The contestants land in Japan for their next challenge. DJ struggles with his tendency to hurt animals, while Alejandro and Sierra become acquainted with their teams.
Tropes:
- Bad "Bad Acting": Both Team Victory's and Team Chris is Really Really Really Really Hot's commercials feature this.
- Call-Back: The suit that Owen wears for the Team Chris commercial is a combination of the spider suit Chef wore to scare Leshawna in "Phobia Factor", and the head of the alien suit Chef also wore for "Alien Ressurr-eggtion".
- Captain Ersatz: Ting-Ting and T'sing-T'sing are named after the famous panda, Ling Ling.
- Covered in Kisses: Cody gets kissed many times by Sierra while they're stuck in a giant pinball together. He emerges from it covered in kisses and with her gum in his ear.
- Dumb Blonde: Lindsay, as usual:
- Suggests pad thai for a Japanese themed commercial.
- After assuring Chris she will vote properly, hugs her passport because she likes the picture and then leaves without voting.
- When Harold commits fake seppuku with a toy lightsaber, she seems to believe it's real and looks concerned in the background.
- Evil Is Petty: Chris and Chef throw all the contestants off the plane without landing because Harold's corrections annoyed them.
- Gag Dub: The Japanese Promo of Total Drama Action. This leads to a Flat "What" from Noah after they see it.
- Got Volunteered: DJ is forced by Team Victory to go in the ball with the Panda, which ends poorly for both of them.
- Gratuitous Japanese: Courtesy of Alejandro.
- Insufferable Genius: Harold becomes this to Chris and Chef as he points out all of the inaccuracies in their choice of garb and descriptions.
- Misplaced Wildlife: What exactly are pandas doing in Japan, without an escort by the Chinese government at the very least?
- Near-Death Experience: The musical number "Before we Die". As well as Owen nearly being sucked out of the plane at the start of the episode. Harold also jumps out of the plane without a parachute, though Chris tosses one to him after.
- Non-Gameplay Elimination: Harold eliminates himself in a misguided attempt to impress Leshawna, claiming it was for the honor of his team.
- Otaku: Harold and Tyler are huge fans of Japanese pop culture.
- Perverted Sniffing: Sierra goes through Cody's backpack and is thrilled to find her crush's shoe. She inhales deeply from it, sucking in one shoelace end that goes down her throat to emerge from her mouth.
- Pet the Dog: Chris throws a parachute to Harold after he jumps without one and wishes him good luck.
- Plot Allergy: Noah skips out of a challenge that involves pandas, because panda dander makes him break out in hives. Tyler notes that he has the same allergy, so Alejandro volunteers to take the round, although it's implied both are lying to get out of doing it.
- People in Rubber Suits: Owen dresses up as a giant monster for his team's commercial.
- Seppuku: Harold does this during his elimination, using a toy lightsaber.
- Shout-Out:
- The concept of "Before We Die" is similar to the closing scene of The Great Muppet Caper, where the plane dumps everyone off in mid-air and the entire cast ends up singing the closing number while descending to the ground.
- During "Before We Die", Gwen mentions wanting to be a "prom destroyer" and a "rift in time".
- Harold mentions Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki as his inspiration for Team Victory's commercial.
- Gwen calls Heather's commercial idea "too Dr. Seuss".
- Harold commits Seppuku with a toy lightsaber.
- Sphere Factor: The first part of the challenge involves the contestants going into large translucent balls into a giant pinball machine.
- Stupid Sacrifice: Alejandro convinces Harold that men with honor impress women like Leshawna. This causes Harold to quit the show in DJ's place, hoping to impress Leshawna and restore Team Victory's good luck. It does neither.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Everyone, Noah's in particular, reaction to Chris forcing them to sing a musical episode while falling to their doom after getting sucked out of a plane.
