truthaboutluv

Yeah it was some woman named Brooke who I assume is a friend of Meryl's and she talked about how with Charlie because Meryl has known him so long she sees him almost like a brother (I'm sure their shippers loved hearing that) so she's not really womanly or passionate with him but suddenly there was this big, gorgeous Russian in front of her (yes she used those words complete with a shot of Maks supposedly smoldering I guess) and it's brought out this new sexy side of her. What amuses me about this is, wasn't Meryl with and maybe possibly still with one of her coaches' son who happens to be Russian? But apparently she's never before experienced the manly Russian magic and it's just brought out this new woman in her. Okay then...whatever works for them. I love this part of the season. Where it's winding down and arguments for one's favorite versus another pairing get more and more creative. My favorite is still the season it came down to Gilles and Shawn and some Shawn supporters stated that in actuality Gilles was really never that impressive and only relied on being sexy. Yup...good times.

Far as I remember, the only thing Caroline knew of Damon was that he was a hot guy and she flirted with him. I can't remember if there was alcohol or some mind-control involved in her sleeping with him but for the sake of fairness I'll say she did that willingly. But I clearly remember her looking like she regretted it as soon as she woke up and tried to quickly escape the room, which is when Damon trapped her and from that moment proceeded to feed on her and use her body like a glorified blow-up doll for a period of time after.

If Maks gets thwarted for that mirrorball after he was all but gifted with the ultimate celebrity dancer, and more significantly by a member of the Hough/Ballas contingent, it won't be pretty. But alas, as popcorn worthy as the explosion online and social media will be, I don't see it happening. Tonight will be pretty predictable from beginning to end. Well except for Candace maybe surpassing Amy - I can kind of see that.

There's always bitching and moaning about every couple, every season, it's the nature of the show. And yes, that increases with a pro like Maks who is fairly polarizing. But I guess when I think of people exploding or intense reactions, I think of seasons where the pairings were very close in talent and/or ability and/or popularity - Zendaya and Kellie for example, Shawn and Gilles, etc. No matter what people think of Maks and even those who think Meryl leaves them cold, I honestly can't recall anyone saying Meryl isn't an amazing dancer and like I said, judging by the twitter trending, the media polls and such, I just don't see this being one of those seasons that anyone's going to debate and rage about the inevitable results. Agree to disagree then. I too have watched Shawn and Derek's mambo A LOT of times because as annoying as I found them both that season, I absolutely LOVED that dance (and wasn't surprised it was one of the dances that got him his Emmy) and I just didn't see the massive similarity in the salsa with Amy. Again, the major difference for me is that because Shawn was so capable and talented, she did so much of that mambo out of hold with Derek while for obvious reasons, Amy never let go of Derek's hand.

Serious question but who's going to explode? Again maybe it's just the places I visit but from my observation most people expect and want a Meryl/Maks win. The TV Guide poll has them at 70 percent for who will win the mirrorball, comments all over twitter and tumblr are mostly positive. Sure some people don't care for Maks but I certainly can't imagine any "outrage" when they win. Or that's just me...

What does Maks and Meryl's dance have to do with the judging for Derek and Amy's? And just to be clear, it's not like I'm actually bothered and/or upset by Len's 9 because as I've said repeatedly, the only consistent thing about the scoring on this show, is its inconsistency. I just thought his reasoning for giving the 9 was stupid. If he didn't like it and just wasn't impressed, fine but to act like the rope was a problem when the rules of the freestyle state that there are no rules is just stupid. Also, not for nothing but for all of the Amy didn't dance and there were all those lifts, Meryl and Maks' contemporary had a lot of lifts in there as well. They were all impressive lifts but there were plenty in there. But again, all this is moot really because like I said above, Meryl and Maks' names are already engraved on this trophy and I'm sure all the other couples in the finals know that. I was greatly amused at reading comments elsewhere that were still trying to spin some outrage over Derek and how he's so going to win again and it's like really? Meryl and Maks' names were trending WW all night (I know because I'm on twitter a lot) as well as encoreMeryl, their shippers all but exploded into a puddle of goo, Zendaya has all her followers on the job of voting for them, even retweeting memes and gifs showing her and Val coming in second with the comment "let's not make this happen again" (and I love Z and Val but I found those tweets obnoxious from them both), following the DWTS tumblr tag, I'm seeing a lot of "I mean like Amy is inspirational and all but like she didn't actually dance. Derek just runs and dances around her..." So it's comical to me to read comments that suggests that there's still some behind the scenes shenanigans to get Derek a win or that there is any question of who will win. I even saw a comment that Derek looked so relaxed last night, joking around because he knows he's guaranteed another win and it's like no, it's probably because he saw the writing on the wall with Meryl's win and likely did so weeks ago. So all that's left is to just have fun and not worry about anything else. Maks will get his win and yes as the show reminded us so much, after 13 seasons, Meryl who was amazing from day one will win and the world will continue running and they'll all show up on ABC tomorrow and by the end of the week no one will really care anymore. The only thing I found similar from the Shawn mambo was the obvious move in the middle of the dance when she posed with her legs in the air and her hands on the floor. That's the only thing that reminded me of Shawn's mambo. Shawn's mambo had way more tricks, spins, turns, side by side movements, etc. all things Amy cannot physically do. I didn't hate James' freestyle. I actually thought it was good. My problem is that I was underwhelmed by it. I felt like it had promise but never delivered on that promise, if that makes sense. It's the Amber Riley situation. That girl never got any props from some for her dancing and hardwork and she still doesn't. To many she "sat on a chair, lumbered around, got dragged by Derek" and won for that. So it is what it is. What are you going to do...

