After 25 years, the PBS kids series Arthur came to an end … but not without giving millennials who grew up with the series a nostalgic moment. We got to see Arthur and his buds all grown up, y’all! In the series finale of Arthur, the titular character and his friends Buster, Francine, and Muffy find a fortune-telling game called “Oskar the Oracle Octopus” in a library storage room. Think Jumanji meets Big. They get hints about what’s going to happen to them in the future, and the end of the episode flashes forward to what actually happens.
Here’s what happens to them, and a few other Arthur characters we see in the future, as well. (Spoiler alert: They don’t show us what happens to Brain or Prunella. Rude!)
Binky is a weatherman
First, I love this for Binky. We only see him briefly on a television in the background.
Muffy is running for Mayor
Oskar said that Muffy would become a public servant. Buster thinks this means she’s destined to become a mail carrier. Muffy isn’t too pleased by this idea. However, Arthur reminds her that “public servant” could also mean she goes into politics. Fortunately for Muffy’s ego, that is what happens.
Buster is an English teacher
That’s what the game predicts, and that’s exactly what happens! At first, he’s anxious about having to teach one of the subjects he doesn’t like … but it clearly works out. He’s clearly well-suited to encouraging creativity as an English teacher.
D.W. is a cop
ACAB means Arthur’s little sister. That’s … a choice. Do you feel betrayed? Do you feel vindicated? It seems she found a way to get paid to be “bossy.” Not only do we see her giving out parking tickets, but she’s also weirdly flirting with Bud Compson while writing him up. Pick a lane, D.W., please! We don’t see what Bud does other than drive a motorcycle.
George owns the Sugar Bowl
That’s the name of the ice cream/coffee shop and hang-out spot on Arthur, if you forgot. Respectable.
Francine
Next, the game tells Francine that she will be a “business person”—and Francine becomes immediately burnt out just thinking about a cubicle office job. Regardless, Francine does become a business person. She runs her own sneaker company! She also has a Che Diaz haircut that the internet is obsessed with.
Arthur is a graphic novelist
Lastly, like Jo March and Jughead Jones before him, Arthur is the character in the story who ends up telling the story. The game breaks before Arthur can learn his destiny, but on his way out of the library, a stranger encourages him to draw animals. (Does Arthur know that he’s an animal? Don’t think about it too much.) In the future, he’s about to publish his first graphic novel about his childhood. The first story, like the first episode of Arthur, is about how he got his glasses. It’s a full-circle moment.
(images: PBS)
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