I was thinking about this episode today, and was wondering what your thoughts were about it. I know it's drawn a LOT of controversy, not necessarily because of the idea that Arthur actually punches D.W. (in a rather overly dramatized way), but rather, because only Arthur is punished for his actions. Do you think the discipline was fair? In a sense, I think I have to agree with the sentiments of the general public that D.W. pretty much got away with murder, so to speak: I mean, he told her REPEATEDLY not to touch the plane, and she breaks it when she tries to fly it out the window, Arthur is so mad he ends up punching her, which sends her running and screaming to their parents.
The parents insist Arthur apologize to D.W., which he refuses to as he feels it's him who is owed an apology, and as a result, Arthur is grounded for a week. Yeah, sure, Arthur punching his little sister was bad, he shouldn't have done that, but why doesn't D.W. receive any kind of discipline as well? She WAS told repeatedly not to touch the plane, and she BROKE it... Arthur's told to apologize to D.W. and is grounded for punching her, yet D.W. isn't told to apologize to Arthur or receives any kind of punishment (even a milder one) for breaking the plane he worked hard on. Even towards the end, they do finally apologize to one another, but we also end up with this exchange:
D.W.: But what kind of a plane doesn't fly?
ARTHUR: A MODEL plane.
D.W.: Well I didn't know that, I'm just a child, give me a break!
She DID know that, Arthur explained to her at the beginning it wasn't a toy, it was a model... and she doesn't deserve a break, she already had one.