And I acknowledged that technically it was perfect and yes it was passionate but my point is it is what I've seen all season long from them so it didn't amaze me or move me because this is 90 percent of what they've been selling all season long. As someone noted elsewhere (maybe here), the freestyle blended into any number of their other dances. Yes it was beautiful but it's just like "oh Maks and Meryl almost kissed again and Maks has never had this amazing physical, passionate connection with anyone". I just wanted something different but yes the dance was fine. And judging by their trending WW, my opinion doesn't matter as they've most assuredly got the win in the bag, along with encore tonight. Obviously everyone is not going to be impressed and I noted that I personally didn't think it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen, though certainly impressive. My point was that I actually do see why Derek brought the rope in (and I'm sorry they have constantly stated that the Freestyle means no rule so I don't get Len essentially knocking a point off because he doesn't like a rope being included in the dance) as a strategy. As I noted, he clearly went for something that would have a big visual impact so the dance would be remembered because really without that, it was just a simple contemporary dance. So strategy wise, which is what I was really referring to, I did get it.

Honestly, I'm over it. The season's over (finally), so it's like it is what it is. Those who are convinced she hasn't been dancing will never be convinced otherwise. Amy did an excellent salsa tonight and did a lift-heavy contemporary/freestyle where freestyles are often categorized with lifts and obviously it means she didn't dance at all. Like I said before, there are still those who insist Amber Riley won last year sitting on a chair...seriously. So at this point it just is what it is. And frankly I don't even know why it matters...we all know Meryl's name was engraved on that trophy weeks ago.

lmao...sure, why not.

I disagree. To each his own, but I look forward to the freestyle wowing me in some way. I'm not saying what Amy did there was the most unbelievable thing ever but I see why Derek put it in as the obvious wow moment for the dance. Because without that it was just a basic contemporary dance. He went for something that would have a powerful visual effect and to me the freestyle is definitely the dance you want to do that in. That's what I had a problem with for James' dance. There was never a wow moment.

No really, what is going on with Danica's hair? That said, I really liked Maks and Meryl's AT but I preferred the one she did with Val. It was good and their chemistry was good but I didn't have a sit up right, "holy shit..." moment like I did with hers with Val. Still good though. As for the freestyle, well see above. Amy brought it with her salsa which is why I'm a little confused by the comments about her not dancing. She danced in her salsa and she danced in her freestyle in my opinion. My problem was that the freestyle was pretty much just a contemporary and since they've made contemporary a permanent style on the show, doing it for a freestyle is no longer wow in my opinion. I actually kind of liked Candace's freestyle. It was cute and honestly, after Meryl and Maks and Derek and Amy, at least it was something different. Same with James'. The problem I had with James' freestyle is that it just felt like he and Peta had a decent idea that never fully came together to be as amazing as it could have been. Have to say, I'm kind of surprised James went home. The Facebook likes thing that had been so on point all season totally called that one wrong. It also makes sense now why Candace got those 8's for her Freestyle. Girl must be killing in those viewer votes.

