Follow TV Tropes

Following

Recap / Littlest Pet Shop 2012 S 1 E 12 So You Skink You Can Dance

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lps-episode12_3047.png
"Vinnie, why don't you go dance for them? Maybe they'll put you on TV!"

Written by M.A. Larson (as Mitchell Larson in the ending credits)

The episode begins with an Imagine Spot of a 100-foot Vinnie, who seeks out Blythe and the Littlest Pet Shop regulars one by one, demanding for the remote control. Eventually, Pepper finds the remote and brings it back to Vinnie, who immediately calms down and watches Shake-A-Leg, a dance competition show he's a big fan of. Blythe, having noticed there is a DVR in the room, asks why they don't use it—Pepper points out that Russell has hogged it solely for The Duchess of Lancashire Lane.

Seeing Vinnie's excitement whenever he watches, Blythe lets him know they're heading west and asks Vinnie if he'd like to see Shake-A-Leg live in Hollywood. Vinnie gets extremely excited over the thought, making a mess of the day camp room even further. Blythe brings Vinnie onboard the trip, courtesy of Blythe's father Roger, and Vinnie subsequently makes a ruckus in his pet carrier the entire way through. Once at the set, Blythe and Vinnie split off from the tour group, where Vinnie name-drops the dancers to Blythe. Blythe tells Vinnie she'd like to be on camera just this once but regrets that she is incredibly camera-shy. Nevertheless, Blythe tries for some autographs from the dancers.

Without Vinnie, the other pets try to think of ways to keep the remote control in one place so Vinnie can always easily retrieve it. Minka puts it in an air conditioning vent, a location impossible for anyone to reach except her. She then realizes it's a bad idea when the air conditioner turns on, the gust of air knocking the remote control away and sending her crashing down. Pepper proposes the "Peppermatic 2000," a bedside desk to put the remote on any time someone finishes using it. Pepper's penchant for pranks gets the best of her, however, as Russell discovers she glued it to the desk, rendering it unusable without moving the entire desk around with it.

After Blythe obtains autographs from all of the dancers, she suggests seeing if the judges might like his performance. Vinnie scurries over to the judges' tables and starts dancing frantically. Unfortunately, when they see him perform, they absolutely chew him out and critically tear him apart. Heartbroken, he returns to Blythe with the bad news, then sulks into another room.

Back at the Littlest Pet Shop, Penny suggests taking a leash and tying the remote to it, but everyone else dismisses it as dumb. During this time, Zoe had already disposed of the TV as her solution under the impression that because Vinnie wrecks the room when he can't watch his TV show, she'd just remove the problem by removing the TV. Russell points out that it won't stop Vinnie from wanting to watch Shake-A-Leg and that he'd become even more destructive. Unable to properly reply to that, Zoe retrieves the TV with the help of Minka, Sunil, and Pepper. However, once they plug it in, no one knows how to navigate the startup menu, and they are once again stuck.

Blythe sees Vinnie throwing his autographed photos away. Figuring what transpired, she offers to make Vinnie some dance clothes in hopes of allowing the judges to take Vinnie more seriously. At that very moment, however, Karina Tatarov has gone on vacation, throwing the dancers for a loop, particularly Igor Posokhov, who was assigned to dance with Tartarov for that episode. The P.A. spots Blythe holding her dress she got at the gift shop and forces her onstage as the new Tartarov. The P.A. ignores Blythe's pleas that she's never danced and she's afraid of being on camera, and the staff drags her away screaming. Vinnie says that he's no good at dancing either and heads outside.

Before long, a chameleon overhears Vinnie's protests of frustration. He introduces himself as L-Zard and brings Vinnie to his group of breakdancing lizards. At first, Vinnie is overwhelmed by their moves, but after Skink-a-dink-a-dinkity-dink turns on the music, he can't help but dance in perfect lockstep with them. L-Zard says that he's good enough for "that dance show," upon which Vinnie realizes Blythe needs his help.

Vinnie makes it back to the studio just in time, with assistance from L-Zard's crew, for Blythe to appear onstage—and just in time for Russell to get to the end of the TV's startup menu so the pets can see Blythe on TV. Vinnie goes under Blythe's dress and coordinates where she goes, leading to a flawless number that the audiences and judged love alike, though Blythe and Igor Posokhov alike are in constant panic not knowing what's going on. Seeing the 10s from the judges, Blythe steps back onstage for a bow, having forgotten the cameras were there.

