As Blythe is about to put the last dog tag on a display stand, she hears Mrs. Twombly scream, causing Blythe to scatter the dog tags everywhere. It turns out that Mrs. Twombly received an invitation to go to Shanghai, as the master of kung-fu quilting, to perform for a Chinese New Years Day celebration. While Mrs. Twombly feels honored by such a thing, she decides she's not going as the rest of her family is unable to visit her. She is soon convinced otherwise, however, as Blythe suggests she bring herself, Roger, and the pets, and that Roger can take them there via the Pet Jet.
On their way, Mrs. Twombly has trouble coming up with what to say to the people of Shanghai as Roger has something planned for Mrs. Twombly he wants to keep secret to himself. Without much else to do aboard the Pet Jet, Blythe unveils a design she's made for a Chinese New Years Day dragon puppet for the pets to perform with, though Penny Ling is absent, somewhere else in deep thought about getting to meet her relatives. When Blythe explains that the dragon puppet is used in a ritual said to scare away evil spirits, then leaves to look for Penny, Russell interprets the statement as there being ghosts in China, shivers furiously, and curls into a ball. Blythe finds Penny in the back of the plane, where Penny wonders what her relatives might look like. Blythe shows on her tablet that they'll be staying near the Shanghai Wildlife Preserve, where they keep pandas, and lets Penny view some photographs. Captivated by what she sees, she clutches the tablet in anticipation.
Arriving at the hotel, Blythe immediately sets off to look for Penny's family. She asks Roger if he wants to come along, but Roger says he's busy with his surprise for Mrs. Twombly. Blythe goes to Mrs. Twombly's adjacent room, but she is too busy practicing, as she considers herself rusty. After checking on the pets, who are hard at work on the dragon puppet, she escorts Penny out of the hotel and onto the Really Fast Shuttle Tour bus, which, after careening down the streets at top speed, stops at the preserve for Blythe and Penny to disembark. Penny scrambles inside the moment she sets foot on the ground, and Blythe promises to catch up.
Back at the hotel, Russell is still quivering from worry of ghosts. Vinnie tries to calm Russell down, reassuring Russell that the combined dancing between him and Penny will be enough to scare away any ghosts, as Zoe and Pepper continue to taunt Russell. Vinnie then goes into a rap battle against a series of imaginary foes to prove his point, which leaves everyone on the floor exhausted by the time it's done.
At the preserve, Penny finds the panda exhibits and meets one of the pandas. He introduces himself as Ling Pen and takes a liking to Penny and her American accent due to him being a fan of American musical film. He lets Penny meet Ling Jun and Jun Ling, who are also fans of American musical film. They decline Penny's offer of her life story, however, as they believe they know all they need to know about American culture through the movies they watch. They demonstrate by mimicking some of the musical numbers they've watched until Penny is bored, then declare Penny as their guest of honor for the Chinese New Years Day feast the following day.
Blythe finds her and takes her back to the hotel on a normal-speed bus. When Penny mentions that her family has invited her to dinner the following day, Blythe points out that Mrs. Twombly will perform then too and that Penny was originally going to help out with the dragon dance, causing Penny to cry. When they return to the hotel, Russell shows the extra tail length reserved for Penny, but Penny informs them of the family dinner. Blythe tries to calm down the pets, saying that Penny has a way of getting to places on time, but Mrs. Twombly comes up to Blythe to show her that the hotel cleaning staff used hot water on her kung-fu quilting outfit and caused it to shrink. As Blythe tells Mrs. Twombly she'll design a new one, Penny asks Blythe to make her an America-themed costume for her dinner.
The following evening, the pets are ready to perform their dragon dance—except Penny, who is still at the preserve with her family. She arrives dressed as the Statue of Liberty, which the pandas don't recognize, but they bring her over to eat anyway. She is given a bowl of stinky tofu
, which Penny cannot eat because of its stench, though all of the other pandas love it. They finish eating and go over to perform a traditional dragon dance. They leave Penny behind, however, as there's no room in the puppet for her. Realizing Penny doesn't really belong with them, she rushes over to the stage to reunite with the other pets.
Meanwhile, the pets have to go onstage to perform the dragon dance without Penny. Due to her absence, there is a noticeable droop on the tail, snagging itself on a loose nail. Vinnie and Russell try to steer everyone away from the nail and unsnag themselves but wind up spinning around it. Penny reaches the stage before anything worse can happen, however, and she unhooks the dragon puppet from the nail, climbs inside, and joins up with the pandas' dragon for a duet. In the while, Penny discovers that the Littlest Pet Shop pets and humans are her real family as they treat her with greater respect.
When the performance ends, the M.C. brings Mrs. Twombly onstage to give her a plaque for having founded kung-fu quilting. Before she can begin her speech, Roger leaps up onstage dressed as Elvis Presley and dances about awkwardly, though with the pandas in sheer admiration with his dancing and his "American costume."
This episode contains examples of:
- Artistic License - Food: Stinky tofu is a lot more colorful of a dish than is depicted in this show, which seem to be simple chunks of tofu with nothing else.
