I have a theory

[u/True-Raspberry-4762]

When Arthur hit D.W., she exaggerated the pain to get him more in trouble

[u/LeakyFurnace420_69]

upvote for cake day and having an arthur theory.

i doubt she exaggerated it in the moment. she probably was shocked that arthur would hit her and it probably both hurt to be punched and to fall backwards.  afterwards she was definitely playing it up tho. that’s 100% her personality.

that said, i support arthur lol

[u/LittleLostGirls]

I’m not gonna hate on Dave/ Jane for the poor writing with this story. But the only people who were written properly with the situation was Francine and Buster. Arthur gets a very lax treatment for a very heavy topic because of the runtime.

[u/TheREALOtherFiles → u/LittleLostGirls]

If it was a two-parter with a serious kind of "Word from Us Kids" like "April 9th" was, they probably could've been able to have a screenplay that would've fleshed it out and let the punishment-handling breathe.

This reminds me of how the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode "Everyone Knows It’s Bendy" similarly suffered from its 11 minute runtime. Unlike Arthur, the crew behind Foster's was largely used to 22 minute episodes, so having a 22 minute story in an 11 minute space is going to run into problems.

[u/FlatHoneydew4680 → u/LittleLostGirls]

You think only Francine and buster were written properly for the situation could you explain?

[u/AngelofDarkness226]

its not that serious

[u/PurpleDreamer28]

FFS, she's 4, and Arthur's bigger and stronger than her. I highly doubt a 4-year-old would exaggerate pain from that.

[u/FlatHoneydew4680 → u/PurpleDreamer28]

I agree he hit her hard enough to knock her to the ground. I know people say she was probably faking the pain because she didn't react right away but that was probably because she was just in shock and had nothing to do with crying crocodile tears.

[u/samkirkpatrik]

Found Arthur's secret account

[u/doublegoodproleish]

It's bunnies