"Mirror, Mirror On the Wall"- episode 50 (Japanese: After Mamoru's Kiss! Ann's Snow White Plan- episode 56)
THE PLOT: Late at night in Alan and Ann's apartment, Ann is looking through a book of fairy tales. Alan assures her she's wasting her time and tells her they should be thinking of places to find energy instead. Unconvinced, Ann reads on, reaches the end of the story, and concludes to her delight that the only thing needed to win love is a kiss. Therefore, she decides, if she can find a way to get Darien to kiss her, he'll be hers forever.
Next morning, at Raye's temple, Serena is throwing another fit: "Darien's had a tragedy? Oh nooo!" Ami quickly explains that Darien didn't _have_ a tragedy, he was trying to organize a Shakespeare tragedy at their school, but the cast broke up because they couldn't stop fighting over the roles. Serena quickly decides to stick her nose into the whole business.
Later that day, the girls tell Darien that they want to help him with the play, and that they've decided to put on "Snow White" instead of Shakespeare. Raye quickly adds that since she came up with the idea, she should get the lead role, but Serena interrupts and says the role ought to go to the cutest(her). Lita informs them that she ought to have the role because she's got the most "talent," then sticks her two very large talents into Raye's face. Mina says she ought to be Snow White because she has the best stage presence; Ami's excuse is that she's too busy with school to memorize lots of lines, and that all Snow White has to do is sleep through half the play.
Darien tries to tell them there are plenty of other characters, but Mina reminds him that he's the only one who can be Prince Charming, and no one wants to play the wicked stepmother. The girls continue to bicker and squabble as Molly and Melvin show up; Molly tries to persuade them to stop("ya're awl bein' too selfish!"), but nothing can break up the fight until Ann appears. Ann informs them that she's come up with a good way to decide on the roles, then presents a fistful of strings with colored tips. Whoever draws the white string will be Snow White; red will be the wicked stepmother, and blue will be the dwarves. A very nervous Serena goes first and picks the red string(to her utter dismay); Molly, Melvin, and the rest of the Scouts grab the other strings, each of them drawing blue ones. That leaves only one in Ann's hand, which- apparently- turns out to be the white one. As she walks away, she throws a bit of string on the sidewalk: "Humans are such gullible fools. They didn't even notice I tricked them all."
Back at the Doom Tree, Ann, still gloating over her "luck" in getting the role, asks Alan to be the seventh dwarf. He flatly refuses: "The only role I want is Prince Charming!" Since the role's already been filled, Ann declares that they're just going to have to play with six dwarves, then stands up and vanishes.
Obviously jealous over Darien's role, Alan concludes that the theater would be a perfect place to find energy. He gets to his feet and summons a grotesquely clown-like Cardian, then informs it of its mission.
Some time later, the cast is rehearsing the scene where Snow White awakens, for what appears to be the 847th or so time. Ann, lying on the couch in a frilly dress with her hair curled, informs them that it's the most important scene and that they have to get it right. Darien bends over as she closes her eyes: "Oh, Snow White! Let me warm your ice-cold lips with my kiss!" Serena begins biting her nails violently as he bends over; then the supposedly comatose Snow White grabs Darien's shoulders and pulls him down on top of her. "Snow White's supposed to be asleep! You can't move!" Darien tells her, annoyed. When Ann begs to go over the scene one more time, the others begin to protest. She insists that they're all being selfish. "It's the climax of the play!" she says, in what may or may not be an intentional choice of words. ^_^
Later that night, when rehearsal ends, Ann follows Darien out the door. Since their characters are so close, she suggests, they ought to get to know each other a little better. Serena, eavesdropping on them, gets VERY hotheaded(literally) over it. Nearby, the other Sailors discuss the play. Raye says that the play's going to be a disaster if she keeps this up; Mina adds that she cheated anyway to get the role. Unfortunately, Serena overhears, and manages to pry the information out of them. Lita tells her that _all_ the strings used for the lottery had colored ends; Ann managed to rip the end off of hers so that it looked white. Serena asks why they never said anything to her about it. Ami says that she felt a bit sorry for Ann since she doesn't seem to have any friends; Raye adds that she was impressed by her determination(in other words, she wishes she'd thought of cheating first ^_^). "But she still cheated! And cheating is cheating!" Serena hollers. Raye suggests that they have a talk with her about it.
On their way home, the girls spot Ann heading up the steps to Raye's shrine, and hide in the bushes to spy on her. As it turns out, she only makes a wish that the play will be successful(and, in her head, for Darien's kiss too). With the exception of Serena, they agree that Ann's so determined, she ought to be allowed to keep the role.
