Recap / Littlest Pet Shop 2012 S 1 E 21 Terriers And Tiaras

"Fun? There's no fun in dog pageants! This is about beating Judi Jo!"

Written by Julie McNally Cahill, Tim Cahill, and M.A. Larson (as Mitchell Larson)

Teleplay by M.A. Larson (as Mitchell Larson)

Christopher Lydecker, a producer, mistakenly walks into The Littlest Pet Shop mistaking it for The Largest Ever Pet Shop, requesting the Biskit family be on the program Terriers & Tiaras. Blythe almost directs him to the right location when Zoe begs Blythe to put her on. Blythe initially resists, but Zoe refuses to give in, and Blythe requests Lydecker to put Zoe on the show. Minka and Russell volunteer to help Blythe out for anything she needs.

Somewhere else in Downtown City, the other pageant contestants arrive to get televised by the crew: Judi Jo Jameson and her maltese Princess Stori, accompanied by Judi Jo's assistant Philippa, who like to arrive extra-early to stake out the area; Cindeanna Mellon, whose Yorkshire terrier Shea Butter gets pampered to a ridiculous extent; Tanya Twitchel, who trains her griffon bruxellois Sam U.L. for the pageant eighteen hours per day to stay in peak physical condition; and a terrified Blythe Baxter and her cavalier King Charles spaniel Zoe Trent. Blythe is initially too nervous to say much on-camera, so Christopher lets her see Judi Jo speak. Zoe notices Princess Stori and starts gushing about Stori to Blythe. Unfortunately, everyone else hears it as Zoe yapping like mad, and Blythe has to leave the area.

Blythe brings Zoe over to the obstacle course for a practice run, but Zoe refuses, insisting that Zoe can win on style alone. Minka shows Zoe by effortlessly running through it, with Sam U.L. following a moment later. Blythe implores Zoe to try, and Zoe does—but chickens out at walking across the first obstacle, a seesaw, and clings onto Blythe's face in terror, putting both of them out of commission.

During the beauty round, Blythe overhears Judi Jo telling Philippa that the taller a pet's hairdo, the prettier he or she will be. Blythe takes this advice and styles Zoe's head, pleased with the results. She gets so pleased that by the time Shea Butter is demonstrating her talent of catching frisbees, Blythe is boasting about Zoe on the interview couch, no longer frightened of the camera. After Judi Jo shoos Blythe off the armchair, Blythe heads to a back room and puts Zoe on vigorous dance practice. Russell initially comes up with a routine, but Blythe rejects it for a simpler but more obtuse dance. After Zoe performs it once, Blythe takes Zoe elsewhere. Russell and Minka have witnessed the whole scene, and both feel worried for Blythe's new attitude.

Blythe emerges in front of the stage loudly mocking the other contestants. Shea Butter and Sam U.L. sit next to Zoe and lament about Blythe having become a Stage Mom. Zoe initially denies this, pointing out that Blythe tends to get very into everything she does. Shea Butter, however, points out that Cindeanna and Tanya used to play with their pets, but the pageant circuit brought out their bitterly competitive sides. Zoe goes up to Blythe, telling her that she's nervous. Blythe, in return, asks Zoe to put on her dress Blythe made for Zoe's birthday but sees that Blythe had modified it. Zoe feels heartbroken to have seen Blythe mess with her favorite dress, but Blythe only cares about winning. Blythe forcibly puts it on Zoe and leaves to start an argument with Judi Jo.

Princess Stori walks over to Zoe to get away from the two of them, and Zoe explains to the maltese about Blythe's nonchalance over the butchering of her birthday gift to Zoe. Princess Stori points out that it's nothing compared to how he's had to put up with crossdressing and being called "Princess" his entire life. When Zoe asks why he endures it, Princess Stori says that it makes Judi Jo happy. Zoe, however, sees Blythe and Judi Jo arguing their lungs out and tells him they don't look too happy. When Shea Butter and Sam U.L. come over, she convinces the three of them to sneak in some fun through Philippa's dog treats, but before they can head off, Judi Jo and Blythe grab Princess Stori and Zoe and take them onstage.

