traboule

So I found the show on Hulu after my friend was talking about the show and I started with Season 1. I'm on episode 15 now. The show is so addictive. I don't know if it's the "banter", the accents or what. I feel like it has some of the stuff Bachelor in Paradise falls short on - BiP is sometimes at its best when it's group dynamic fun stuff, but it does it so rarely. And while Love Island definitely has loads of ginned-up drama, it also has people cooking up breakfast together in the morning, running out into the pool in the rain, etc. Would love to read more chatter about Season 1 if anyone's seen it. I think most of the boys are pretty terrible, though Jordan is lovely to look at and I like the way he carries himself in general. And newcomer Max seems all right. "Bring in the Jonathan" is entertaining. Of the girls, Zoe is my favorite, though I understand people who wouldn't like her. But maybe because I'm also a tall churchy girl with a prominent nose, I identify with her in some way. I'm warming up to Jess. I was completely on her side in her reaction over the stuff she overheard Luis and Josh saying in the hot tub, when they said the girls on the show were below their standards. Lauren has seemed to accept and even thrive being "just friends" with the guys. Hannah's Scouse accent! - I adore it.

I'll admit. I'm curious. Obviously would have to be a less grueling show schedule due to their youth.

I saw the tour stop in DC last year. Marcquet, Emily and Teddy were there as alternates. I heard Carly was there at other tour stops but she wasn't in DC. Anyway, along with helping out with the group dances, Marcquet took tWitch's role in the hip-hop duet with Jessica. Emily and Teddy performed Serge and Carly's "Latch" routine and the stair tap routine with Zack and Valerie was expanded so that Teddy joined them tapping in the middle. There were some other times they appeared, but I don't remember for which performances. The top 10 dancers were also assuming the roles that All-Stars had during the season. Tanisha seemed the go-to substitute for the female All-Stars in that tour, for example. I like their picks for the Season 12 alternates. I'm on the fence about going to see the tour, but knowing that those four dancers - especially Alexia and Yorelis - may also be there might be a tipping factor.

