The Butler Did It

This article is about "The Butler Did It". You may be looking for "The Butler Did... What?".

"The Butler Did It"
Season/Series:	20
Number in season:	5b
Original Airdate:	May 30, 2017 November 23, 2018
Credits
Written by:	Peter K. Hirsch
Storyboard by:	Gerry Capelle
Episodes
Previous "Lend Me Your Ear"	Next "Prunella's Tent of Portent"

"The Butler Did It" is the second half of the fifth episode in the twentieth season of Arthur.

Summary

Muffy gets her dad a robot butler named Keats for Father's Day; however, she is worried that he might replace Bailey and make him want to retire.

Plot

In the introduction, Arthur is at a garage sale and remembers various stupid things I bought. He vows to only buy things he really needs, but then he falls for shoe umbrellas.

The Butler Did It

Muffy and Bailey search Mill Creek Mall for a Father's Day gift. Muffy wants to buy a gift instead of having Bailey make something as in the previous years. She settles for KEATS the robot butler.

On Father's Day, Mr. Crosswire is imprinted as KEATS’ owner. KEATS impresses everyone by making fresh orange juice and cleaning up.

Later, KEATS helps Mr. Crosswire to find a tie. Since he did all of Bailey's chores, Bailey decides to take the day off.

Muffy tells Francine that Bailey has spent the rest of the day in his room. Since he is a workaholic, Muffy is worried. She does not want to ask her dad to get rid of KEATS, because he like the robot and Bailey would be embarrassed. Francine suggests showing Mr. Crosswire how indispensable Bailey is.

Muffy tries to stump KEATS by pretending to need a book from a high shelf and by hiding her dad's slippers. However, KEATS gets both the book and the slippers before Muffy can ask Bailey for help.

That night, Muffy phones Francine to tell her that KEATS prepared a great dinner while Bailey has spent more time alone in his room. Unknown to Muffy, Bailey is happily working on a sculpture.

Since KEATS has a long-lasting battery, Muffy asks Brain to hack KEATS in order to shut him down. KEATS notices the attack and tries to break into Muffy's room. Brain shuts him down just in time.

The next morning, Mr. Crosswire is playing with a superior replacement for KEATS while Bailey announces that he will be out on an errand. Muffy calls Francine and tells her that she is afraid that Bailey will leave the Crosswires. Francine tells Muffy to tell Bailey how she feels about him.

Bailey is not in his room. When KEATS shows no sympathy because Bailey is missing, Muffy gets a wrench from the basement to dismantle KEATS. However, she cannot get back up, because the basement door is locked. She asks KEATS to let her out, but when Mr. Crosswire asks for a snack, KEATS goes to him. Bailey hears Muffy and lets her out.

KEATS explains that he has been programmed to put Mr. Crosswire's needs over everyone else's. Mr. Crosswire is shocked and gets rid of KEATS. Bailey tells Muffy that he did not intend to leave, but a gallery agreed to exhibit the sculpture he made. Mr. Crosswire assures Muffy that Bailey is family. Right afterwards, he and Muffy order dinner, but Bailey is happy.

Characters

Major

• Muffy Crosswire
• Bailey
• Ed Crosswire

Minor

• Keats
• Francine Frensky
• Brain

Cameo

• James MacDonald
• Chip Crosswire
• Mrs. Morgan
• Rattles
• Slink
• Bud Compson
• Cisely Compson
• Arthur Read
• Buster Baxter
• Neal Lundgren
• Mrs. Lundgren
• Ms. Bryan
• Harry Mills
• Laverne Frensky

Trivia

• Moral: When robots help people don't ruin it for your own benefits.
• Karma: Keats locked Muffy, so her dad kicked him outside.

Episode connections

• Muffy thought that Bailey had actually left the Crosswire residence in "The Butler Did... What?"

References

• After Bailey leaves for an errand, Francine's phone has the iPhone message sound.
• While working on his sculpture, Bailey sings Largo al Factotum from the opera The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini.
• The pear logo on Brain's computer is a parody of the Apple logo.
• KEATS’ password “Nightingale” refers to the poem Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats.
• A rootkit is a kind of hidden software that allows a hacker access to a computer. A DDoS attack (distributed denial-of-service) floods the target with requests from several sources, so that it can no longer respond to legitimate requests.
• KEATS recites I’m a Little Teapot.
• The painting in Muffy's room is The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí.

Errors

• When Muffy talks to Francine over the phone, Francine's feet are shown to be two left feet instead of left and right.