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"Arnold's Thanksgiving" is a special half-hour episode of Hey Arnold!.
Synopsis[]
Arnold and Helga are tired of the way their families celebrate Thanksgiving, so they decide to enjoy dinner with Mr. Simmons, but they find out the true colors of the holiday.
Plot[]
Arnold bikes to school and when he bikes over the bridge, he sees a replica of the Mayflower get christened and set out to sea. Arnold’s class is doing a Thanksgiving pageant of the first Thanksgiving, but it goes poorly as the sets keep getting knocked over or ruined. Backstage, Gerald can’t wait for Thanksgiving while Arnold hates the holiday. His grandmother gets confused by the dates of Holidays so Arnold’s family celebrates the Fourth of July/Independence Day instead of Thanksgiving, so Arnold has never had a normal Thanksgiving. Helga similarly hates Thanksgiving as well because it’s always predictable. Her mom overcooks the stuffing while her Dad watches football games non-stop throughout the day and complains about eating too many burritos for breakfast and Olga makes her do as many chores as possible to prepare the meal. But before she can continue complaining, Phoebe tells her that her part is beginning and Helga rushes to the stage.
It’s the final scene of the play and Mr. Simmons desperately wants this to go perfectly. The scene is of an idyllic Thanksgiving with a family of 5 that are Mrs. Simon (Rhonda), Robert (Arnold), Joy (Helga), Uncle Chuck (Harold), and Peter (Stinky). Joy is happy because she got promoted at her new job. Peter compliments Mrs. Simon saying she lost weight and Uncle Chuck keeps asking if they can eat. The family says what they are thankful for and most are just thankful for being with each other. The play ends and Mr. Simmons is moved to tears. He tells everyone to remember the true meaning of Thanksgiving which is being thankful for what you have before dismissing school for the holiday.
While walking home, Arnold walks past a window display of a Thanksgiving meal knowing that won’t be what his Thanksgiving will be like. At Helga’s house, Helga’s predictions come true as her mother overcooks the stuffing and Bob ate too many burritos. Helga gets disappointed that her father is more invested in football than spending time together. At Arnold’s house, Phil tells everyone to help prepare celebrating the 4th of July. Arnold asks if they can have a regular Thanksgiving meal which Ernie shoots down because that only happens on the actual 4th of July when Grandma thinks it’s Christmas.
Meanwhile, Helga's optimistic hopes are squelched when her mom tells her to put her pinecone table piece she made next to Olga's ice sculpture of a turkey. This annoys Helga, who doesn't bother displaying her table piece. She becomes increasingly unhappy when she has to put up with helping Olga make dinner and getting stuck with the most demanding chores like peeling potatoes and hates that nobody wants to do what she wants.
Arnold’s family sets up a bunch of 4th of July decorations, Arnold asks his Grandpa why can’t they just have a regular Thanksgiving? Phil responds that they could, but then they’d be like everyone else and where would the fun in that be? That answer doesn’t satisfy Arnold. Later, Arnold has to dress up as Ben Franklin when the doorbell rings. Harold is at the door asking to borrow marshmallows for his family’s yams. When he realizes that the person at the door is Arnold, Harold can’t stop laughing at the costume thinking he looks like a little bald lady with rectangle glasses and leaves forgetting what he came over for in the first place. Arnold has had enough of dealing with his family's way of celebrating Thanksgiving, and decides to leave thinking he’d be better off by himself that Thanksgiving.
At Helga’s home, dinner is ready to be served. But when the Patakis are going around the table saying what they’re thankful for, Helga bluntly states she is thankful for nothing. Helga refuses to take back her answer so Bob sends her to her room until she can think of something to be thankful for. Helga decides to sneak out of her house as well.
Coincidentally, Arnold and Helga run into each other and start talking about how things at their homes aren't working out. They go to the pier and Arnold tries to think of the bright side and notices the Mayflower replica from before. However, the Mayflower replica crashes into the city bridge and sinks in the process, becoming a major disaster.
Arnold surmises that Mr. Simmons is probably the likeliest to be having a great Thanksgiving as shown by the play he wrote which Helga points out was just a play. Arnold manages to drag Helga to Mr. Simmons' house in search for the perfect Thanksgiving. They get to Mr. Simmons’ house and when they peer through the window, they see everyone smiling which seemingly confirms their belief that Mr. Simmons is having a perfect Thanksgiving. However, that was misleading because they were all just posing for a picture.
Mr. Simmons invites Arnold and Helga inside and when he introduces his family, they notice that the names of Mr. Simmons' family members are the same names as the characters in the Thanksgiving play they did. However, these people are much more negative than the versions presented in the play. Peter and Mrs. Simmons always argue with each other, Joy is unmotivated as she can’t hold down a job and her car got stolen again, and Chuck gluttonously stuffs himself with food without asking permission to eat.
When the fighting starts getting worse, Arnold and Helga excuse themselves to the kitchen and can’t believe how terrible Mr. Simmons’ family is as they don’t show any appreciation for the great meal Mr. Simmons made and wonder why can’t his family just put up with each other for one day when it means a lot to one person. Arnold has an epiphany about what he just said and realized he should have followed his own advice. Helga concurs that if Simmons puts up with his family every year, they can make an attempt to put up with their own families.
Mr. Simmons goes into the kitchen to get more wine and overhears what they said. As the fight between his relatives gets worse, Simmons breaks down and admits that his Thanksgiving is a disaster. Simmons knows that his family isn’t the perfect family he wrote about in the play. However, he loves his family and is truly thankful for all of them and makes it his project each year to get them all together and realize how thankful they are for each other. With new appreciation for what they have, Arnold and Helga leave Mr. Simmons’ home and they wish him a Happy Thanksgiving as his family’s fighting gets worse.
After they leave Mr. Simmons' house, they return to their homes to give Thanksgiving another chance given that they haven’t eaten all day. When Helga returns home, she finds her family uncharacteristically scared for her safety as her Mom calls the police trying to find her, Olga printed Missing persons posters of Helga, and her father announces he’s going out and won’t come back until he finds Helga. Helga makes her presence known and her anxious family warmly greets her with a loving embrace. Helga announces she’s thankful for having a great home and her parents tell her they’re thankful for being their daughter which makes Helga really happy. The Pataki family also placed Helga's pinecone centerpiece onto the table next to Olga's and sit down together to eat dinner with a TV at the table so that Bob can watch football. Arnold wishes Helga Happy Thanksgiving outside and goes back home.
When Arnold gets home, he decides to embrace his grandmother's Fourth of July celebration and puts his Benjamin Franklin costume on. However, his grandparents and the other boarders surprise him with a real Thanksgiving feast because they heard he was looking for one. Arnold asks his Grandma if they can still have fireworks and his Grandma happily obliged as she launches fireworks off the roof.