Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone

"Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone"
Season/Series:	22
Number in season:	1a
Original Airdate:	May 13, 2019
Credits
Written by:	Peter K. Hirsch
Storyboard by:	Allan Jeffery
Episodes
Previous "Pal and the Big Itch"	Next "The Feud"
Read transcript

"Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone" is the first half of the first episode in the twenty-second season of Arthur.

Synopsis

The gang can't believe that Mr. Ratburn is getting married.

Plot

One of Mr. Ratburn's usual pop quizzes for the class is interrupted by a cell phone call from someone named "Patty," who is calling to discuss flower arrangements for something. Mr. Ratburn apologizes to the class, explaining that the call was for a wedding. When Muffy asks who is getting married, Mr. Ratburn answers, "Me." The class gasps in surprise.

Muffy, Arthur, Buster, and Francine discuss the news at the Sugar Bowl, surprised that Mr. Ratburn has a life outside the classroom, as they wonder who would marry Mr. Ratburn. Their question is seemingly answered when Mr. Ratburn walks in with a woman named Patty, who is shown to be a stickler for perfection. She claims that Mr. Ratburn is too "soft" and that she will toughen him up. While Arthur remarks that they don't really know what Patty is like, the others insist that they need to split them up because a tougher Mr. Ratburn would be unbearable.

Muffy first uses an app that turns a picture of Mr. Ratburn into an animated hippie. Buster and Arthur then trick Mr. Ratburn into making a recording of him reading a childrens' book, which they sync up with the app and give to Patty. Unfortunately, Patty just finds the video hilarious.

The kids move to plan B, where they try to match Mr. Ratburn with the librarian Ms. Turner. Arthur and Francine stop at the gourmet chocolate store Patrick's Chocolates, where the friendly owner Patrick gives them some free samples. They decide the chocolates are perfect to give Mr. Ratburn to make him fall in love with Ms. Turner. Patrick hears their plan and remarks that chocolate does not necessarily make people fall in love, but he goes along with it when Francine and Arthur claim they are desperate. They try to lure Mr. Ratburn to the library with chocolate and non-alcoholic champagne, but he is too busy with wedding preparations. He then asks them to return a library book for him, Love Poems by Pablo Neruda. This gives Muffy the idea to write a love poem "from" Mr. Ratburn to Ms. Turner. Ms. Turner isn't fooled, however, and returns the poem with corrections to Muffy's bad spelling (and a how-to guide on writing love poems).

The kids soon learn their families are all invited to the wedding. As a last resort, they decide they will all object during the ceremony. When they arrive, however, they begin to notice that Patty's duties don't seem consistent with that of a bride's. When Patty notices that they want to say something, the kids change their minds about objecting and compliment the wedding tent. Patty thanks them, but remarks that nothing would have really been good enough for her younger brother's wedding, revealing she is not actually the bride. The kids question who Mr. Ratburn is actually marrying. Their question is soon answered: Mr. Ratburn walks down the aisle arm-in-arm with his new husband, Patrick.

The kids enjoy cake after the ceremony and remark that they are happy with how the wedding turned out, and that it's a brand new world now that Mr. Ratburn is married. However, noticing Mr. Ratburn and Patrick having their first dance, they all agree with embarrassment that teachers should never dance.

Characters

Major

• Arthur Read
• Buster Baxter
• Francine Frensky
• Muffy Crosswire
• Nigel Ratburn

Minor

• Paige Turner
• Patty Ratburn
• Patrick Ratburn

Cameo

• Ed Crosswire
• Millicent Crosswire
• Oliver Frensky
• Laverne Frensky
• Mr. Barnes
• Mrs. Barnes
• David Read
• Jane Read
• Mr. Powers
• Mrs. Powers
• Rodentia Ratburn
• Miss Sweetwater
• Catherine Frensky
• Bitzi Baxter
• Shop Owner
• Fern Walters
• George Lundgren
• Mr. Lundgren
• Mrs. Lundgren
• Rafi
• Alex
• Jenna Morgan

Mentioned

• Kate Read

Trivia

• Jane Lynch guest stars in this episode as Mr. Ratburn's sister, Patty.
• Mr. Ratburn is revealed to be homosexual in this episode.
• This is not the first time the Arthur franchise has depicted same-sex marriage: in 2005, Postcards from Buster aired the episode "Sugartime!", which included scenes of Buster meeting several real-life children with lesbian parents in Hinesburg, Vermont (at the time, Vermont was one of the few states to recognize civil unions for same-sex parents). The terms "lesbian" and "homosexual" were never said in that episode (nor are they used in this episode), but "Sugartime!" ignited national controversy when then-Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings demanded PBS return federal funding used to produce the episode. PBS subsequently removed the episode from their schedule, but several member stations chose to independently air it, including Arthur's co-producer WGBH in Boston.
• The significance of this episode was not lost on Arthur creator Marc Brown:

"I'm sure I'm not any different than millions of other families around the world that have people that we love who are gay, who are young families raising children, and it makes me very sad that these young families are not really well-represented or hardly represented at all in our media. And I don't think that's a good thing. This happened to be one of the ideas that... we would have a teacher getting married perhaps, and the more we talked about it the more we saw it as an opportunity for a learning experience, and this great way to represent another part of life that so seldom gets portrayed on television...I started to get emails from family members and friends about, "You're blowing up Twitter!" and I started to read some of the comments from people and it just made me feel great that we did something that was really helpful to so many people. A parent has the opportunity to watch television with their kids and explain things and expand the story that they're watching together and share their values. That's, I think, one of the beauties of television. You know, art reflects life, and life reflects art, and I think kids need to see what's happening in the world. I would hate to live in a world which is sanitized and censored, and that's really something I can't get behind." – Marc Brown interviewed by CBC

Cultural references

• Mr. Ratburn reads Love Poems by Pablo Neruda.
• Ms. Turner gives Arthur, Buster, Francine, and Muffy a book called How to Write Poetry. Its color scheme and cover are very similar to the For Dummies series of guides.
• Patrick Ratburn names his chocolate of the day after Frida Kahlo, the iconic Mexican artist and activist.
• In Arthur's imagination, Mr. Ratburn turns into a green monster similar to the Hulk after he gets angry.

Episode connections

• Muffy is excited about a wedding. She previously "hosted" one in "D.W. Unties the Knot."
• Buster thinks that teachers don't have lives outside of school. This idea also comes up in "The Rat Who Came to Dinner" and "Lend Me Your Ear".
• In "Bitzi's Beau," Buster imagines his mother getting married to Mr. Ratburn.
• The music played at the wedding, the prelude to Bach’s cello Suite No. 1 in G major, is the same music that is heard when Grandma Thora and D.W. walk to the library in "My Music Rules."
• There is a cutout of a jester seen on the table in the chocolate shop that looks similar to the jester that hosts the trivia game between Brain and IQ in "The Return of the King."
• Muffy's poor grammar in the fake love poem is a callback to "Francine Goes to War".

Errors

• The overhead sign at the Sugar Bowl says "Sugar-Free Bowl." The aerial view of the building was likely recycled artwork from "D.W. and the Beastly Birthday" when it is suggested that the parlor is renamed in the future.