You gotta work the angles!
Polly Pocket: 2 Cool at the Pocket Plaza is the second special to feature Polly Pocket.Polly and her friends are invited to the grand opening of her family's new hotel, Pocket Plaza, where their band, Polly and the Pockets, is to perform a charity benefit concert the evening it opens to the public. Joining them is Pia, Polly's cousin from England, who looks very much like her, but her Aunt Throckmorton refuses to let her play in the band because of her resentment towards anything American, so the two cousins swap places to see what the other's life is like and prove Ms. Throckmorton wrong, while Polly's dad goes to Reykjavik, Iceland for a vacation. But when Beth starts coming up with ways to humiliate Polly at the grand opening, the two cousins have to double up to save the day.
Tropes:
- Absent Animal Companion: In the early scenes at the hotel, Polly is shown to have a dog named Ollie while Pia has a cat named Mrs. Wigglebottom. The pets weren't seen again for the rest of the special, nor in any future installments.
- Accidental Kidnapping: When Ms. Throckmorton bumps into Polly running back to her hotel room while the real Pia is with her friends, she mistakes her for Pia once more and locks her up. Naturally, this was part of Beth's plan.
- Batman Gambit: Beth's plan to ruin the grand opening was almost completely planned out without the heroes even being aware of it. It starts with tricking Ms. Throckmorton into thinking Pia disobeyed her; since she still assumes the real Polly is Pia in disguise with a phony American accent, she locks her up. Beth even knew Pia would take Polly's place while still pretending to be her, and since Pia doesn't know the speech, Polly would deliver it over the phone before Ms. Throckmorton caught her and made her hang up with the risk of being embarrassed on live TV in front of the whole world. The only thing Beth did not count on was Pia deciding to improvise the speech which finishes the ceremony without a hitch.
- Big Damn Heroes: Pia stepping in to deliver the speech for Polly and improvising with one of her own, which saves the day last-minute.
- Brief Accent Imitation: During Polly and Pia's Twin Switch, whenever they were around Ms. Throckmorton, each cousin assumes the opposite's identity, and imitates her accent to match. Pia in particular, imitates Polly's American accent perfectly.
- The Cameo: Scenes from the My Scene special "Masquerade Madness" can be seen during the Good-Times Montage.
- Cassandra Truth: When Polly runs into Ms. Throckmorton at the pool and she's still under the assumption she's Pia in disguise with a fake American accent, Polly tries to tell her she's not Pia. She isn't convinced and grounds her.
- Cast as a Mask: When Pia disguises as Polly and impersonates her, her voice is provided by Ashleigh Ball instead of Ellie Green.
- Dance Party Ending: The special ends with the Polly and the Pockets performance, "Work the Angles", with Pia joining in, and everyone dances, even Ms. Throckmorton.
- Didn't Think This Through: Beth obviously did not expect Pia to improvise when still disguised as Polly, which she reveals as a "back-up plan" when lashing out at Evie and Tori after her plans are ruined.
- Dreadful Musician: Pia isn't good at any instrument besides the violin. The looks on Polly and her friends' faces when she tries the drums adds up to it.
- Evil Aunt: Ms. Throckmorton. Although not technically evil, she is against Pia trying out anything American.
- Evil Plan: Beth's plan to ruin the party goes as this: trick Ms. Throckmorton into thinking Pia escaped and disobeyed her, mistake Polly for Pia and lock her up, allowing Pia to deliver the speech for her, only to forget and screw up. To make matters worse, the ceremony will be on live TV, and not only will she embarrass herself in front of the hotel, but the whole world as well. However, Pia saves the day by improvising with a Rousing Speech, something Beth didn't even think of.
- Fake American: An in-universe example. When disguised as Polly, Pia manages to pull off a perfect American accent.
- Flying Car: Polly gets to Pocket Plaza in a van with a retractable helicopter rotor.
- I Am Very British: Pia is British and this is commented on several times.
- It's the Best Whatever, Ever!: Pia declares this was the best weekend ever as she performs with Polly's band.
- Gasp!: The audience lets out a collective astonished gasp when Pia decides to improvise, saving the day.
- Good-Times Montage: Between Polly, her friends and Pia as they enjoy the hotel's various activities.
