Surprise!

"Surprise!"
Season/Series:	Season 18 (USA) Series 18 (UK)
Number in season:	2b (USA) 3 (UK)
Original Airdate:	September 29, 2014 February 25, 2015 September 29, 2014
Credits
Written by:	Ken Scarborough
Storyboard by:	Allan Jeffery
Episodes
Previous "The Friend Who Wasn't There"	Next "The Case of the Girl with the Long Face"
Read transcript

"Surprise!" is the second half of the second episode in the eighteenth season of Arthur.

Summary

It's Catherine's 16th birthday, and Francine has been cordially UN-invited to the party. With the help of her friends, Francine whips up the perfect present for her big sister...a sneaky surprise with a side of payback!

Plot

Francine is look through a drawer and tells the audience she wishes she was invisible. That way, she can get away with eating all the cookies and even eavesdrop. She then says it could also be bad, like when Catherine pretended not to notice her for a week. Francine pulls out a blue book and with a green aura shining from it, she lets out a maniacal laugh.

Surprise!

After the title card, the episode opens with Francine, Muffy, Buster, and Arthur at the sugar bowl, discussing what to get Catherine for her 16th birthday. The next scene shows Francine and her dad, Oliver in the kitchen icing Catherine's birthday cake. Oliver informs her that she is not invited to Catherine's party and that it was only for people her age. Filled with anger, Francine burst into her and Catherine's room to let her know that she is mad at her. Catherine then yells at Oliver, saying that she has to study. Oliver then tells Francine to leave her sister alone. After that, Francine goes to the roof to relieve anger by playing the drums. Oliver enters and tries to cheer up Francine, but has no luck. In the next scene, Francine is talking to her friends about it. Francine states that not inviting her to the party is the meanest thing she has ever done to her. She then lists other mean things she has done to her, such as telling her that a monster lived in the bathtub, calling her piasso, and tagging her in a game of freeze tag, then leaving her all alone. Her friends suggest ways to get revenge. Buster tells her to get a roll of the world's stinkiest cheese and put it in her coat pocket when going to the party, but Francine refuses because she figures Catherine would notice the smell.

The Bowling Alley

Binky suggest putting glue in the bowling ball before the party starts, but this plan would also fail because the glue would not stay wet long and she would not know which bowling ball Catherine would use. Binky turns upset when reality always get in the way. Muffy suggests getting hand-writing specialist (Fern) to write notes to gives to Alberto to give to Catherine and Sean (Catherine's crush). The notes would say to meet in the hallway of the bowling alley. Buster would be in the security camera room filming while Binky would be producing sound. When Catherine says, "Oh Sean, kiss me." it airs on the screens of the bowling alley with everyone watching. Binky thinks it’s genius, he doesn’t think they have a hallway or security cameras at the bowling alley, much to Muffy‘s frustration. Francine gets an idea which Muffy wants to know. Francine savvily says wait and see. Later at the the party, she sneaks in the do booth. She threatens to read Catherines diary. Later she tells her friends what happened, she decided not to read it because she remembered how bad she felt about the bad things she did to her and didnt want her to suffer on her special day, but she did tease her causing her to chase her.

Characters

• Francine Frensky
• Catherine Frensky
• Muffy Crosswire
• Buster Baxter
• Rattles
• The Brain
• Alex
• Binky Barnes
• Arthur Read
• Alberto Molina
• Chip Crosswire
• Debi
• Jenna Morgan
• Ballerina
• Mrs. Lancaster
• "Unknown Female Adult Rabbit (Number 7)"
• "3rd Grade Male Aardvark"
• Prunella Deegan
• Fern Walters
• "Unknown Male Adult Rabbit (Number 4)"
• Oliver Frensky
• Pal
• D.W. Read
• Angi (cameo)
• Sean
• Tami (cameo)

Trivia

• Catherine's age, 16, is revealed.
• It is revealed that Catherine has a crush on Sean according to her diary.
• Francine describes Sean as "lookin' like a rodent". He is revealed to be an anthropomorphic rat.
• Moral: You can't get invited to every party.
• Karma:
  • Catherine pranked Francine when she was young, so she got blabbed out on her birthday.
  • Francine blabbled out on Catherine, so she got grounded.

Episode connections

• Arthur and Buster wrote fake letters to Francine and Brain in "The Big Blow-Up".
• Muffy sent Chip a fake phone message from Catherine in "Matchmaker, Match Breaker".
• Chip is in attendance at the party, altough they are not lovers.

Errors

• Oliver says that Catherine is a junior in high school in this episode. He should have said "sophomore" for two reasons:
  • In "Vomitrocious," Catherine mentions an event that happened "five years ago" in fifth grade, implying she is now in 10th grade (sophomore).
  • High school sophomores are typically already 15, turning 16. Catherine celebrates her 16th birthday in this episode.

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