On Zoe's turn, Zoe rips off the dress and runs backstage. Blythe chases her into the makeup room and demands Zoe help her win and beat Judi. Zoe snaps back, saying she no longer cares about winning or the pageant and runs off again, slipping past Blythe. Blythe decides she doesn't need Zoe to win and substitutes Russell in Zoe's place, which Christopher allows. Christopher meets Blythe backstage and shows her some footage intended for airing to Blythe, pointing out that she's "even more Judi Jo Jameson than Judi Jo Jameson herself." Blythe sees herself throwing a fit akin to Judi Jo onscreen and realizes the pageant got to her head. She sees Princess Stori running into the room with a furious Judi Jo in hot pursuit. Princess Stori hides behind Blythe, and Blythe tells Judi Jo that Princess Stori doesn't want to be in the pageant circuit anymore. After a moment of speechless rage, Judi Jo promptly decides to abandon Princess Stori, who immediately leaps into Philippa's loving arms.

When Christopher is about to declare the winner for Terriers & Tiaras, all of the dogs see Princess Stori and Zoe taking on the obstacle course and leave the stage to follow them. This leaves Russell as the only creature left, who wins the pageant by default.

This episode contains examples of (YMMV entries go here):

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Judi Jo's van as it pulls into the parking lot.
• Actor Allusion: Sam U.L. is voiced by a Samuel.
  • Princess Stori's name may be based off Kira Tozer's (voice of Minka and Tanya) pseudonym of Moneca Stori as Kagome in Inuyasha.
  • The accent Blythe slips into sounds awfully similar to how her voice actor Ashleigh Ball plays Applejack, though this is most likely coincidential.
• Artistic License: Russell would have been immediately disqualified if the Terriers & Tiaras pageants had any credibility or backing by dog associations, as entries need to be of recognized specific breeds by those dog associations. In such a situation, even if everyone acknowledges Russell is a dog, his "breed" wouldn't match any on record, and he'd be ineligible to compete. Of course, the episode makes it clear that Terriers & Tiaras places sensationalism far over credibility.
• Beleaguered Assistant: Philippa. Things looks up for her by the end though.
• Brick Joke: Blythe talks about reality shows turning ugly in The Teaser. After Blythe descends into madness at the end of Act 2, Russell refers back to that statement.
• Broken Pedestal: Zoe initially dreamt of being on Terriers & Tiaras. It soon becomes clear that it's far from as glamorous as she imagined. Zoe later succumbs to a Broken Pedestal to Blythe, of all people, when she sees that Blythe had screwed around with her favorite dress for the pageant. She loses so much respect for Blythe that she destroys it outright onstage.
• Buffy Speak: According to Blythe, the three pets she brought to the show are "sitting 'round like a bunch of round-sitters."
• Call-Back: Zoe's owners John and Clarissa leave a note on Zoe for Blythe giving her approval to enter Zoe into any pageants she wishes. Apparently, they were okay with Blythe's failed grooming efforts for Zoe's previous known outing in "Bad Hair Day." Later, Blythe refers to Zoe's victory in that dog show as a comeback for Judi Jo's boasting of Princess Stori's reputation.
  • The director for Shahrukh's movies is also on the Terriers & Tiaras staff.
  • Blythe was shown to be incredibly camera-shy in "So You Skink You Can Dance." She was not able to work on that between then and the beginning of this episode.
• Camp Straight: Christopher Lydecker.
• Closest Thing We Got: Russell as a hasty stand-in for Zoe when Zoe quits.
• Continuity Nod: The tiger cub pulled out of the hat seems to have come from The Largest Ever Pet Shop. From the same episode, we also see, once again, a pet mistaken for the wrong sex.
  • Blythe's second attempt at grooming Zoe has much better results than the first in "Bad Hair Day." This is likely because it's a (relatively) simpler hairstyling, involving only a brush and a hair dryer.
  • Blythe had once started acting like the Biskit Twins by hanging around them for too long. She starts absorbing Judi Jo's behavior in this episode.
  • This is not the first episode to tear reality television a new one—"So You Skink You Can Dance" did it prior, though not quite as caustically. Considering both this episode and "So You Skink You Can Dance" were written by Mitch Larson, he must have a thing against the genre.
• Depth of Field: The camera has to re-focus itself when any sort of zoom happens in the Terriers & Tiaras footage. For some reason, the cameraperson seems to be relying on autofocus rather than manual focus.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Princess Stori is actually a boy, despite having feminine hairstyles and clothes.
• Engineered Public Confession: An unintentional one in Christopher's footage of Blythe hollering and ranting.
