iFix a Pop Star is the 13th episode in the 3rd season of iCarly.
Carly, Sam and Freddie are called in to help a troublemaking pop star make a comeback, whether she wants to or not.
Meanwhile, Spencer discovers his date is Gibby's mother.
Tropes:
- Ascended Extra: Charlotte Gibson plays a rather big role in the B-plot.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Ginger's manager is the straight man of the group. He tells her off for firing her director, recruits the iCarly gang when she demands it, and tries to reign her in when she acts out on-camera.
- Downer Ending: For Spencer's B-plot, he and Charlotte break up when realizing he's too close to Gibby and she's too close to Carly.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Wade Collins still casts his shadow in giving the trio trouble in this episode, when the video he tricked the gang into helping him produce, which became very popular, attracted the attention of talentless pop star Ginger Fox, who recruits them to help her get her career back on track, otherwise become The Scapegoat if she flops. This surprisingly and fortunately does not occur at the end when the iCarly gang somehow manage to
resurrect Ginger's career despite her obvious flaws. - Hallucinations: Spencer imagines Gibby's face on Charlotte's whenever he kisses her.
- Hope Spot: Charlotte and Spencer finally talk about how just because they're related to Gibby and Carly, it doesn't mean their relationship is
squicky. Spencer kisses her and stops seeing Gibby's face. But then Charlotte sees Carly's face imposed on Spencer's body and screams, causing Spencer to Freak Out in turn. They break up, with Spencer in a Troubled Fetal Position. - Just Between You and Me: Ginger's manager tells the kids they're The Scapegoat before she goes onstage, and Ginger will blame them if the show goes wrong. This motivates the trio to ensure the show goes well, but they wash their hands of Ginger afterward and don't tell her or the manager that she left her son at Carly's apartment.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Ginger's manager is upfront about using the kids as a scapegoat if her show goes wrong. He sees her humiliating herself on camera by asking where her baby is and getting the boy's name wrong. The gang sees this on television and goes Pass the Popcorn.
- Living Statue: Gibby pretends to be one on iCarly in the beginning, appropriately named the "Statue of Gibberty".
- So Bad, It's Good: An In-Universe example. Despite all the problems Ginger has onstage (bad lip-syncing, underarms not shaved, etc.), the crowd still cheers her. Sam suggests that it's best they don't know.
- Stylistic Suck: Let's just say that Ginger's performance is not what it was ten years ago. She's not lip-syncing well, can't dance, and didn't shave her underarms. The iCarly gang covers it up using a lot of stage smoke and camera shots. Despite all this, she still gets cheered.
- That Syncing Feeling: Since Ginger can't sing, the iCarly team decides to have her lip-sync and use wide camera shots to hide it when she starts messing up. No one catches on, for better or for worse.
