"Under New Management" is the second segment of the 2nd episode of the seventh season of Trolls: TrollsTopia, and the 93rd overall episode in the series. It premiered in August 11, 2022.
Synopsis[]
Feeling a little smothered by Demo's managerial style, Val decides to find another manager that better suits her needs, only to find out that finding a manager that works for her isn't as easy as it seems.
Plot[]
Val and her band are practicing for the next show in 2 hours. Demo stops her by taking her guitar and tells her to rest her voice before the show. She tries to tell him he doesn't have to do this, but he still tells her to rest. Poppy pops in to get Val to chat about her BFF feelings. To Poppy's surprise, Val opens up to talk about Demo. She is finding him tiresome, so he returns her guitar, having shined it and left a note with the words "I see and I believe in you" on them. Though Demo is emotional about truly believing in her, his teary eyes are interrupted by his pre-concert snicker-doodles. As Poppy says that she will miss him if he is not around, he returns and gives her the snicker-doodles, only to notice a "smoutz" on her face and tries to it off with two saliva-wet thumbs.
Val puts her foot down and tells her to stop. Though Demo's been her manager for a while now, she feels it is time to "rock solo" and now thinks she doesn't need a manager. She tries to make this a good thing, by telling him he now has time to do other stuff. As she speaks, Demo is ironing her strings on the guitar, he declares she is right and tells the world to behold as there is a whole new Demo. He runs off, Val relaxes, only to see his returned to continue to iron out the strings.
She and her bandmates rush on stage. Val goes to speak, but finds the Cue-cards have not been written, and her guitarist tells her that Demo always wrote those. She decides to wing it, but has trouble with the words and messes up straight away. She does the timing countdown of "1-2-3", and the drummers asks what song are they playing. The guitarist notes Demo also always wrote what song plays list. Val goes to smash the guitar, her big finisher, but it doesn't break. The drummer states Demo used to pre-cut the guitar so it smashed easier. Val ends the concert, but Demo also used to lower the curtain.
Val goes to find Demo only to find he's now become Dante's manager. Demo thanks Val for reliving him, as he's always wanted to explore new musical styles and now he gets to. Dante notes he's been mucking around in the weeds and has a bit of smoutz on his face, which Demo cleans off. She leaves and Poppy tries to comment how she messes him, but Val does not. She's simply going to get a new manager.
At the next concert, Laguna Tidepool has taken over and tells her when she is due on stage. Laguna turns out to be a efficient manager with none of the fuss, and Val is relieved. During the concert, Laguna does everything to make it flow smoothly, from handing her a fresh guitar as she breaks the old to lighting up the stage when needed.
The concert goes as she wanted it to, but Val is feeling miserable to Poppy's surprise. Laguna is a great manager but something is missing, and Poppy notes it might not be a "something" but a "someone". She calls for Laguna, and notes Demo would write notes on the back of the guitar. Laguna writes "This is a note - Laguna" on the back. Val asks Poppy what to do and Val is told by her to "go to him".
At Dante's concert, Val calls to Demo whose at the side of the stage and they speak. Demo had a feeling that Val would have trouble and wrote her some cue cards to help her say the words she needed to say. Val knows now there are many managers out there, but there's only one Demo. As she speaks, Demo realizes he mixed up some of the cards as Val reads one telling her to remember to pick up merchandise on the way out of the concert. He tries to correct the order but Val stops him and tells him it's alright. The only thing left is Dante, Laguna replaces Demo as the manager. Demo comments she is the best manager, but Val says "second-best", meaning Demo is the best. He goes to wipe Val's face and Val stops him, saying he can never do that again and Demo notes he gets that.
Cast[]
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- "Under new management" refers to when a business is taken over by a new leader with new ideas. Normally, it follows a period of slump for the business, where the old management was unable to improve business and adapt to a changing market so was forced to retire from their position or sell the business. Rather than rebranding the business, the new leadership/ownership continues with the old branding of the business due to its customer familiarity, but advertises the new management status as a form of promoting the idea that new things are coming and it will get better. Often, this signals to customers to be patient while these new changes occur. This generally works, unless it happens too often to the same business.
- This episode is linked to the Season 1 episode "Manager Poppy", in which Poppy failed to get Val ready for a concert when she took over from Demo after he couldn't manage Val at the time.
- Both Trolls seen in "The Buddy System" are seen alongside Val at the beginning as part of her band. They haven't been seen with her throughout the rest of the show.
- Poppy tried to get Val to open up about her feelings throughout the show. This was the first time Val did not resist, compared to earlier episodes such as "Darlin' Dos" wherein she was shown to back out without telling them at the slightest opportunity much to Poppy's dismay.
- "Your Rockness" is what Riff called Queen Barb in Trolls World Tour when she ordered Riff to help King Thrash do the "rock sign". Laguna also hooks up Val like Sid Fret to allow her to go through the air, just as Barb did when she transformed the leaders into Rock Zombies.
- The episode premise is similar to the Trolls: The Beat Goes On! episode "The Helper", wherein Smidge was being over-bearing to Poppy.
- The storyboard animatic version of Val's song sequence can be watched here.