Strictly final
Dec. 21st, 2014 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessGiven that the finalists seemed to be everywhere in the media (slight exaggeration, but still) I wondered just when they were getting in their practice. By Friday’s ITT – an hour long and I’m still going to feel a wrench tomorrow at tea time – it became obvious that the show’s meant a good deal to (a tired and emotional) Simon and Caroline. Possibly it did to Mark, but as he was repeating himself, I tuned out a bit.
Part 1
I enjoyed the opening, although a grander entrance for Claudia and Tess would have been on my wishlist.
I’m presuming the order of dancing was randomly decided, although the producers could well have decided that Simon’s showdance and his Argentine Tango would be worthy closers. Frankie seemed the most nervous at the top.
With Judges’ Choice, after all the big secrecy, they sort of took away the surprise because we saw the contestants in their outfits, although, to be honest, I didn’t recognise Caroline and Mark’s. No final upgrades for the costumes for dances they were redoing.
At first, the choices seemed puzzling – the weakest dances for three of them and a ‘turning point’ for Simon. Two of those weakest dances were going right back to week 1! And they were cha-chas, which seemed harsh (let’s spare a moment for Jake and Pixie, especially Pixie, although by the time she got to talk on the show, she seemed okay, but it must have been a bitter pill to be there without being a finalist.) As things went on, the narrative of showing how much everyone had improved came out, and it was definitely true. I still wish we could have seen Caroline’s American Smooth without the stumble (and I was convinced she’d accidentally revealed in some interview that her Judge’s Choice was going to be the jive). Anyway, the dances selected helped make more sense of why Kevin and Pasha, at least, took the directions they took in the showdance.
Frankie improved her samba by miles (I still hated Kevin’s shirt) but Craig’s with-holding of the 10 was interesting. Mark improved his cha-cha (from week 1, fancy that!) but wasn’t quite in Frankie’s class or Caroline’s. The latter sold it so much (and apparently also pointed her toes although the step where she was meant to do a circle around Pasha didn’t seem right). The 40 proved that Craig was on side. Again, Simon managed an improvement in his Charleston, even if I’ve enjoyed other Charlestons more, and Craig’s score added interest.
Bruno claimed that the showdance could change everything (on some ITT, I think) and I pooh-poohed the notion, because they usually push the celebs a little too far, while giving them a second chance to do a dance they know usually lets them shine. In fact, with some discussion of how to improve the show, I’d suggest having the semi-finalists do their first dance again to show their improvement and tackle the nerves that hit this year. I’d also support a wild card return being offered to one couple, mainly because of Pixie. That’s be a nice way to refute ‘not on the tour.’ (One of the people on one of the VTs claimed Allison had been voted off too soon. They were wrong.)
Anyway, I lowered my expectations for the showdance, because I always do, and because I didn’t think anything would match last year’s Showdance of Showdances. But...well...I really liked Frankie and Kevin’s number. She is weak on lifts, so he barely bothered with them, but we got to see her lovely ballroom work, her exquisite hands and a slightly more sophisticated style than the twee saccharine guff that’s marred some of her ballroom numbers for me. I did think that there was a little too much posing going on the benches, but I did get the Sound of Music reference. I disagreed with Craig’s horse comment and cheered Frankie on for her riposte (also Natalie, Judy and everyone who pretended to be a horse behind Claudia were fabulous), but I agreed with his score. Does that make sense?
Like Simon, Mark’s showdance was more classic ‘all the dances I’ve done plus loads of lifts’ energeticness. But the bit running up to the top, dancing a few steps and running back down was bewildering (turns out that, like the benches, it was the celeb’s idea, or the pro’s take on the celeb’s idea). Obviously, Simon did it better, and I think we all knew that the judges were right and Mark didn’t deserve to advance. I kept clinging on to the fact that Mark had been in three dance-offs and that people couldn’t love his ‘never-believed-I-could-get-this-far-best-time-of-my-life-here-have-some-tears’ routine.
