1001 Animations: Arnold's Christmas

Show: Hey Arnold!
Episode: 11
Year: 1996

Writer(s): Steve Viksten


If there was ever an episode I could call one of the greatest Christmas episodes ever made, Arnold's Christmas would be it. Fundementally I consider this Nickelodeon's crowning achievement of holiday specials next to Rugrats' "Mother's Day"; like, they're in the exact same league in terms of being massive tearjerkers. The premise is very simple: Arnold tries to make Mr. Hyunn's Christmas wish come true as his secret Santa by finding his long-lost daughter Mai. Sounds easy right? Just look her up in the phone book or, y'know go to the department of information; the problem? Mr. Hyunn hasn't seen Mai since she was a baby, back in the Vietnam War!


Yeah, this episode actually gives us Mr. Hyunn's origin in how he came to America, why he moved to Hillwood and the Sunset Arms Boarding House to begin with. As the fighting during the final years of the war in Saigon were getting closer to his village, Hyunn knew this wouldn't be a good place to raise a baby. So, when the very last helicopter taking refugees out of the country was ready for ONE LAST PASSENGER Hyunn gave up his daughter to be raised in America. In essence he missed out on 30+ years of Mai's life as she grew up just to give her a chance to live a wonderful life. Can you honestly say you'd do the same for your own child? And the music during that flashback is what really nails it home as being one of the saddest moments in Nicktoons history, and I STILL can't find it on YouTube after 20 years!


This shit is BOLD! And it's remarkably refreshing from all the Christmas specials that involve saving Christmas and believing in Santa Claus. Hey Arnold! was always good at being able to covey these heavy yet relatable issues to both kids and adults alike without dumbing things down for its younger viewers. This is a kid on a mission to reunite a broken and realistically war-torn family and it's played compeletly straight without a hint of cynicism, but a lot of realistic despair in the event Arnold does fail. Speaking of despair we also have major involvement from Arnold's bully/secret admirer Helga, who only wants to give Arnold the biggest flashiest present she can just to profess her love and later beat the ever loving shit out of him for it because she's all about dem presents! 


Now, a lot of things in this episode don't make a lot of sense even for a cartoon as down to earth as Hey Arnold!. Why can't Arnold just continue his search AFTER the holidays? Especially since Mr. Hyunn has been searching for nearly 30 years? It would be so much easier to get information on this woman, who PROBABLY didn't even keep her maiden name into her adulthood after the last day before Christmas when everything comes down to the wire. But that's why this kinda setup works so well! Arnold is the type of kid who would take on this type of miraculous bullshit because as we all know he lives and BREATHES Christmas spirit as if he's Jesus Christ himself! As a cartoon I can accept this kinda thing really well, but that's a lot of pressure to put on a kid!


But it's the last 3rd of the episode that makes this Hey Arnold!'s greatest ever! What we see unfold is a true act of selfless dedication and admiration from Helga to assisst Arnold in his goal to locate Mai, and nobody will ever know what she did for him... This is one of the best examples of the trope "What You Are in the Dark" that I've ever seen next to the Steven Universe episode "Bismuth" of course. She willingly sacrificed the gift she wanted more than anything, a very rare pair of Nancy Spumoni snow boots, THE LAST IN THE ENTIRE CITY just to give Arnold the last item he needed to exchange for someone to complete their own Christmas for the information he needed. If there was ever any proof that Helga genuinely loves Arnold as more than a confused Stalker, this is it!


Hey Arnold! is owned by Nickelodeon and Viacom.

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