• Fisher Kingdom: Staying too long among the Terriers & Tiaras regulars causes Blythe to start acting like them. She soon develops Judi Jo's southern accent and re-styles her hair.
• Foreshadowing: When Zoe tells Blythe that Russell came up with the dance moves for her talent act, Blythe points out that Russell isn't competing. Later, Blythe has to enter Russell.
• Heel Realization: Blythe was all in for taking up Judi Jo mannerisms in order to win the pageant and beat her at her own game. And she was delighted to hear that Christopher wanted to air her on television. ...if only because she's been acting "more Judi Jo than Judi Jo". At seeing herself act like her towards Zoe, Blythe comes to see she's lost sight of herself and became the very thing she was trying to take down.
• Hypocritical Humor: Blythe calls Zoe a diva in Act 3, not realizing she's become an even bigger one than Judi Jo.
• Ironic Name: Judi Jo's dog is named "Princess Stori", but is a male dog.
• Jitter Cam: Done slightly but noticeably in all Terriers & Tiaras footage, even still shots.
• Mister Muffykins: All of the competition in Terriers & Tiaras seem to give off this vibe. Perhaps for the sake of sympathy from the viewers, Cindeanna claims she lets Shea Butter sleep on her bed while she (the human) sleeps in the dog bed.
• Musical Episode: Inverted. This is the last episode of the season to not have a musical sequence.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When Blythe sees Christopher's footage.
• No Sense of Personal Space: When Judi Jo finds out Blythe has been occupying the interview armchair in Act 2, she shoves her face closer and closer to Blythe that Blythe almost retreats completely into the armchair.
• Oblivious Mockery: Minka talks gossip about Russell having a bald spot within two feet of Russell. Russell holds his newspaper down to remind Minka.
• Overly Long Name: The "Ultimate Supremest Congeniality Most Photogenic Most Talented Super-Sparkle Grand Supreme Pageant Winner of the Six and Unders." Christopher, Blythe, and Zoe have to take a breath before saying it, then again between "Winner" and "of," turning it into a Running Gag.
• Performance Anxiety: Blythe initially succumbs to extreme stage fright. It seems specific to cameras, as Blythe has previously performed in front of an audience with no trouble in "Blythe's Big Adventure Part 2,", "Blythe's Crush," "Books & Covers," and "Bakers and Fakers." See the third Call Back above.
• Pokémon Speak: Blythe gets so nervous when she first appears on Terriers & Tiaras that all she can say is "Blythe."
• Pull a Rabbit out of My Hat: The opening narration for Terriers & Tiaras displays a Scottish terrier pulling what seems to be a tiger cub out of his top hat.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: From Zoe in the cold open—who else? Blythe even says it word-for-word to call her out. And when normal sad puppy dog eyes don’t work, she ups the ante with her own rain, spotlight and sad violin.
• The Rival: Judi Jo.
• Serious Business: The contestants, of course.
• Shout-Out: Terriers & Tiaras is a dog-themed take on Toddlers & Tiaras.
  • Sam U.L.'s name is likely a reference to Sam-I-Am from Green Eggs and Ham.
• Spell My Name With An S: A rather strange example, with Princess Stori's name requiring a heart above the first "i." The Terriers & Tiaras post-production team does not acknowledge this when the name is repeatedly displayed onscreen. Blythe later mimics this quirk, insisting a heart over the "y."
  • Judi Jo's name appears spelled on-screen both as "Judi Jo" and as "Judy Jo". Word of God confirmed it's "Judi".
  • Christopher Ly(e)decker did as well.
• Stage Mom: Judi Jo, Cindeanna, and Tanya are these, with varying approaches. Blythe eventually turns into one too. By Act 3, Sam U.L. directly refers to Blythe as a stage mom and points out that the Terriers & Tiaras regulars were not always like this.
  Shea Butter: (to Zoe) It finally happened, huh?
  Sam U.L.: She's gone Full Stage Mom.
  Zoe: Blythe!? Oh, no, she's just a little... overexcited, that's all.
  Shea Butter: Zoe Zoe Zoe, it happened to all of us at some point. We all used to have fun with our owners…
• Take That!: The entire episode is a parody on behavior exhibited by reality show contestants. Blythe's words in the cold open:
  Blythe: But all those animal reality shows do is create drama and make everyone look silly.
  • Judi Jo, the villain of this episode, resembles and acts much like June from Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Being in pageants does this to Blythe.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Princess Stori and Russell Ferguson.
• Your Tomcat Is Pregnant: Princess Stori is male, though it's more likely that Judi Jo doesn't care. There is a reason why he remained completely silent until The Reveal in Act 3. Philippa knows, however, and makes sure to always refer to him with male pronouns (though she still calls him "Princess Stori").

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