Two important festivals, one worth breaking out of detention for, underscore this week’s episode of Hailey’s On It! On Disney Channel. Pull up a plate of your favorite fried rice and let’s begin.
The Saw-Shank Redemption
Immediately we open and see a fellow student running through the halls in sort of a panic. Turns out, Mr. Hardmire is out to give students detention for any reason – almost as though he has a quote to fill. Hailey and Scott panic too, and need to get to class.
As Hailey tries to get a textbook that she needs, she inexplicably finds her locker door glued shut. Archrival AC is near by, snickering while saying out loud “I wonder how that happened.” After struggling, she is finally able to break through and get her books, as she and Scott sprint to class. There, Mr. Hardmire “pulls them over” and issues them detention for running in the halls, and in a wet floor zone no less!
This detention is problematic as Hailey is meant to go to today’s kite festival and win the blue ribbon. She can’t do that if she is stuck in detention.
Once there, she discovers the many “saws” of the school – Bonesaw, etc. You may recall this rag tag bunch of students as the ones that Becker always seems to mention getting into hijinks with from earlier episodes. However, one of them is missing. Hacksaw somehow broke her way out of detention a long time ago and is now likely living on a boat in hiding.
Interestingly, Hailey and Scott discover their fellow detention inmates, who notoriously are constantly in detention, were behaving this week so they too can participate in this year’s kite festival. It’s one of their favorite activities! After discussing with each other how they all got there, Hailey realizes that AC was nearby and might have had something to do with everyone being locked up. This theory seems to work more when we see AC walking by outside with his kite collection, clearly heading to the festival with his competition unable to attend.
That’s when Hailey devises a plan. Mr. Hardmire, who is more concerned about his car and changing the oil than much else, gets a call from Hailey, pretending to be from a local auto show asking him to put his car into the show this afternoon. While the call initially seems credible, it’s when Hardmire asks about insurance policies for the show that the jig is seemingly up.
He makes sure that the students are all in their place and locks the door ten times over to make sure that no tomfoolery will take place. But how did Hacksaw get out? There has to be a way.
Frustrated, one of the other students throws an item that hits a poster hanging on the wall. The name of the episode likely spoiled this reveal to any cinephile, who likely saw it coming a mile away. Behind the poster was a tunnel that “only a hacksaw” can carve out. With Hardmire being the school’s driving instructor, there were plenty of dummies around that the students could use for their escape – but seemingly only took the wardrobe from.
The kids all arrive at the kite festival and find AC there. However, he only seems to be watching the kites fly. He prefers watching as you can’t enjoy it as much if you’re focused on flying them. That’s why his collection is still mint in packaging as it will also help their resale value. Wait, if AC is there and not competing, who set all the students up?
There on the beach is Mr. Hardmire, flying a car shaped kite. How is he there? Cut back to one of his driving dummies posed near his car changing the oil. He was the one who set up all the students who had talked about going to the kite festival, he wanted that blue ribbon for himself.
How can they compete though? They don’t even have a kite! Well, fortunately their old kite-flying inmate, Hacksaw is nearby and ready to fly her kite with them. Hailey takes over with some serious skills and wins the ribbon that she was looking for while Hacksaw disappears onto the horizon.
No More Mr. Rice Guy
Oceanside has more festivals than any other town I think, and there’s another one happening tonight. For it, the whole local community will likely be in attendance. It’s a good thing too, since Scott has drums of a special Holiday Neapolitan blend of ice cream that he can’t eat alone. Though, that doesn’t stop him from trying.
Kai is also slated to help Hailey make his famous fried rice for the event. After all, it really sets the stage for the whole meal. All he wants to do right now though, is watch his cooking show. Too bad between Hailey, the twins, Scott (who is not even related but currently making a mess of his kitchen with that melting ice cream) and his wife who is brushing aside his dinner for a smoothie she asked him to finish making, Kai feels very unappreciated.
Not realizing she is part of the problem, Hailey sits with her dad and tells him that he needs to set boundaries, something that she has learned while she is completing her list. Then she promptly asked him for 15 trays of fried rice for the festival tomorrow.
Well, set boundaries he did because the next morning, while the kitchen has been cleaned up, Kai is nowhere to be found and everyone is seemingly on their own for breakfast. Outside, we can hear the strumming of a ukulele and we discover that Kai is on strike. Everyone is on their own today, including Hailey. And tragically, only Kai knows the recipe for his famous fried rice, However, he helps out by giving her a pre-written list of ingredients that she can find all over town.
So, off she goes to collect them, and while doing so discovers that Kai is also an important part of the community. As she collects the ingredients, most of the vendors and local business owners offer them up free of charge, but Kai usually does something for them in return, including “hand” pouring mustard into condiment bottles. Unable to say no while representing her father, Hailey finds herself doing these same tasks and realizing that it’s no surprise he doesn’t feel valued at home.
Finally, it's time for the festival and Hailey and Scott have absolutely ruined the fried rice recipe. Running over to meet her fathers demands and apologize to him (along with her mother who is also ready to negotiate), the strike is called off and Kai returns to helping.
Fortunately, he knew the kids were going to wreck his most treasured recipe, and called in some reinforcements who had secretly helped him make the 15 trays of fried rice that was needed. After all, it sets the stage for the whole meal, and it can’t be messed up!
This episode of Hailey’s On It! Is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app. You can catch up with earlier episodes streaming now on Disney+.