Season 3 Episode 7b
While it’s quite subtle, Mr. Read kind of self-owns during the open, talking about his creations that either sound disgusting (that would probably have Gordon Ramsay cursing up a storm) or wind up being a flop (in fairness, cinnamon toast soufflé actually sounds good). Although he does do his job well when it counts, maybe the comparison with the Wright Brothers and Galileo and Da Vinci is a bit…too far? This episode also goes to show how easy Mr. Ratburn can be swayed: cake + something relating to a topic they’re studying is a winning formula. One could make Mr. Ratburn do pretty much anything if there was cake involved, in this case drop in on Mrs. Sweetwater’s classes (or anywhere else) under the guise of dropping off the spring reading list. Or stopping at Arthur’s house, announced or unannounced.
But the real plotline of this episode is how Arthur basically does a 180 in terms of his attitude towards his dad’s cooking. Turns out that when you’ve got what the people want, you’re no longer a joke–especially with your teacher, as we repeatedly see here. The cake in the shape of the Leaning Tower of Pisa looked delicious and clearly Arthur’s classmates thought the same. Arthur does take it a bit too far when he makes it into a competition with the Brain and his ice cream and gives his dad more work to do (the “sachet of tortee” he wants from his dad is actually a sachertorte, a very rich Viennese chocolate cake). What's stopping both Arthur and the Brain from sharing their desserts with everyone? When you're so overworked that you're making beef rolls and raspberry stroganoff instead of the proper dishes, that probably means that the cakes, which are by no means urgent, should not be top priority. There's asking Dad for a favor for your class, and then there's just using Dad. Arthur was bordering on the latter here.
Arthur and D.W. helping their father get caught up on the orders he was behind on was literally the least they could do in the end, and in the future if Arthur wants a dessert for a school function, he should probably help with it. But it's Mr. Ratburn's classic line, "Are you having cake?" that makes this episode a classic. As well as Arthur finally warming up a bit to his dad’s cooking.
By Guthrie Edson
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