Sweet 6teen

Sweet 6teen is the 55th episode of the series and the first episode of the third season. It aired on June 14, 2007, in Canada on Teletoon, and on July 2, 2009, in the United States on Cartoon Network. When Caitlin gets Chill TV to film her 16th birthday party, Tricia suddenly wants to be Caitlin's friend again and convinces her to throw a joint birthday party. Meanwhile, Jude becomes obsessed with making the mall the perfect temperature so that the ice rink has perfect ice, and Wyatt starts receiving unwanted dance lessons from Tim.

Main Plot
Caitlin's sixteenth birthday is coming up, and to celebrate, she's going to throw a tremendous celebration–one so huge that Chill TV is actually sending a camera crew to film it for their show Sweet 16. Naturally, all of her friends are excited about Caitlin's huge party, with the notable exception of Jen, who is disappointed that she won't get to plan, decorate, or do anything at all to help create the party. Not only this, but Caitlin's TV contract gives her some perks, as when she heads to Albatross & Finch she manages to get them to give her clothes at half-price in exchange for her bringing a camera crew into the store for an interview.

However, Caitlin's conversation with Jill catches the attention of Tricia, who swiftly hones in on Caitlin and makes a suggestion: they should hold a joint sweet sixteen, just as they planned back when they were still friends. Although Caitlin is initially hesitant, Tricia is able to convince her to go along by taking her on a deal-sealing shopping spree. Caitlin's friends are a tougher sell, though, as they all remember the ways in which Caitlin has been hurt by Tricia in the past. Despite this, though, they agree to go along with Caitlin's plans, so as Caitlin's first act she enlists Jen and Nikki to help her and Tricia with planning and enlists Jonesy to promote the party–a position that he agrees to when Caitlin points out he'll get paid for his trouble.

Soon, Nikki and Jen meet up with Caitlin, Tricia, Gwen, and Mandy inside of Grind Me. There, they figure out several ideas that work well for the party, and Caitlin happily states that the only thing she needs to make it perfect is a date with Benj. Upon hearing this, Tricia jolts in shock, as she also has a crush on Benj, so they make a deal: whichever one of them Benj asks out first gets to take him, and flirting is allowed.

Caitlin and Tricia both begin working on Benj. However, Benj ends up looking like he'll choose Caitlin when he comes to the Big Squeeze on his break and starts dropping hints towards Caitlin–until he is interrupted by Tricia, who has big news. All of Caitlin's friends see through Tricia's unfair ploy, but Tricia doesn't mind, as she's dropped Caitlin from the party bill in order to steal the party, guests, and TV filming out from under her.

Caitlin is brought to tears by this news, so as soon as Tricia leaves, the group forms a plan of action to make sure Caitlin still has a sweet 16. Jen will do the planning, and Jonesy will spread the word that Tricia's party is horrible in order to undermine Tricia. Caitlin accepts this, but unfortunately for her Tricia is still undermining her with Benj, as Tricia tells Benj that Caitlin wouldn't be interested in him and then asks him out herself.

However, Jen is hard at work making Caitlin's party good. First, she and Nikki purchase the dress Caitlin planned to buy and hide it at Burger McFlipster's with Wyatt. After this, Jonesy continues to insult the party he had been hired to promote until Gwen and Mandy catch him and fire him. Finally, Jude purposefully ruins the ice he worked hard on so that it'll fog up and make Caitlin's night feel magical.

Meanwhile, Tricia is not doing well at her party, as the cameras capture plenty of good footage of her acting horribly rude to everyone around her. This culminates when she walks out in a purple dress identical to those being worn by her two best friends–something set up by Nikki, who was in charge of making sure nobody at the party was in the same dress. Upon seeing this, Tricia flies into a rage, but Benj dumps her as he's had quite enough of her poor attitude.

After Benj leaves the Soft Rock Café, he heads to the ice rink, where he finds Caitlin and her friends celebrating Caitlin's sixteenth birthday. There, he and Caitlin share a dance, where Benj confesses that he likes Caitlin. The next day, Caitlin's life just gets better, as she and her friends meet in Stereo Shack to watch TV and find out that Chill TV is already advertising Tricia as the "Queen of Mean"–a rather fitting title for the spoiled birthday girl.

