Arthur's Big Meltdown

"Arthur's Big Meltdown"
Season/Series:	24
Number in season:	1b
Original Airdate:	March 10, 2021 April 12, 2021
Credits
Written by:	Elana Lesser Cliff Ruby
Storyboard by:	Gerry Capelle
Episodes
Previous "George Scraps His Sculpture"	Next "The Great MacGrady"
Read transcript

“	Grr! And their ruined!	”
—Arthur Read

"Arthur's Big Meltdown" is the second half of the first episode in the twenty-fourth season of Arthur.

Summary

Arthur gets angry when a smoothie spills on his sneakers.

Plot

Arthur is at Muffy's house, admiring his new Bionic Bunny sneakers. Brain and Buster are playing air hockey. Bailey brings some Kale smoothies. Arthur drinks some. Suddenly, the puck lands in a Kale smoothie, and splashes onto Arthur's shoes. Arthur gets really angry, storms out of the room, and kicks a ball, which destroys the room. Arthur then walks home, to find that a part of a fence has been knocked down. He goes in and D.W. is there, wondering why Arthur is walking with a trail of green smoothie. D.W. thought that Arthur had played in a swamp. Arthur said it was all Buster and Brain’s fault. Arthur then yells, "I'M NEVER EVER TALKING TO THEM AGAIN!" Later, Brain & Buster are walking down the street. Francine tells them to apologise, but they said it was an accident. Buster and Brain go into Arthur's house, and wonder if Arthur broke the fence. They ring the doorbell, and D.W. answers. D.W. says that Arthur is angry, and tells them that Arthur said that he would never talk to them again. Buster and Brain decide that they will talk to him at school. They think that this is not like Arthur at all, and Brain & Buster are worried Arthur is turning in to Jekyll, Jekyll Hyde, Hyde.

Arthur then cleans his sneakers, and while eating dinner, Arthur wonders what happened to the fence outside. David said he may have bumped in to it while he was parking, and said that sometimes accidents just happen. D.W. then told Arthur that Buster & Brain was on the door, and that she told them that Arthur never wanted to talk to them again. Arthur tells why, and D.W. said that’s what he exactly said. David then wonders if they had a fight. Arthur says no, and just thought they ruined his new sneakers. He plans to apologise at school.

The next day, everyone began to spread rumors about Arthur, such as destroying his house, Arthur being banned for life after ripping the door of the library, and that he wrecked the bowilng alley with his bare hands. Arthur wonders who did that, making everyone run away. Arthur then sees Brain & Buster, Brain fearing Arthur would kick his locker, the bell rings and they walk away. Arthur is confused, and wonders what is wrong with everyone. Arthur, at class, sitting with Francine, asking what is wrong, and Francine tells him to stay calm. Arthur then asks Francine if he finished her book report, while Arthur forgot to write his name on his, he throws his pen by accident, and Buster and Brain thinks he is angry again.

At lunch, Muffy is inviting everyone to Mr. Crosswire’s party. Buster, thinking Arthur is still angry, he tells Muffy what the new Arthur could do. Muffy has a flashback of Arthur popping a bouncy castle in Mr. Crosswire’s party. Muffy decides not to invite him, but Buster says it could hurt his feelings. When Arthur is putting trays back, they all fell off. Muffy decides not to invite him.

Characters

• Arthur Read
• Buster Baxter
• The Brain
• Muffy Crosswire
• Francine Frensky
• Marc Brown (cameo)
• Maria Pappas (cameo)
• Kate Read (cameo)
• Nigel Ratburn (cameo)
• D.W. Read
• Mr. Read
• Bonnie
• Binky Barnes
• James MacDonald (cameo)
• Mrs. Read
• Sue Ellen Armstrong (cameo)
• Mr. Crosswire (cameo)
• Thora Read (mentioned)
• Ms. Morgan (mentioned)
• Fern Walters (cameo)
• Jenna Morgan (cameo)
• George Lundgren

Trivia

• This episode premiered on Mario Day
• Moral:
  • Don't make accidents a big deal for your own benefits.
  • Dont spread rumors for your own benefits.
• Karma: Arthur got too angry and destroyed Muffy's room, so everyone spreaded rumors about him.
• Innuendo: Arthur shakes his fist in the title card, just like in Arthur's Big Hit.
• Irony: If Buster didn't mention about if Arthur was still angry Muffy wouldn't have known about it.
• This episode's existence was known as early as April 2020, when clips from this episode (along with "An Arthur Thanksgiving," "Freaky Tuesday," "D.W.'s New Best Friend" and the updated version of "The Great MacGrady") were included in a digital short about washing hands.

Episode connections

• The title card shows Arthur clenching his first, a reference to "Arthur's Big Hit". All this episode "Arthur's Big Hit" and "A is for Angry" are centered around Arthur being angry.
• Arthur obsesses over his new sneakers, similar to when he wants to get Moon Boots in "Arthur Bounces Back."
• The same part of the fence is knocked down by Uncle Fred, when he has trouble parking in "Arthur's Perfect Christmas." Grandpa Dave hits the fence on the other side of the driveway while backing out his truck.

• Brain compares Arthur's anger to Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. This is also the second time the book has been referenced in the series, the first being "Jekyll and Hyde" from "Arthur's Almost Live Not Real Music Festival." The latter episode may also have inspired Brain's comparison to Arthur in this episode.

Errors

• On the PBS Kids website, the last two minutes of the episode are cut off, leaving it on a cliffhanger at the point where D.W. is taking stuff from Arthur's bedroom. Within a week after the episode's online release, this error was fixed.

Gallery

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