After enjoying last week's episode, this week's episode was quite disappointing. Opening number - I liked the sideways group move with the fans moving and thought Yorelis and Gaby stood out. For some reason I thought it was amusing when the girls were dancing together in the middle, and all the guys were busy shoving furniture aside in the background. Not my favorite of the opening routines this season, but had some fun elements. Jim and Yorelis - This was a good performance. Jim's technique is incredible. Liked how the choreography had this motif of the dancers' bodies holding still and then melting, and also several times where Yorelis had to do these deliberately rubbery moves. Edson and Jaja - I thought this was fun - a little forgettable, though I think it's growing on me the more I rewatch it. I thought Edson held his own, personality and dance-wise, which also speaks to the chemistry he had with Jaja who can be counted on for stage presence. I liked the waacking that was incorporated into the dance. Hailee and Virgil - I did like the move at the end where Hailee looped her feet behind Virgil's legs and he dragged her while she curled up reaching for him. This rather blah contemporary was definitely saved by having two strong performers. Hailee really commits to her characters in her dances and I really appreciate that about her. Virgil, too, though I thought Hailee stood out more in this dance. Also, I think Hailee is genuinely adorable in her pre-package segments. Ariana and Alexia - The first time I watched it, I was like WTF. I really hate the song. There also seemed to be a lack of chemistry between Alexia and Ariana. Rewatching it, I do like some of the elements and the beginning started off fine, but the bobble where Alexia was going over Ariana's back was definitely awkward. In the Afterbuzz ep, Paul Kamiryan (S10) said he would give the dancers the benefit of the doubt as far as what the package suggested and what actually happened during the week leading up to the performance. His gist was: the rehearsal footage that shows them - esp. Alexia - having a hard time with the concept, is from Day 1 rehearsal and doesn't mean that this was the attitude the dancers still had going into the dance. I think they both seem like hard-working dancers who were maybe floundering (heh) a bit with this particular dance, but I hesitate to say it's for lack of trying. As we saw with last week's asylum hip-hop, Alexia has no problem throwing herself into weird characters. And Ariana was nice and beasty in the African jazz a couple of weeks ago. Megz and Derek - Didn't like it. Thought it was interesting that Derek got a Dave Scott piece, since on last week's Afterbuzz episode, Dave Scott implied that he thought Derek should not have let his injury stop him from dancing last week. Gaby and Neptune - I liked the personal intensity that the dancers brought to this piece. And there's this small gesture that Neptune did near the end where Gaby is on the floor and he places his left hand in front of her face and then brings it around behind her - and it seemed to me a lovely blessing sort of gesture. I agree that the pre-package had an air of self-importance, and that Gaby's black and white dress was too on-the-nose, but I thought the piece showed off both dancers' talents. Kate and JJ - First time JJ has stood out to me. Not a memorable routine, but she was doing her best to sell it. Stage group routine - Gaby was really showcased well here. And Robert. He looked really nice. Stage Street routine - Liked the demented circus concept. The part where Virgil wraps his body around the Neptune/Megz bridge while Ariana slid underneath was a great trick. While watching, I recalled that SYTYCD used Dragula last season - Zack and Jacque had to do a paso doble to it. Eliminations: The Afterbuzz panelists and guests (S10's Makenzie and Paul) were definitely lamenting the loss of Yorelis, though they liked Neptune as well. That's how I felt - I wanted to keep both Yorelis and Neptune. I would have traded JJ for Yorelis. I liked Ariana, but the writing has been on the wall for a while with her, and I'm not sure who I would trade for her since I already exchanged JJ for Yorelis in my imagination. Alexia was one of my favorites, and I'm sorry to see her go, though sure that she'll be used as an alternate on the tour. It was Kate's time to go. As a youtuber commented, Kate usually seemed fine in the group routines, but she didn't really stand out in her pair/trio routines, except for that one she did with Neptune. I don't get Derek's appeal personally, but apparently he has a large fanbase. Top 10 are roughly in three groups for me: My current favorites: Gaby Hailee Neptune Like them quite a bit: Jim Jaja Virgil Megz Wish other dancers were here instead of them (sorry): Edson JJ Derek

Yeah I get what you're saying, but it's tricky, because since all the dancers have to perform again, the show needs to make sure that their most recent performances count for something, or else it seems unfair that the bottom two dancers have to dance without hope of earning a save.

