buy a Marie Antoinette doll, though it is a little pricey. She even tests it out.

When she gets to the birthday party and gives her present to Emily, she asks her if she isn't going to open it. Emily refuses because of a schedule, involving 35 activities to do, and that she opens the presents last, much to D.W.'s disappointment.

During a cabaret dance, D.W. claps unenthusiastically. She gets bored and tired when a mime performs. As the kids are watching a French silent film, D.W. complains over only the balloon in the movie being yellow while the rest are in grayscale, and because nobody talks. By that point most of the kids soon were getting angry and if not feeling very disappointed with their friend's behavior throughout the party.

Later, D.W. impatiently blows out the candles on an Eiffel Tower-shaped cake before Emily and demands she "hurry up before [she] turns six." Finally, at the last part, after Emily has neatly opened a present consisting of a mask, D.W. impatiently shoves James out of the way and just rips off the wrapping paper on her present.

Just after giving Emily her present, D.W. takes it away to test the doll's pullstring. On the way home, while D.W. is playing peek-a-boo with Kate, the former declares that Emily doesn't know the first thing about opening presents.

At home, D.W. calls Emily and James to see if they would like to come and play, who "kindly accept" the offer, but decline because they have to "practice conjugating French verbs" and "dust his stamp collection" respectively. Seeing the Tibbles pass, D.W. asks to play with them, but they just shout and run away, and she asks herself, "What's gotten into them?"

As Arthur is going to the library, D.W. goes with him, not knowing Emily had lied to her to get out of playing with her (as Emily is bouncing on a trampoline with another kid). She then finds James and the Tibbles playing in the pool and Tommy pretends to scare Timmy and James, saying he is D.W. ("even scarier [than a monster]").

D.W. sourly says she doesn't want to play with her friends anyway, and later that she doesn't need any. She tries playing ping-pong by herself, only to find it boring. Back in the house, D.W. sees that Arthur and his best friend Buster are watching a horror movie called Children of the Beans, which Arthur advises her not to watch, but she dismisses the warning.

After D.W. asks why nobody wants to play with her and says she is the life of the party, Buster reminds her of the time James came over: D.W. was being bossy and demanding James act as a prince the right way, but she doesn't give any tips on how to improve anything. Back in the present, D.W. says she can't help it if people make mistakes. But Arthur reminds her of a time in gymnastics, a time she did something wrong too: When D.W. had been called to take a turn on the balance beam, she lost her balance (due to the Tibble Twins fighting), and she refused to count it. So she shoved the twins out of the way to do it again and was told to apologize. Unaware of whom she was talking to, the Tibbles apologize, but they are reassured that they haven't done anything wrong. Back in the present, D.W. says that the mistake wasn't her fault, but Arthur tells that she has to be fun in order to have fun and that if she continues acting the way she has been lately, other kids (such as her friends) aren't going to want to continue hanging out with her. She says everyone else is who is no fun because they're not being any more like her. She bossily tells Arthur to move over. She ends up falling asleep and a D.W. Clone asks her to come out and play, but the clone won't allow her to get on the slide, telling her she can't help it if she does it wrong. Then she asks another clone if she can play in the sand, but the clone won't let her, saying the shovel is hers. More D.W. Clones surround and boss her around until Arthur wakes her up, telling her it's time for her gymnastics class. Realizing how her friends must have felt, D.W. has started to change, but will her friends notice?

No. Emily, the Tibble twins, and James complain over D.W.'s arrival. She calls to tell them something, but they say they know: her first. But not this time, she says she was going to say "Me last," because she always goes first. Nobody believes her at first, but Emily reluctantly takes her turn.

D.W. tells Emily that it was so... close to being perfect and she just needs more practice. She advises her to hold her hands out more. And it works. D.W. refuses her turn, as she already mentioned she would go last. The Tibbles each fight over which one should go last.

Major

 * D.W. Read
 * Emily
 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * James MacDonald
 * Timmy and Tommy Tibble

Minor

 * Kate Read
 * Amanda Hulser
 * Brian
 * Helen
 * Lisa
 * The Brain
 * Jane Read
 * David Read
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * Loretta's daughter
 * Ms. Morgan

Cameo

 * Edwin
 * Maryann
 * Steve
 * John
 * Liam
 * Sarah
 * Kyle
 * Norman Hedgehog
 * Binky Barnes
 * Fern Walters
 * Francine Frensky
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * Mrs. MacDonald
 * Emily's mother
 * Marie-Helene
 * Unknown Male Bear
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 2)
 * Pal

Trivia

 * The Tibbles Twins are well behaved throughout the episode, until the end, when they start arguing, and it is also shown that they fight for simple little stuff like who is nicer.
 * Two third graders, many fourth graders, and D.W.'s cousin are all seen at Emily's birthday party.
 * This gives a strong indication that many of the older kids have younger siblings at this party, since there is no other reason for them to be there.
 * Even though Muffy makes a cameo appearance, she's also bossy herself.
 * D.W. says that Emily is 6 years old just because she was 5 years old in other episodes as she mentions in D.W.'s Perfect Wish, she says that when she's bossy with her about opening her birthday presents.

Cultural references

 * "Children of the Beans", the horror film Arthur and Buster are watching, is a parody of Stephen King's "".
 * The Yellow Balloon is a parody of Albert Lamorisse's .

Errors

 * Amanda is referred as Vicita on the Video Description of Arthur: Season 10.

Home video
DVD:
 * Arthur: Season 10
 * Arthur's D.W., Bossy Boots