Original airdate: October 12th, 2009
WordGirl is accused of stealing a priceless collection of Pretty Princess figurines (which was actually committed by Eileen the Birthday Girl), ends up in jail, and has to face her mother in court.
The episode's associated vocabulary words are "priceless" and "examine" for part one, and "guilty" and "objection" for part two.
"The Wrong Side of the Law" contains the following tropes:
- Breaking Old Trends: This is the first episode of the series to be a two-parter.
- The Cameo: Several of the villains that WordGirl has fought appear wreaking havoc while the latter is in the slammer.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: While answering her mother's questions in court, WordGirl admits that she loves the Pretty Princess television series "more than anything!" This only worsens her case.
- Dramatic Irony: It is made obvious to the viewer immediately that the Birthday Girl is the criminal, but nobody else can figure it out. Even WordGirl doesn't get the answer right away, even though to her it should be obvious.
- Easily Condemned: Unsurprisingly, WordGirl is once again accused of something she didn't even do. Watson is quick to believe that she was the thief the whole time after she pulls out the Magic Pony figurine and arrests her. Getting blamed for stuff has been a bad habit for WordGirl as usual.
- Frame-Up: Eileen frames WordGirl for stealing the figurines, setting up the events of the episode.
- Mistaken for Thief: The police think WordGirl is the person who stole the Pretty Princess figurines when she presents one to them as evidence.
- Not Helping Your Case:
- When the police investigate Eileen's house and don't believe WordGirl's stories, she pulls out the Magic Pony figurine. This makes her look guilty in their eyes.
- In part 2, when her mother asks her if she loves the Pretty Princess show, WordGirl confirms "Yes, I love it more than anything!" This only adds more proof that she is the thief.
- Not What It Looks Like: WordGirl finds a Magic Pony figurine that was left behind by Eileen and decides to keep it as evidence. Unfortunately, once she shows it to the police, they assume that she was the thief.
- Police Are Useless: The police only view Eileen as an innocent little girl and assume that WordGirl is the true culprit of the robbery.
