Hot, Fresh & Trending is the 6th episode in airing order of Season 3 of Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City. It premieres on August 11th, 2023.
Summary[]
Faced with hip new competition, Bread Pudding tries to update the Berryworks to keep up with the latest trends.
Plot[]
The episode begins with Strawberry baking sugar cookie twists in her truck. She expresses to Custard how it's nice to not have to worry about the Peculiar Purple Pieman right before he shows up. He greets her by calling her "Snort Flake" and then starts promoting his Pie works across the street. In doing so he attempts to use trendy words and rhyming in order to draw people in. After presenting an upside down muffin every berry heads over to his Pie works. Noticing every berry leaving the pie works, Bread asks why and Strawberry shows points out the new Pie works. Bread starts freaking out calling it a disaster and orders every berry in his office immediately. After realizing it's too cramped in his office, they all head to the courtyard where he starts freaking out. After pulling himself together he states that every berry left because the Pie works if trendy. So in order to draw them back in they also must be trendy. Lime pulls out a graphing chart with all the latest trends Bread had researched, much to every berry's confusion. Strawberry is hesitant and states that she's always followed her guts, not trends. In a cutaway Strawberry admits she's not sure this is going to work but is interrupted when Bread changes her background. Bread tells her that Strawberries aren't trending and leaves.
Bread starts by pulling Orange from her smoothie truck and ordering her to start making peanut butter sculptures of celebrities. She's confused but does what she is told anyway. Next, he heads over to Custard and orders the pets to start a parade. In a megaphone, he states that attention spans are getting shorter which leads to every berry having to roller-skate everywhere. Next, he calls for Strawberry and orders her to put on a vintage bonnet and dress since they aren't hitting the nostalgia trend. Strawberry suggest that they focus on something simple before getting pushed away. Dissatisfied, he runs over ordering a cuter pet parade, mayonnaise to the sculpture, and to skate faster. Strawberry senses Bread's losing it and tries her best to talk to him. It seems to be working until Bread's phone buzzes again and he orders for the Cakenator. Distracted by the robot, Lime trips over Pupcake and crashes into Huck. A domino effect occurs that ends in everything ruined and covered in peanut butter.
An oven chime is heard from and Bread asks what it came from. Strawberry pops out from her truck and tells him it's from her Very Berry Oven. She goes on to explain that earlier today she asked her gut what today needed and the answer was sugar cookie twists. A passer by tries one and soon more berries show up at the Berry works. In a cutaway Strawberry says that the best way to find a treat for your gut, is to trust your gut. As she explains this Bread throws out the trendy background. The Pieman returns and tries to bring berries back by rapping, but it comes off as cringy. The episode ends with Bread ironically stating that some berries are just too focused on trends.
Cast[]
- Ana Sani as Strawberry Shortcake
- Chirag Naik as Bread Pudding, Old Man (uncredited)
- Bahia Watson as Orange Blossom
- Margarita Valderrama as Lime Chiffon
- Ian Hanlin as The Peculiar Purple Pieman, Crew Berry (uncredited)
- Vincent Tong as Huckleberry Pie (archive audio)
Non-Voiced Appearance[]
- Lemon Meringue
- Blueberry Muffin
- Raspberry Tart
- Sour Grapes
- Custard
- Pupcake
- Parfait
- Cheesecake
- Frappe
- Red Hot
- Mrs. Crumbcake
- Honeydew Sorbet
- The Cakenator
- Peanut Butter Crisp
- Bodybuilder Berry
- Hippy Berry
- Salesberry (Yellow)
- Spicy Crust 2
- Customer #2
- Wheelchair Berry
- Crabapple Jam (photo, mentioned)
- Kiki KeyLime (photo)
- Banoffee (photo)
- J. Quincy Cupcake (photo, sculpture)
- Figgy Pudding (mentioned)
Trivia[]
- This episode marks The Peculiar Purple Pieman's first appearance in the third season and his first appearance since the 2-parter in the second season; Peculiar Purple Partner.
- After Bread orders the Berry Besties to work at quadruple speed, everyberry except Orange Blossom and Sour Grapes swaps to their rollerskating outfits.
- If one looks closely at the scene, Lemon Meringue can be seen crashing into Lime Chiffon, before catching her and pushing her friend along.
- Red Hot and Frappe completely disappear from the episode after the brief scene in Bread's office.
Continuity[]
- Strawberry starts the episode admitting she's glad the Purple Pieman isn't at the Berryworks anymore, which occurred back in Peculiar Purple Partner.
- The Cakenator makes its first appearance since All About Lemon, and the first time it's seen as a whole rather than just the flying upper torso from The Cakenator.
- Amongst Bread's paranoid ramblings if the Berryworks loses customers to Pieman's Pieworks is worrying about Crabapple Jam firing him and his mother's subsequent reaction, making a brief nod to the episode Figgy Pudding, which established his mother's strict standards.
- When everyberry has to wear rollerskates, Strawberry is briefly shown being guided by Huck as she's still learning to rollerskate, which was first established in Let the Good Times Roll
References to Past Series[]
- Bread Pudding dresses Strawberry Shortcake in her outfit from the 1980s in this episode as a way to capitalize on the "nostalgia" trend.
- One of the "trendy" topics Bread enforces for the Berryworks is a pet parade, likely a nod to the 1982 animated special "Strawberry Shortcake: Pets on Parade". Sour Grapes leading the parade could also be a nod to how she made her debut in the special.
References[]
- Purple Pieman's outfit in this episode is a reference to the "How do you do, fellow kids?" meme which originated from the show 30 Rock, when a cop played by Steve Buschemi attempted to infiltrate a high school dressed as a teenager.
Video[]
Gallery[]
Click here to see the gallery of the episode