Back at the Littlest Pet Shop, Pepper tells Blythe that they showed the episode twice, so Pepper recorded it for Blythe—only for Russell to realize she taped over a major episode of The Duchess of Lancashire Lane, chasing Pepper out of the room.

This episode contains examples of (YMMV entries go here):

  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Roger turns out to be just as excited to see the Shake-A-Leg set as Vinnie.
  • Armor-Piercing Question
    Russell (to Zoe): Vinnie goes crazy when he can't find the remote, right? What do you think he'll do when he can't find the TV!?
  • Beehive Hairdo: Blythe's hair is redone into this in Act 3, as this is apparently how Karina Tatarov's hair normally looks like.
  • Big "NO!": As Blythe gets dragged by the production team onto the stage, adding "cameras" to the end.
  • Bland-Name Product: Shake-A-Leg seems to amalgamate a bunch of reality dance shows such as So You Think You Can Dance (which this episode is named after, of course), Dancing with the Stars, and America's Got Talent.
  • Break the Cutie: Vinnie does not take being criticized by the judges well.
  • Brick Joke: Near the beginning of the episode, Pepper talks about the DVR totally filled up with episodes of The Duchess of Lancashire Lane. On the final scene, Pepper says she recorded the episode of Shake-A-Leg where Blythe was on, and it takes Russell a moment to realize she recorded over one of those episodes, causing Russell to freak out.
  • Broken Pedestal: Standard par with this sort of episode, Vinnie spends his time throwing away his autographed photos after what the judges said to him.
  • Buffy Speak: Zoe refers to the TV stand as the "wheelie cart thingy."
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: The only possible way to explain why Vinnie can hold up Blythe, let alone for as long as he does.
  • Chekhov's Gun: All three of the male dancers are shown, but only two of the female dancers. For some reason, Vinnie does not list Karina Tatarov, who is needed for the day's show.
  • Continuity Nod: The opening shot shows the cab driver whom Roger cut off in "Blythe's Big Adventure Part 1." The following shot also contains Mary Frances's owner (although without the grey alien design on his shirt).
    • Also from "Russell Up Some Fun," Russell makes a mess of the day camp room, albeit very briefly and involving only three objects.
    • The dolls on the shelf in the upper-left corner when Roger films a young Blythe performing magic tricks are the dolls Blythe would mutilate in "Bad Hair Day."
  • A Day in the Limelight: While this is not the only episode where Vinnie gets a story, this is Vinnie's only A-plot in the season. He is also the last Littlest Pet Shop regular to receive a key role in an episode, though not the last one to receive a central role—that would be Sunil.
  • Hate Sink: The judges who tell Vinnie off and tell him how a lizard should dance, leading him to temporarily believe he knows nothing about dancing.
  • Hyperventilation Bag: Blythe breathes in and out of a paper bag to keep from freaking out.
  • Imagine Spot: This episode begins with one, with no context given beforehand.
  • Kaiju: Vinnie in the opening Imagine Spot.
  • Laughing Mad: Roger's excitement being on the set eventually turns into this, cackling maniacally with an armful of Shake-A-Leg merchandise.
  • Lost the TV Remote: Vinnie goes on a rampage in the day camp looking for it. According to Sunil, this happens weekly.
  • Odd Name Out: Averted. Vinnie lists the dancers on the show. All the males are named Igor, and all of the females are named Karina. Despite them having Russian last names, they do not follow Russian naming conventions, likely because they are parodic exaggerations.
  • The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Averted for this episode—this is the first and, until the season finale, the only time we see Roger as an airplane pilot. This is also the only time this season he is shown mid-flight.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl: Vinnie's Squee when Blythe invites him to watch a live screening of Shake-A-Leg.
  • Shout-Out:
  • The Show Goes Hollywood
  • Spit Take: One of the judges upon seeing Vinnie, for no real reason.
  • Totem Pole Trench: Blythe is actually on Vinnie's shoulders when she's "dancing," though this is an unusual variant due to the tremendous size difference between Vinnie and Blythe.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: After Vinnie demonstrates himself to the judges, they don't seem impressed or even confused. They tear apart Vinnie's dancing like they would any human dancer as if they see dancing animals every day. Though considering the talents animals have in this universe, they actually might.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: The episode never shows the resolution to the B-plot about the remote control—either they didn't find a solution or it's resolved offscreen. Considering Vinnie is watching Shake-A-Leg with the room neat and organized, they most likely figured out a way to keep the remote where Vinnie can easily find it. They also managed to change the language back to English.

Top