Nick Florez and RJ Durell's Opening number performed by Top 16 - I thought this was a lot of fun. Choreography and music went well together - especially liked the part near the end where the dancers returned to the risers and suddenly snap into synchronous footwork. This performance also shows how many of the dancers give really good face - Yorelis, Jaja, Hailee, Megz, Marissa, Kate, on and on. I liked the dancers kind of punk haircuts (probably not using that adjective right) with the plaid avalanche in the wardrobe. Jaja and Hailee in Ray Leeper Jazz - Great pairing. The judges aren't overstating to say that both of these dancers are powerhouses. My attention was divided between the two of them fairly equally - Jaja for her presence and expressions and Hailee for her on-point dancing. (Not that Jaja was bad, but Hailee's technique was understandably better.) Neptune and Alexia in Dave Scott Hip-Hop - Favorite routine of the night. I loved that it was bonkers, sexy and funny. Loved the use of the padded wall. Alexia did great in a hip-hop routine. She's such a strong dancer. That drop into the prone split was like something from an action movie, like River Tam in Serenity or something. I love Neptune more and more every week. JJ and Leonardo in Argentine Tango - I thought this was boring and didn't understand the huge amount of praise for it. I thought this looked quite easy on JJ, especially when I went and rewatched Leonardo's tango with Hayley from Season 10. JJ's dress was pretty though. Jim and Ariana in Sean Cheesman Contemporary - I like Ariana, but all the wow moments in this piece belonged to Jim. The air he got on that leap move that one of the judges called out, that spin he went into near the end . . . those were the highlights for me. Aside from those moments, it wasn't my favorite contemporary. There was a part right before the music's climax when Jim and Ariana seemed to be awkwardly staging themselves on the giant discs. The cool lighting and the music did it huge favors on the first watch, but subsequent rewatches made me think a little less of this piece. Gaby and Virgil in Al Blackstone Broadway - Can't think of a better pair of dancers this season to take on a retro Broadway number. Their backgrounds and personalities made them a natural fit. This was adorable and fun and I was smiling the whole time. I loved the gender role swap when Gaby dipped Virgil that one time. Kate and Asaf in Sean Cheesman Jazz - That's twice that Kate's been in a dumbed-down routine because of Asaf. I don't hate Asaf, but I don't like that his lack of skill has impacted other dancers. Nothing new for the show, I suppose, but it's still annoying. It's obvious that they cut out all the lifts that required Asaf to lift her up over his shoulders, like they showed in rehearsal. Kate had a right to express concern for her physical safety. Dancers shouldn't be expected to keep their mouths shut if they feel unsafe, so I hope voters didn't hold her fear against her. Marissa and Yorelis in Christopher Scott Hip-Hop - I really liked what Christopher Scott did with the choreography and the music combination. The finger snaps were a nice touch. Shout-out to the lighting on this one as well. Marissa and Yorelis had some good moments performance-wise, but I don't think they fulfilled the potential of this piece. I agreed with Jason that as good as they are, the other dancers are largely out-classing them. Megz and Edson in Talia Favia Contemporary - I can get tired of angsty contemporary, but the use of the t-shirt over the dancers' heads was a good idea and the dancers themselves really committed to the piece. I like it more and more on rewatches. I especially liked the part where Edson flung the t-shirt off of Megz head dramatically as they both leaped into the air. Team Street piece by Luam - Liked the music, costuming, and style of this piece. My eye kept drawing over to Ariana, looking chill and sexy. Yorelis also. Team Stage piece by Travis - Costumes and make-up were amazing. Loved when the camerawork aided the spookiness, such as when Edson rises into the frame at the beginning. Best group moment was when they rippled into a straight line and when the straight line diverged into poses. Thought the later group work was less impressive, encumbered by the props and the part where they were lying on the floor seemed less than artful. But an interesting concept. This was a very good SYTYCD episode. I was surprised to see Kate in the bottom three after she performed a wonderful routine last week, and that doesn't bode well for her. She probably won't make the top ten. Neither will Ariana. Sorry but not surprised to see Marissa go. I would have sooner lost Derek before her, but understand the sympathy vote given over Twitter. Dancers I'm currently excited about: Alexia, Neptune, Gaby, Hailee, Megz

Wasn't that also true when one guy and one girl were getting eliminated from the show each night?

Ooh, thank you, thank you! I clicked through and watched Marty's videos just now and will have to check out the others soon. I liked the later two of those four Marty videos. I only started regularly watching the show around Season 9. I've gone back and reconstructed watching Seasons 3 and 4 through youtube videos, but I still have a gap of SYTYCD knowledge for the rest of the seasons. I do remember the Giving Tree performance though I don't think I've rewatched it since that season. Wow, that's beautiful and I can definitely see the commonality in the choreography between that performance and Kate and Neptune's piece.

