Episode Report Card Kim: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Teaming Up
By Kim | Season 9 | Episode 14 | Aired on 11.02.2009
Carrie Ann knows that Mark had a rough week with three different partners, but the bad news is that their routine was a mess. The audience gets mad, but she's right. It just made me feel anxious, and Carrie Ann blames it on nervous energy. Len adds that a tough week and a difficult dance combined for not a great result, although he doesn't think it was as bad as Carrie Ann did. Bruno says it was "different," in the way that your mom would say your new outfit was "different" when you knew she wanted to say it was ugly but she was trying to avoid a fight. Scores: Carrie Ann 6, Len 7, and Bruno 6. The audience boos, but come on. It wasn't good, and it wasn't fun to watch. It's understandable, but man.
Mya and Dmitry didn't get a ton of praise for their jitterbug last week, especially since they did a lot of messing about at the beginning. So this week, they have the foxtrot. Mya is looking forward to doing another elegant dance, since she hasn't done one since the first week, and did not get great scores. Dmitry encourages her to stop thinking about the steps so much, and just get into the dance. And Dmitry brings in Cloris Leachman to teach Mya about old Hollywood glamour. Cloris tells a story about being at Gene Kelly's house and getting turned down for a dance with Fred Astaire. Cloris shows more savvy than she showed through her whole season by advising Mya and Dmitry to connect. Yes! That's what they don't do, and it's bugging me! The beginning of their routine exemplifies everything that's wrong with it -- they each start out dancing alone, and never look at each other, even when they come together. The whole routine is technically great (although I'm not crazy about the choreography as a whole) but they seriously never make eye contact once throughout. The foxtrot is supposed to be glamorous, but also romantic, and this is cold. They spend hardly any time in hold, also.
Len says that he liked the parts in hold, but he felt that the dance was too untraditional and had too many gimmicks. I am Len. He is me. Bruno thought the dance captured Hollywood glamour and Mya danced like an angel. Carrie Ann thinks Len is "officially smoking crack." She thinks they look classy and sophisticated, and she loved the footwork. Carrie Ann learned a new word this week: dynamic. She must have one of those page-a-day calendars. Scores: Carrie Ann 9, Len 7, and Bruno 9.
Last week, Aaron finally broke through with the judges. He was especially happy about not being in the bottom two. This week, they have the jive. Aaron is worried after two weeks of doing ballroom, he doesn't have the stamina to do Latin. He goes to a personal trainer, because you can gain a ton of stamina in less than a week. Except that you really can't. But they're trying really hard to make Aaron more likable, I guess. Also, Aaron is growing a goatee, which does actually help to camouflage his weirdly sunken cheeks. Okay, they're doing their jive to "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister. This show is so weird. There's a lot of energy and fast footwork, but there are times where Aaron and Karina are doing different footwork, and I assume that it's on purpose, but who knows? Then again, with all the kicks and flicks, most people would have collapsed in a heap halfway though, so I do admire their stamina. And Aaron does a good job flicking his feet around, so there's that.