Homework & Hidden Talents

"Homework & Hidden Talents" is the fifth episode of Season 4 of Austin & Ally. It was the 5th episode filmed in Season 4. The episode will air on a special date and time Saturday, March 28, 2015 at 8:30 p.m. The episode airs as part of Disney Channel's "Tune In 4 What?!” programming event. It was watched by 1.4 million viewers on the night of its premiere.

Overview
Ally wants to prove to Austin that she can unlock the hidden musical talent of a new student named Shelby who's lives her life under the shadow of her older sister Violet, a self-taught teenage violin virtuoso. Austin and Ally make a bet with each other over her ability to teach Shelby to play the violin. Along the way, they find that Shelby is a much better dancer than a violin player.

Episode Summary
Austin and Dez play a game similar to Russian Roulette, where they try to shake up cans of a soda called "Carbonation Extreme," to see who gets blasted in the face with soda. They try to coax Ally into joining their game, but she refuses. Trish needs a good grade on a book report for a book called "The Lonely Maiden's Journey," and Dez offers to help her with a video version of her book report, and she accepts his offer. To celebrate the upcoming video, Dez gives Trish the shaken-up can of Carbonation Extreme, but she opens it up and sprays it into his face instead.

Austin and then Ally overhear a teenage girl named Violet Hayden playing a violin at a skill that's better than many professionals. Realizing she's not at the former Sonic Boom for lessons, they find that she has dropped off her younger sister Shelby to take lessons instead. Shelby lives under the shadow of her sister and knows that she's as terrible at playing music as Violet is good, however Ally promises she can make her as good as her sister. Austin however is convinced she's making unrealistic promises, and he is found to be right when Shelby tries playing the violin for the first time.

For the movie, Dez makes Trish dress in a ridiculously ruffled and wide 19th Century dress with an oversized hat. He gives her a giant sausage wrapped in a blanket to be used as a fake baby, and claims to be recreating a chapter from the book where villages are throwing onions at her at the end of the Civil War. Ally's first official lesson with Shelby turns out to be disastrous but she still wants to prove to Austin that she can unlock her hidden musical talent. Austin and Ally make a bet with each other over her ability to teach the girl to play the violin by the next "Friends and Family Night." Depending on which of the two loses the bet, Ally will give Austin a five foot wide pancake, and Austin will give Ally a designer sterling silver necklace. Ally is so confident she'll win the bet, that she gives him the catalog and directions to the jewelry store, only to find that Shelby has broken yet another violin.

Dez shoots another scene for Trish's video book report, but it contains her sitting on a block of ice with her "baby" behind a fake arctic backdrop with fake snow being tossed at her. Trish goes out of character and becomes frustrated at Dez for making her sit on that ice block for an unnecessarily long time. When they stop the film, she tries to talk him into letting her perform a scene that's less grueling, and he offers to place her in a desert set, where he threatens to cover her in live tarantulas, which in reality was an attempt to get the perfect scream.

Though Shelby improves somewhat, she's still horrible. While Austin is showing off some new dance moves for a future performance on Friends and Family Night, Shelby mimics those dance moves, behind their backs. Violet comes in to pick her up from her lesson, and uses the time to show an old video of her impressing a crowd at Carnegie Hall when she was only three years old. Discouraged by the comparison between her and her sister, Shelby gives up her lessons.

Up in the practice room, Ally is working on a song. When Austin walks in, she tells him she's still in the process of trying to prepare his enormous pancake. Austin claims that he though she'd be able to teach Shelby to play despite all the difficulties. In spite of her inevitable loss of the bet, Austin gets Ally the necklace she wanted anyhow, which contains a token with a sun and moon on it for their last names Moon and Dawson. It also contains an unfinished engraved message reading "I believe in you. Together we can go fart." The actual inscription was supposed to be "I believe in you. Together we can go farther than the moon." In the meantime, they consider offering the girl some other kinds of musical lessons, and try to call her back. The pop-star and songwriter leave the practice room to find Trish dressed in a ridiculous 19th Century dress hanging from a rope, swinging around in a circle. After they get her down, Trish reveals that she was dressed that way as part of a scene from her book report, but Ally reveals that none of the scenes Dez makes her perform in has anything to do with the book. Austin, on the other hand is impressed with Dez's irrelevant details. In the meantime Trish now seeks revenge, and storms out of A&A Music Factory, just as Shelby walks back in. They try to talk her into taking up lessons with some other musical instrument, and as the discuss which instrument she might be interested in trying other than the violin, she gets up on stage and dances casually. Ally discovers her ability and they find out dancing is her true talent. Austin tries to examine her ability and finds out she's actually better at dancing than him.

When Dez is preparing her for a another presumed scene for the book report containing a mudslide, she takes the bucket of mud meant for her, and dumps it on his head instead, then pours cereal on him claiming it was during a part of the book taking place in a cereal factory, and finally tops it off with a bottle of milk. Dez realizes Trish found out his movie has nothing to do with the book. She also decides that she's actually going to do a real book report after all.

Once Friends and Family Night at A&A Music Factory arrives, Ally announces Shelby to the stage. Her dance routine beings with her pretending to play the violin and using it as a prop, to a background recording of "Finally Me." Austin joins her in the routine, which uses the entire store as a stage, and the rest of Team Austin decides to help in her routine. When Shelby is done, Violet maintains her belief that she's the most talented member of the family, but is genuinely impressed with her younger sister's dancing. Shelby thanks Team Austin for her lessons, and invites Austin for another run around the store, but Austin is too exhausted to join her. Dez offers to take his place instead.

Austin, Ally, and Dez enjoy his five foot pancake, and Trish barges in to announce that she got an A on her book report. In the meantime, Dez showed her video of Trish to his film class, and he tells her that they want her to star in a movie called "Attack of the Shark-nocerous," an offer that she promptly declines until he reveals that she will play the monster in his movie.

Memorable Quotes
TBA

Songs Featured

 * Can't Do It Without You (theme song)
 * Finally Me

Main Cast

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

Guest Cast

 * Brooke Sorenson as Violet Hayden
 * Maddie Ziegler as Shelby Hayden

Trivia

 * Maddie Ziegler, a famous dancer from the hit reality show Dance Moms and star of the popular "Chandelier" music video, guest stars in this episode.
 * This episode was originally titled "Dance Routines & Dude Pageants."
 * The episode airs as part of Disney Channel's "Tune In 4 What?!” programming event, four days and eight new episodes of hit comedy series, lasting Thursday, March 26 through Sunday, March 29.