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Review S19 EP20: Performing a Pathway to the Future!

I wonder, did they keep the Team Rocket's song instrumental during Jessie's performance? And how about Serena's ultimate performance? How was it music wise?
 
Alright, this is the finale.

James is still really damn annoying. Seriously, screaming like a maniac isn't going to get Jessie more votes. Aside from that though, I'll admit that Jessie's performance was alright. At the very least, she didn't overdo anything. Like I said before, I was disappointed with Shauna's and lineup and that holds the same for her performance. The beginning looked too similar to her 1st performance and I wish she would have done more...with different Pokemon. Bunnelby and Chespin's cheering coupled with his nervousness was pretty funny. Serena's performance was amazing as usual, nice to see a performance without Braxien finally. Thank goodness for Slyveon's feelers otherwise Serena would have been screwed. But of course Queen Aria and Palermo would still notice.

Lol, Clemont's Pokemon are so funny. And wow. Grace was super happy about Serena's win. I loved that she was actually telling everyone that that was her daughter. I'm surprised Jessie didn't throw a temper tantrum upon losing like she normally does. Aw, Shauna crying too? I didn't care too much for her performance, but damn it, I don't want to see her cry:( Serena comforting her was sweet though.

Damn, dat injury. I thought Serena would be fine after Sylveon's save, but I guess not. And jeez, did Palermo really think a sprained wrist would be that much of a hindrance for beating Aria? I could understand telling her that it would be difficult, but forfeiting? And seriously, Aria said the same exact words to Palermo at some point and also just so happened to be injured as well? Well ain't that the biggest coincidence ever:p It was nice for her to bandage up Serena's wrist though.

I loved Serena's final performance. It was just fabulous and I really love when Serena uses Braxien's stick. I really wish they would showed all Aria's instead of switching the scene around, because from what I saw, Serena's looked much better. She and all of her Pokemon looked like they were more in sync while Aria's just didn't seem as connected to me. But OMG Bonnie's bouncing was adorable. Ok, I never really expected Serena to win. I hoped she would, though because she killed that performance. But she only got half of the votes Aria got? Seriously? I think she deserved to have a bit of a closer score. Definitely more than half. I guess it is a major accomplishment when you're the runner-up to the queen after only performing for such a short time, but really, she should have won that. I was just as upset as Pancham. (He's so cute:X3:)

Well Smoochum finally got her kiss. That was hilarious. I really hope this isn't the end for all of Serena's rivals, but I fear it might be:( I'm glad Serena took Palermo's card and agreed to train under her. Hopefully she'll become queen next time.

Overall, I'd say this was a good finale for Serena. I still feel she should have won, but she regardless, she slayed. Shauna and Aria's lackluster performances and Serena's low score were my only real gripes with this episode. All in all, it was nice. 8/10.
 
Serena and her Pokemon were completely amazing in this episode. I love the performances that she and her Pokemon gave. Special props to Sylveon for saving the day and my panda son Pancham for being awesome as always! Jessie did pretty well also and I like how she handled losing, more so with joy than anger. Shauna was pretty underwhelming though and especially Aria. We didn't see ALL of her performance, but what we saw was bland. Serena out classed her honestly. Aria is my only issue with this episode honestly. Great job though Serena.
 
I guess the Master Class is as rigged as your average American reality TV show.

One thing I'll definitely be missing about these Showcase episodes is Ed Goldfarb outdoing himself with each one. He's never at any point been a bad composer, but it just so happened that his best work went to Showcases.
 
I guess the Master Class is as rigged as your average American reality TV show.

One thing I'll definitely be missing about these Showcase episodes is Ed Goldfarb outdoing himself with each one. He's never at any point been a bad composer, but it just so happened that his best work went to Showcases.
If his best work is to re-use the same boring music over and over just like what he did this week then TPCi might as well fire him a.s.a.p. Seriously the music that was used during Serena's performance at the beginning of this episode has been milked so mush that it aint enjoyable anymore. And the fact that Carter Cathcart has spread his New York accent disease over to Ash as well doesn't make things any better either.
 
If his best work is to re-use the same boring music over and over just like what he did this week then TPCi might as well fire him a.s.a.p. Seriously the music that was used during Serena's performance at the beginning of this episode has been milked so mush that it aint enjoyable anymore. And the fact that Carter Cathcart has spread his New York accent disease over to Ash as well doesn't make things any better either.

Personally, I cannot get tired of that particular track. And I don't find his music boring. To me, the music it replaced is what's boring.

Also, Carter Cathcart doesn't voice Ash.

And I forgot to mention Serena's cry of "Mi-ETTE!!!!!" was hilarious.
 
I wonder, did they keep the Team Rocket's song instrumental during Jessie's performance? And how about Serena's ultimate performance? How was it music wise?

They didn't do Team Rocket's Team Song instrumental either, which is weird because usually if it's instrumental in the original version the dub keeps it. And it's too bad they replaced it because I actually liked the use of it here.

I haven't watched the dub regularly in a while but every time I catch it and hear Meowth say "oy vey" I just kind of ????? Carter Cathcart thinks this is funny?? With how charming Team Rocket was in the 4Kids dub and are in the Japanese version I'll never be over how TPCi treats them.