Did this seem shorter than everyone else's or was it just me? The moment Derek talked about Amy literally defying gravity in his interviews before the show, I knew she was going to do some aerial thing. See Mark, that's how you do an aerial move without putting your celebrity on a pole. That said, I'm torn. Man, maybe I'm just really nitpicky tonight. But I just feel like, I've seen Amy do a contemporary already and it was pretty good then. I mean this one was definitely better than the first but it just felt like well, she did a contemporary. I hope they stop hyping the freestyles to be honest because in the last few seasons they've just been a disappointment. Although last season's was actually really good and I'd rank it higher than this year's - Jack, Amber and Bill's freestyles were all a lot of fun. Wasn't a fan of Corbin's because it was just a re-do of a Michael Jackson dance imo. Doing aerial spins isn't dancing or impressive - tell that to P!nk and the Cirque du Soleil folks.

Okay, here comes the unpopular opinion. Technically it was perfect and yes it was passionate but I just feel like "I've seen this before..." I get playing to your strengths but I just feel like Maks and Meryl's entire season has been categorized by their "intense connection and passion" and this didn't show me anything different. The almost kissing move we saw in the Foxtrot and I feel like I saw half of the dance two weeks ago in their rumba. Where is the surprise, the "omg, holy cow did you see that?" I actually think Meryl would have done amazing with something jazzy and broadway-ish, even something like Charlie's Mary Poppins number (without the cane). Because at least it would be a little different than everything I've seen for the last 10 weeks. I thought Candace's freestyle was cute but I was holding my breath the whole time because I kept thinking Mark's was going to just completely break his arm in those lifts. Also, Erin looks gorgeous tonight. She is working that yellow. eta: Seriously, it wasn't that bad. Candace's daughter does not look happy.

What in blue hell is going on with Danica's hair? Also I was with Len, that freestyle didn't wow me. It felt like a performance that had promise, a performance where you kept waiting for the wow moment and it never came. Instead it just remained nice the whole way through.

Yeah I have to say I was a little baffled by the comment that the interview talked up all four couples. My first thought was a genuinely confused "where..." Conrad gives James a passing mention after Annie basically suggests no one mattered but Meryl and Amy and poor Candace was barely acknowledged. And Amy was brought up only so Annie could passive aggressively continue the "Amy is not dancing and sitting on props" meme. I've been aware of Annie from her EW days and she's never hidden her Maks love and it was even a little cute at times. But this was just borderline embarrassing. What exactly did she call this season - his personal awakening or whatever? Like is she for real with this?

I also visited her Instagram for the first time and there were a couple of very mean things there. I would like to say I'm surprised but let's face it, assholes live for the anonymity of the internet. Personally all I can do is feel pity for someone who takes a show as silly as DWTS this seriously.

I really am curious what the motivation was behind that writing decision. I mean was it really supposed to show that Damon was just so crazed with passion for Elena because yeah, no. I never understood why the writers felt the need to go there when it was clear as day that the triangle was going to exist and at some point down the line, they would put Elena with Damon. And it was the start of their pattern of making Damon do something really shitty and then just believing having Ian smirk and snark his way through the next episodes was enough to sweep it under the rug. Damon for me is to Vampire Diaries what Chuck was to Gossip Girl and I couldn't stand both tools and hated the big relationship with both. Difference is I just felt sorry for Blair who I kind of liked and thought she deserved better and should have wanted better for herself. Elena, she can burn in a fire far as I'm concerned and take her creepy, unhealthy relationship with her.

And that is fair because art is such a subjective thing and why I will always say that this show will never be "fair". People are asked to vote for their favorite and someone connects to one celebrity over another for any number of reasons. Some people like Candace because they feel she represents "what the show should be because she's a non-dancer", some people vote for James because they think he's hot, etc. All valid. What I was disagreeing with is the notion that the show and/or the producers haven't shown who Amy is in her packages because I feel like that can be said for everyone. So the issue is not imo, that the show is not showing who Amy is but that the narrative she's been given, as every other celebrity has a narrative, is simply not connecting with some. Because in that same vein I've been reading since the season started, comments by many who feel that Meryl's dances leave them cold. That technically she's good but there's no emotion there and that same person may say they root for Candace because they get vulnerability from her. Do I agree, no, but that's why it's all subjective.

