Year produced: 2022
Original air date: 4/8/23 (TV), 4/12/23 (Disney+)
Production code: 112
Lunella attempts to give Casey a bat mitzvah to rival that of her rich cousins, but the social media recognition and the presence of a famous influencer threatens to tear apart their friendship.
Tropes:
- Accidental Truth: While trying to comfort Casey about her triplet cousins one-upping her, Lunella tells her that she could throw an incredible party with nothing but $3 and a jar of pickles. Her dads then share that Casey actually has done that in the past; her sixth birthday party, to be exact.
- Actor Allusion: At the end of the episode, Odessa Drake is arrested by Sam Wilson. Her actor Anna Akana previously played a contact of Sam Wilson in Ant-Man.
- Always Someone Better: Casey is known for her lavish parties — her sixth birthday made the style section of the newspaper. But she's nervous about making her Bat Mitzvah spectacular because she wants to top the one thrown by her three cousins.
- An Aesop: Casey learns to put her friendship with Lunella over the social media fame Moon Girl brings.
- As the Good Book Says...: Casey claims to quote the Talmud by saying there's No Such Thing as Bad Publicity. Rabbi Ryda quietly denounces this as untrue in the background.
- Ate It All: Devil jumps in to help Moon Girl fight Odessa but gets distracted by the Bat Mitzvah buffet. By the time the ceremony is over and everyone is heading to the buffet, Devil has devoured it all, and is currently drinking from the chocolate fountain.
- Bad Review Threat: Odessa threatens to give Casey's Bat Mitzvah a scathing review as revenge for being thwarted. Fortunately, Casey's triplet cousins take away her phone and smash it before she can post it.
- Big Entrance: Casey's entrance to her Bat Mitzvah involves Moon Girl announcing her arrival, coming in on Devil Dinosaur with a spotlight on her, being carried to the ground by Moon Girl, and doing pirouette before walking down the red carpet. One of her fathers even lampshades this trope.
- Birthday Episode: The episode is focused on Casey’s Bat Mitzvah.
- The Cameo: Sam Wilson / Captain America appears at the end of the episode to deal with Odessa Drake.
- Chekhov's Gag: While working on the chocolate fountain in the cafeteria, Lunella sets it too high and it shoots chocolate sauce everywhere. Later, during her fight with Odessa, Moon Girl remembers this and sets the fountain all the way, creating a distraction that gives her the upper hand.
- Creepy Twins: Casey's cousins (Lara, Laura and Laurel) are a triplet trio who always seem cold and snobby. However, at the end they help her defeat the villain and compliment her bat mitzvah.
- A Day in the Limelight: While the episode starts from Moon Girl's perspective (with her and Devil Dinosaur chasing Rockin' Rudy), the majority of the episode focuses on Casey, and how her obsession with her Bat Mitzvah having the approval of her online followers hurts her friendship with Lunella (as she's using Moon Girl to keep the crowd entertained and thus basically bars Lunella from actually attending).
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- The Beyonder may be a Reality Warper and completely indifferent to how his experiments treat the people involved, but he is disgusted at Odessa for stealing the gear of superheroes, ordering the viewers to unfollow her.
- Odessa might be a thief trying to steal superhero tech but even she respects the temple's rule against playing music during Shabbos.
- Despite their tension, the triplets draw the line at having a villain like Odessa ruin their cousin's reputation.
- Foreshadowing:
- As Casey talks about Odessa Drake accepting her invitation, the flashback shows Odessa looking sinisterly at the picture of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur on her phone, hinting at the real reason she's attending.
- Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers' successor to the Captain America moniker and shield, is foreshadowed by the hit flashes of Moon Girl's fight with Odessa being Captain America's shield.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Moon Girl knocks out Odessa, there's a half-second flash of the star from the impact coming from Captain America's shield.
- Funny Background Event: Casey refutes Odessa's Bad Review Threat by quoting the Talmud saying there's No Such Thing as Bad Publicity. Rabbi Ryda leans into the frame shaking her head that this is very much not true.
- Gilligan Cut: Casey hopes that her triplet cousins won't be coming to her bat mitzvah. Cut to the following day, where Casey finds out that the triples are indeed coming.
- Groin Attack: Rocking Rudy drives his car under Devil and hits him in the groin. Instead of showing it, there's an insert shot of a round pinata breaking.
- Heel Realization: Casey realizes that she's hurting her friendship with Lunella when she sees the pictures in the photo booth showing the two yelling at each other before Moon Girl storms off.
- I Always Wanted to Say That: Casey's response to crumpling up her bat mitzvah speech.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Casey expressing her hope maybe the triplets won't come, then smash cut to her finding out the triplets are coming.
- Is the Answer to This Question "Yes"?: Moon Girl responds to a question by asking if electrons are subatomic particles. Seeing Casey's and Odessa's expressions, she tells them they are.
- Left the Background Music On: Just as Moon Girl turns on her cassette player for thrilling music in her epic battle, she's promptly chastised for playing loud music in the middle of the bat mitzvah. She and Odessa settle for sharing a pair of cordless earbuds instead.
- Mirror Boss: In the third act, Odessa steals Moon Girl's gear and fights her with it.
- Mythology Gag: The music that plays when Sam Wilson appears to handle Drake is none other than Alan Silvestri’s score from The Avengers (2012). Sam himself took up the Captain America name and shield at the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
- Ninja Prop: Casey gets so many pop-up likes that she has to push them aside to see her phone.
- Politically Incorrect Villain:
- When encouraging Casey to become an influencer like her, Odessa boasts that at her career "every day is Christmas", forgetting that she's talking to a Jewish girl. When Casey corrects her with "Hanukkah", Odessa just brushes it off.
- Averted however in the final battle, where Odessa apologizes for almost playing thrilling fight scene music during Shabbos.
- Rite of Passage: Casey's Bat Mitzvah is the focus of this episode. She is so preoccupied with making it epic that she nearly forgets the real point of the ceremony.
- Ship Tease: When Moon Girl "meets" Casey's dads, they thank her for coming, admit that they are big fans of her work, say that she's a good influence on Casey, and one of her fathers whispers to Casey that "this one's a keeper". Additionally, Moon Girl flies Casey around in a Bridal Carry as part of her entrance.
- Social Media Before Reason: Exploited. Odessa Drake, a popular influencer, shows up at Casey's bat mitzvah because Odessa knows Moon Girl will be there. Odessa blindsides Casey with her presence and makes Casey more concerned with social media than her party, which is all a big set-up to steal Moon Girl's tech for herself.
- Thieves' Guild: According to Beyonder, Odessa Drake is the daughter of the head of a Thieves’ Guild.
- Throwing Out the Script: When Casey is asked to give her speech during the ceremony, she's overcome with guilt over pressuring Lunella to stay as Moon Girl rather than let her friend attend as herself. She pulls out her printed speech, then crumples it, and admits she always wanted to do that before launching into a genuine apology.
- Twin Theme Naming: Casey's triplet cousins are name Lara, Laura and Laurel.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Odessa Drake, who has an insanely large Internet following and is (at first) Casey's role model. To the point that nearly everyone (except Beyonder) was blindsided by the fact that she was a thief who stole the weapons of superheroes.
- What Are Records?: Just like Lunella did earlier in the series, Odessa has no idea what the cassette player is for and tosses it aside.