What I liked about this episode was that only a few of the choreographers were SYTYCD regulars. Justin Giles, Reina & Asiel, Jaci Royal, JaQuel Knight, Tovaris Watson, and Marty Kudelka were all new names to me, though a quick Google search shows that at least one of them (Giles) has been on SYTYCD before. Anyway, though I may not have liked all of the dances they choreographed tonight, I liked seeing some new faces in the rehearsal studio. Opening number Top 18 This group number seemed a little muddled - the costuming and camera-work may have contributed to that impression, but choreography and execution by some of the dancers were certainly factors. That said, it had a strong opening by the five boys - Virgil, Neptune, Moises, Edson, and Derek. Moises especially stood out to me here, and Neptune definitely made an impression throughout the dance. Might need one of those fans the girls had. ;) As far as the girls, Alexia drew my eye. Gaby did well with some close-ups - she can be very charismatic. Stacey Tookey Contemporary with Alexia, Jaja and Derek Didn't see the point of the super-specific characters Stacey gave the dancers. There were some beautiful tableaus created by the dancers but it was fairly run-of-the-mill contemporary for this show, livened up just a tad by having three dancers instead of two. JaJa did fine - no real wow moments for me, but nothing awkward. Alexia was strong. Derek is a talented dancer but he almost never stands out to me. Alexia and Derek have remained in their wheelhouse so far in the competition (jazz/contemporary) so they're due for a genre challenge. JaQuel Knight Hip-Hop with Megz, Moises, and Jim As much as I like all three dancers, I just couldn't get into this performance. It felt like a warm-up piece for a larger follow-up act that never came. It seems out of place on a big empty stage. It's a style that seeks to hype up an audience, but the stage distances them from that audience. There was no sense of a feeding cycle of energy. The boys seemed to get the dance steps generally right, though. Tovaris Wilson Jazz with Edson, Yorelis, and JJ I found this performance rather boring, but then I don't find JJ or Edson to be exciting dancers (though they are pretty). As she has in the past trios she's done, Yorelis stands out. She's got an extra snap to her movements. Hope she gets showcased in a duo next week. Jean-Marc Genereux Club Cha-Cha with Marissa and Asaf This was so bad. I think the judges were too harsh on Marissa, who I though acquitted herself decently outside of her wheelhouse, and with Asaf as her partner to boot. Sean Cheeseman African Jazz with Ariana, Gaby and Burim I wanted to like this one more than I did. The girls were definitely beasty, but I kept thinking they looked out of sync with each other, more than once. I barely watched Burim, since the girls were given more interesting things to do in the choreography. Ariana and Gaby backflipping over each other was pretty cool, though either they or the choreography didn't quite know how to end that sequence. Justin Giles Contemporary with Neptune and Kate I was moved by this delicate contemporary number - I loved the specificity of the arm movements. Neptune and Kate had great chemistry. I wonder if they benefited from having danced together the week before. (Gaby and Burim are the only other two dancers that had been in the same group last week, not counting opening or team performances.) Kate is another one that's been in her wheelhouse throughout so far, so I'm curious to see what she'll do next week. Anyway, this piece was probably my favorite of the night. Pharside and Phoenix Hip-Hop with Hailee and Virgil Very playful. Liked the choreography and Hailee and Virgil were well-matched, which was evident even in the rehearsal package. I can't be too mad at them for extending the robot bit too long, though I think it would have been nice for them to respond to the judges out-of-character. Mugging for votes in-character makes sense though. Team Stage performance I liked this quite a bit. There were some interesting ideas in there, choreography-wise. The moment in the middle when the group stood in a line and then slowly expanded outward and upward made me think of a time-lapse video of a flower opening. The group felt cohesive. Kate stood out in this, which was both due to choreography and her own strength as a dancer. Team Street performance I still prefer the first group performance they did, but some of the dancers looked real cool here. As someone said earlier in this thread, I think the Team Street group performances will get nicely tightened up once we lose the weaker links. Lily would have done well in this piece though. :( Results: Like others, would have preferred Burim to be kept over Asaf, though I wouldn't have kept Burim around much longer either. And I would have taken Moises over Edson. I was very excited about Moises, and had hoped he would go further. Thoughts on the show in general: I do feel that with this season we're getting more frank appraisal of the dancers by the choreographers in the rehearsal segments, added to by the team captain comments. Not every time - there is still some fluff in the rehearsal packages - but still I've gleaned some interesting insights. Dancers I'm excited about currently: Neptune, Kate, Alexia, Hailee

