When Barry is too busy to help Shelby build her new website, Shelby must take matters into her own hands. Meanwhile, Cyd and Naldo win a boat and try to hide the huge cruiser in the backyard. (Source: imdb.com)

This is one of the oddest constructed episodes of Best Friends Whenever.  There’s been a trend lately to have three plots running at once and a trend to mixing up relationships.  That’s been a pleasant trend.  But we also get the “very special episode” about girls and coding.

The first storyline involves Shelby and her crafting.  Apparently, the Portland craft community is also a community of active traders so Shelby decides to set up a website called Tradeskees as a forum for craft trading.  She asks Barry to do it.

The second storyline involves Cyd and her entry into a local Action News contest – guessing how many coffee beans are in a jar.

The third storyline involves Barry planning his grandmother’s birthday party.  His gift to her is a miniature living room set.

Cyd and Shelby decide to time travel to the future to see if Barry does the website.  He hasn’t and someone else has stolen Shelby’s idea.  Meanwhile, Cyd learns she didn’t win the contest but she does get the winning number of beans.  They jump back to the present.  Barry says he’s too busy to do the website so he suggests Shelby ask Alex from the Computer Club at school to help out.

Shelby wants Alex to just do it for her (here’s your life lesson coming: If not this, then that, Unless this).  Alex won’t so Shelby charms two nerds Reboot and Eddie to do it for her (stereotype alert: only nerds can be coders).  This sets up a potential love triangle and Reboot and Eddie battle it out to see who will earn Shelby’s affections.  In the end, Shelby learns from Alex how to code her own website and guess what, she has a website!  She’s a coder!  And she’s a girl!

Meanwhile, Cyd asks Naldo to help her cheat in the contest.  They win (of course) and they win a boat – not a tablet or a laptop.  Barry, man of many hats, finds a captain’s hat on the boat and assumes the role of captain.  He turns into a preppy captain, barking orders to Cyd.  Cyd is not happy with the transformation and trades the boat for a new hat for Naldo, a hat with little boats on it.  That trade shows up on Shelby’s Tradeskees website.

The Bret/Chet story is just weird.  Bret (or Chet) blasts the laser at the floor just after Chet (or Bret) finds Barry’s huge popcorn closet.  The mini living room falls onto the floor and Bret (or Chet) thinks he’s shrunk Chet (or Bret).  Hilarity once again ensues as Chet (or Bret) speaks from inside the closet and Bret (or Chet) first thinks Barry smushed mini Chet (or Bret).  In the end, Bret (or Chet) uses the laser to break open the lock on the popcorn closet.  All of the popcorn pops, just as Barry returns back with his grandmother.  He says “I have a big surprise for you” and opens the door.  A massive amount of popcorn comes along with Bret and Chet.

Its tough to construct these episodes but its a sign of talented writing to bring the stories together at the end.  I also appreciate that the writers have started mixing up the characters so its not just a Cyd/Shelby story, a Barry/Naldo story and a Bret/Chet story.  Princess Daisy does not appear in this episode either, which makes building that relationship tough.  She’s been woven in the same way the Future Lab was built in last season.  We need some consistent storytelling in this area in order to make it a worthy investment of time for the viewer.