Episode Report Card Kim: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Dances? Yes. Favorites? Maybe Not.
By Kim | Season 6 | Episode 16 | Aired on 05.06.2008
Man, it's tough to be snarky when you're only watching the best routines. Anyway, Bruno introduces the No. 7 routine, which is Apolo and Julianne's quickstep. I love the quickstep; it's my favorite of all the routines, and I'm noticing that now that Julianne's gone, I really miss her choreography this season. I know some people think it's too tricksy and not traditional enough, but at least it's always interesting to watch. Anyway, this routine reminds me of how much better men tend to look on the dance floor when they are tiny and wee, like Apolo, Drew, Helio, and Emmitt. I mean, Emmitt's not skinny or anything, but he is relatively short compared to the likes of Penn Jillette, Adam Carolla, and Jason Taylor. Even Cristian is over six feet.
Bruno introduces No. 6, a jive by Joey and Kym in which he claims that Joey took control of the room. Maybe you had to be in the studio to feel the electricity, but I didn't really feel it. To me, it felt like Joey mugging all over the place like he always does. His kicks were nice and sharp, but I just don't enjoy the corniness of all of his routines, and this is no exception. This is the first routine that I felt like might be a little high.
Len says that no list would be complete without Helio, wearing his banana yellow outfit and dancing the quickstep with Julianne. So there's your No. 5. This is an awesome routine, but it's hilarious that both of Julianne's appearances were with the quickstep. Who knew Julianne was a quickstep expert? It's kind of interesting to contrast this effort with Apolo's, which I think was better, despite being ranked lower. This is a much bouncier quickstep, whereas Apolo's was more fluid and with the rhythm of the music. This is the routine that famously ended with Helio dipping Julianne and then kissing her, which I don't think was part of the choreography, since they didn't do it when they did the encore the next night. My theory is that Helio had a crush on Julianne, and she didn't return his feelings, so when he snuck that kiss, she had to have a talk with him. But that's just me making things up as usual.
Carrie Ann introduces what she calls "the iconic dance of the show," so I knew immediately that it would be Drew and Cheryl's freestyle from season 2 at No. 4. I liked Drew during his season, but I think this routine is overrated. Drew's a great dancer, and he didn't get to do much dancing in this routine, because it just went from trick to trick. Cheryl looks weird with the dark black hair too. Some of the tricks look kind of awkward in the transitions too. I guess I just never got what the big deal was about this routine. I guess in Season 2, it was exciting, but nowadays, it doesn't really compare to some of the routines we've already seen in this special. Plus, I think about the rumors about Drew and Cheryl and it kind of grosses me out. But at the time, the audience and the judges both loved, loved, loved it.