Thoughts after watching each dance three times (I don't always trust my first impressions). Opening Group Dance: The first shot was reminiscent of Tyce Diorio's jazz piece for All-Star Kathryn and S10 Paul. I enjoyed this number, especially the girls' group work. They're really showcasing the girls' grit this season. I don't know if the make-up was disrespectful, but I did think it looked cool even if it obscured who was who much of the time. Salsa with Hailee, Yorelis and Darion: Oof, what a mess. I knew that on my first impression. Poor Darion - to be knocked by having a "thinking" face while also being criticized for the risk of his partners' injury. He wasn't served well by the choreography or the judges, though I think Paula was trying to be fair. That lift of Hailee was so awkward. Eesh. Yorelis looked the best out of all of them - my eye was drawn to her. She seemed to get more of the micro-movements than the others, for lack of a technical term for it. Her performance was also boosted by a little hairography. Jazz with Ariana and Derek: I have a hard time getting over the complete mismatch of the song choice and the "concept" of the piece. Combined with the costumes, it made it a very tonally weird piece for me. I thought the dancers executed it fine for the most part, though neither are very charismatic dancers for me. Did anyone else notice the camera bobble in the middle? Contemporary with Alexia, Virgil and Megz: My favorite performance of the night. First, the choreography was excellent. Even when the dancers were each doing a separate type of movement, it felt cohesive, and their motions often flowed into each other's in interesting ways. I know the execution wasn't perfect from Megz, but she held her own, didn't seem to be holding back, and from the background package for this and the group piece, the choreographers like working with her, which I always find a good sign. Alexia really caught my eye in this piece, and she hadn't really been on my radar previously. Loved that expression in her backward glance at the end. Reminds me of Bridget's look at the end of the bed-frame dance in last season. Virgil kind of disappeared in this dance, probably because the girls were in the foreground about 90% of the time. Also, someone last season on these boards pointed out that - depending on how its done - stage lighting can sometimes disadvantage dancers with darker skin and I was wondering if that was happening here. Bollywood with Lily, Gaby, Edson and Burim: This was carried by the girls, mostly because the choreography went easy on the guys. They have some posing with the drums, while the girls had much more high-energy moves. Nice showcase for the guys' abs though at the end, as has been mentioned previously. I don't think I knew that Edson had a cheerleading background - cool. Broadway with Neptune, Kate, Asaf: I do like Kate's cool style in this piece, though Neptune was stealing the show for me with his expression and energy. I definitely wasn't watching Asaf when all three were in motion. I noticed near the beginning that when the guys took turns reaching out their hands to the small of Kate's back and then withdrawing them, Neptune put some elasticity and spring into it, while Asaf's same movement was comparatively lifeless. Lyrical Hip-Hop with JaJa and Jim - I feel out of step with just about everyone . . . I thought this was nice but not amazing. But then I always preferred Mark/Chelsie's Kiss Kiss jazz over Bleeding Love. I like to see the dancers sweat. :) I think JaJa and Jim were very expressive. I am definitely curious to see JaJa outside of her wheelhouse. Jazz with Marissa, Moises, and JJ - Second favorite piece of the night - the song and the choreography worked well together, which is actually hard to say most of the time on SYTYCD. If it wasn't so hard for the show to get music rights, we might have more of that. Anyway, I loved Marissa's fierceness here. I am definitely warming up to her. Thanks to whoever pointed out her great kip in last week's number. I went back and watched for that. Marissa sometimes reminds me of Tanisha in that fierceness and strength. Moises was outstanding - so much talent there. JJ seemed fine that I could see but my eye was usually drawn to the other two. Whatever about their facial expressions . . . it worked fine on TV anyway. Glad Paula spoke up about that. Team Street - Camera work seemed to focus too much on the b-boys at times, at the expense of seeing the group work better. I liked some of the ideas happening for this piece, but it didn't wow me. Team Stage - I get the criticisms about the piece's lack of originality, but I liked this, and I liked it more than Team Street's from this episode. I am apparently susceptible to the combination of Woodkid and a lot of synchronous group work. Kate stood out to me here (might have been the contrast of the red hair with their brown clothing though), plus of course the two that got tossed. Eliminations: I agreed with the twitter voters in the save of Neptune and Moises, who both acquitted themselves well in this episode. I was fine with either Darion or Derek going. I would have preferred Lily over Ariana, as I thought Lily stood out in Vegas and last week, but I don't dislike Ariana. Dancers I'm excited about currently: Alexia, Megz, Gaby, Neptune, Marissa, Moises. I have been excited about some of the other dancers before, but those six are the most intriguing to me at the moment. Format of the show overall: I like that there are combinations of trios, quartets and duos now. The partner dynamic led to a lot of stale pieces and though the current format is not immune to stale pieces, I like the possibility that has opened up with this change. Now it's up to the choreographers to handle that variety. One benefit of the Team Street / Team Stage conceit is that it gives a fun spin on the group pieces. We always compared the two group pieces against each other anyway (and they were often the best pieces of the night last season). I mostly think of the Team Street / Team Stage as a friendly rivalry (though Travis does seem a little weird about it) and I don't mind it now that I've seen how it actually plays out. To me, it's a welcome, refreshing change from dividing the dancers by gender. Yes, I can see how it feeds into these stereotypes about who is trained and who isn't, but that narrative was in the show well before this more formal rendering of it. The clues that Stage and Street are not clear-cut lines of difference are all there in the show for those who care to see it. A dancer's comment on training, Virgil's Broadway experience, Yorelis' more stage background, etc.

