Brain's Shocking Secret

Summary
As the smartest kid in class, Brain really doesn't want anyone to know that he was kept back in kindergarten.

Plot
The episode opens up to an adult Francine and Muffy doing some investigation at someone’s house. Francine records her voice as she and Muffy look at some stuff inside the house. Prunella’s voice is suddenly heard, to which Francine at first mistakes for a talking rake. An adult Prunella is then seen, revealing that she knows a secret about the President. Prunella tells Francine and Muffy to check the files at Lakewood Elementary. Prunella reveals that the secret occurred in kindergarten.

At the White House, an adult Arthur is telling the president that his history as the smartest president is safe, but the president, revealed to be an adult Brain, says that there is one person out there who knows his secret and it would be bad news if anyone found out. At the same time, Francine and Muffy find the files and find out about Brain’s secret, shocking them both.

Brain’s Shocking Secret

At school, Mr. Haney is hanging up some pictures while Brain passes by. Brain says he was helping the chess club, and notices that a teacher, Mrs. Robertson, is retiring after teaching kindergarten for 30 years. Mr. Haney decides to hang up the photos of all the classes she taught. This scares Brain, and he tries to distract Mr. Haney by helping with shadow puppets while Brain opens the cabinet to try to take one of the pictures, but is distracted by Mr. Ratburn and fails to get the photo.

At Prunella’s house, Brain is still trying to find a way to get the photo. Prunella asks him why. Brain says he is in two kindergarten pictures and is supposed to be in Prunella’s grade. Prunella then reveals that he was held back and has been keeping this a secret. Brain tells Prunella to keep it a secret because it will be embarrassing for his friends to find out the reason why he was held back. Prunella says his friends wouldn’t care, but Brain is unconvinced, and still wants to get the photo.

Later on, at night, Brain is still coming up with a plan to get the picture and thinks of a tunneling machine digging underground into the school but ends up in Mr. Haney’s house. He then dismisses that idea and falls asleep. However, the next morning, he wakes up late for school.

At school, Brain is shocked to see that his friends are looking at the pictures. It doesn’t take long for everyone to realize that he is, in fact, in two photos. Brain tries to distract them, but Arthur asks why he was in kindergarten twice. Brain panics, and Francine asks if he failed kindergarten. Binky then shows up and asks why it would be a big deal, since he also was held back. Brain comes up a lie and says he was held back because he is a genius. Muffy is skeptical about this, but Brain says that geniuses get bored and do poorly as a result. Binky stands by this, and tells everyone off, after which they walk away. Binky then realizes that he must also be smart since, he too, was held back. However, Binky gets suspicious about this but Brain shakes it off quickly.

At recess, Brain and Binky are playing chess and Binky wins. Binky thinks that he should have the nickname of “The Brain”, but Brain says that that is already his nickname. Binky decides to take the nickname nonetheless and says that they will come up with another nickname for Brain.

Later on, Brain and Prunella are walking home from school and Brain says that he is now “The Esophagus”. Prunella thinks this is silly but Brain says it was Binky’s idea, even though Brain doesn’t want the nickname. Prunella tells Brain that he should just tell everyone the real reason why he was held back since they will find out eventually. Brain gets really nervous and starts to question Prunella, but Prunella says he is getting paranoid.

In Mr. Ratburn’s class, Mr. Ratburn is handing back tests that the class took and shows that Binky failing with a D-. Binky says he didn’t study since it wouldn’t matter if he failed. Brain says that he could be held back again, but Binky thinks that would make him even more of a genius. Brain then imagines Binky being held back many times in an aged Mr. Ratburn’s class, due to advice from “The Esophagus”, or Brain. Brain tells Binky to meet him after school.

At Brain’s house, Brain is trying to get Binky to study, saying that there is more to being smart than being held back. They go to a science museum, then the library, where use the books to study.

At the Sugar Bowl, Brain and Binky are having a conversation about being smart, but Binky thinks he is not a genius after all since he doesn’t like working so hard. Binky says that he wore the same clothes for a week since that’s what Einstein did, but Brain says that Einstein wore “identical” clothes, where they are the same but had different ones in his closet. Brain then tries to convince that being held back isn’t always the result of being a genius; however, he then sees Prunella talking to everyone outside. He thinks that Prunella is telling everyone his secret and rushes outside to stop her.

Brain tells everyone to stop and don’t believe anything Prunella tells them. He reveals the reason he was held back was because he cried a lot and wasn’t emotionally ready, thinking that Prunella told them everything. However, Prunella was actually talking about the latest Henry Skreever book, and wasn't even talking about him in the first place. This embarrasses Brain as he suddenly revealed his secret to everyone by accident.

Binky hears this as well but thinks nothing of it and tells Brain that he still cries sometimes and being held back is nothing to be embarrassed about. Brain realizes that being held back was actually beneficial to him, and got the nickname of “The Brain”. Binky gives Brain the nickname back, and the two proceed to the Powers' home so Brain could help Binky study for the test tomorrow.

Major Roles

 * Alan Powers
 * Binky Barnes
 * Buster Baxter
 * Francine Frensky
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Arthur Read

Minor Roles

 * Prunella Deegan
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * Francis Haney
 * Mrs. Robertson

Background

 * Fern Walters
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Alex
 * Maria Pappas
 * George Lundgren
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * Jack Weasel (photo)
 * Norman Hedgehog (photo)
 * Helen (photo)
 * Brian (photo)
 * Nancy (photo)
 * John (photo)

Trivia

 * Muffy is seen in the gang's kindergarten picture. However, the episode "Arthur and the True Francine" reveals that she's only known the gang since second grade.

Home Videos
DVD:
 * Arthur: Season 11
 * Big Brother Binky (DVD)
 * Germophobia (DVD)