Showcases were shallow internally and externally. There are plenty of competitions that I enjoy watching which the goal is “aim to be the most popular”. But where are my stakes? Serena has virtually nobody threatening her in every showcase she competes in. She’s literally only at the mercy of how people are feeling that day and who they decide to vote for. Proof of this is how that other girl with the shiny Espeon was cheered on at the beginning of the episode only for her town to vote against her. Nobody stood in Serena way so the only way she could lose is “well lol the crowd wasn’t feeling her today” or something even more shallow like her Pokémon tripping (as if people have not made mistakes in the modeling/entertainment world and bounced back). You mean to tell me someone could put on the trashiest performance and the excuse is “well the crowd liked them”. Aria undoubtedly gave a lackluster cut scene performance compared to Serena and yet won. There lies the issue, Serena was challenged by nobody and literally had outside forces to defeat her instead of someone being better. That’s why the whole “well they liked her better” thing is annoying because what’s the point of watching this if literally nothing matters regarding Pokémon and just who the crowd likes better? And even if that plays a truth on Instagram culture; who the f*** wants to watch that on Pokémon? Diet contest were horrendous.
Okay, I definitely agree about the Amelia contest and think it's stupid -- it makes no sense for Serena to beat her in her hometown. Ideally, how Amelia should have been handled would be as follows:
-Amelia is introduced way earlier, and she's an Ursula-type rival, and she beats Serena multiple times in earlier Rookie Class showcases, and she beats her straight-up. i.e. Serena doesn't make a mistake, and Amelia still wins, just because Amelia's more popular
-Serena actually has to train to beat Amelia, this can involve practicing different techniques to use on stage, and/or uploading more Pokévisions.
-the twist at the beginning of the Fleurrh City Showcase is that (a) it's the final showcase before the Master Class so she has to win it and (b) this is Amelia's hometown. Serena obviously has known Amelia all generation long, but doesn't find out she's from Fleurrh City until literally the beginning of this episode
-make it a two-parter. At the end of Part 1, Serena is freaking out bc she thinks she has no shot to beat Amelia in her own hometown.
-Serena somehow wins, ideally Amelia makes some sort of small mistake I guess, otherwise I can't think of a reason she would lose in her own hometown. Make the final voting really close, but Serena wins.
Anyway, what I've laid out above would have been a much better way of handling the Serena/Amelia rivalry.