The dub replacement music argument at this point is kinda pointless since TPCi doesn't seem to care and there's so many other things wrong with the dub that it doesn't really matter what soundtrack they use, but I was especially off-put by Serena's final performance. The music piece the dub used was fine, probably one of the few stand-out tracks the dub has, but it felt weird nonetheless. It's probably because I've seen the original so many times (and am horribly biased towards DoriDori) but tbh nothing could have topped DoriDori. It didn't help that they animators recreated parts of the choreography from when DoriDori was an ending so it was timed to the song.

I really only watch certain episodes of the dub these days to see how they handle certain scenes and this was the last one as of now that I was interested in, so I'll probably leave the dub behind until SM comes out.
 
So how did TPCI handle the music in Serena's performance when the entire thing was made for DreaDrea, even reusing the animation from the third ending?

And that includes the part were Serena is lip syncing to the song. So, yeah, they wouldn't have topped it, so I want to know if the dub looked awkward or fine.
 
So how did TPCI handle the music in Serena's performance when the entire thing was made for DreaDrea, even reusing the animation from the third ending?

And that includes the part were Serena is lip syncing to the song. So, yeah, they wouldn't have topped it, so I want to know if the dub looked awkward or fine.

I think it looked great. But really, you should just see it yourself. What anyone here (including me) tells you won't help.
 
The dub replaced, from what i can tell, all of the music except the ending which made the episode not as exciting. There was a few scenes of music which, I thought, it should have kept to make the episode better. Overall, the dub did an ok job on the episode but not as good as the original.
 
Personally, I cannot get tired of that particular track. And I don't find his music boring. To me, the music it replaced is what's boring.

Also, Carter Cathcart doesn't voice Ash.

And I forgot to mention Serena's cry of "Mi-ETTE!!!!!" was hilarious.
I'm aware that Cathcart doesn't voice Ash but it does seem that he is putting a bit too mush of his New York accent in the scripts that he writes. Ash's comment on that he was about to ''hit the sack'' for example really annoyed me. Who even says that these days? Is Cathcart forgetting that we are living in 2016 and not in 1990? And Meowth's oy vey comment every time he thinks he's in trouble is also getting very old. Also in my opinion the Japanese people have a mush better taste for music the the Americans do. I know that TPCi is too cheap to keep the entire Japanese soundtrack but if they really feel the need to replace it then they should at least replace it with some good music and not the same milked out gunk over and over.
 
Also in my opinion the Japanese people have a mush better taste for music the the Americans do.

I hope you mean that only in terms of Pokemon. Because I've heard many an American movie and American TV show that I felt had better music than all versions of the Pokemon cartoon. Shinji Miyazaki, Ed Goldfarb, John Loeffler, Ralph Shuckett, and Manny Corallo all have nothing, absolutely nothing on people like Jeremy Zuckerman, Alan Menken, David Newman, John Williams, James Horner, Frank Churchill, Hans Zimmer, and Henry Mancini.

And for the record, I've not yet heard any Japanese cartoon or Japanese film soundtrack I liked better than anything made in America or any other Western country. I've definitely heard some good stuff come from Japanese media, but nothing I've liked better than Western soundtracks.
 
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Glad it's over tbh but, at least it was pretty fun. I liked the flying Aria stuff.

Just don't like the concept, wish they had an episode where a guy wins only to forfeit angrily like "no, I don't win BECAUSE I'M A GUY" and everyone is like omg! and then they're like "...we should let guys in"

It was pretty funny the post Team Rocket reactions. Jessie mature for once.

I hate that half the posts in these are THEY REPLACED THE MUSIC, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
 
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Serena so deserved to win with her final performance as it was way better Than Aria's but then again the Master Class is rigged so she got screwed over in the end,
 
I hate that half the posts in these are THEY REPLACED THE MUSIC, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Well the replacement music is one of the most obvious, most glaring, most distracting changes the show makes . Of course people are going to talk about it.

But if it makes you feel any better the voice acting and scripts are also pretty shit as well.
 
Well the replacement music is one of the most obvious, most glaring, most distracting changes the show makes . Of course people are going to talk about it.

But if it makes you feel any better the voice acting and scripts are also pretty shit as well.

And that change has been for the better for this entire saga. Ed Goldfarb is a better composer than Shinji Miyazaki. There. I said it. Seriously, this saga just demolished Miyazaki's track record (and by extension, Junichi Masuda's). G7 has the easiest act in the world to follow.

And about the script, well, it could be better, but it's good enough for this show. That's just what happens when the JP script gets translated instead of adapted like it should be. Mr. Cathcart really ought to treat it like the superior-in-many-regards adaptation it is.
 
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My thoughts? Well...

This does have a few problems and it's a shame that Serena lost here but it really feels like she's the true winner. Not only did she get all the way to this point, an offer to be taught by someone like Palermo is a massive opportunity and I'm personally pleased that they've kept this open. Between Serena's talk with Palermo after her loss and the later flashback, I really got a feeling of how much she's grown as a person from when she set off just to meet Ash. From a character development viewpoint, I'll admit to being pleasantly surprised.

My overall thoughts on Serena's loss to Aria? I'm fine. This isn't a problem. She can just come back as an even better Performer and win next time.
 
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