Tunes & Trials

"Tunes & Trials" is the 19th episode in Season 2 of Austin & Ally. It aired on July 19, 2013 from 7:30 PM EST to 8 PM EST. This episode was the twentieth episode to be filmed of season 2. It earned 4.103 million viewers on its premiere night.

Overview
Austin writes a song about a girl and after it becomes a musical sensation, fans begin to question who it’s really about. In response, Val sues Austin, Ally, Trish and Dez, claiming that the song was stolen from her newest artist,so did not withdrew her claim and  the matter heads to court where the foursome decides to represent themselves. Meanwhile, Trish and Dez use what they've learned from their favorite show, Crime & Judgment, to find out for whom Austin wrote that song and to clear his name.



Episode Summary
At the beginning of the episode, Val comes into Sonic Boom to visit Austin and Ally; she wants them to write a song for her to use so that her Stray Kitties can have their first big hit. They decline--they are too busy with their careers, and they do not want to write a song for the woman that could have provided Ally with a major setback--and Val leaves, infuriated. Meanwhile, while writing their latest song, Ally provides Austin with another opportunity to write lyrics--after a bit of persuasion and a bad sports analogy, Austin decides to try writing another song. Ally even buys him his own song book, and gives him advice on what to write about.

Four days later, on the same day that Trish and Dez finish watching all 182 episodes of Crime & Judgement, Austin comes in with the news that he finished writing lyrics to his latest single. And despite Trish being a bit uncertain about his song being any good, it ends up becoming a hit song that is played on the radio a lot.

Later on, Val comes back and announces that she has sued them, claiming that Val wrote the lyrics to Steal Your Heart. They go to court, and for most of their time there, despite the efforts of everyone, they are not very successful and it seems like Val will win the case.

Trish then has Austin perform his song as a way to solve the case--after he performs, Trish deduces that the song is about Ally, since she was the only one out of the four suspects that he did not 'flirt' with. She is right; Austin says that she told him to write a song about someone that he cared about, and so he wrote a song about her. The judge then says that he believes Austin after having seen him perform the song as well as talk about his inspiration with Ally. Val tries to convince him otherwise by bringing back up the briefcases; the judge says that the briefcases could have been swapped, as seen in episode 73 of Crime & Judgment. The judge then has Austin continue to show evidence in the form of Austin performing the new song.

Meanwhile, Trish and Dez try to figure out who the song Steal Your Heart is about. They think it could be about Brooke since Dez saw Austin give her flowers at school; Austin, at court, then reveals that he simply returned the flowers that Brooke gave him. Another likely candidate was the European Super Model, since Dez saw them say 'I love you' to each other near Mini's; Austin explains that he has been giving the model English lessons. They also think that the song is about Kira since Dez saw them talk about a secret that they had; after being persuaded, Kira admitted that they did have a secret, but that they had been trying to get Maroon 5 to play at Ally's surprise birthday party. At the end, Austin reveals that the song is about Ally, though.

Main cast

 * Ross Lynch as Austin Moon
 * Laura Marano as Ally Dawson
 * Calum Worthy as Dez
 * Raini Rodriguez as Trish De la Rosa

Guest cast

 * Kiersey Clemons as Kira Starr
 * Carrie Wampler as Brooke
 * Madison McMillin as European Super Model
 * Saidah Arrika Ekulona as Val Crawford
 * Gregg Daniel as Judge

Songs Featured

 * Can't Do It Without You (theme song)
 * Steal Your Heart (Premiere)

Trivia

 * The night of premieres that this episode is with all involves Ross Lynch, who portrays Austin Moon.
 * Austin writes his first successful song called Steal Your Heart.
 * Teen Beach Movie also premiered when the episode was released, which Ross Lynch (who portrays Austin Moon) stars in.
 * This is the 3rd episode to not premiere on a Sunday, the first being Big Dreams & Big Apples, and the second being Boy Songs & Badges.
 * The new Disney show Liv and Maddie also premieres the same night when the episode is released.
 * Val returns in this episode, marking her second appearance.
 * The Stray Kitties from Solos & Stray Kitties are mentioned in this episode by Val.
 * This episode was filmed on Laura's Birthday.
 * Val's last name is revealed to be Crawford.
 * It is revealed Austin wrote Steal Your Heart about Ally.
 * Austin and Ally do not get back together in this episode but admit they still have feelings for each other.
 * Austin is still suffering at school work.
 * Austin didn't know about South Dakota and West Virginia.
 * Trish and Dez stay up for 4 days straight watching Crime and Judgement. They were originally going to watch all 182 episodes for 4 days again, but Ally refused to let them by using a pun to the title of the show.
 * Austin and Kira were trying to get Maroon 5 to perform at a surprise party for Ally.
 * Austin said "Don't touch my book" like Ally used to in this episode.
 * This is the second time we see someone get interrogated. First was Dez in Secrets & Songbooks.
 * Ally makes a reference to Couples & Careers when she said that she and Austin agreed to be friends a long time ago.
 * The 'Auslly Arc' continues in this episode.
 * The judge is revealed to be a fan of Austin.;

Goofs

 * At the very end of the episode, Ally was dancing to "Steal Your Heart", but in the past episodes she is terrible at dancing, and this time she was dancing better.
 * Val wanted Austin and Ally to write a song for the Stray Kitties, but in Solos & Stray Kitties, she says she writes all the songs for the group so she wouldn't have needed someone else to write a song.