Summary
Back in school, Cady recalls how easy it felt being fake and insincere with The Plastics. Gretchen, acting as a go-between, defends Regina to Cady and even gives her a "hug" from Regina. In the cafeteria, Cady registers the fact that Regina sadistically enjoys flirting with Aaron in front of her, and imagines settling the conflict physically, as animals in the jungle would. Cady's first act of sabotage is replacing Regina's facial cleanser with foot cream, although it merely makes Aaron remark that her face smells like peppermint. When Janis cuts holes in Regina's gym shirt, she shrugs and wears it anyway, prompting a new fashion craze among girls at the school.
Janis, Damian, and Cady bemoan their slow progress in the school hallways, and Cady tells them she has no time to scheme because she's preparing a performance of "Jingle Bell Rock," which The Plastics perform every year at the school's Winter Talent Show. Cady shoos them away when Regina approaches. Regina tells Cady that she and Janis used to be friends, but that Janis became "obsessed" with Regina when she got a boyfriend, leading Regina to exclude her from an all-girls party, which led Janis to drop out of school. Regina warmly compliments a passing girl's skirt, and then tells Cady it's the "ugliest" skirt she's ever seen, making Cady wonder whether Regina's similar compliment about her bracelet was sincere.
Cady makes Gretchen feel insecure by convincing her that Regina sent candy canes to everyone but her. At the Winter Talent Show, hosted by Mr. Duvall, Damian performs "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera while Ms. Norbury plays piano. Backstage, Gretchen starts telling Cady all of Regina's secrets, such as that her parents don't sleep in the same bed anymore, and that she's had a nose job. Next, Kevin Gnapoor raps as part of a hip-hop group and flirts with Janis on his way offstage. Finally, The Plastics perform "Jingle Bell Rock," after Regina makes Gretchen switch places with Cady at the last second. During the song, Gretchen bumps the boombox, causing the music to freeze, then unintentionally kicks it offstage into Jason's face with her boot. Cady uncertainly begins to sing the song where they left off, and the audience joins in a sing-a-long to round out the end of the number.
Backstage, Gretchen teases Cady for potentially having a crush on Kevin Gnapoor, and being in the Mathletes, which surprises Aaron, who assumed Cady hated math. After Regina embarrasses Gretchen for using the word "fetch," Gretchen delivers a panicked oral presentation about Brutus's betrayal of Julius Caesar in English class, indicating to Cady that she had "cracked." Gretchen admits to Cady that every Thursday Regina cheats on Aaron Samuels with a student named Shane Oman in the projection room above the auditorium, but after several failed attempts to lure Aaron into the projection room (where Damian and Aaron instead find Coach Carr kissing a student), Janis, Damian, and Cady instead start feeding Regina Swedish weight gain bars under the pretense that they are diet food.
In voice-over narration, Cady observes how natural it felt to pretend to be friends with Regina, and begins to become intoxicated by Regina's "school celebrity" status. Even Janis begins to tire of Cady's single-minded obsession with being Regina's friend, and changes the subject by inviting Cady one day to her art show. In math class, Cady continues to pretend to be inept at math in order to lure Aaron's attention, asking him to be her tutor. One afternoon, while studying together, the two share a kiss. Aaron stops and reiterates his commitment to Regina, which causes Cady to divulge to him that Regina has been unfaithful.
After she and Aaron break up, Regina cries in her bedroom, surrounded by Karen and Gretchen, who attempt to cheer her up. Although Regina quickly starts dating another boy, Aaron chooses not to pursue Cady. One day, school announcements reveal that Cady has been nominated for Spring Fling Queen, along with Regina and Janis. Consuming the Swedish weight gain bars makes Regina unable to fit into her Spring Fling dress. In math class, Ms. Norbury scolds Cady for failing multiple tests in a row, and for pretending to be dumb in order to impress boys. Hanging with The Plastics in Regina's bedroom, Cady vents in the Burn Book about Ms. Norbury, twisting her comment about being a "pusher" into a reference to pushing drugs.
In school, Cady brushes off Janis's art show and Damian's offer to watch a movie, saying she has "major Plastic sabotage" to carry out that the others don't know about. Cady stages a "three-way calling attack" on Regina, goading her into saying cruel things about Gretchen and Karen. Gretchen then calls Karen to tell her, but Karen is interrupted by Regina on the other line. Gretchen tells Karen about Regina's insults, and Karen pretends to be sick to avoid hanging out with Regina. The next day at lunch, Gretchen loses her temper at Regina for wearing sweatpants on a Monday and not conforming to the rules like the others, eventually shouting, "You can't sit with us!" Regina admits that sweatpants are all that fit her, and collides embarrassingly with another student on her way out of the cafeteria.
