Original air date: 10/30/2021
Production code: 106a
Molly decides to throw Libby the best bat mitzvah ever, but finds she might have gone overboard.
Tropes:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Libby's cousin Gordon keeps trying to flirt with Molly, but she's not interested.
- An Aesop: A twofer. Molly learns being a friend means respecting your friends' boundaries instead of trying to force them out of their shell. Libby meanwhile learns you should speak up if someone is doing something that makes you uncomfortable, even if they're a friend.
- Animal Motif: Libby based her bat mitzvah around her favorite animal, turtles. She likes them because they can retreat inside their shells to keep safe, and tucks her head inside her turtleneck sweater to demonstrate. Molly later encourages Libby to attend her party by asking her to come out of her shell, which Libby lampshades.
- Big "YES!": By Scratch when Molly lets the bats out.
- Birthday Episode: Featuring Libby's bat mitzvah.
- Chekhov's Gag: The box of bats that Molly hid in the closet ends up being used to drive away the guests Libby didn't want.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Libby.
- Description Cut: Molly has a whole song about how extravagant she thinks Libby's bat mitzvah will be. Cut to the actual event, held in a plain auditorium with no one else but Libby's family.
- Disappeared Dad: While we see what seems to be Libby's paternal family, her father is nowhere to be seen.
- Disney Acid Sequence: "My Best Friend's Bat Mitzvah", as Molly and Scratch express what Libby's party will be like.
- Given Name Reveal: Libby's last name was revealed in this episode as "Stein-Torres".
- Informed Judaism: This is the first episode to reveal Libby is Jewish.
- It Is Pronounced Tro Pay: Upon receiving Libby's party invitation, Molly quietly reminds Scratch that the "Bat" in "Bat Mitzvah" is pronounced "baht".
- Literal-Minded: Scratch thinks that a bat mitzvah involves actual bats, and keeps trying to include them at the party.
- Poor Communication Kills: A big part of the reason for the conflict is that Molly hears Libby's mother talking about how the bookstore is having issues, and assumes that Libby's bat mitzvah is a Shoddy Shindig because they can't afford any better. It's actually because Libby wanted a small party, and Libby being afraid to speak up against Molly's well-intentioned actions is why it got so large and chaotic in the end.
- Shoddy Shindig: What Libby's party turns out to be, at least from Molly's point of view. Libby just wanted a low-key affair with only Molly and her family in attendance. She becomes anxious when Molly gets other guests to come, as she doesn't like large crowds.
- Technically-Living Zombie: Played for Laughs. When guests that were invited by Molly started to get out, Molly asks her dad to do something. He decides to pull the trump card: the slow dance to jazz music. The guests (including Andrea) start to act like zombies: they drool, talk in monotonous voices and then take the first person they come across and start dancing.
