There's a fine line between love and respect. To respect doesn't mean you're obligated to love, it just isn't your thing but you see why others love it. To love it is, well.... duuuuuuuuh.
Just felt like telling you that for some reason. I've had a love-hate relationship with Hey Arnold!, but as of now, it's back to love. Is it a perfect show? Far from it, but that's why I like it, and if people can bring up the faults it shows they're not as blind as SpongeBob fans.
Hey Arnold! isn't immune to bad episodes, and when they come, they don't even leave you a tissue. Any bad episode of the show are of different extents, we have the really bad ones, the really odd ones, then in the case of this one, conflicting feelings where they aren't warranted, and a nothing burger.
Background
Helga and the Nanny reared its head in the show's third season. It's the B-segment with... Arnold Betrays Iggy, an episode so bad an apology was delivered, allegedly, until that was exposed as bull-crap by the creator. Coming from someone who's an outsider to the general behavior of the animation community, that episode leaves nothing for me, it was a horribly structured and written episode that basically killed a recurring character, and even the message doesn't hold the impact it should, but I don't hate it for the reasons everyone does.
For perspective, I found a message in Neighbors from Hell, one of those edgy adult shows, and I found nothing with that episode.
Helga and the Nanny was written by Antoinette Stella, a fairly prominent writer on the show who helped write a decent amount of episodes I liked. She had a hand in some of the more twisted episode like Sid and Germs and Phoebe Cheats and voiced Arnold's biological mom too.
But, you wanna know what else she wrote? Rhonda's Glasses, a neutered discussion on racism (and come on, it's based on Rosa Parks as far as certain people having to go to the back of the bus) that expects us to feel sorry for the worst character on the entire show.
So basically she's like the entire show, very good, but not free from faults.
The Episode
Here's a little personal take, this episode played a part in a false memory I had with this show. I remember seeing an episode where Helga was arguing with a haggard woman, but obviously that never happened. Realistically, I mixed this episode up with Crabby Author, which had a similar character.
There is a point to this, I feel the way I remembered this episode paints a darker context for the nanny.
The episode has Helga being watched over by a nanny due to both of her parents needing to be out. One of the biggest issues I have with the show (well as of now) is that while it provides some dimensions to otherwise archetypical characters, they still have some characters that slip into common stereotypes, Inge being one of them as the stereotypical German (I'm thinking German) nanny.
This is a rare instance where I don't know who to feel bad for in terms of the major key players. We have someone serving as physical divine intervention, to someone who's basically going through a borderline equivalent to Chinese water torture. Too far? Okay, how about someone who's basically living life as if their mother is Jane Kaczmarek (because the surname of Lois is indeterminate at this point.)
For some perspective on that, I can say Lois is the worst bad parent ever because even others like her have some likable traits or their kids are able to stand up for themselves. Lois basically wanted her kids to follow a set path and would do anything she could to make sure they don't get far off of it, all for a future that may or may not remain a card in their deck.
Connection here? Inge wants Helga to be a proper girl, i.e., a proper girl in relation to Inge's national customs, and it's her way or no way. Name it, curfews, obedience, uniforms, the whole set along with some throwaway extras.
I'm going off on this episode because it is surprisingly darker than people give it credit for. Inge is basically forcing Helga to follow a strict lifestyle, a lifestyle that now matter how comfortable you are with it, is soul-crushing. You'd live life under a looming shadow, so afraid to make a tiny mistake, and when you have kids, it leads to a continuing cycle of gentle psychological abuse.
Sid and Germs and Phoebe Cheats have a psychological edge, and if that was what Stella aimed for... good on her, the best things in media are always achieved by accident.
Big Bob and Miriam are surprisingly not too bad here, then again Inge got to their hearts through their stomachs and you know what? I honestly never hated either of them. When they're willing to make an effort there's some kind of payoff to it, and it worked to help better develop Helga's character and make her sympathetic as far as her earlier appearances go. Good is always born from the bad.
And hey, Bob doesn't intend for Helga to jump through various specific proverbial hoops, acknowledgement would be worse in that regard because you don't see your child for what they are, but how you want them to be. Olga is constrained by following a path of perfection, Helga can basically go any way she wants. Think about it.
By the second half, Helga gets Inge fired and she is chided for it. This is ruined by the fact we can see she was suffering under Inge. People under oppressive care are the most likely to snap, especially without an outlet to vent their grievances. But ironically, at this point I don't know who to feel bad for. Inge was trying to help in her own way but overstepped her boundaries. Helga clearly wasn't happy with the strict maintenance, but there could've been a better way to go about voicing her concerns, I just wish I knew what.
All else I can pick up from this is the lamest nightmare sequence in the entire show, and bear in mind, one of the best aspects of this show are its nightmare sequences, and a mild attempt at Helga observing what she had learned from Inge. This would've worked better in a psychological thriller where Helga slowly loses sight of who she was and begins to fold into a life of perpetual obedience.
I should stay far away from these shows.
Overall
This episode was basically doomed from the start due to it following the most infamous episode in the entire series. It was a hard sell to make up for a dire experience, and I feel this episode didn't deliver on a better experience.
I didn't feel bad for everyone, and the only enjoyment I got out of the episode was viewing everything in a psychological thriller context. Even in terms of it just being one of those make your own interpretation deals, this episode just feels empty in that regard.
What this episode needed is to further drive home the bad in both of their actions.Maybe Inge can learn to loosen up and begins to take Helga up on her habits, only for Helga to realize she has a toxic personality and by rejecting a kinder side, Inge reflects how most of the world sees her, and there she learns to try and loosen up herself.
Or maybe we can see the inverse to a toxic bad personality with a toxic good personality, where Inge's beliefs are seen as condescending and few like her, finding a foil in Helga who's on the opposite spectrum.
As always, there're better ways the episode could've gone about its plot, what we have is basically yogurt with meat in it. Meaty yogurt. Mediocre.
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