The episode begins with a group of cattaurs singing about something they do every day at half past two; Zulius then chases them off with a thrown shoe. The herd enters the valley of the cattaurs, where the next shaman is. Zulius is very unenthusiastic about this, as he seems to dislike the cattaurs in particular. The cattaurs explain, in song, that they host a daily talent show, Johnny Teatime's Be Best Competition, that they obsess over in order to avoid thinking about the horrors that war brought to their valley. The winner gets a sash for the day, which turns out to hold the next piece of the key.
Horse tries to steal it and fails miserably. Zulius turns out to have beef with Splendib, the reigning cattaur champ, to whom he once lost the competition. Horse decides that she will need to enter and win the competition in order to win the sash and take the piece. She does terribly in all of the challenges, but after a dubious pep talk from Zulius she manages to win through a heartfelt song — but at the cost of her body fully turning rounded and cartoony.
Horse wins the competition, but the sash is given to Comfortable Doug, who has arrived late, because Johnny Teatime decides he likes him better. The herd steals the sash and runs for it, but Johnny Teatime catches up to them and, although he lets them go, warns them that the path they are following will lead them to the Nowhere King.
This episode contains examples of:
- Blatant Lies: "I Don't Know Him" is all about this; throughout the song, Zulius and Splendib claim they don't know each other, though it's clear that they have some serious bad blood and a bitter rivalry over the Be Best Competition, to the point that the Glitter Cats lampshade it.
- Cuteness Proximity: When the other centaurs see Horse's new cartoony form, they immediately start gushing over how cute she is. Prior to this, Horse has a similar reaction to seeing Johnny Teatime for the first time.
- Dark Horse Victory: Comfortable Doug immediately wins the Be Best Competition for just showing up after Horse's performance.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Zulius' "Hot Goss" spell allows him to pause time and tell the viewer side details... with the side effect of making other people in frame feel like they're burning alive.
- Noodle Incident: It's established that the last time Zulius entered the Be Best Competition, Splendib humiliated him and made him lose, but it's never made clear how exactly that happened. All that's said is Splendib sabotaged him by "stealing" the Glitter Cats, who were apparently part of Zulius' act but are now at Splendib's beck and call.
- Our Lawyers Advised This Trope: When Zulius delivers a series of Get A Hold Of Yourself Man slaps to Horse, a series of increasingly comedic disclaimers pop up to tell people in the audience to not slap horses.
- Rocky Roll Call:Zulius: Kale, Shar, Spendib.Splendib: Zulius.Zulius: Kale...The Glitter Cats: Shar.Durpleton: Durpleton!
- Sanity Slippage: Played for Laughs; Zulius becomes increasingly unhinged and haggard looking the moment he enters the Cattaur valley, since the cattaurs' obsession with the Be Best Competition reminds him of how he entered and lost some time ago. He goes from wearing an undershirt with hair rollers and a five-o-clock shadow to a maniac in a blue dress with unshaven hair and a full beard. He quickly reverts to normal when he realizes he can enter the competition again.Ched: Uh, is it just me or has Zulius gradually been having a mental breakdown since we got here?
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Doug wins the Be Best Competition by showing up, Zulius grabs the sash, and urges Horse and the Herd to make a run for it. They don't get that far though since Johnny Teatime is a shaman and thus powerful enough to stop them.
- Shout-Out:
- Cat Valley is essentially one big shout out to Cats. The opening song sounds unmistakably like the song "The Jellicle Ball" from the musical.
- One of the posters seen during "And We Do This Everyday" is an homage to the Hamilton poster. The poster beside it is a reference to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.note
- The cattaur with a lot of hats has a white coat and a crescent moon on his forehead, which makes him look a lot like Artemis from Sailor Moon.
- Not only does the audience seating area look like a Roman amphitheatre, but one of the cats calls Horse "Bringer of Juice" when she wins - a clear reference to Spartacus, Bringer of Rain. (Very much a joke for the parents.)
- The name "Jonathan Teatime" is a possible reference to the antagonist of the Discworld book Hogfather (although that character pronounces his name differently).
- Sinister Switchblade: The moment Doug pops out of the ground, Glendale pulls out a switchblade and flicks it open — a Call-Back to her stint as a jailbird in the previous episode.
- Stepford Smiler: The Cattaurs do their daily performances to distract themselves from the horrors the Great Offscreen War brought.
- Toon Transformation: While Horse's appearance has gradually been changing the longer she stays in Centaurworld, this episode marks the point where her design goes from a detailed and Disneyesque warhorse to a rounded, chubby cartoon horse that matches Centaurworld's Thin-Line Animation style.
- Vocal Dissonance: Johnny Teatime is a cute little kitten but has a distorted voice of an adult. Though he could be older than he looks.
- Wham Shot: Horse changing into a cartoony version of herself right when she finishes her performance, a sign that the magic from Centaurworld has taken its full effect.
