I'm the person who originally pointed out that Frank is trying to turn Mirai into MK2.0 and the reason why I said that is a bit complicated to explain, but it goes back to a fundamental question of style.
Think back to the signature pieces of Kwan’s. Salome. Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos. East of Eden. Lyra Angelica. Song of the Black Swan. Tosca. Just about the only piece of music Kwan skated to in her amateur career that wasn’t either classical or classically-inspired was Peter Gabriel’s “The Feeling Begins,” which is hardly anyone’s idea of a frothy pop song.
Now think of Mirai’s most successful pieces, which are undoubtedly her short programs. Pirates of the Caribbean. The Witches of Eastwick. Fun. Effervescent. Mischievous. Flirty. Spunky. Michelle’s competitive programs could be described many ways, but I doubt the words “spunky” and “mischievous” would appear high on the list, if at all. And Mirai’s off-ice personality can be equally fun and bubbly (there’s a reason why she was just recognized as one of the funniest people in sport—she has a delightful sense of humor).
So what does Frank have her skating to this year? A tango and a ballet suite. Now tango can be flirty—and should be—but it is a dangerous flirtation, not a bubbly one. And the classically-inspired ballet suites would fit right in—with Michelle’s repertoire. But they do nothing to highlight the special qualities that Mirai can bring to the ice. She’s an imp, not a diva. And imps have their own particular charm.
Part of the problem is the unspoken rule that balletic programs will always win over other types of programs (the same way that dramas almost always win Best Picture Oscars over comedies), but that’s another, and far more complicated, issue. But Frank is not doing Mirai any favors by having her skate to music that creates a weird kind of disconnect to her particular strengths as a performer. Mirai is not Michelle.
thank you for taking the time elaborate.
i can see some elements you point out, however i'm at odds with the assertion that frank and lori foisted the short on mirai. mirai chose this tango music herself--sneaked it onto a CD that represented potential options, and got those lynchpins, frank and lori, to go along with her wish. perhaps frank and lori saw promise in mirai's taking ownership of her skating, and had confidence that she could make it work. perhaps they saw that she too was trying to break free of 'mischievous'. i don't know, i can't read minds, and i'm not going to hunt down the quotes where mirai said she's had this music in mind for some time, and finally felt the time was right to bring it forth, bring forth this new mirai to show frank, lori, the american public.
which is why her later saying it's too sexy to be something she's fully comfortable with seems a little bit like ... *shrugs* i'm not saying she can't feel uncomfortable with it--of course she can--even the same choreography can feel more natural, or more awkward depending on the occasion. but, one could say if she wanted to be the captain of the ship, BE the captain--if the ship is now heading for a reef, steer in a different direction.
i just don't want it all laid at lori and frank's door, because it seemed to me mirai herself wanted to push the boundaries, at least in the SP. and she could suggest the the option of shelving it and going back to an old program that she knew would be better received if she came to realize this wasn't going to fly.
if mirai didn't like something, she had the option of speaking up--just like she did when she got the tango 'ratified' as this season's short. other skaters dump and revise programs drastically --witness davis/white, the shibutanis, even christina gao dumping the 'love you more' program (tho not costume). mirai could have done that too. somehow i think if mirai wanted to, frank would have said yes.
also, ballet music is far more sasha than mirai to me. your mileage may vary. the emotions in the adagio of spartacus maybe MK but ballet, any ballet, make me think of sasha far more than MK, even knowing that this was a piece MK herself skated to, i thought mirai had the opportunity to put her own stamp on it. lori deliberately avoided placing the spiral at the MK spiral point. and again, if they thought it wasn't coming along right, they could--they here meaning--either mirai or frank, or the two of them after talking together--they could have gone back to carmen, a sure fire hit.
maybe mirai and her parents came to frank wanting frank to turn mirai into not michelle, but a different mirai. maybe they saw cute as not sustainable into her 20's. maybe mirai herself wanted to show the world that mirai too can arrest audiences with a fierce stare--that she is no longer too young, too immature, too naive to perform more mature chreography. maybe mirai was sick of being trapped into the perky, mischievous role. just because you're the class clown doesn't mean you don't ever want to star in a drama, make people see you in a new light.
of course i don't know what mirai and her parents envisioned, how much input mirai had--the one part i know is mirai chose this music and it's close to her heart, it was something she believed was _hers_. so i want to at least play devil's advocate and say, don't say it's all frank trying to turn her into MK 2.0. frank, who knew first hand who MK was from what was it, twelve years to twenty years old, would see no resemblance between MK and mirai.
i have no undying loyalty to frank--i have my issues with him, too, but i think for some of us, including me, it's tempting to say it's the outsiders' doing, and not our beloved mirai--someone robbed mirai of that vitality, that spark we all fell in love with. we're too far diametrically opposite from sandra bezic, who seems to lay the blame squarely at mirai's feet.
I haven't had the opportunity to see any of the current crop skate live, and I'm so glad that I was there that night. Rachael's programs never came through the TV for me, but that skate was joyous and spirited and The Moment of the evening. 
And I would have to add Highlander: http://images.search.yahoo.com/imag...b=134p5sm4m&sigi=123v6v86q&.crumb=gKRe1OKtITN 
