Hey Arnold: Helga and Olga Pataki

To put it mildly, Helga’s older sister is an overachiever. She’s gotten straight A’s since the 3rd grade and was her teachers’ favorite student. And because she has her own trophy room, her and Helga’s parents put her on a pedestal impossible for Helga to live up to. She has trouble getting her parents’ attention on a normal day, but when Olga is around, she disappears completely into the background.
Because of this, Helga has resented her sister her whole life. But even when she has the chance to get back at her, she ultimately decides to do the right thing and averts disaster.
If memory serves me right, every instance of this occurrence comes after Helga is honest with Arnold about what’s happening and he advises her to do the right thing.

In general, Olga is a really good person. She may get straight A’s, but she’s not vain or stuck up when it comes to her accomplishments. So while it’s a little fun (in a sadistic way) to imagine how things could change in the Pataki household if some sort of tragedy befell Olga, she doesn’t deserve to be.
She’s also the only member of the family who Isn’t dismissive of Helga. She may get caught up in her own stuff with her parents, but it’s clear she cares about her and values her opinions.

Olga Comes Home

This is my favorite episode from season one. For the storyline and the heart to heart moment that closes it out. When the series was in its early stages, I saw it more than any other episode.

Olga’s home from college and Helga is dreading it. She knows she’ll fade into the background and have to suffer through her stories about doing well in her classes or having trouble deciding between boyfriends.
Then when her grades from Wellington College get mailed to the house, Helga opens them to find (to her further annoyance) she got straight A’s for the umpteenth time.
“As usual? She always gets straight A’s! She’s like a freak or something. I bet if she got even one B, she’d go ballistic. Like that’s gonna happen…”

Well… Helga takes matters into her own hands and makes that happen.
Olga reads down her list of grades at the dinner table and sees a B+ next to Elizabethan poetry.

Olga: “I can’t believe it.”
Miriam: “It’s not that bad, dear.”
Olga: “(Voice breaking) yes it is. It’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to me… may I be excused? (Runs off, sobbing)”
Helga: “(Nonchalantly) Mother, may I say the soup is exquisite?”

Gotta admit, that scene’s pretty funny. So over the top!

Olga has the curtains drawn in her room and is sobbing under the covers as sad opera music plays.
Helga is there, pouring on some sarcasm about how she feels bad and how when you get old, the brain cells are the first thing to go. She doesn’t pick up on any of this. She just laments she’d never even got an A-.
Her parents look on, having different reactions. Miriam says to leave her alone and she’s allowed to mope all day. ("Sure she can.... I do..."). Big Bob insists he’ll find a way to snap her out of it. Not only do his attempts fail, Helga winds up reaping the benefits. Including having a box of chocolates to herself and going to see a play that’s near impossible to get tickets for.

Now I’m kinda wondering- that one trophy Olga never won, was she in this state over that too and lavish gifts were an insta-cure?
I’m not a parent, but that’s probably not the best way to remedy the situation. One person probably screamed at the TV to contact the school to see if a mistake was made… they could’ve done that too.
But based on a later episode and just my knowledge of the series as a whole, the Patakis aren’t good at talking things out. That’s what would’ve helped with this.

I was never a straight A student except for one semester in college. I regularly got A’s and B’s. I don’t think I ever got that depressed when I got less than that. Although I was too busy freaking out about getting yelled at for not studying, trying hard enough or asking for help before things got bad.
I remember one time in 3rd grade when I was mad at myself for getting my first B. My teacher talked to me and said not to be hard myself about it. A’s and B’s were perfectly fine. So I stopped worrying about it.
I don’t think the show was around yet when that happened but I can relate very strongly to the story. More on that later.

Helga confesses to Arnold (after he asks why she’s in a good mood) she did that and he said how it was kinda mean. Also about how he wished he had a brother or sister and thought those relationships were special. I think she rebuffs him and he leaves. But he gave her a lot to think about.
Back home, her parents are defeated and depressed because they don’t know what else to do and don’t want to spend time with her. Helga groans how Olga still managed to ruin everything even after she got her out of the way and goes to sleep.

She dreams of being in a desert full of Dali's melting clocks and Olga’s crying in the wind. She comes across an angel- Arnold. He says she must do the right thing so she can get out of that weird place.
Then a random exchange before she wakes up.
“Wait, I have one more question. What’s it like to fly?”
“(Nonchalantly) eh, it’s ok…”

So Helga busts into Olga’s room and confesses everything. Then she tells her to go tell their parents what she did.
After considering it for a moment, Olga says she’s not going to tell them.
She gives a really good speech to explain why and we get a look into what it’s like to be her. 

"There's no angle, Helga. They don't have to know everything that goes on between us. You must think I'm lucky. I have to perform all the time like a wind-up doll. I get really sick of it. You're lucky they don't even notice you."

