It's Not Easy Being Gwen

It's Not Easy Being Gwen is the twenty-ninth episode of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien and the ninth episode of the second season.

Plot
In the park, Dr. Animo is riding on his mutant frog carrying a canister of radioactive isotopes. While believing he lost some people who were chasing him, he learns that Kevin, Gwen and Big Chill have surrounded him. Big Chill freezes the mutant frogs' legs, trapping them in it, but they get free and they escape. Ben drops off Gwen at her house, and she goes to bed, but gets to sleep for only a for a little while when her alarm clock beeps for 5:30 in the morning, much to her chagrin.

Gwen starts her day by jogging and studying French. She then comes home to take a shower and then gets ready for school. When she was about to leave, her mother asks her to write out invitations for a formal family reunion. Realizing that there are too many invitations, Gwen tries to use a spell to make her pen write the words down for herself, but instead they catch on fire. This just makes Gwen's day harder. At school, Gwen meets with Emily, who says she has a piano concert tonight and she hopes Gwen can come. Gwen promises to be there, despite being very overbooked, with activities and the invitations and helping her friends track down Animo. When lunch break goes on, Gwen meets with Kevin, but sees his shirt ripped up and says that he found Animo.

While driving in Kevin's car, Gwen's mother berates her about not finishing the invitations and Kevin asks if she can help him get into high school. Gwen promises and before Kevin leaves to help Jetray take down Animo's mutant frogs, Gwen gives him a magic pendant that can protect him if he needs it. Gwen goes back to her school to finish the rest of her studies and notices Animo placing a threat on the Internet and Humungousaur battling the mutant frogs. She also has to cover for her algebra teacher's class and do karate. Once the school day is over, Gwen would finish her list of duties for the day by finishing the invitations, helping Kevin get a G.E.D. and get to Emily's concert. However, Spidermonkey arrives and tells Gwen that they can't defeat Animo without her, now making Gwen's schedule even more tighter.

Emily is angry that Gwen would put saving the world from Animo over getting to her concert. When she berates Gwen for always leaving her to save the world, Gwen gets hurt and (without a choice) goes with Ben to help. In an open field, Kevin is battling Animo and his army of mutant frogs. While being picked up, he drops the magic pendant Gwen gave him. As Kevin was about to be killed by Animo, Gwen and Cannonbolt arrive to help him. While battling Animo, Emily prepares for her concert and is saddened to learn that Gwen is not in the seat she reserved for her. Emily plays the music and Dr. Animo fires his transmodulator ray on both Gwen and Kevin, but they manage to survive thanks to Gwen's shields. Cannonbolt and Kevin work together while Gwen rests from protecting Kevin from the transmodulator ray. Ultimate Cannonbolt finally defeats Animo, then destroys the mind-control headband that allowed Animo to control his mutated frogs. Soon, Emily stops playing the piano and while she is gifted with applause, she believes Gwen never showed up at her performance, but is surprised to see Gwen, despite being scraped up and messy from the battle, in the audience applauding Emily (she presumably got there by a teleportation spell), saving their friendship. When Gwen comes home, she tells her mother she got the invitations done in the car and Gwen's mother allows Ben and Kevin to join them for dinner. When Gwen's mother asked how her day was, she responds it was the "usual" and hugs her mother while yawning.

Major Events

 * Animo becomes a threat again.
 * The episode is told from Gwen's POV (Point of View).
 * Emily appears for the first time.

Characters

 * Gwen Tennyson (main character of the episode)
 * Ben Tennyson
 * Kevin Levin
 * Emily
 * Natalie Tennyson
 * Trina (Cameo)

Villains

 * Dr. Animo
 * Mutant Frogs

Aliens Used

 * Big Chill
 * Wildmutt (behind the scenes)
 * Jetray
 * Humungousaur
 * Spidermonkey
 * Cannonbolt (x2) (second time goes ultimate)
 * Ultimate Cannonbolt

Spells Used

 * Scribo Iniacendia

Errors

 * When the fog clears out after Ultimate Cannonbolt was getting whipped around by the mutant frog and laying down, the 4 spikes for the Ultimatrix on Ultimate Cannonbolt's chest are gone.
 * When Ultimate Cannonbolt punched the mutant frog, the headband on it's forehead wasn't there.
 * When Gwen put her headphones on the table, when she got out the spellbook, the headphones weren't there and the MP3 wasn't with her too.

Trivia

 * This episode confirms that Summer is over and the Tennyson Cousins are back in school meaning that they're now in 11th grade since Dwayne Mcduffie mentioned that season one has Ben in 10th grade. See here.
 * Dr. Animo's mutant frogs return.
 * This is the first appearance of Gwen's best friend, Emily, who had dated Ben once.
 * It shown that Gwen takes her mini pocket-spellbook to school.
 * It is revealed that Kevin does not go to school.
 * Gwen's outfit is her school uniform.
 * This is the second time Gwen and Kevin almost kiss.
 * This is the second time an Ultimate is used against a human villain.
 * The title, "It's Not Easy Being Gwen", is based off the phrase "it's not easy being green" from The Muppets.
 * This episode takes place during the school year but four episodes, according to Natalie, it was early summer.
 * This is the second episode told from Gwen's point of view.
 * This is the first time ever since Voided that Dr. Animo is the main villain and an actual threat.Kevin working on his car.PNG
 * Kevin is seen adding an electrolysis machine (which converts water into oxygen) to his car, as part of his ongoing efforts to make it submersible (which was first mentioned in In Charm's Way).
 * It is stated that Emily is Gwen's best friend since Kindergarten.
 * Gwen knows that Kevin does not go to school and does not want him to go off and fight their enemies alone.
 * This is the fourth time we see Gwen with ripped clothes.
 * Ben turned into all of his aliens off-screen except Canonnbolt's second appearance. This happened because the episode was focused on Gwen's point of view and not Ben's.
 * This is the second time Dr. Animo converts an observatory into a transmodulator ray. The first time was in Dr. Animo and the Mutant Ray.
 * According to Kevin, Ben has a pass that allows him to go off his school's campus anytime he wants.
 * Near the end of the episode, while Emily is playing piano music at her recital, the music is still the main soundtrack while Ben, Gwen, and Kevin battle Dr. Animo and his mutant frogs.
 * This is the second time that Kevin was almost killed, the first being in Absolute Power Part 2, by Ultimate Echo Echo.
 * At her concert, Emily is playing the song Fantaisie Impromptu in C- Sharp Minor, Op. 66 by Chopin.
 * Ben turns into the same alien two times in a row.
 * This is the third time Big Chill appears with Dr.Animo.
 * Trina appears in a cameo in this episode talking to someone.