The monks are each trying for the best time on an obstacle course to "get to the doggie" at the end. Omi's outraged when Clay, instead of engaging in elaborate moves, simply grabs the toy without moving through the course at all and Master Fung congratulates Clay on his inventive thinking. The others figure this to be a show of Clay's incompetence rather than ingenuity and mock him for it.
Across the world, Jack meets Le Mime, a mime imbued with magical powers that let his fake constructions take physical (if invisible) form. The two form an alliance and begin with going after the newly activated Fist of Tebigong.
The monks arrive at the activations site, running into Jack Spicer and a fight breaks out. Clay and Dojo are isolated as Le Mime traps the rest of the group inside an invisible, impenetrable box. When Clay finds them again, they tell him, after a small misunderstanding, to go after the Wu. Once Clay leaves, the others mourn the inevitability of losing the new Wu due to Clay's apparent ineptitude.
Meanwhile, Clay easily takes out Le Mime by forcing the other to knock himself out via copycat gimmick. Clay then finds the Fist of Tebigong and challenges Jack to a Xiaolin Showdown just as the others escape from the box by power of imagination.
Clay uses his patient, slow, and steady nature to win the Showdown and the others are astonished to realize that they vastly underestimated Clay's simple solutions. They apologize for undervaluing him as a competent teammate and everybody laughs.
Kimiko: Never lose faith in a friend?
Omi: The value of simple solutions?
Raimundo: Omi can't use slang?
Clay: No, we learned everybody hates mimes.
Tropes
- Booked Full of Mooks: Played With. While Jack and Wuya are discussing how their teamwork is going lately, Le Mime shows up, causing Jack to call in his Jack Bots to attack, though Wuya tells him to just hire him, since his powers to create fake constructions that are physical, but invisible, can be useful in defeating the Monks and finding the Fist of Tebigong.
- Cutting the Knot: This is more or less the aesop of the episode. While everyone is taking the complicated route to complete a hard task, Clay finds simple ways to complete it.
- Everyone Hates Mimes: Clay says this word by word at the end of the episode.
- Exact Words: Omi did say the point was to get the puppy at the end of the obstacle course, but as Clay points out, he never said he had to go through the obstacle course to reach it.
- Imagination-Based Superpower: Le Mime's power. Anything he pantomimes becomes real but invisible. Interestingly, his powers can be effected by other people's imagination as well, which is how the Monks escape his box.
- MacGuffin: The Fist of Tebigong.
- Mirror Routine: Clay's face-off with Le Mime devolves into this. Rather than waste time trying to outmaneuver his enemy, Clay just socks himself in the face, which Le Mime copies. Clay could take the hit, Le Mime couldn't.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: The first episode to introduce the Third-Arm Sash.
- Mundane Solution: The moral of the episode. During the Xiao Lin Showdown, the goal is that the first to capture the bluebird is the winner. Jack tries using his tech and his Third-Arm Sash to pursue the bird. Meanwhile, Clay uses his time to go to the nearby sunflower fields and gather sunflower seeds in his hat. Between Jack scaring the bird and Clay patiently holding the sunflower seeds, one can guess who wins out.
- Mundane Utility: The Third-Arm Sash, which makes its debut in this episode, is used by Jack Spicer to drink some tea, as well as pointing out to Wuya that she and him are partners.
- Once an Episode: The Xiaolin Showdown pitching Clay against Jack, in which the winner is the first one to catch a robin, for the Fist of Tebigong; it's Clay's Eye of Dashi versus Jack's Third-Arm Sash. Clay wins after luring the robin to him with sunflower seeds.
- Some Kind Of Forcefield: Done by Clay when he finally figures out that Omi, Kimiko, and Raimundo are trapped in an imaginary box;Raimundo: (Imitating Clay) "It's...some...sort...of...invisible boooox." Ai, took him long enough!