- Introductory Opening Credits: In the opening credits, Polly and her friends each get their own name cards.
- Jerkass Realization: Ms. Throckmorton has hers when she sees Pia's Rousing Speech on TV, discovering she was wrong to despise American culture the whole time; she apologizes to Polly for kidnapping her and allows Pia to do whatever she wants and pursue her dream of performing.
- Karma Houdini: Beth receives zero punishments for trying to ruin the party.
- Makeover Montage: When the girls are disguising Pia to look like Polly.
- Mistaken Identity: As part of the cousins' Twin Switch, Ms. Throckmorton mistakes Polly for Pia and vice versa. Beth uses this to her advantage as her plot to ruin the party.
- Near-Villain Victory: Beth manipulates Ms. Throckmorton into realizing Pia is disobeying her and is with Polly and her friends, and locks Polly up in her room, mistaking her to be Pia while the real deal delivers her speech for her. Then when reciting the speech as Polly reads it to her over the phone, the call is suddenly ended when the teacher returns, but then Pia gives her own Rousing Speech as improvisation. If she didn't do that when she did, Beth would've won without the heroes even knowing she was there.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Beth's plot to ruin the party only results in Pia expressing her true self and helping Ms. Throckmorton realizing the error of her ways.
- Nobody Here but Us Statues: When Beth's trio first notices Pia disguised as Polly in a department store, they hide behind some mannequins while striking the same poses as them. Of course it doesn't work as well for long, and the mannequins come crashing down on top of them.
- Oh, Crap!:
- The looks on Beth and her friends' faces when Pia decides to improvise after Ms. Throckmorton hangs up the call are what gives them the alarm that Beth's plan is ruined. An early one is done by Pia when the call was ended.
- A rather humorous one is given by Beth when she sees Polly and Pia together.
- Rousing Speech: Pia gives a rather improvisational one all by herself when disguised as Polly, delivering her message of what she learned throughout her visit, that it doesn't matter whether you're American or British and you can do whatever your heart decides, and leading Ms. Throckmorton to have a change of heart.
- Slasher Smile: Beth and her friends all flash a collective one after Ms. Throckmorton ends Pia's call, just before the Wham Line as said below.
- Spanner in the Works: Beth's plan might have worked if Pia didn't think of improvising after Ms. Throckmorton hangs up the phone.
- Stalker Shot: Three times, thanks to Beth:
- The first time is at the beginning of the show after Polly discusses the grand opening of Pocket Plaza with her friends. After Shani faints at the mention of the male pop star she's fanning over once Polly leaves, the camera zooms back to reveal Beth and her cronies spying on them from behind the school pillars.
- Second, during Polly's Twin Switch with Pia at the pool, the camera zooms up to the balcony to reveal the trio watching them, wearing hats and matching sunglasses to conceal their identity.
- Third, after Beth is bewildered upon seeing the cousins together and they walk away, the camera shows the trio overhearing their Twin Switch from the floor above, which gives Beth an idea on how to ruin the party.
- The Stool Pigeon: Beth becomes a Petty Patty when she discovers Polly and Pia's Twin Switch and tricks Ms. Throckmorton into trapping Polly in her hotel room.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Pia bears a rather uncanny resemblance to Polly, with the only difference being her hair color. She dyes it to match Polly's when disguising herself as her.
- Swapped Roles: Polly and Pia swap places to see what each other's life is like.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The trailer spoils the Polly and the Pockets performance at the very end.
- Twin Switch: What Polly and Pia pull throughout the special.
- Unknown Rival: Polly and her friends are unaware Beth is out to ruin the party. As an added addition, they aren't even aware of her presence, save for the scene where she finally sees the two cousins together.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: Polly and her friends each get a new outfit for each new day at the hotel or what activities they do, and even Beth's trio gets a second outfit.
- We Will Meet Again: Beth at the end, after Pia ruins her plans.Beth: I'll get you next time, Polly Pocket...just you wait!
- Wham Line: When it seems like the grand opening will be ruined, Pia delivers the following line...Pia: Never mind, I'll just wing it!
- Written-In Absence: Polly's dad cannot present the grand opening due to being held up in Iceland, leaving Polly to present it in his place.