And I noted that all we'd seen of Candace was that she is a Christian mother of three who has live performance anxiety issues. So this pretty much confirms that statement. However I would like to believe there is more to Candace than just being a Christian and a mom. To each his own because the moment with the megafan, while sweet, I saw as "James, the boy-band/teen idol" guy and as for his stuff with Charlie, don't even remember that and that's surprising since I hear so much about how Charlie was never shown. That said, I still can't think of a single thing about James other than he has great abs and is in some boy band. If some say Amy is bland, James often comes across to me as a practiced Ken doll. But I'm sure he's not. And her embodying the dance ties into my saying that all I've seen of her is that she is talented and hardworking and once again, considering the woman just won an Olympic Gold medal, I didn't need her to do DWTS to figure out those things about her. So once again, I say I still haven't seen anything of who Meryl Davis is from those packages. I don't know what makes her really laugh out loud, I don't know what truly motivates her, I don't know why she's even really doing this show, what's driving it for her, is it just to have something fun after the stress of the Olympics, etc. What? And again, I'm sure those things exist but the producers were far more interested in showing the "passion and connection" between her and Maks throughout the season.

You know this is why I love message boards...you get varying opinions, some you disagree with and some you just don't actually understand but accept that it's how others see things. Case in point, the "we don't know who Amy" is point. I swear, I am honestly trying to understand this opinion but I just don't get it. From my perspective, if one says we don't really know anything about Amy from her packages, I feel like I can say the same about James, Candace and Meryl. What have we really learned about James other than he's in some faux boy-band, women think he's hot and he and his PRO supposedly have scorching chemistry. Oh and I guess at one point he was a fatty. And Candace, what do we know other than she's a Christian, God is important in her life, she's a mother and she has serious performance anxiety issues with the live shows. And Meryl, what have the producers given us about Meryl (and I am not including people who have followed her skating career). Because I'm someone who only knew of Meryl Davis as part of the Davis/White team that beat Moir/Virtue. And the only thing I've gotten from the show is that she's hardworking, talented and she and Maks have a good "connection". Well the first two I kind of already assumed being that she is an Olympic champion. And for all of these people I don't think that's all there is to them. But the fact is this show has always liked it's storylines and it's narratives and those are the narratives that has played for all of them throughout the season. So I really do not understand Amy being singled out as not being shown who she is because the packages have focused on her journey as a double amputee. And even with that said, I do feel like I know a little of who Amy is. While some used her crying in some packages to say "she was playing victim or being a drama queen", it showed that she's human and even after more than a decade of living with this disability she still has moments of frustration and anger at what her body may not be able to do. I found Amy to actually be kind of flirty and funny at times in her rehearsal packages with Derek. So I just honestly feel like this is one more thing thrown at to discredit her - first it's the not dancing and using props, now it's people don't know who she is. When really, if someone doesn't want to vote for Amy, don't. Like I've said before, all this "best dancer" crap, the show says to vote for your FAVORITE couple, not best. So if Meryl is your favorite, fine vote for her and no need to make reasons why the others aren't getting your vote. Same if you want to vote for James or Candace. Me, I will be voting for no one but I do look forward to seeing what everyone brings for the Finals.

Okay but why does Derek name come up with the "when he plays to his partner's strengths, he's a genius, etc." Personally I am just glad this season is ending period because I'm kind of really over the Derek vs. Maks stuff. As someone noted above, people have their favorites and those they don't like and it gets harped on a lot and Maks and Derek are the ones who are clearly the most focused on. Yes some are on Maks about his having showmances in the past and his freestyles (and to be fair, I've seen more comments about wanting Maks not to blow the freestyle from the people rooting for Meryl. It's like they're expecting him to fail) but how many times have I read about how much the show caters to Derek and he dances around his celebrities and they get overscored. Week after week those same comments get made. I mean for crying out loud, I still read about how Amber Riley won doing a "hand dance" - it was ONE dance that had hand choreography for 20 secs and her whole season gets categorized as that. My opinion is the praise and criticisms on both sides gets over the top and repetitive but maybe that's just the nature of boards. At some point you just start repeating yourself. But once again, that's why I said the only thing I'm really looking forward to is seeing Amber Riley perform because I love her. I have no comments on that Maks and Meryl video because it was like 3 seconds.

Tony and Melissa's freestyle was nothing like Kellie and Derek's in my opinion. If you consider every "contemporary" like freestyle similar, then you would have to say they did the same thing as Maks and Erin's number and yeah, no. Tony and Melissa was a lot of her awkwardly running around and flinging around and doing an impression of what one thinks a contemporary should be, imo. The strength of Derek and Kellie's freestyle I thought and Derek admitted this, is that Kellie's strength throughout was her athleticism. It's why at times she was guilty I thought in her dancing of having poses and being almost military style precision but not having much emotion/performance and fluidity. That's where imo, Zendaya had her beat. But what Derek did was take that strength and play directly to it. That freestyle was a series of impressive extensions and really poses but it worked. That's what wowed people. I remember comments online after that were stuck on that move where he held her ankles and she leaned almost all the way to the floor.