I haven’t forgotten one of the numbers of the night, though. Oh, no. Bang up my street, contemporary dance inspired rumba (on a night when Len wouldn’t cavail at it) very emotional (because Caroline) with lifts (because showdance, and, during one of the montages, I realised that their AT would have inspired Pasha) and a wind machine and giant drapes (because Pasha, final and showdance). It was amazing. It just ratcheted up the emotion, and the beauty of some of those lifts was heart-clenching. I yelped with joy at all the comments and I will be rewatching that, because brave, Pasha and fearless, Caroline.
Terms and conditions...vary. I don’t think Claudia is in the Christmas special. This is a mistake. The ‘Clauditorium’ was referenced on the show.
I will get to Atlantis in another post.
Part 2
We started with the horrible part, although Mr Wright was the right choice and I may have muted Mark during his speech. So, we were left with Frankie ‘Feisty’ Bridge, Caroline ‘Lovely’ Flack and Simon ‘Journey’ Webb.
Both Tess and Claudia would have done better to have stayed in the same gowns as for the first show, really.
The next three dances were joyful. I think the three couples picked the right routines. I LOVED the paso, and although I missed the backing dancers for Caroline’s Charleston, her sheer joy in dancing it shone through, and Simon’s AT really and truly was fabulous. I think it may well have been the best male celeb AT I remember seeing. Applause all round – interesting that Craig still with-held a 10 from Frankie (she carped about it on the red button show) but gave one to Simon, who did one last Shocked!Simon response.
I may have voted for Caroline a kajillion times, in Claudia numbers.
Even though they were wearing those silly suits and have had those tax arrangements, I enjoyed Take That’s medley, which felt utterly celebratory by the time the pros were joining them. I also enjoyed the return of all the celebs – most of whom were a scream with Claudia, and I think they gave Allison just the right amount of attention. The routine was a nice nod to their finest moments/memorable props, and gave the best dancers (basically Pixie, who was, again, selling it) the most attention. Nifty solutions to the lack of Ola.
I may have cheered very loudly when the result was in. Yes, I know that Frankie and Simon were mostly better at ballroom, but at her best Caroline was exceptional. Pasha made a good point about her flowering quite late, but she’s always connected with the emotion and got better about expressing that, and that showdance was so special.
Part 1
I enjoyed the opening, although a grander entrance for Claudia and Tess would have been on my wishlist.
I’m presuming the order of dancing was randomly decided, although the producers could well have decided that Simon’s showdance and his Argentine Tango would be worthy closers. Frankie seemed the most nervous at the top.
With Judges’ Choice, after all the big secrecy, they sort of took away the surprise because we saw the contestants in their outfits, although, to be honest, I didn’t recognise Caroline and Mark’s. No final upgrades for the costumes for dances they were redoing.
At first, the choices seemed puzzling – the weakest dances for three of them and a ‘turning point’ for Simon. Two of those weakest dances were going right back to week 1! And they were cha-chas, which seemed harsh (let’s spare a moment for Jake and Pixie, especially Pixie, although by the time she got to talk on the show, she seemed okay, but it must have been a bitter pill to be there without being a finalist.) As things went on, the narrative of showing how much everyone had improved came out, and it was definitely true. I still wish we could have seen Caroline’s American Smooth without the stumble (and I was convinced she’d accidentally revealed in some interview that her Judge’s Choice was going to be the jive). Anyway, the dances selected helped make more sense of why Kevin and Pasha, at least, took the directions they took in the showdance.
Frankie improved her samba by miles (I still hated Kevin’s shirt) but Craig’s with-holding of the 10 was interesting. Mark improved his cha-cha (from week 1, fancy that!) but wasn’t quite in Frankie’s class or Caroline’s. The latter sold it so much (and apparently also pointed her toes although the step where she was meant to do a circle around Pasha didn’t seem right). The 40 proved that Craig was on side. Again, Simon managed an improvement in his Charleston, even if I’ve enjoyed other Charlestons more, and Craig’s score added interest.
