As a child watching "Diff'rent Strokes," I loved the show and I was a huge fan of Gary Coleman. Especially when he played in the movie "Playing With Fire."
As I sit back and have "Reflections" about the show, I'm gonna write about things about Arnold's character. Things that many people may have overlooked and didn't observed.
Many remember Arnold as being a wild, crazy and fun kid, but he was also sassy, smart, outspoken, smart and had common sense.
In the first episode, his brother Willis didn't want to live his their new father who happened to be their late mother's boss who took them in at her request. He felt that Mr. Drummond was trying to buy their love and affection with money and fancy gifts. After Willis express how he felt, Mr. Drummond apologized and when he left, Arnold decided to let Willis have it. When Willis told Arnold not to speak to him, Arnold replied by saying is this a word and stuck out his tongue and spat at him.
He also reminded Willis that if their mother was alive, she would have his behind and he told him that he was wrong for being disrespectful to Mr. Drummond who she asked to care of them. He also told him that he wasn't being fair to Momma, Mr. Drummond and him. Willis later apologized.
Another episode comes to mind is when their cousin came to visit the boys and tried to fake an accident to gain money from them When Willis took Arnold upstairs to their bedroom, he tried to break it down what was happening, and Arnold told him about their cousin's plan to rip off their dad.
Arnold was known for snooping into his brother's and sister's business, and when Mr. Drummond told him not to be telling their business, he decided to sneak into their bedroom and hide under the bed with his tape recorder to tape their conversation. He wound up getting more than an ear-full when he learned that Kimberly's boyfriend at the time didn't want his sister to attend a dance with Willis because he was Black.
When Willis' date called to cancel, Arnold spilled the beans that had Phillip, Willis and Kimberly mad. They decided to get even; when the moron came to pick her up, Kimberly strolled the stairs of their penthouse wearing brown make-up that had her date upset to the point where he demanded she change her costume.
Kimberly asked him how did he feel if he was Black. He tried to denied he was prejudice and when Arnold told him he had the proof, he was shocked. Especially when Willis and Phillip told him about himself and when Kimberly showed him the door.
Arnold was also known for giving people a piece of his mind. Especially when his back was against the wall and when he was accused of something he didn't do
One episode was when this bully had asked him to look after his girlfriend while he was away. To save his life, he did everything he could, including paying males who found her attractive and being his outgoing self. She was so impressed that she fell for him and left a letter in his locker telling him that she wanted to be with him. When the thug found out he planned to attack Arnold physically and the next day in school he forced Arnold into a closet, and while Arnold was afraid, he decided that since his back was against the wall, he was going to fight him back anyway he could. Even if it meant coming out with some bruises. It didn't happen. Instead Arnold told him that in order for people to respect him that he had remove that chip from his shoulder and give people the opportunity to get to know him and to stop bullying people. He also told him that he had to love, trust and respect him girlfriend because if he didn't she was going to leave him for somebody else.
Another episode that comes to mind was when a white student who tried to pressure Arnold into drinking. Arnold decided to give in at first, but after a talk with his father, he changed his mind and confronted the kid. who left the bathroom. When Arnold tried to hide the bottle of booze, his teacher came in and assumed that Arnold was the one with the drinking problem so he called his father and ordered them to attend a meeting with the school's drug counselor. He took the heat, but when he saw the kid in the bathroom, he decided that he wasn't going to take the fall, so not only did he confront him, he grabbed the bottle from him, poured it down the drain and told him he had to get help. The kid wound up improving his grades.
During the show, he always had a conflict with a Black girl named Lisa who always thought she was better than everybody. Lisa and Arnold used to but heads and though she was a female, he would give her a piece of her mind. One time he got so fed up with her that he decided to play a trick on her; he decided to tamper with her science project, until he, Dudley and Robbie learned that their substitute Science teacher was her mother. Fearing that Lisa would convince her to give him a low grade, he decided not to, but after hiding under the desk, Arnold learned that Darling Lisa wasn't as tough as she acted. When Lisa entered the class to snitch on the other student's playing in the hallway, her mother confronted her about tattling on other children and causing problems. She also reminded her about the talk she had with her after her father died, and that she needed to focus on school and to look after her younger siblings. Arnold decided to with his evil plan and he felt guilty after the expression on her face after the other students (who didn't like her shady attitude) laughed at her. Arnold later spoke to his father who told her that he was wrong and needed to apologize to her. Arnold tried to speak to Lisa's mother about not being too strict on her. He was rebuffed, so he decided to write a silly story about the love between a frog and it's toads.
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