Sub-Plot One: Jude's Ice
Jude is at the ice rink the morning of Caitlin's announcement when he decides to try to slide on the ice. However, upon attempting to do so, he finds out that the ice has no slidability. Jude decides to investigate this phenomenon, and learns that high-quality indoor ice requires a specific temperature, so he heads over to the thermostat and turns down the mall's heating.

Ron is one of many who find this change in temperature unpleasant, however, and he is quick to turn the temperature back up. This starts a battle between Jude and Ron where both of them adjust the thermostat until Ron finally catches Jude. When he catches Jude, however, Jude is turning the temperature up, and Ron lets him go, not realizing that Jude was the culprit all along and that Jude was only turning up the temperature in order to make the ice fog up for Caitlin's birthday celebration.

Sub-Plot Two: Meat Dancing
When Wyatt is tasked with holding on to Caitlin's dress until her birthday, he decides to put it on a slab of meat hanging in the freezer. Tim catches him doing this, and assumes that Wyatt was putting the dress on meat in order to dance with the meat. Wyatt is shocked at this accusation, but is unable to say anything about it because Tim mentions that he would have had to fire Wyatt from Burger McFlipster's for dancing with the meat if Wyatt hadn't agreed to become his skating pupil. As a result, Wyatt spends the next few days at work learning how to dance from Tim, and consequently becomes a good dancer.

Quotes
Caitlin: I don't know. He's just...so dreamy. I hope he asks me to dance at my sweet 16 party. Wyatt: Why don't you just ask him to ask you? Caitlin: Duh! If I ask Benj to ask me, then he isn't asking me, I'm asking him. Wyatt: Not if he asks you after you ask him to ask you. Caitlin: But if I ask first that makes me the asker, not the askee, regardless of him asking me after I– Nikki: Okay, I'm asking you both to stop before I hurt one of you. Caitlin: Yeah! Tricia: And I framed you for shoplifting. Caitlin: Hey, that's right! Tricia: And I wrote awful things about you in the girls bathroom. Caitlin: You WHAT?! Wyatt: Why would they think that? Jonesy: Because that's what I tell em. Wyatt: I'm not sure anyone ever stepped on the Mona Lisa. Benj: Yeah, I saw you try it on first, and you're definitely right. It looks better on Caitlin. Caitlin: What?! Why? Tricia: You were right Cait. We have so much bad history together, it just wouldn't work. Oh, and don't cry until I leave. (Tricia walks away.) Jen: She's gone. (Caitlin bursts into tears.) Wyatt: Oh, my friend's sweet sixteen– Tim: You aren't one of those weirdos that enjoys putting sides of beef in dresses to practice dancing. Wyatt: What? Tim: Are you a meat dancer, Wyatt? Wyatt: A meat dancer? No! Tim: It's okay, Wyatt. I used to be a meat dancer too. It's how I got started. Wyatt: Starte– Tim: Yeah, but now I'm a competitive ballroom dancer. I'm officially out of the freezer! Wyatt: Well, I– Tim: Want me to teach you? I knew you were going to ask. Wyatt: Actually, I was– Tim: Hoping to start now. (pulling him close) Alright. I'm glad you asked, because otherwise I would've had to fire you for dancing with the meat! Wyatt: Fire me? Tim: No fear of that now. Not going to fire my new ballroom prodigy. (Wyatt whimpers.) Tim: Remember, it's about passion. Show me your passion for dance! One two three one two three one two... Nikki: Yeah. It's almost like between the two of you, there's only one brain. Kristen and Kirsten: Oh my gosh! She's right! We share a brain! We share a brain! Wyatt: (sighing) Fine. Tim: (as they dance) There's that passion I was talking about! Jonesy: Nice. Wyatt: Woah. How did you do that? Jude: As the good book says, warm temperature and humidifiers cause ice to fog. Read it. Jonesy: Won't that ruin your perfect ice? Jude: Yeah, but this is a special occasion. Wyatt: Don't ask. Nikki: You got that right. Jen: That's for sure. Wyatt: Eight strikes, you're out.
 * Nikki: Okay, why is it that whenever you see Benj, you lose the power of speech?
 * Tricia: I know I abandoned you because you got that loser job at the Lemon.
 * Greeter Goddess: Uh, excuse me? No showing emotion on the premises. Store policy.
 * Jonesy: I love this job! Great coin, and everyone who wants an invite thinks I'm the one they need to impress!
 * Jude: Whoa, dude, stop! This is a work of art in progress! No one stepped on the Mona Lisa before it was dry!
 * Tricia: Hi Benj! I'm buying Caitlin that hat. Nice stuff. You know, what I do.
 * Tricia: I've decided to go at the party by myself.
 * Tim: (catching Wyatt hiding the dress in the meat locker) That's a lovely dress, Wyatt.
 * Kristen and Kirsten: Oh my gosh! Isn't that cool?!?
 * Tim: Maybe we should introduce you to the tango.
 * Jude: (Jonesy plugs in the lights above the ice rink) Sweet! Now, check this! (Jude plugs in the fan, which produces a fog around the ice rink)
 * Caitlin: (dancing with Wyatt) Wow! Where'd you learn to dance like this?
 * Caitlin: No one deserves a ninth chance.

