Arnold: Why are you doing this? Look, I know you’re not this lazy and cold and uncaring. You may act like that, but deep down, I know you’re smart and you have feelings, and if we have to be married to each other, then I want you to start showing it.
Helga: I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Arnold: Yes, you do, Helga. Why can’t you just admit it? You’re not this mean.
Helga: Yes, I am.
Arnold: No, you’re not! You’re not!
Helga: Okay, okay. You’re right. I can’t hide it any more. You’ve seen through my tough, blustery exterior, and into my soft, mushy, good-hearted center. It’s true I’m not this bad. I guess I was just afraid to show my real feelings. But you knew it all along, didn’t you? I may be rough around the edges, but deep down I’m a good person. And I don’t hate you. In fact, I sort of like you. I mean—actually—I sort of more than like you. I — really like you. I really, really like you. Well, heck, I like you so much you might say I actually lo— I actually lov—Shut the fuck up, ‘cause we’re doing this, y’all. This is maybe one of my top five scenes in the entire series, maybe even in my top three, and here’s why: as much as this can be attributed to Arnold’s belief that absolutely everyone is capable of good and everyone deserves respect, that no one is truly bad, it’s very, very clearly Arnold addressing head-on the thing he’s ignored for ages now, which is that his belief that Helga, no matter how she treats him or how cruel she can be not just to Arnold but everyone else, too, is an inherently good and genuine person isn’t founded in a general optimistic outlook but rather in Helga herself.
In Arnold’s nightmare, Bob Pataki calls Helga “Olga” and then blames her for his confusion, and Miriam Pataki, disinterested and (lbr here) drunk, passes out at the table. Initially this is framed so as to heighten Arnold’s own despair and misery at being absorbed into this family, but when he confronts Helga at the end of his dream, that earlier scene takes on new meaning, e.g. Arnold’s awareness of Helga’s home life and how it’s shaped her—how she lashes out at others and closes herself up because her parents neglect her emotionally. And that’s something I think you see more of as the series progresses, something that’s reflected in Helga and Arnold’s gradually changing relationship; as Arnold grows more aware of Helga’s unhappiness and why she’s unhappy, he grows more empathetic towards her, while at the same time her constant insults mixed in with her displays of affection and her confidences in him confuse and frustrate him, because—well, because even if he has started to understand why Helga’s so miserable, he still doesn’t entirely get a) that knowing why she’s angry won’t magically make her less angry or easier to be friends with or b) why she’s angriest at Arnold in particular.
Except—and “Married” is the first big confirmation of this—he does know why she picks on him more than anyone else. It’s just not something he’s thought about, because he doesn’t want to think about it; he doesn’t want to acknowledge that the reason why Helga focuses so much attention, both positive and negative, on him is because she’s kind of in love with him. It’s the prospect of one day marrying her that finally forces him to really examine it, which is HUGE and one of the many reasons why I’m so mad Nick cancelled this show when they did. Like, there is loads of stuff that will never be resolved in this show—Arnold’s parents, individual relationships between the characters, some minor character arcs—but, predictably, what I’m most frustrated about is that there was all this progress in the fifth season, with Helga starting to open up emotionally to Arnold and Arnold recognizing and accepting that Helga likes him, that will never be followed up on.
Also, damn, the execution for this scene is just fab, esp with the silence at the very end when Arnold wakes up not fitfully, but calmly.
Hell to the yes. Only when I grew up did I realize what an amazing show this was, and it’s kind of sad to look back and think about how it will probably never be continued. But shit, this is great analysis.
They were planning to make a movie where they go to South America to find Arnold’s parents… but it never happened.
Also MTV was going to make a spinoff show about Helga in high school, but… it also never happened :(
(Source: formerlyroxy)
