Episode Report Card Kim: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Final Exam
By Kim | Season 14 | Episode 18 | Aired on 05.21.2012
Judges? Len says that he liked it all, from the lifts to the rhythm changes, but he thought it was too predictable. Carrie Ann argues with him, but Len says he didn't want a salsa with lifts. Bruno thought it was sinful but ever so good. Carrie Ann can't even talk and weirdly starts doing the robot. She thought they broke ground, but Len argues that it was just a salsa with lifts. As Tom goes to commercial, Len and Carrie Ann are still arguing. Scores: Carrie Ann 10, Len 9, and Bruno 10. They seem pleased and they knew they weren't getting a 10 from a Len anyway.
So how about Mark and Katherine's freestyle? Mark thinks Katherine is really versatile, and they should take advantage of that in their freestyle. I actually think the freestyle might be Katherine's downfall, as I think her worst dances have been when she "let loose" and just danced. They start out with Katherine singing and I hope this isn't taking away from her dancing time. Well, their routine was jam-packed with content, that's for sure. The problem was that Katherine looked a little awkward at times, and seemed behind the beat a few times near the end. And this resulted in some awkward transitions into and out of the lifts. But it had a ton of energy and it was different - sort of a combo of the jive, the quickstep, the Lindy hop and I don't know what else. And Katherine danced her little heart out.
Judges? Bruno loved the tour through all the ages of swing, and thinks it had a ton of content all the way through, and Katherine was on the money. Carrie Ann thought it showcased Katherine's range, and that it was the dance of a champion. Len thought it was a dream. Ugh. I thought it was too frenetic even as I could admire the effort that went into it. Scores: Carrie Ann 10, Len 10, and Bruno 10. That's bullshit.
And finally, Donald and Peta have their freestyle. Peta's never done a freestyle, right? Donald thinks that William will do Latin and Katherine will do ballroom so they should do something unexpected and dance country. He references the gold standard of freestyles, Drew and Cheryl's "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy." That's actually not my favorite freestyle of all time, but it was good and I'm just happy to see something different. So they are dancing to a song by Cowboy Troy, who is singing it. And I am LOVING seeing Donald do a different style of dance. He is more into this routine than he has any other this season and it shows. I think the first half of the routine is way better than the second half, but both halves are fantastic and I'm sad we didn't get to see more of that type of dancing from Donald this season. The lifts were insane.