On the Afterbuzz episode for the "Top 20", Eliana Girard (S9) was the guest. As mentioned on page 2 of this thread, she's been on Taylor Swift's tour. She also got engaged recently. Eliana shared that after she won SYTYCD she kind of felt "empty" and that she hadn't quite realized what she had got herself into, with her whole world changing. Though she found the after-tour amazing, especially meeting the fans, she also felt pretty "empty" and was kind of a "hot mess" (her words). Her boyfriend broke up with her around that time, and she said that she sometimes found herself in tears while performing on stage. After the tour, she still struggled, committing self-sabotage (Kristyn Burtt's words), fearing that in her later dance gigs people would say that she wasn't as good as she was on SYTYCD. But touring with Taylor Swift - having that steady job - helped her get back on track and she seems like she is taking some other steps to take care of herself. You can hear her talk about it in the episode at about minute 46:00.

I won't be watching tonight's episode until tomorrow night, but wanted to add a few things to this thread. I watched the Afterbuzz show on this episode and Eliana (S9 winner) was the guest. She apparently was originally slated to dance in Jason DeRulo's performance but got injured. Tiffani (S9) was her substitute. They also said that the DeRulo performance (which I enjoyed when it focused on the dancers, esp. the instrumental break) was choreographed by Amy Allen. realdancemom up above mentioned that Darian had nice contemporary lines, which is exactly what Eliana pointed out. She said Darian shows a more contemporary ballet form while Jim is more classical. (I have absolutely no expertise myself on the subject.) I know that not everyone likes watching the Afterbuzz episodes, and this one wasn't one I'd recommend, but I thought I'd share a little of what I gleaned.

Oh, also Ricky and Jessica's "Vow" routine was gorgeous. One of maybe two songs in the program where you can really hear the dancers' movement - usually the music covers over that - but I think it adds so much to hear the footfalls and the movement of the dancers. And the program included a lot of the mini-group numbers. That one with the guys where they toss Emilio and he almost hits the floor when they catch him - whew, made the breath catch a bit! Also that moment in the Sonya Tayeh piece where the dancers all fall sideways to the floor in unison was stunning.