Trivia
Reason for firing: Following Tricia betraying Caitlin yet again, Jonesy went around saying that Tricia's party was going to suck. Mandy and Gwen both found about this and fired Jonesy on the spot.
 * Jonesy's job: Sponsoring Caitlin and Tricia's joint birthday parties.

Errors

 * In this episode, Caitlin turns 16, but in the episode "Dirty Work", she mentions she is 16.
 * When Jude unscrews the guard for the thermostat's controls, he never screws it back in. However, when Ron goes to reset the thermostat, the box is locked again.
 * There are two brief moments where the Tricia's image on the coin is flipped.

Episode connections

 * The Taj Mahome Video Belly Dancers are seen again, dancing to the Taj Mahome "spirits up" song from the episode "Major Unfaithfulness". Unlike their previous appearances, they are all black-haired and wearing green.
 * Caitlin says that eight chances for Tricia are enough. Over the course of the series, six betrayals have been seen, insinuating that Tricia has betrayed her trust twice offscreen.
 * Left Caitlin after Caitlin got a job at the Big Squeeze ("Take This Job and Squeeze It")
 * Gave her friends an embarrassing video that they broadcast on the mall jumbo screen because they were mad at her ("Pillow Talk")
 * This can actually be considered a double betrayal, as Tricia's taking the video in the first place was wrong.
 * Took advantage of Caitlin's quitting her job to make her fall back into her old spendthrift ways and regarner debt, then she set up a gang of doppelgängers to take the place of Caitlin's friends at the table by the Big Squeeze (Both of which happened in the episode "Losing Your Lemon")
 * Framed Caitlin for shoplifting ("A Crime of Fashion")
 * Took control of Caitlin's sweet 16 party and stole the spotlight away from her ("Sweet 6teen")
 * Much of the dialogue in the "meat dancing" scene makes it sound as though Tim is propositioning Wyatt, including his use of threats in order to gain Wyatt's cooperation.
 * Inside Huntington's, Caitlin is seen trying on a red dress. This dress would later appear in "Cheapskates" when she wore it to impress Jasper.
 * Inside the swimsuit store, Caitlin tries on a lime-green bikini. She already owns this, as was evidenced in "Pillow Talk," when she was seen in it over a year ago.
 * Ironically, this swimsuit was also one in which she had been embarrassed by Tricia.
 * The dress Caitlin picks out is the Look at Me dress from "The One with the Text Message".
 * Jude appears in drag as one of his disguises when he changes the temperature.

Cultural references

 * Chill TV, the producers coming to film Caitlin's birthday party, is a parody of MTV.
 * On that note, the episode name is a parody of the MTV reality show My Super Sweet 16.
 * Nikki references Maharishi Mahesh Yogi when talking about Jonesy's work uniform.