Bruno claimed that the showdance could change everything (on some ITT, I think) and I pooh-poohed the notion, because they usually push the celebs a little too far, while giving them a second chance to do a dance they know usually lets them shine. In fact, with some discussion of how to improve the show, I’d suggest having the semi-finalists do their first dance again to show their improvement and tackle the nerves that hit this year. I’d also support a wild card return being offered to one couple, mainly because of Pixie. That’s be a nice way to refute ‘not on the tour.’ (One of the people on one of the VTs claimed Allison had been voted off too soon. They were wrong.)
Anyway, I lowered my expectations for the showdance, because I always do, and because I didn’t think anything would match last year’s Showdance of Showdances. But...well...I really liked Frankie and Kevin’s number. She is weak on lifts, so he barely bothered with them, but we got to see her lovely ballroom work, her exquisite hands and a slightly more sophisticated style than the twee saccharine guff that’s marred some of her ballroom numbers for me. I did think that there was a little too much posing going on the benches, but I did get the Sound of Music reference. I disagreed with Craig’s horse comment and cheered Frankie on for her riposte (also Natalie, Judy and everyone who pretended to be a horse behind Claudia were fabulous), but I agreed with his score. Does that make sense?
Like Simon, Mark’s showdance was more classic ‘all the dances I’ve done plus loads of lifts’ energeticness. But the bit running up to the top, dancing a few steps and running back down was bewildering (turns out that, like the benches, it was the celeb’s idea, or the pro’s take on the celeb’s idea). Obviously, Simon did it better, and I think we all knew that the judges were right and Mark didn’t deserve to advance. I kept clinging on to the fact that Mark had been in three dance-offs and that people couldn’t love his ‘never-believed-I-could-get-this-far-best-time-of-my-life-here-have-some-tears’ routine.
I haven’t forgotten one of the numbers of the night, though. Oh, no. Bang up my street, contemporary dance inspired rumba (on a night when Len wouldn’t cavail at it) very emotional (because Caroline) with lifts (because showdance, and, during one of the montages, I realised that their AT would have inspired Pasha) and a wind machine and giant drapes (because Pasha, final and showdance). It was amazing. It just ratcheted up the emotion, and the beauty of some of those lifts was heart-clenching. I yelped with joy at all the comments and I will be rewatching that, because brave, Pasha and fearless, Caroline.
Terms and conditions...vary. I don’t think Claudia is in the Christmas special. This is a mistake. The ‘Clauditorium’ was referenced on the show.
I will get to Atlantis in another post.
Part 2
We started with the horrible part, although Mr Wright was the right choice and I may have muted Mark during his speech. So, we were left with Frankie ‘Feisty’ Bridge, Caroline ‘Lovely’ Flack and Simon ‘Journey’ Webb.
Both Tess and Claudia would have done better to have stayed in the same gowns as for the first show, really.
The next three dances were joyful. I think the three couples picked the right routines. I LOVED the paso, and although I missed the backing dancers for Caroline’s Charleston, her sheer joy in dancing it shone through, and Simon’s AT really and truly was fabulous. I think it may well have been the best male celeb AT I remember seeing. Applause all round – interesting that Craig still with-held a 10 from Frankie (she carped about it on the red button show) but gave one to Simon, who did one last Shocked!Simon response.
I may have voted for Caroline a kajillion times, in Claudia numbers.
Even though they were wearing those silly suits and have had those tax arrangements, I enjoyed Take That’s medley, which felt utterly celebratory by the time the pros were joining them. I also enjoyed the return of all the celebs – most of whom were a scream with Claudia, and I think they gave Allison just the right amount of attention. The routine was a nice nod to their finest moments/memorable props, and gave the best dancers (basically Pixie, who was, again, selling it) the most attention. Nifty solutions to the lack of Ola.
I may have cheered very loudly when the result was in. Yes, I know that Frankie and Simon were mostly better at ballroom, but at her best Caroline was exceptional. Pasha made a good point about her flowering quite late, but she’s always connected with the emotion and got better about expressing that, and that showdance was so special.