The next day, at rehearsal, the "dwarves" are dancing around Snow White in big goofy animal costumes. "Poor Snow White ate the poison apple and fell into an eternal sleep. No matter what, we, the animals of the forest, will keep her safe." From offstage, Serena, in a cheesy witch costume and fake nose, forces a laugh. "Ha, ha, ha." Raye rips off her mask and declares that she's had it with these stupid animal suits. Lita agrees, saying she feels like she's in kindergarten. "Come on, girls! You didn't want to be dwarves, so I got these instead!" Melvin insists. Ann tells them the costumes are quite appropriate, and then informs a scowling Serena that she's never looked better.
Later that night, back at Alan and Ann's apartment, Ann is lying on the couch in her dress, "rehearsing" her big scene with a pillow as a stand-in for Darien. As she begins to kiss it quite passionately, Alan comes in and asks what she's doing. He begins to picture himself as the Prince, planting a kiss on Serena's lips, and gets a big goofy grin on his face at the idea.
Serena is rehearsing her lines too, in her bedroom. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all? What? I'm the second fairest?" Sammy peeks in and informs her that the ham belongs in the fridge; furious, she chases him away.
On opening night, the cast gathers backstage, with a full auditorium outside. When the first bell rings and the lights go up, the Cardian appears on the top of the stage set. Jumping off the top of the fake castle, it begins knocking down the scenery. Upset that the play is being ruined, Ann runs out and tries to stop it; it knocks both her and Darien about twenty feet back with what looks like a giant rubber ball. The rest of the cast lands in a heap; Ann falls down on top of an unconscious Darien. Apparently delighted, she tries to kiss him, only to be knocked out by another attack from the Cardian. Serena manages to pull herself out of the heap, transforms into Sailor Moon, and runs onto the stage as the monster begins to drain energy from the audience. It ties her up and prepares to use her as its next victim, but a rose from Moonlight Knight frees her. He blabs a bit before the other Scouts make it onto stage and, perhaps taking a cue from him, give some extremely corny introduction speeches. Mars attacks with her ofuda, and Mercury uses Ice Bubbles Blast on the Cardian, freezing it up(literally) and giving Sailor Moon time to destroy it with her wand. Moonlight Knight leaves, and the curtain falls, leaving the Sailors in the spotlight; they pose for a wildly cheering audience. Back at Alan and Ann's apartment after the "play," Ann is lying on the couch wailing. "It's not fair, Alan! Why'd you have to send that hideous Cardian after us and ruin my scene?" When Alan insists that they needed energy, Ann sobs, "Energy! Who cares about energy? I just wanted to be Snow White!" Walking out the door and leaving her, still bawling, on the couch, Alan despairs, "And I just wanted to be Prince Charming."
CHANGED AND CUT SCENES: The translation in this episode is almost word-for-word in some parts(or at least if my subtitled scripts are accurate). The most obvious of the changes concerns Lita's "talent," the true nature of which should be fairly obvious to any observer over the age of ten. ^_^ There was a scene cut at the beginning of the episode, where Serena falls asleep while reading, and Luna wonders if she's dreaming about something romantic: "I'd love to have a passionate kiss with handsome male cat!" After being woken up, Serena wails, "You ruined my dream about eating an extra large beef bun!" Luna's response is "Beef bun? Where has the romance gone?" When the Scouts appeared on the stage, they originally gave very different introductions(which were almost as corny as the dubbed ones). Mars's was "With the red heel, Sailor Mars." Jupiter's was "With the strength I was born with and the power of thunder, Sailor Jupiter." Mercury's was "Going through juku and homework, with a reference book always in hand. The champion of the national mock exam, Sailor Mercury." Venus's was "The legend of the mask is already in the past, and the exposed face is beautiful as well. The last of the Sailor Warriors, Sailor Venus!" Also, when Ann is making her wish at the temple, Raye says, "Good actresses are usually selfish, one way or another."
MY COMMENTS: TALENT!!!! Boooiiiinnng...oops, sorry. Honestly, if I had to pick a favorite, I don't think I could decide between this episode and the last. Even if the rewritten dialogue does get hideously corny, most of it is very funny. The episodes from this point seem to focus extensively on Alan and Ann as characters, something I really liked. Prior to "Food Fetish," they were characterized more or less as stock villains, even if they had an unusual motive for their villainy. For the last half of the story arc, though, they were shown to have very interesting double lives: almost thoughtlessly committing evil deeds on one hand, but on the other hand, swayed by emotions they didn't entirely understand yet and struggling to fit in as humans. That, and Ann is just so cool. ^_^