D.W., Bossy Boots

Summary
For D.W., there's nothing better than getting her own way &mdash; 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 how bossy people are. When his father loads the dishwasher and tells Arthur to load the bottom while he loads the top, Arthur points out that his bossing is tough, but fair.

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 has no trouble deciding who the boss is. 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.

D.W., Bossy Boots

D.W. shops 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.

When she gets to the birthday party and gives her present to Emily, she asks her if she is 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 when a mime performs. As the kids watch a French silent film, D.W. complains that it's grayscale and nobody talks. D.W. impatiently blows out the candles on an Eiffel Tower-shaped cake before Emily and demands that she "hurry up before [she] turn[s] six." Finally, after Emily has neatly opened a present consisting of a mask, D.W. shoves James out of the way and 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, D.W. 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. D.W. asks herself, "What's gotten into them?"

As Arthur visits 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., who is "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 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, 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 didn't give any tips on how to improve. Back in the present, D.W. says she can't help it if people make mistakes.

Arthur reminds her of a time in gymnastics class when 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 Tibbles fighting), and she refused to count it. She shoved the Tibbles out of the way to do it again and was told to apologize. Unaware of whom the teacher was talking to, the Tibbles apologize, but they are reassured that they haven't done anything wrong.

D.W. denies that the mistake was 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 no fun because they are not like her.

D.W. ends up falling asleep, and a kid asks her to come out and play, but won't allow her to get on the slide, telling her she can't help it if she does it wrong. The kid is revealed to be a clone of D.W., and acts just like her; she asks another clone if she can play in the sand, but the clone won't let her. 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 felt, D.W. tries to change.

Emily, the Tibbles, and James complain over D.W.'s arrival. She calls to tell them something, but they say they know: her first and they began to walk away saying she can have the balance beam for herself. But not this time; with a little courage from Arthur, 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 her attempt to cross the balance beam was "so... close to being perfect" and she just needs more practice. She advises her to hold her hands out more, which works. D.W. refuses her turn, insisting on going last and keeping her promise. Emily and the others are happy that D.W. is now trying to be less bossy but it led The Tibbles fight over which one should go last since they say how they can be nice, too.

Main

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

Recurring

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

Background

 * 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 Tibble Twins are well behaved throughout the episode, until the end, when they start arguing.
 * 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.
 * Even though Muffy makes a cameo appearance, she is also bossy herself.
 * Most of the D.W. clones wear clothes that D.W. wore in previous episodes, e.g. the red polka dot skirt from "The Chips Are Down".
 * Moral:don't be bossy for your own benefits.

Cultural references

 * Marie Antoinette was the wife of king Louis XVI of France. She is best known for living a luxurious life and being beheaded along with her husband during the French Revolution. When she was told that the people did not have enough bread she allegedly said “Let them eat cake”. (The Marie Antoinette doll comes with a cake.)
 * The is performed by dancers at Emily's party.
 * The film The Yellow Balloon is a parody of Albert Lamorisse's .
 * The movie title Children of the Beans, the horror film Arthur and Buster watch, is a parody of Stephen King's . The movie itself is a parody of Village of the Damned.

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