While Jade and the Guardians prepare to put on a play at school, Caleb is lured into a trap on Meridian.
- Canon Welding:
- In this version of the origins of the Heart of Kandrakar, Shendu was the evil emperor whom the four dragons and Xin Jing defied. After the Heart was created, Xin Jing's friend Lo Pei discovered it and used it to enhance his chi magic in order to turn Shendu to stone.
- Sandpit was brought to life by Wong's magic.
- Color-Coded Wizardry: When Lo Pei used the Heart of Kandrakar to enhance his chi magic, it briefly changed its color from pink to green. Same thing happens when Will chants Uncle's traditional "Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao" incantation during the play's reenactment of that scene.
- Composite Character: Shendu takes the role of the Jade Emperor in the tale of how the Heart of Kandrakar was created.
- Defector from Decadence: The four strongest members of Shendu's dragon army grew weary of their master's oppressive ways, but they continued serving him until Xin Jing begged them to help China's suffering people.
- Evil Is Cool: In-Universe, Jade thinks this of Shendu, and is thrilled to play as him in a school play.Will: Seriously, didn't he try to kill you and Jackie like, multiple times?Jade: Well yeah, he's evil, but the dude has some serious edge.
- Fix Fic: Instead of the girls having to go to Torus Filney to rescue Caleb from Sandpit and leave their Astral Drops to botch their play, the rescue is done by Jackie, Uncle, Tohru, Viper and Yan Lin instead, allowing the Guardians and Jade (and Blunk) to perform their play without a hitch.
- Foreshadowing: During the play, while reciting the part where Lo Pei used the Heart to turn Shendu to stone, the actual Heart reacts to the chant. This will end up playing an important part in the season's climax.
- Giant Flyer: Tohru uses the Monkey Talisman to turn himself into a giant hawk, a form that he uses to carry all the people trapped by Sandpit.
- If Only You Knew: When Principal Knickerbocker congratulates the girls for their play, she comments that Jade played her role of Shendu so well that it's almost as if she knew her character.
- Laser-Guided Karma: When the four dragons turned on Shendu by helping humans, he sealed them inside mountains and forced them to watch helplessly as he massacred all life in a valley. Years later, he was encased in stone when Lo Pei cast on him a spell which was amplified with the Heart of Kandrakar that was created by Xin Jing combining the four dragons' spirits with her own.
- Literally Shattered Lives: The Dragon and Pig Talismans are used to turn Sandpit to glass while it's trapped by Yan Lin's tornado. The glass tornado then falls over and shatters into pieces.
- The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: Jade says that as evil as Shendu is, he has some serious edge, which she decides to incorporate while portraying him in a school play.
- Token Good Teammate: The four dragons who would become involved in the creation of the Heart of Kandrakar were originally this to Shendu's army.
- Too Much Information: Cornelia's reaction to Blunk saying that a dragon once bit his uncle's butt off.
- We Can Rule Together: After Shendu imprisoned the four dragons, he demanded Xin Jing to submit to him because he wanted the incredibly powerful nymph on his side. She refused and turned herself as well as the four dragons into the Heart of Kandrakar.
- What the Hell, Hero?: After Caleb is rescued from Sandpit, he's scolded for recklessly running into Phobos' trap without consulting the rest of the heroes.
