Lady Calypso

It was most definitely pre-taped because of the sudden outfit change. There's no way Derek would have had time to get back into his suit to watch Jeannie's dance. There were some nice dances last night. Nelly's dance REALLY impressed me. He did a beautiful job with it. He's vastly improved and he looks like he's having fun now. I also don't get the higher scores for Monica. I don't find her appealing, to be honest. She's a decent dancer but not in terms of how high her scores have been. Chrishell's been getting a little better each week. Gleb is still going to be her downfall. I think Chrishell could have gotten better faster with a different pro. I just don't think Gleb is a good teacher. He, once again, carried her (literally) through the dance. I also agree about the Skai critiques, but I feel bad for the girl. She's only eighteen and has been in the spotlight for so long, especially from Disney, so she's almost been...programmed to act a specific way in public. It might take her a long time to not have that Disney PR face because it's been so ingrained into her for so long. She's young; she'll learn. But, for now, I get why it's an issue. She isn't connecting to the music either so that is noticeable. She definitely looks like she's going through the steps instead of feeling the music. Johnny is a good dancer but he still looks like he's out on the ice. He is very elegant but sometimes, elegance isn't needed in some of his dances. He's still one of the better ones, but he's still holding back in certain dances. Jeannie is still one of my favourites to watch. I think she's actually really good and I like that she gives it her all every time she dances. I also teared up at her story this week. I also LOVE Justina. Her dance this week was so good and so fun to watch. Same with AJ, who is truly one of the underdogs this season. I also like Kaitlyn and Artem, but their dance this week was weaker for me. Nev's dance this week was good as well. I feel bad for Vernon, who really was getting better. I get why he went but it still sucks. As for Derek and Hayley's dance, I thought it was fantastic and love that they did that.

Welcome back, TAR! I have genuinely missed you, especially a season with all fresh faces! I really enjoyed how things played out in this premiere. There wasn't the second flight teams who were in immediate danger for being too far behind; they all had a chance to catch up, which I think they all did. And the tasks were fun! I had a blast watching the goat running task to the finish line! And the Banana Boat song. I enjoyed most of the pairs. Michelle was irritating and one of the blonde sisters irritated me at a point (not sure if she was Kaylynn or Haley) but everyone else seemed fine. I think I'm rooting for Team Parents (Hung and Chee) Team Father/Son (Jerry and Frank) and Team Tinder (Leo and Alana) the most (though the last team could change depending on how annoying they get). I also liked Team NFL (DeAngelo and Gary) I especially had a good chuckle at how Leo completed the task and how serious he was about hitting the notes. Team Olympics was also fun to watch, especially the dyslexic segment. Overall, a solid start to the season.

I thought that this season was overall...just ok. It wasn't downright horrible, and I enjoyed the closure to this story better than Hill House's, but it didn't feel very horror-esque, which was what made Hill House so special. There was a lot that was predictable in this story; I predicted Hannah's death immediately. I figured Peter was dead. I was going back and forth on the narrator before I realized that it couldn't be Dani so it had to be Jamie. The affair was called out when they had Henry's backstory episode. So I wasn't left shocked by much. I believe she did change the names, hence why Older Flora said that her middle name was Flora (so we don't know her actual name still). So it seems like Jamie just used middle names as well as the name change on Bly Manor. I didn't feel emotionally invested in many of the characters besides Hannah and Dani (I liked Owen but he was underused in the second half). I didn't care much for the kids, though I felt sorry for them being possessed without consent so often. I felt more icky about how the season played out than anything, so I guess there WAS some emotional investment, but not the same way that it was for Hill House and caring for most of those characters. I liked that they tried to add complexities to the ghosts and their dream-hopping and I think it sort of worked. It was confusing, but intriguing to watch. The backstory with Viola and Perdita was interesting for most of the episode (even though I think they could have cut it down by 10 minutes at least). And the story of the Lady in the Lake played out well, overall. They could have cut down on the sibling rivalry and I would have been perfectly content, since the most interesting part was the Lady in the Lake. I think you are correct. The doll was under the dresser, which would signal her being under water, so if Flora woke up and saw the doll not under the dresser, that would be indication that she was not under water and, thus, in the house. I figured the doll house was being used to show where everyone was, but it's impressive that Ghost Kid could keep track and get to Flora's room to move the dolls as quickly as he did. I don't think so. I think that was just Peter's rage creeping up at times. We saw it when he first died and accidentally possessed Miles. He was angry for a lot that happened to him in his life, and we saw his bouts of rage with Rebecca.

