Lemon's Name in Lights is the 16th episode of the first season of Berry In The Big City. It premiered on December 11th, 2021.
Summary[]
Lemon Meringue pulls out all the stops and decorates The Berryworks for a holiday celebration that the berries will never forget.
Plot[]
Strawberry Shortcake and Orange Blossom stare at the empty Winterswirl tree. Strawberry is amazed by it, when she and Orange notice Sour Grapes approach the tree and throw a purple garland on it, which stops the cheery background music. Strawberry asks Orange why Sour Grapes is attacking the tree, and Orange explains that Sour Grapes decorates the tree every year.
A flashback occurs showing Sour Grapes' lazy attempts to decorate the tree, the first one has the tree badly wrapped up with lights, she powers the tree lights and one of the lights shorts out as she gives an unenthusiastic "woo". The next one has her laying on the floor, limply tossing an ornament on the tree. The last one shows a tree she actually put effort into, but it's completely decorated in dark colors and gothic ornaments unfitting for the holiday, as Sour comments that the tree is like her soul, as the flashback ends.
Strawberry, distressed, exclaims that Winterswirl trees should be magical glowing beacons of hope. She looks around the Berryworks, suggesting someberry else could decorate the tree instead of Sour, before spotting Lemon Meringue, who decked out the LemonLime Time cart in extravagant Winterswirl decor, with even a miniature fireworks display. Strawberry grabs Orange's beanie earflaps, saying she has an idea. Orange stops her, admitting Lemon is a good choice, but she's going to say no. Strawberry asks why, since lighting a tree seems like a thing Lemon would enjoy. Orange explains that whoever decorates the tree has to give a speech at the tree-lighting ceremony, and that Lemon isn't an outgoing berry. Orange then notices Strawberry's enormous grin, and asks why she's making that face.
Cutaway: Strawberry asks who is an outgoing berry, immediately answering by pointing to herself. She plans to help Lemon overcome her fear of public speaking.
The Berry Besties approach Lemon as she's performing maintenance from under her cart. Lemon notices, getting out from under the truck, and is startled by everybarry standing over her with big grins. Strawberry excitedly greets Lemon and tells her that they all decided she's going to be the one decorating the tree this year. Lemon gasps and goes back under the truck.
Cutaway: Lemon panics, repeatedly shouting "no" before she slides down the screen.
Lemon reminds everyberry that she doesn't do speeches from under her cart. Strawberry drags Lemon out and insists that she do it, since she can make it look more amazing than any other berry, which Lemon agrees on as she goes back under her cart. Strawberry pulls Lemon out again, Lemon goes back under, and Strawberry tries to reassure her, saying that the speech will be easy once they turn her into a speech-giving machine. Strawberry pulls Lemon out from the cart again and asks one more time. Lemon sighs, gets up, and robotically says she's a speech-giving machine, which confuses the other three girls. Lemon admits the joke sounded better in her head. Lemon reluctantly agrees to do it and asks what to do, pulling out a notepad and pen. Lime Chiffon suggests using descriptive words and gives an example, saying Lemon's not just lighting a tree, but illuminating the spirit of the season. Orange tells her to look at the crowd in the eye with a fierce stare that'll get everyberry's attention, but Lemon is confused at the "grr" Orange did. Blueberry Muffin tells Lemon that if she feels nervous, to just think of everyberry in their underwear, which Lemon thinks is gross. Finally, Strawberry adds her own suggestions, quickly telling her to smile, be herself, speak from the heart, and she'll be perfect. Strawberry asks if Lemon got all that. Lemon looks at her notepad, which is full of scribbles and "AAAAA"s. Lemon hesitates, but Strawberry leads Lemon over to her toolbox to use as a platform to give her speech.