Cady realizes that Gretchen and Karen now treat her like the new "Queen Bee," and manipulates her parents into leaving her behind on a trip so that she can throw a party. She invites Aaron Samuels but not Regina, and wears a glamorous dress for the event. More people show up than expected, and Regina drives by the party, looking on in bitterness and contempt. Waiting for Aaron to show, Cady pours herself another drink and orders a couple making out to leave her upstairs bedroom. When Aaron wanders in, Cady sits down on the bed with him and drunkenly admits that she pretended to be poor at math so that she could talk to Aaron without Regina taking notice. Finding her duplicity unattractive, Aaron moves to leave just as Regina opens the bedroom door and Cady vomits all over Aaron's shoes.
Aaron angrily leaves the party, and Cady chases after him. Driving by in Damian's car, Damian and Janis catch Cady red-handed in her lies. Cady accuses Janis of being unhealthily obsessed with ruining Regina's life, and Janis accuses Cady of actually becoming one of The Plastics—no longer just pretending to be one. After the party, Regina's boyfriend recognizes the brand of weight gain bar that Regina has been eating, sending her into a blind rage. Stomping back home and up into her bedroom, Regina cuts up a photograph of her and Cady, and writes a demeaning comment next to it in the Burn Book. Instead of placing Cady's photo next to the note, however, Regina places her own.
Analysis
Although the word is never used in the film, Fey's script explores the social concept of the "frenemy" in female friendships—someone who is simultaneously a friend and an enemy. Ironically, because the friendships between the members of The Plastics are already fraught with deceit and manipulation, Cady finds being deceitful in turn with them to be an exceedingly easy and natural task. The film highlights the contrast between the methods of conflict-resolution in "Girl World" (where everything, in Cady's words, has to be "sneaky") and the methods of the animal kingdom (where animals simply confront and fight one another). The analogy also anticipates future events to come when the contents of the Burn Book are exposed, making the entire school fly into a state of uncontrollable, animalistic rage.
More ironies arise when Cady, Janis, and Damian's attempts to sabotage The Plastics backfire. As they quickly realize, the social status of The Plastics as "royalty" often renders them immune from looking ridiculous or "uncool" in the eyes of others. Thus when Janis cuts holes in Regina's gym shirt, Regina wears it anyway and starts a new fashion trend in the school. Throughout the film, Tina Fey's script comically emphasizes how the students at North Shore seem to naturally want to idolize The Plastics—even Damian, who hates The Plastics but admits early on that Regina is "fabulous."
Cady becomes gradually aware of the extent of Regina's callousness, especially after she tells Cady the story of Janis Ian (the target of Regina's homophobic abuse), and mockingly compliments a girl's skirt in a similar way to how she had complimented Cady's bracelet. However, the more Cady learns about Regina's deviousness, the more she begins to adopt her methods of manipulation. For instance, in this sequence, Cady foments infighting among the girls by ordering candy canes for everyone but Gretchen, making her feel insecure within the friend group.
The Winter Talent Show represents the moment in the film where Cady officially replaces Gretchen as Regina's second-in-command. Fey portrays this literally in the script, when Regina makes Gretchen and Cady switch positions in the lineup just before the start of their "Jingle Bell Rock" dance number. Moreover, Gretchen almost ruins the dance number until Cady is able to intervene and save the day. The fact that Gretchen begins telling Cady all of Regina's secrets, and Regina snaps at Gretchen for using the word "fetch," further expresses the interpersonal breakdown between the two that Cady has successfully orchestrated.
As Cady becomes a virtuoso at using Regina's own methods against her, she herself starts to transform into Regina. Cady performs "three-way calling attacks," uses Regina-isms like "Shut up!" and "Bi-otch," and starts dressing like a "Plastic" regularly. She conceals her natural mathematical ability to Aaron, who tells Cady during the second party scene that she has become "a clone of Regina," and she distances herself from Damian and Janis, who tells her, "You're plastic. Cold, hard, shiny plastic." Fey symbolizes Cady's transformation from outcast to "Plastic" by juxtaposing the repulsive Halloween costume she wears to the first party with the svelte, Regina-like dress she wears to the second.
