The latest episode of Hailey’s On It! Shows Hailey taking on new roles at school that she probably would never have taken if not for the fact that she was told she needs to complete every item on her list.
Flippin Out
Scott and Hailey are in their yards trying to set up traps to catch Chaos Bots. Remember those? Those are the things mentioned in the title sequence of every episode but often overlooked by the series. Anywho, the traps are set and we know they work because Scott got caught in it.
Beta however, says Hailey will never be able to catch one because she is not athletically inclined enough to do so, and tells her that now is her chance to hone those skills as her next task is up: Earn a Varsity Letter in School Sport.
She was hoping they can skip that one as sports aren’t really her thing and she only put it on the list after being inspired by a film about Geraldine the Giraffe – a giraffe who attends school and becomes a star athlete. Can’t she just letter in playing marbles? No, that’s not a sport.
But you know what is? Cheerleading, and it just so happens that Scott’s full-on girlfriend Kristine is head of the cheer squad and that’s how she can get her letter. At the cheer meeting, we learn that all Hailey has to do to letter at the school is to perform during a game, and then she’ll get her varsity letter. Upon first meeting the cheer squad, Hailey joins the group just in time for their warmup which absolutely exhausted her. Words of encouragement from Kristine, the team, and another cheerleader affectionately called Unlucky Lucy all inspire her to proceed. However, her new optimistic mood is unfortunately ruined when Unlucky Lucy steps on a broken mirror and then slips over a bunch of marbles. Marbles that came from Hailey’s broken pouch in her pocket.
Though the team has now lost the girl they were going to toss as their signature move to entertain Bored Murray, an enthusiastic student at the games who is notoriously difficult to impress. Now what?
Embarrassed and ashamed, Hailey retreats to U.F.Dough with Scott, but it turns out that Scott inadvertently told Kristine where Hailey was, noting that the whole team was looking for her. The ominous sound of that made Hailey think they were out for revenge since she ruined their whole routine, but rest assured, the team just wants to be there for Hailey – what happened was an accident.
From there, we are treated to a montage of Hailey training to be a cheerleader, improving basically with each frame. They have a whole show ready with the hopes that it will impress Bored Murray, but now it's time for the big game. The cheerleaders have an impressive routine planned, but what’s this? Bored Murray has brought his own turkey dinner from home! Now he’s just going to eat and be tired. Later on in the routine, they notice that Bored Murray is simply taking a nap and in a turkey coma.
Hailey knows what she must do. It happens in every sports underdog movie ever. She must be the girl they toss. The cheer team executes the maneuver and Hailey is launched into the sky, and when all appears well – alas it is not. She soon finds herself hanging from the banners of the rafters in the gym, eventually crashing to the ground. However, Bored Murray liked what he saw and was thoroughly entertained.
Back at home, Hailey has her letter and Scott once again is trapped outside while setting up traps for the chaos bots. When one appears, Hailey quickly does a flip, rolls off the roof and apprehends a bot as it explodes, leaving behind only a black communications device.
With that, according to Beta, they can now track and discover where that bot came from and who is sending them.
Smells Like Queen Spirit
Picking up right where we left off, the gang is investigating the Chaos Bot communication box. Beta being an all-knowing AI decides to try and figure out what transmissions are being sent to it and from it. However, he only signed up for the trial of his translation software so he’s not getting all of it. I, frankly, agree with Beta. $10.00 is ridiculous to spend on an app in this economy.
What he can get is something about a Mega Chaos Bot in disguise that will infiltrate Hailey’s school. The biggest problem with that is that now this is the time where she needs to complete her list item, “Win Oceanside High Crab Queen Crowd.”
At school, Scott is ready to find the bot, overturning everything in sight. In class, it’s time to look for nominees for Oceanside High Crab Queen. A title that nobody seems to want save for the teacher who first held the title many years ago. Eventually, likely because she knows she has to, Hailey relents and volunteers to be pageant queen this year. However, a new student has arrived. Joanne Droid walks in the door and she is a new student from Canada and clearly the bot in disguise with her Siri-esque way of speaking and robotic movements. She even says that is is her goal to take Hailey Banks down.
Outside, Hailey approaches Joanne and water is spilled near her, to which she freaks out and runs away, punching holes in the side of a building and climbing towards the roof. Meanwhile, Beta is still trying to get more information out of the chaos bot black box com device.
It’s time for the pageant, and Hailey and Joanne are going head to head in a series of events, including crab cracking, naming crabs, a crab walk (which Joanne won by twisting in inhuman ways before claiming that she is triple-jointed), and then answering what kind of Crab would they be if they were crab. As the talent show portion of pageant took place, it was clear when Joanne bent a pipe into the shape of a crab that Hailey would be losing this competition. Looking out into the crowd, she could see flashes of the world changing because her task list isn’t finished. She knows what she must do, and it might risk revealing her big secret. She takes on Joanne, tackling her and trying to reveal her as a robot for Beta gives us an update– Joanne is not the bot! It’s just her Canadian eccentricities! The real mega bot reveals itself as a giant crab decoration at the school, and Hailey and Scott charge in to get rid of it. They lure it over to the electronic scoreboard and get it to try and electrocute itself which it does, though it only stops it temporarily. Joanne even gets in and helps, with Hailey using the ceremonial crab leg cracker to defeat the bot, shoving the device into the belly of the bot.
With the defeat, the crowd is cheering for Hailey and she wins the title, but with Joanne not being the bot they thought she was, Hailey decides to split the crown with her, after her wristband blinks saying she completed the task of course.
This episode of Hailey’s On It! Is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app. You can also catch up with earlier episodes now streaming on Disney+.