- Call-Back: This episode builds on The Reveal in "Lotsa Luck" that Mrs. Twombly is a retired kung-fu quilting master.
- Russell curls into a ball when Blythe talks about dragon puppets scaring away evil spirits. His otherwise out-of-character fear of ghosts and other apparitions makes more sense with knowledge of the events of "Eight Arms to Hold You."
- Russell's fear of marshmallows, which was first brought up in "Penny For Your Laughs" is also mentioned.
- Minka's comments after Vinnie's Imagine Spot ends imply that the fantasy was shared. This trait began in "A Day at the Museum" and has been a recurring joke since.
- Cardboard Prison: The bars leading into the panda presenve are wide enough apart for Penny to just slip through.
- Continuity Nod: No one can finish stacking anything in The Littlest Pet Shop in a triangular shape without it collapsing when almost finished.
- Also from that episode, Russell gets stuck to the ceiling again.
- While in the Pet Jet, Blythe makes a quick offhand mention of the Pet Fashion Expo.
- Drives Like Crazy: The Really Fast Shuttle driver, who drives like Roger, only much faster. He or she sends a rickshaw flying when the bus stops on a bridge.
- Dynamic Entry: The Chinese Dragon causes thunderclouds to appear and pops out from one before challenging Vinnie.
- Exact Words: Penny suggests a really fast shuttle tour a few seconds before a double-decker bus labeled the "Really Fast Shuttle Tour" stops in front of the hotel. It is also true to its name, zooming around Shanghai and frightening anyone the bus grazes. Then again, it's also possible that Penny is familiar with the Really Fast Shuttle Tour and knew a bus would arrive soon.
- First-Name Basis: Notably the second of very few episodes where Penny is addressed by her first name instead of her full name.
- Give Me a Sword: Russell tosses Vinnie a bamboo staff when the Terra Cotta Warrior Chief challenges Vinnie.
- Goomba Stomp: How Vinnie defeats the first evil spirit.
- Hypocritical Humor: Despite this show lapsing into musical sequences all the time (including this very episode), Penny is shown bored to tears when her fellow pandas enact musical numbers and denies having ever sung or performing a musical number.
- Idiosyncratic Wipes: Clouds zoom across the screen to transition the scene to the Pet Jet on its way.
- In Act 2, Vinnie yanks a large piece of cloth to transition to a second Imagine Spot.
- In Act 3, a dragon puppet flies by the screen.
- Imagine Spot: After seeing the photos, Penny lapses into one where she views the pandas in the photos as her family in a pink bamboo forest.
- Vinnie gets another one explaining how he'll scare away ghosts.
- Messy Hair: Caused by being on the roof of the Really Fast Shuttle Tour.
- Metronomic Man Mashing: How Vinnie defeats the remaining evil spirits until the Terra Cotta Warrior Chief appears.
- Noodle Incident: Mrs. Twombly's sister is, for an unexplained reason ("top secret," according to Mrs. Twombly), stuck in Antarctica for the following two years.
- No OSHA Compliance: The stage the pets are performing on has a big obvious nail sticking out of it, which their dragon costume ends up getting snagged on.
- Ocular Gushers: Out of Penny (as usual), when she realizes she's caught between dinner with her family and seeing Mrs. Twombly perform.
- One-Hit Kill: Vinnie's dancing can one-shot any evil spirits that come in contact with him.
-
Out of Order: This is the 23rd episode of Season 2 and was shown right after "Sweet Pepper," the 16th episode. - Paper Tiger: The Chinese Dragon in "Dance Fu Fighting" comes off as this due to his fearsome appearance and love of boasting compared to his actual (lack of) skill.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: The pandas base their knowledge of the west entirely on American musical cinema and have no concept of anything else.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: During "Dance Fu Fighting." Vinnie says a mouthful, but it leads up to one.Vinnie: Grab a cane and sit back. You're about to retire!
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: Penny does one on Blythe in Act 3 to get Blythe to make an "American costume."
- Shout-Out: Zoe's mention of a "marshmallow ghost" may refer to the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
- The title of "Dance Fu Fighting" likely refers to the song "Kung Fu Fighting," though as a rap, the song itself is quite different. Vinnie does compare his skill's speed with lightning, though.
- Vinnie references the Muhammad Ali quote, "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" during "Dance Fu Fighting."
- Jun Ling apparently thinks Americans love to go Singin' in the Rain. Ling Pen, meanwhile, references Fred Astaire and Shirley Temple talking about tap-dancing on flights of stairs.
- Signature Move: Vinnie's Lizard Scissor Kick.
- Sleepyheads: The other pandas seem to fall asleep any time they want, collapsing onto the floor and snoring within a second.
- Spectacular Spinning: How Vinnie defeats the Ghost Army in "Dance Fu Fighting."
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: After everything suddenly goes south in Act 3, Blythe wonders to herself, "What else could go wrong?" Naturally, she gets more burdens.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Ling Pen's mention of Penny's American accent suggests Downtown City is in the United States.