I can relate to this very strongly as well. Since I was the older sister and I showed I could be occasionally brilliant in school, a lot of pressure was put on me to maintain that. It wasn't always easy and I certainly wasn't perfect. And I was kinda jealous my younger sister didn't have quite as much attention on her. 

This is such a great sister moment on the show. I love it so much… but it makes kinda mad that Olga’s other appearances make it seem like it never happened.
On top of that, they modified her character so she’s a habitual crybaby and she’s just over the top cheerful all the time. It’s like someone took the intensity scale and cranked it from 5 to 11.
But what doesn’t change is that she’ll listen to Helga when she has something important to talk to her about. But I can see why some people watching the series might found her annoying.

Big Sis

This is her last appearance in the series but it’s germane to the previous sentence.
Anyone who found Olga and Lila annoying for being super cheerful, kind and perfect… strap yourselves in because they get to meet and spend a lot of time together.
One time she’s home from college, Olga enrolls in a big sis/little sis program. Initially when Helga hears about this, she’s super excited because it means Olga will be out of her hair and hanging out with someone else. But when that someone else winds up being Lila, oh boy…
Had it been anyone else, she wouldn’t have cared but because the two of them are so similar, Helga kinda feels like her sister might prefer Lila to her.

She gets so sick of seeing the two of them pal around together she tries to sabotage their outings. Like stealing their play tickets or disrupting their carriage ride in the park. But they luck out each time. The carriage ride, I think Lila actually jumps on the horse and calms it down.

Sometime during this, Arnold finds out what’s going on and makes Helga realize she’s going through all this trouble because she’s jealous. And he says to be honest with Olga about it.
So she comes clean, Olga says they have a special sisterly bond nobody can get in the way of, and the three of them go on a boat ride together. But after one chorus of “Moonlight Bay,” Helga decides she can’t take it and dog paddles back to shore. Then after a long pause after they finish singing, Olga asks “oh my, where’s Helga?” and the screen goes to black.

Student Teacher
My memory isn’t as good with this one. Basically, Olga student teaches Mr. Simmons class and between the attention she draws and the embarrassing stories she tell about her, Helga isn’t a fan. 
In the end, she convinces her to student teach in Alaska because that’s as far away as she can get her. But she still comes back to visit at a later time…

Olga Gets Engaged

One semester Olga comes home from college, she reveals she met a handsome boy and is dropping out to marry him.
Her parents flip out. Miriam even comments “don’t make the same mistake I made”… so that’s a little telling right there.

They meet Doug and don’t like him at all. He tries to reassure her that they need time to adjust and Big Bob turns that comment into a threat. She runs away crying and Doug goes after her.
Helga tells her to run away with him and get married anyway. Olga laments, “mommy and daddy will be furious” and for a split second, Helga gleans, “I know…” but says she’ll come around with a ladder so she can climb down. Olga is touched, thinking they’re finally bonding.

But as Helga gets the ladder set up, she overhears Doug talking to both of her parents. He and her dad bond over football and his dream is to open an appliance store chain. With her mom, she says she was an Olympic class swimmer, he says he was an Olympic class diver. Helga remarks to herself, “Olympic class liar, you mean…”

And she winds up being completely right. His plan is to marry Olga and inherit the beeper empire and take them for everything they have.
Of course she only reveals this to Arnold when Doug is busy smoozing their classmates. Saying Olga is clueless and she’ll get what she deserves. He then says something that sticks with her “If she’s your sister and she’s in trouble, you should do something about it.” She rolls her eyes essentially “hey who asked you anyway?” And he walks off saying “ok, forget I even mentioned it, Helga.”

She has a daydream during dinner of Olga’s future. She and Doug live in this small crammed apartment with dirty laundry and dishes everywhere. Apparently he’s going to Mars and leaves her alone. Her family is visiting and completely unsympathetic when she starts sobbing.
Her dad says “you ruined your life and now you have to live with it” and her mom says “why can’t you be more like Helga? She’s brilliant.”
Olga hears her laughing about something and asks what and of course she says nothing.

But on wedding day, that guilty conscience sets in. Olga muses how she’ll be Mrs. Doug LaSham… yeah that’s his name, kind of a red flag, huh?
Olga says how it meant so much to her that Helga liked Doug because she’s really good at judging people. She hugs her saying she’s glad she’s her sister and couldn’t ask for a better one.

Helga leaves the room and bemoans “I was so close!”
She finds Doug talking to another girl (possibly girlfriend) on the phone and says the jig is up. He says nobody will believe her because everyone knows she’s just jealous of Olga. But she says she can just hit redial and blow his cover with his other girl.
After she recites Arnold’s advice back at him, he says he did like her even if he didn’t love her. And she offers to tie up any loose ends when he leaves. She writes a really romantic note, signing his name at the bottom.
Olga cries over it and it gets so bad Helga tells her to suck it up and stop being a crybaby.

Again, another huge what if. Would Helga’s daydream have become reality if she stood by and did nothing? Maybe not being called brilliant but her parents refusing to help her…
But really, nobody deserves to get conned by that guy…