Give Me A Break

"Give Me A Break" is the first segment of the 3rd episode of the seventh season of Trolls: TrollsTopia, and the 94th overall episode in the series. It premiered in August 11, 2022.
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When Poppy and Synth see that Minuet Sonata is running herself ragged trying to perfect her violin playing for an audition they try to convince her to take a break, but Minuet is determined to play until she gets it right.
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Poppy picks up a vase of flowers at a stall while a violin practice is occurring in Classical Crest. The vase breaks and Poppy tries to explain she didn't break it. A Classical Troll pouring a drink has their pitcher break on them, forcing them to drink straight from it. Poppy wonders what is going on and follows the sound of a violin; she comes across Synth. He is thankful to see Poppy and explains that Minuet won't stop practicing her violin. She hasn't slept for 3 days. The issue is that every time Minuet hits a bad note, she breaks glass.
Poppy and Synth go into Minuet's house, and Minuet takes a second before realizing they're there. She explains that Dante is doing a elite music piece, which is her favorite composure: "The Cupcake Concerto". The piece is notoriously difficult, which is why she is practicing so hard. As once again she hits a bad note, she angrily says a bunch of words (in Italian), and Synth is unsure about her situation. Poppy shows concern over her constant practicing, thinking she needs rest to renew her energy and brighten her perspective. As Minuet tries to do so, she states that she's fine, and only needs to practice until she gets it right. She begins to speak gibberish as she starts falling asleep and says she's not the least bit tired. She hurries the duo out the door to continue practicing.
Outside her home, both Synth and Poppy agree that Minuet is at a dire point and needs sleep; somehow, they've got to get her to stop playing the violin.
Poppy believes that she can distract Minuet with the cutest most talented person in TrollsTopia, which is her pet Perky. Synth thinks she's talking about himself, until he realizes that Poppy thinks of her pet as a person. Perky is on a ball juggling cupcakes, though Minuet noticed the Grinchilla, and states she must play with Perky this instance. The duo think they have won, but instead they find out that Minuet is playing the violin with Perky.
Next, they bring in Demo, who is struggling to lift a couch and asks for help. Though he has been asking if there's a single Troll that would drop everything and help him, other Trolls have offered and left when he stressfully told them "just one Troll!" Minuet has a situation, and for a moment it looks like she has stopped playing to help Demo, but when Poppy and Synth look around, she's playing the violin with her feet to free up her hands.
Minuet is getting more and more visibly tired but is still keeping herself awake. Synth tries to throw down warm milk, candles and a snuggle toy. A montage begins as the duo attempts to set up Minuet, who is on the verge of falling asleep, to sleep for her own good. They block her window, light the scented candles let her drink the milk, to which Minuet sleepy flies to her bed.
It appears that this has worked, but Poppy and Synth soon notice the spikey hair sticking out of the top of the blanket; it turns out that Minuet knew they were trying to make her take a break and tricked them. When she declares they'll never stop her practicing, the two jump her and try to force the violin out of her hands. They end up in the underground area of Classical Crest. Synth blocks Minuet's way and chuckles, but Minuet slides in between Synth's fins, then he pursues her. Minuet hides, which ditches Synth but not the smarter Poppy, who notes she's trying to hide while playing a violin; she can hear her play. Cornered in a fork in the tunnels, Minuet notices a ladder and using her feet tries to get out of the underground before the pair can climb the ladder.
The trio end up interrupting a play being performed by two other Classical Trolls, the audience just thinks this is part of the play and didn't even know Minuet was in the play. Finally, Minuet gives up and falls asleep on stage. The audience applauds, not knowing what is going on.
At the auditions, Dante thanks a Classical Troll for their efforts and asks for any other auditions. Cooper enters playing the Accordion, to which Dante asks for anyone serious and Cooper sheepishly walks off stage. Dante is surprised by Minuet's absence; Poppy and Synth tell him she'll be here, but is taking a break. As he asks how sure they are because auditions are only for today, Minuet rushes on stage, having only woken up 30 seconds ago. Dante tells her that is her best performance and she shall be second-chair violinist. It turns out that Perky has taken the first chair. Holly, who is in the audience, asks for all their auditions to be this good.
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;Pop Trolls
*Amanda Leighton as Queen Poppy
;Rock Trolls
*Charles DeWayne as Demo
;Country Trolls
*Megan Hilty as Holly Darlin'
;Classical Trolls
*JP Karliak as Dante Crescendo
*Jeanine Mason as Minuet Sonata
;Funk Trolls
*Ron Funches as Cooper
;Techno Trolls
*Vladimir Caamaño as Synth
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*"Sleep Now"
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*"Give me a break" refers to a person who is suffering from stress or misfortune, and therefore needs a "break" from it.
*Synth's line "thank my thumping EDM" is a rewording of "thank my thumping heart". It refers to Techno Troll's hearts thumping to a specific EDM beat, which represents their heartbeat. Normally, when a person's heart is said to be "thumping", it refers to how their heart is being so anxious due to stress or anxiety.
*Minuet practicing for days was seen in "Mouth Guitar", when she's determined she won't stop until she achieves a goal.
*When Minuet is talking to Poppy and Synth, she says "fortissimo" as she plays a note incorrectly. A fortissimo is a register of a sudden loud moment of a song that's play in a piece that's otherwise played at normal volume. The use of the word is a stand in for a swear word. Swear words are used to help relief frustration when things go wrong, and are a known pain and frustration coping device. She also shouts "crescendo", which means "loudest part of a music piece"; this likely refers to another curse word.
*A "concerto" is a piece of music designed as a solo piece for a single instrument, which is backed up by supportive instruments. Concertos are usually large orchestral numbers with an entire orchestra backing up the instrument that's being focused on.
*Minuet is now second chair, this means she follows Perky's (1st chair) lead instead of leading herself. If anything goes wrong, she has to give up her instrument to Perky to allow the concert to go on. The 3rd chair then takes over her role as 2nd chair.
*Minuet's badly played notes breaking things is a nod to the "breaking glass with your voice" joke often aimed at female opera singers who are capable of singing higher, as Minuet is hitting high notes every time she fails to play notes correctly. While it's possible to break glass with sound, it's mostly down to random chance, due to the conditions needed to pull such a feat off. In most cases of it breaking in real life, the glass was prepared specifically or especially to break under sound wave length vibrations.
*This episode's plot is the opposite of the Trolls: The Beat Goes On! episode "Weekend At Diamond's", in which Poppy and Branch attempted to wake up Guy Diamond.
*Synth is likely at Classical Crest because of his deep friendship with Minuet that was seen in "The Tunnel of Friendship", Synth would also be deeply concerned for her for this reason.
*Minuet was showing a number of signs of sleep deprivation, including falling asleep while playing and messing up naturally because she couldn't focus. Sleep is essential to both body and mind, and allows mind to process the day and store the information accordingly, meaning that Minuet was most likely messing up more and more as she became tired. Her nap finally allowed her to process her practicing and get the piece right, something she hadn't done in days.
*The storyboard animatic version of the chase scene can be watched here.
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Practice Makes Minuet Sonata Perfectly Sleepy - TROLLSTOPIA
Category:Episodes
Category:Trolls: TrollsTopia episodes
Category:TT Season 7 episodes
Category:Classical Trolls Story Arc Episodes
Category:2D animation