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"Olga Gets Engaged" is an episode of Hey Arnold!.
Synopsis[]
Olga returns home from college for a visit, much to Helga's dismay. But when her sister drops the news that she met a man named Doug whom she plans to drop out of college to marry, Helga sees this as the perfect opportunity for "Little Miss Perfect" to lose her perfect status in the eyes of Bob and Miriam. But Doug isn't all he claims to be, and Helga must decide to help her sister or watch her become a miserable mess.
Plot[]
When class is over, Helga is approached by the girls in her class about her sister Olga coming home from college and they list off all of Olga’s amazing qualities which irritates Helga given how perfect Olga seemingly is and how she always becomes the focus of their parents’ attention when she’s home. At the Pataki household, Olga shows off her recent achievements like getting a standing ovation for her concerto and appearing on the cover of a magazine called Leaders of Tomorrow with a Rajah which thrills her parents and annoys Helga. But Olga then reveals that she plans to drop out of college in order to marry an actor named Doug LeSham and get a job to support them both. Her parents completely hate the idea thinking that Olga would be throwing her life away while Helga is thrilled, believing that this will be Olga's fall from grace.
At dinner, the Pataki's meet Doug who swoons over Olga. Bob and Miriam are against the idea of Olga rushing into marriage which reduces Olga to tears, and she runs to her room sobbing. Helga convinces her to run away and elope with Doug and goes down to get a ladder to sneak Olga out of her room.
During that time, she sees Doug deceive her parents into accepting him by lying about his accomplishments and telling them what they like to hear. With Bob, Doug claims he played for the Green Bay Packers, and hopes to one day make enough money as an actor to open his own chain of appliance stores. Bob is moved when he hears that dream and tells Doug that one day, the Beeper Emporium will become his. With Miriam, he mentions how young she looks, "mistaking" her for Olga. When Miriam mentions she was an Olympic-Class swimmer, he mentions he happens to be an Olympic-Class diver. And when Bob calls for Doug to watch the upcoming play, Doug says he doesn't understand football and claims it’s too coarse of a game (completely contradicting what he just told Bob). Helga can't believe how Doug managed to dupe her parents but goes along with it hoping this will ruin Olga. So, she tells Olga she doesn't have to run away because their parents love Doug now.
After Doug meets the other kids at the park, Arnold falls for Doug's claim that he was a former racecar driver until Helga tells him the truth about Doug. Arnold tells Helga she needs to help her sister even if she doesn't like her, but Helga rejects his advice. At dinner, while Olga and Doug recite Romeo and Juliet, Helga daydreams about Olga's married life with Doug and imagines them living in a rundown tenement with Doug lying about doing great things (claiming he's going off to Mars as he runs out of the house) while Olga is miserable. Helga imagines her parents berating Olga for her terrible life choices while also asking why couldn't she be like their brilliant daughter Helga instead.
On the day of Olga's wedding, Olga tells Helga she was happy that their parents approved of Doug, but she was thrilled that Helga approved, as Olga always thought Helga had a great sense of judgement which takes Helga aback. After hearing Olga tell her how glad she was to have her as a sister, Helga begrudgingly decides that she can't go through with her plan of having Olga marry Doug saying to herself “I was so close!”.
Downstairs, Doug finishes calling another girlfriend named Linda on the Pataki’s landline phone. But when Helga appears, he tells Helga that Linda is his "cousin" whose life he recently saved in a flood. Helga confronts Doug saying she knows he’s a liar and a con artist and tells him to leave immediately without saying goodbye or else she'll expose his lies to everyone. Doug gets angry while telling Helga nobody would believe anything she says and that she's not smart enough to mess with him. He knows that Helga is jealous of Olga, and Olga always gets what she wants, revealing his plans to mooch off Olga and also mooch off Bob's success as a salesman. Helga threatens to press the redial button on the landline phone to call Linda back and tell her about Doug's lies and infidelity. Scared by Helga’s threat, Doug asks why would she help Olga despite not even liking her and Helga responds with Arnold's words about helping your sister when she's in trouble despite not liking her.
Defeated, Doug says it'd look bad if he left without saying anything and Helga says she'll tie up the loose ends. Doug leaves, admitting he liked Olga, but didn't necessarily love her. Helga then writes a convincing note to Olga and signs it with Doug's name saying that he had to leave to deal with a crisis in another country. When Olga reads it, she begins to cry, still believing Doug's great accomplishments and saying it would be selfish of her to keep a great man like Doug all to herself and prevent him from doing better for the world. As she sobs, Helga becomes annoyed and tells her to get over it.