So I'm not sure what thread to put this in, but I did go see the SYTYCD tour in November in D.C. Some dances I liked better on TV, some were better live for me. Tanisha was heavily featured, which I certainly did not mind - she took Jasmine's part in the Egyptian-themed hip-hop with Emilio (and killed it, IMO). Her costume in that dance also didn't have that distracting low cut in the back that many commenters on this board disliked. Tanisha also took Lauren F.'s part in the dance with Ricky. She also replaced Amy in the "Europe after the Rain" contemporary with Zack, and took Allison's part in "Dirty Diana" (IIRC). Nearly all of her dances with Rudy were included in the program, which is noteworthy considering another pair from the top 10 - Zack and Jacque - did not have ANY of their dances included in the program. In fact, other than group numbers, Jacque appeared in maybe one pair dance (stepping in for Makenzie in a dance with Casey), plus her solo. They did include the cool stairs tap number with Zack and Valerie, and in the middle of the routine, Teddy joined them for a new choregraphed section and then he exited so the other two tappers finished out the song. There were video segments interspersed throughout that mostly consisted of either the judges or the choreographers talking about the season, or a rehash of the choreographers teaching a dance step. Nothing really interesting was said in the videos, except for Napoleon and Tabitha saying that the bench routine choreographed for tWitch and Jessica was partly inspired by Nigel. (ha!) That routine was included in the program, with Marcquet doing an able job substituting with Jessica. I realized that - aside from the concept - I do like the choreography and music of that routine. Emily was the other non-top-10 to show up for this particular tour performance. She and Teddy did the "Latch" song, which made me miss Carly. Barely any ballroom was included - possibly not any ballroom, come to think of it. All the top 10 did a solo, and Rudy took off his shirt during his and threw it into the audience to some appreciative squeals. I laughed and thought, of course he would do that. Casey has a lot more charisma live than he did on TV. Zack really seems to light up when doing Broadway-style, as he does in the "Hernando's Hideaway" routine with Jessica. Bridget nails her malevolent character in the Travis Wall bedframe routine. I was about in the middle of the auditorium and could still see that character coming through. A few production notes - I didn't like that the flashing lights behind the dancers occasionally hit me right in the face so that I temporarily couldn't see the stage at all. This proved too much for an audience member several rows ahead of me, who left midway through the program, clearly in some physical head pain. The last routine was the only completely new one, performed to Taylor Swift's "Shake it Off" which was disappointing when one considers the more sublime "Sweet Surrender" group number that the season ended on.

I just started watching DWTS this season. I'm a huge SYTYCD fan and still love that show more, but I find DWTS interesting in its own way. I thought this episode was fun even though a lot of the dancing was so-so, especially from Antonio, Michael, Jonathan and Tommy. But I liked most of the behind-the-scenes "drama" because it seemed like all involved were good-natured about it. I enjoyed the Emma/Peta exchange about Tommy for example, Bethany and Sadie swapping notes about Mark and Derek, and Witney's reactions to Michael. And I liked a lot of Tom's quippy one-liners in this episode too. I only know that one song by Jessie J, and otherwise had never heard of her before. I guess I am one of the few who enjoyed Jessie J as a guest judge so I'm going to defend her a bit. Who knows when she found she was going to be a guest judge, and how that came about, so I don't judge her for not having watched the show. She has a new album coming out. I'm sure she's a busy woman. I think she only mentioned that she hadn't seen them dance before to give context for her comments. Sure, she repeated that contextual note several times, but she's a guest judge, so I'll cut her some slack. Anyway, she seemed genuine and funny and likable. I preferred some of her comments over Bruno's OTT judging style. (I sometimes like it from Bruno, but it's hit or miss). Maybe because SYTYCD has had some truly awful awful guest judges, I don't have a high standard for guest judges. Also, though I wouldn't buy her music or anything, I thought Jessie J was one of the better live performers they've had on DWTS this season. And on that note, I also have been liking Julianne Hough's judging this season. I feel like she's not afraid to give tough critiques. I am completely surprised to see others comment that she is parroting Carrie Ann. Julianne's judging comments really seem to be her own thoughts on the dance. Again, new viewer here, so I'm missing all the past season history on all the pros and judges. (The only time I've seen Julianne before was in Safe Haven, which I ended up watching late one night on Netflix. It was not as bad as I thought it would be, but as Tom might say, it happened.) I've been a big fan of Witney's partnering, but there really wasn't a whole bunch she could do with Michael. I think she did the best she could. Really liked Alfonso's flamenco and did show another side to his dancing personality. Thought Charleston was a great match for Sadie's personality and look and I found it a really fun performance from her. Lea's dance was mostly forgettable for me, except for the troupe's contribution. Someone else said it earlier in the thread, but Janel has a real problem with finishing her movements. Sure, she's not the only one with that problem, but it really stood out in this burlesque number for some reason. Bethany did seem to show improvement this week, or at least some versatility. Not a standout hip-hop, but I think the side-by-side work was a good but not too difficult challenge for her.