A spotlight activates over Lemon. Lemon takes a deep breath, and whispers an introduction, Orange makes the fierce face she did earlier. Lemon tries to follow Orange's advice, and makes an intense face, which scares Lime. Lemon then tries to follow Lime's advice of being descriptive, but just says she wants to illuminate the lots of sparkberries (her words, not mine) in a robotic voice. Blueberry gestures to Lemon, and Lemon tries following her advice, but only manages to blurt out the word "underwear" and that everyberry has it. The girls cringe as Lemon concludes her speech, only managing to blurt out the word "trees" and make an awkward, and somewhat goofy, smile as the spotlight disappears. Blueberry applauds Lemon's speech while the other girls are still cringing. Strawberry tries to tell Lemon how she did without being offensive, but fails to get it out before Lemon interrupts, saying that this is why she never wanted to light the tree in the first place. Lemon trudges away as the four girls stare at each other.
Cutaway: Strawberry notes that the thing about being an outgoing berry... is that she sometimes forgets not everyberry is as outgoing as she is.
Strawberry approaches Lemon as she disconnects the lights on her cart. She tries to get her attention, but Lemon tells her that she doesn't want to talk about what happened, or talk at all. Strawberry acknowledges this, but asks Lemon to just listen to her. Strawberry apologizes for trying to get her to do something she didn't want to do, and that she's perfect the way she is. She then tells Lemon she's really good at decorating with the same robotic impression Lemon did earlier in the episode. Lemon tells Strawberry that if she didn't have to give the speech she would love to light the tree, before taking note of Strawberry's enormous grin, and asks why she's making that face.
Cutaway: Strawberry talks again about being an outgoing berry, this time noting that outgoing berries can speak for friends who don't like speaking, like getting rid of silly rules about having to give a speech
It's nighttime, and the tree-lighting ceremony is about to begin, as berries crowd around a fully decorated Winterswirl tree. Strawberry tells the crowd that Lemon is going to let her work speak for itself. Lemon pulls a lever, causing the tree and decorations in the Berryworks to lights up. Everyberry cheers but the Mean Berries, who are clearly impressed as well, but don't want to say anything to avoid hurting Sour's feelings. Lemon then giggles, putting on her goggles and pulling another lever. The star on the tree opens up and shines a very bright light, blowing the audience away (metaphorically and literally). The Mean Berries, astounded, immediately join in the cheering, as Sour does a thumbs-up.
Strawberry tells Lemon she did an awesome speech, as the two stare at the Winterswirl tree. Lemon agrees, saying she is pretty awesome.
Cast[]
- Ana Sani as Strawberry Shortcake
- Andrea Libman as Lemon Meringue
- Bahia Watson as Orange Blossom
- Margarita Valderrama as Lime Chiffon
- Diana Kaarina as Blueberry Muffin
- Meg Roe as Sour Grapes
Non-Voiced Appearance[]
- Raspberry Tart
- Bread Pudding
- Huckleberry Pie
- Mrs. Crumbcake
- Honeydew Sorbet
- Peanut Butter Crisp
- Old Man
- Customer Berry
Trivia[]
- This is the second Christmas episode in Berry In The Big City, with the first one being the previous episode, Berry Merry Melody.
- Ironically, despite both being the Christmas episodes for Season 1, neither aired on Christmas Day, with Waiting for Genoise being the episode to release on December 25th.
- Lemon's introverted nature is established in this episode, which will pop up in future episodes. Her fear of public speaking, how she's uncomfortable with talking about herself, and dislikes being the center of attention, will come up in future episodes focusing on her.
- This episode establishes a Berryworks tradition with the annual tree-lighting ceremony. This tradition will be mentioned again in Strawberry Shortcake’s Perfect Holiday, as part of a major subplot in the special.
- When Strawberry is looking for another tree decorator, Blueberry Muffin can be seen eating a snowball while Lime Chiffon watches in amusement.
Continuity[]
- The Mean Berries are once again shown getting along with the Berry Besties, cheering at Lemon's WInterswirl tree display.
- Inconsistency: The previous episode featured a fully-decorated Winterswirl tree, but in this episode the Berryworks just got the tree and it hasn't been decorated yet, implying this episode should take place before Berry Merry Melody.
Video[]
Gallery[]
Click here to see the gallery of the episode.