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"Girl Trouble" is an episode of Hey Arnold!.

Synopsis[]

When Arnold gets tired of Helga bullying him every day, Grandpa tells him a story about a little girl who did the same thing to him when he was a little kid, who turns out to be Pookie.

Plot[]

In Mr. Simmons' class, the history project is announced. The class will be put into groups of 4 and will make dioramas of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Arnold, Gerald, Phoebe, and Helga are all in a group together, which Helga is secretly happy about. But, in order to keep up her tough girl facade, she makes fun of Arnold and pranks him all day long. Arnold tries his hardest to do his part of the project, but Helga makes it difficult, and he starts getting to his breaking point.

After school, Arnold talks to Grandma about his problem with Helga. Grandma wonders why someone would be so mean to her nice grandson. Arnold asks what Grandma was like as a girl, and she says that she recalls being very nice, but then adds that she can't remember anything that happened before last week. Arnold then goes to Grandpa and asks him for advice. Grandpa wonders if the reason Helga teases Arnold so much is because she likes him. Arnold denies this possibility, but Grandpa points out that Helga messes with the boy the most in class, and sometimes she plays jump rope outside of the boarding house, waiting for Arnold to come out. Arnold again denies that Helga likes him.

Grandpa tells Arnold that he had a similar issue growing up, showing some pictures to illustrate. A girl in his class, Gertie, was much like Helga back in the turn of the century. She would prank Phil, get him into trouble, and generally ruin his fun. When Phil asked his father for advice, his father only said, "Don't eat raspberries." Phil then tells Arnold to trust his instincts and eventually, things would turn out okay.

The next day, the class is still working on their dioramas. Helga briefly considers being nicer to Arnold, but quickly decides against it and mocks his clay buffalo. Later, Helga and Arnold reach for the paint. Helga barks that she is doing the painting, but when Arnold demands the paint from her, she makes it spill onto his shirt. Arnold has had enough and splashes the rest of the paint onto Helga's dress. Everyone in the class is shocked, and Mr. Simmons gives Arnold detention.

At home, Grandpa questions why Arnold is covered in paint. Arnold explains the situation and Grandpa is also shocked. He tells Arnold to make peace with Helga since they will be seeing each other pretty often for the next few years. Arnold calls Helga and apologizes for his actions, hoping they can come to some kind of truce. Helga secretly feels bad for pushing Arnold so far and is happy that he is doing the right thing. But then she angrily tells Arnold that she will never agree with him on anything and to never call again.

Arnold reports the news to Grandma and Grandpa, who are looking over the photo album. Grandpa is happy Arnold did the right thing and tells Arnold to get cleaned up for dinner. When Arnold leaves, Grandma remarks that she used to be such a cute girl, while pointing to a picture of Gertie. Grandpa tells her that she "still got it," and gets a kiss from Grandma. They then start to argue that Grandma has prepared watermelon for dinner again.

Reception[]

Many fans consider this episode to be the most hated episode of the series, due to Helga going too far with bullying Arnold and facing no consequences in the end.

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