Prunella and the Disappointing Ending

	"Prunella and the Disappointing Ending"
	Main image; Title card;
Season/Series:	13
Number in season:	5b
Original Airdate:	October 12, 2009; February 27, 2009; April 23, 2009; November 29, 2012;
	Credits
Written by:	Jonathan Greenberg
Storyboard by:	Robert Yap
	Episodes
Previous; "No Acting, Please"	Next; "When Carl Met George"

"Prunella and the Disappointing Ending" is the second half of the fifth episode in the thirteenth season of Arthur.

Summary[]

The final volume of the Henry Skreever series, "The Knights of the Bouillabaisse", is released at last. Prunella and Marina compete to see who will be first to finish the book, but the two friends soon learn that speed reading does not always pay off.

Plot[]

The episode begins backstage with Prunella in her director's chair telling the viewers how great this episode is going to be. When she remarks that the ending is the best part, Marina rushes in to tell Prunella to not to spoil the episode and let the viewers find out what happens for themselves. To support her argument, Marina asks Prunella how she would feel if the former spoiled the endings of Cinderella and Snow White, only for the titular characters to come on stage and remark that Prunella already knows their endings. Prunella dismisses Marina and continues to talk, but Marina covers her mouth and cues Greg to begin the episode before Prunella spoils anything.

Prunella and the Disappointing Ending

Outside Trident Bookstore, a huge line is forming for the last Henry Skreever book, Henry Skreever and the Knights of the Bouillabaisse. Inside the bookstore, Marina and Prunella each buy a copy and make a pact that they will read at the same pace in order to discuss the story with each other as they go along. Specifically for tomorrow, they must only have read through the first three chapters.

Back at her house, Prunella is reading her book, only to find that she has reached the beginning of the fourth chapter. She initially hesitates and plans only to take a little peek, but ends up reading through it.

Later, the doorbell rings and Ms. Deegan lets Marina inside. Prunella quickly finishes chapter four before coming down to greet her. As they walk up the stairs discussing the storyline so far, Prunella accidentally reveals a plot detail from chapter four, and Marina realizes that she had read ahead. An imaginary sequence happens with Marina as a giant red-robed wizard scolding Prunella for breaking the pact. Prunella apologizes and promises to let Marina catch up. Marina shrinks down to normal size and the scene cuts back to reality, with Marina verifying that by tomorrow, they will only read up to chapter six.

The next day while cooking lunch, Prunella is excitedly telling her mother and sister about what has happened so far with Henry in the book. The phone rings and Prunella answers it to find Marina on the other line. They have a friendly conversation about a new character until Marina mistakenly mentions a raven from chapter six. Prunella then realizes that Marina has now read ahead, and an argument starts between the pair. It intensifies when Marina accuses Prunella of implying that she reads faster than her. Prunella confirms this assertion and Marina calls off the pact as they each choose to finish the book first on their own.

A montage follows as the girls read their books nonstop throughout their normal daily routines, including mealtimes and bedtimes.

During an assembly at Lakewood Elementary, Principal Haney announces the school's upcoming Harvest Day Festival, only to find Prunella reading her book. Prunella is not listening as she imagines Mr. Haney as Master Albacore, who then confiscates her book. Imagining herself as Persephone, Prunella heads to the office to retrieve it, but runs into a dragon (Mr. Morris). Prunella jumps over the dragon and reaches the entrance to Albacore's chambers, which is guarded by the ghoul Griselda (Ms. Tingley). Prunella again makes it past and retrieves the book, only to be caught. Haney again confiscates the book and instructs Prunella to retrieve it when school is dismissed for the day.

At The Sugar Bowl, both Prunella and Marina are speed-reading their books at opposite tables. Arthur, Buster, Francine, and Muffy begin making bets on who will finish first until a distracted Prunella and Marina leave to read at the library. Prunella finishes and brags to Marina that she finished first, who retorts that she had already finished five minutes ago and is just rereading the last page. They storm off, each of them thinking that they had beaten the other.

At school, Prunella gushes about the ending of the story. Her classmates then ask her to clarify what happened in the earlier chapters, mentioning new characters who appeared later on. However, Prunella finds that she is unable to remember any of the details so she attempts to brush their questions aside as insignificant.

That evening, Prunella tells her mother how great the book was as she is tucked into bed. She falls asleep and dreams that she is Persephone, who must prove her knowledge on the book in order to cross a rickety bridge hanging over a ravine. Two judges resembling Francine and Buster ask her two questions from the book regarding a spell and alien invasion. However, Prunella cannot answer either of them and the judges accuse her of page-skimming. As Francine prepares to cut the bridge, Prunella trues to run off, only for Lord Moldywart to appear behind her. She then wakes up.

The next day, Prunella goes to the Datillos' house to visit Marina. She asks her friend the same questions her classmates did, which Marina can not answer, either. The two discover that neither of them can remember the details of what happened in the book, and admit they read it too fast to truly enjoy or remember the story. Prunella and Maria then agree to reread the book together by reading aloud to each other at their own pace. As the episode finishes, the two imagine the setting of the story, an ancient castle.

Characters[]

Major[]

Minor[]

Cameo[]

Mentioned[]

Greg Bailey

Trivia[]

4th Wall break: Before the title card, Marina says "Greg, start the show!" This refers to the Arthur director, Greg Bailey.
This is the last Arthur episode aired in the 2000s.

Episode connections[]

This episode takes place within the time frame of "Arthur's Number Nightmare", because Mr. Haney mentions the Harvest Day Celebration in his speech.
Marina putting lotion on her hands probably refers to her joke in “Prunella Sees the Light” about getting blisters from fast reading.

Cultural References[]

The Henry Skreever series is a parody of the Harry Potter series, with J.R. Ticklepenny likely a reference to the author J. K. Rowling.
The names from Henry Skreever are mostly food-themed: bouillabaisse is fish soup, "magret de canard" means "duck breast," albacore is a kind of tuna, tapenade is a kind of spread, "amuse bouche" means appetizer, pad thai is a Thai dish, "brulée" means "burnt" (as in Crème brûlée) and Stilton is a kind of cheese.
Mr. Morris' line "Thou shalt not pass" is commonly associated with Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings (though Gandalf actually says "You shall not pass").

Errors[]

Marina's braille edition is the same size as the regular edition. It should be significantly larger. Braille letters need to be larger in order to be readable, the pages need to be thicker and they can only have letters on one side.^[5]
When Prunella reads in bed, her clock advances from 10:00 to 10:01 when her mother turns out the light. Seconds later, when Prunella puts it next to her book as a makeshift reading light, it says 10:03.
In the lunch room, when Prunella says, "I think it's open to interpretation," her hair bow turns orange for a frame.

Production notes[]

Although many online episode listings call this episode "Prunella Deegan and the Disappointing Ending", the title card indicates it is called "Prunella and the Disappointing Ending".
Most sites list this and its sister episode, No Acting, Please, as the first of Season 13 due to going by U.S. airing order.

Gallery[]

References[]

[1] ttp://www.ket.org/episode/ARUR%20%20001305/

[2] ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/programmes/schedules/south_west/2009/04/23

[3] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120413104003/http://ww3.tvo.org/program/157024/arthur

[4] ttps://www.fernsehserien.de/erdferkel-arthur-und-seine-freunde/episodenguide/staffel-13/3906

[5] ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille

[1]

[3]

[2]

[4]

[5]