Speaking of LJ being boring, in preparation for the season coming to an end, I went back to watch all the Survivor Live interviews I hadn't. I had never been interested in LJ's because well I thought he was boring on the show as well. I have to say, watching his video, aside from falling asleep for a minute or two because he was boring there too, I actually think LJ is delusional about his abilities in playing Survivor. There were so many things he said that seemed to contradict him or didn't make much sense and he wasn't very articulate I thought in explaining himself. Honestly, Jefra made more sense in her her post-elimination interview. The one thing that really made me go "huh" was when he was asked about voting off Morgan and did he think that was a good idea. He says that no, because at that point Morgan was no threat. But then he says his plan was that they should have gotten Kass out because she could have easily flipped on them too, gone back to her old alliance mates and then they get picked off. Except Kass flipping back would have made the numbers tied 5-5 so no guarantee they would be picked off. On top of that, Kass' old alliance mates were furious at her, she had no reason to flip on Tony and company and she wasn't a threat physically. So wouldn't it have been better to push for a Tasha, Jeremiah vote and at that point they're even further in the numbers and if Kass flips later, it really doesn't matter at that point. Like I just didn't understand his argument there at all. He also seemed really arrogant and delusional in his arrogance with how he kept saying no one was playing but Tony and he was not worried about anyone but Tony because he was the only one playing. Yet he never laid out a plan for when or how he would have gotten rid of Tony unless he planned to go to the end with him which would make no sense if he was the only playing because he would be a threat to beat him. So all that long spiel, after watching that interview, I'm not surprised by his attitude with Trish at Ponderosa.

I don't need Elena to be some perfect parent. As noted, yes she's still in some ways a kid herself. And when the series started, that was the criticisms John for example had against Jenna. Jenna too was only in her early 20's and suddenly her sister and her husband die and she's now a guardian for two teenagers. So yeah, she wasn't perfect. My problem with Elena is that except for maybe Seasons 1 and 2, she just plain doesn't seem to give a shit about Jeremy. Her reaction to his "death" was heartbreaking but especially for the last two seasons, there are many times where it almost seems like Elena really doesn't give a shit about Jeremy. She doesn't have to be perfect but at least seem interested and like you care. And again, when she's fantasizing about doing her douchy boyfriend on a science lab table (who incidentally had just recently tried to kill said brother AGAIN) less than a few minutes after a teacher has just told her how much her brother is struggling and she needs to be more present, it makes it hard to believe she gives any kind of a crap about him. This season more than any has showed Elena as a girl with no life, no dreams, no hopes, no anything other than being obsessed with her creepo boyfriend who goes off on violent rampages whenever there is a problem in their relationship. Their relationship is shitty, it makes both of them whiny assholes and everyone else gets dragged down and sucked into the vortex of shittness because it's all about them.

Not to mention that her going on said "suicide mission" meant one more person Bonnie had to let pass through her and they all knew how physically taxing that was on Bonnie. And doing the spell was also killing Liv, the longer she had to keep doing it. But god forbid Elena ever think about anyone but herself and whatever guy she's banging at the time. I mean this was the same girl who less than 5 minutes after Jeremy's teacher tells her all the ways Jeremy's messing up at school and tells her she needs to be more attentive, she was fantasizing about sex with Damon in the school lab. I have never liked Elena. I have always thought she was selfish and self-involved. One of the first times Elena ever bugged me was when she and Stefan and Caroline and Matt did that double date thing and she spent a lot of time reminiscing with Matt. Stefan didn't care and wasn't threatened but it was such a shitty thing to do to Caroline and she of course acted completely oblivious to what she was doing wrong. And let's not forget the fact that long before her becoming a vampire (which is why I hate that they attribute her getting with Damon to that) she had way too many inappropriate moments I thought with him and allowed him to get away with way too many inappropriate comments/moments with her all while saying how much she loved his brother. But even then she had moments of not being a complete selfish moron. Now, nothing. Not to be crass but I feel like all Elena gives a shit about is Damon's dick and I could care less since I hate them both but it's really hard when she's still the lead on the show in many ways and their shitty ass whiny-fest of a relationship sucks up so much screentime. So for someone like me who loathes her so much, tolerates him and gives no shit about their relationship, it makes the show almost painful to get through.