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I don't know if she was there at the end (I don't think she was) but Alien Lexa did tell Clarke that Madi had been talking to her so she's most likely fine....but maybe chose to stay a glowing gold ball? The issue has always been Madi not being around people her age so staying transcended might allow her to still be friends with the other kid glowing gold balls? It was a weird series finale. I really thought JR said that there'd be no aliens. But, lo and behold, ALIENS! There WERE some nice moments, like Murphy/Emori's mindspace scene and Raven and Octavia actually saving the day. And, hell, even the final scene was very nice. But it still had a lot of moments that made me think that this season, in general, wasn't worth it. Like....this entire series was apparently building up to aliens deciding the fate of humanity. And, furthermore, the human race can't even be repopulated. How's that for hope and growth and change? And yes, the issue that Clarke's the ONLY one to not transcend because she took the test. What. The. Actual. Fuck. Clarke may make a lot of bad choices and her decisions this season have been odd, but she was right in calling out Alien Lexa, who didn't even seem to give a shit. It was nice to see Octavia really help save humanity. After all the growth that SHE'S gone through, it was very deserving. It was good to hear her talk about Bellamy but I'm perpetually annoyed that Bob Morley wasn't brought back. They literally could have filmed a quick scene with Octavia, at least, before he left or got fired or whatever happened (at this point, I don't particularly care because the show is over and done with and these people can move on with their lives). Miller and Jackson had a nice scene together but, once again, apparently the actors or the show itself is allergic to two men kissing onscreen. C'mon, JUST A HUG? Ridiculous. And how come animals don't transcend? What did they ever do to you, aliens?!?! The Murphy/Emori stuff was powerful. I didn't think she would die so I was surprised when they legit killed her off. But then they both transcended because Murphy put her drive in his head and that was all for nothing...much like how this entire season has been. I did laugh very hard at Cadogan's death. Sheidheda's was more anticlimatic because it should have happened ten episodes ago. It was a shot of the very first scene of the pilot, where Clarke was drawing on the ground in her cell. Probably just an artistic thing to showcase the first and last scenes of the series in one shot.

He appeared in just three episodes in the first half of the season. He was supposed to have a bigger role with his sister and his Sheriff mother but they basically dropped them entirely in the second half of season 2. I genuinely thought that family was gone forever. I would have been fine with that. I really really don't care about Ethan getting a bigger role. He made no impact on me when he appeared in season 2.

I guess this doesn't bother me much because she really doesn't need to be smiling every time the camera cuts to her. We have seen a lot of the celebs this season go from looking neutral to putting on a smile (I presume as they realize they're on camera). Some have their heads buried in their phones. There have been SO many camera cuts to someone with their head in their phone and not even looking at the stage. I would rather a real reaction like a neutral face than a fake one. I really appreciate authenticity. Even if Skai has had a resting bitch face on, I'm ok with that. It doesn't impact her ability to dance. I just think back to Simone Biles telling the judges who also asked her to basically smile more that "Smiling doesn't win you gold medals." I know that was more about her performances but I just don't think smiling or not smiling is a huge deal. I'm more annoyed to see Tyra smizing the camera every two seconds and asking dumbass questions. Who the hell cares what Justina's 5 year old self would say to her (or what Justina would say to her 5 year old self). Tyra's questions make things more awkward than Skai not smiling when the camera cuts to her for a second. Skai not smiling doesn't take away from the show. We also don't know if Skai was smiling or not before they cut to her. They could have very well cut to her at a bad time. But I also say this as someone who internalizes feelings and has a very blank face a lot of the time. That being said...it's why I still see Skai not making it to the finale and I'm ok with that. I have other favourites over Skai at this point. And she's looked so nervous and terrified in her last two dances at least that it IS something that affects her performance. She still is hesitant and it is affecting her performances more so for me. She's been a bit sloppy in her dance this week BECAUSE her nerves seemed to get to her. A smile wouldn't have fixed that (but she was smiling in this week's Jive so that's clearly not the issue).

There was a lot of off dances last night, particularly with the first few celebs. Justina's dance was surprisingly off. The energy was off and it felt like she was half a beat behind. The last few dances were overscored. Chrishell's dance, in particular, did not need an 8. I thought that she was....ok with the moves that she was given to do, but Gleb's choreography was ridiculously simplified and it felt like he mostly twirled around her while she just posed, stuck out her hand or foot and then was led to the next spot on the dance floor. Again, she did what she was told to do but the dance didn't even hit all 7s for me. Johnny's also was just ok. He did improve in his footwork this week, but it was still a subdued dance and he still needs to work on his presence. It definitely was NOT deserving of all 8s. All 7s would have been fine because he DID do better this week. At least Nev and Jenna didn't need to dance to the exact same Pirates song they love to use, so props for another song. And Nev did a great job with what he was given. I do think that Skai has been shaken up by last week's mistake, and it showed with her complete hesitance last night. She definitely looked like she was making sure she didn't make a mistake while she put on a show face. The height difference wasn't as bad this week, but now she's displaying a lack of confidence. It also doesn't help that she keeps going very early in the night. so her scores are just naturally lower. That being said, she did deserve a seven if others could get 7s and 8s. Jeannie and Kaitlyn had the best dances of the night for me, followed by Nev and AJ. I thought AJ had the energy and his Quickstep wasn't half bad. It was actually fairly decent. Jesse had the performance down but it felt like it lacked a bit of jive. I do think having one less day to practice affected a lot of the celeb's performances, especially the ones who are not strong in the dance department, and I think it showed most of all with Jesse. I'm gonna be honest; I didn't think Vernon was good enough for that 8. I thought his Quickstep with Peta was just ok. I think two 7s and a 6 is what I would have given him. Overall, I am glad Carole went home. That samba was a disaster and I feel bad for Pasha, who really did try and at least got one ok performance out of her last week. No comments on Tyra this week. The judging was decent and I did end up agreeing with many of their critiques. Derek's critiques are still miles ahead better than Carrie Ann's or Bruno's because he actually gives advice that can help the celebs perform better next week.

Exactly! I fully expect it to be Kevin going, then Memphis will win HOH and David will go, and then Christmas will be the third person to be evicted.

In other news, Melissa gave birth a few weeks ago!

This was probably the best episode of the season and also the most frustrating one with the material in it. There was a lot of amazingly acted moments but it was all followed by shoddy writing and questionable plot threads. This one felt closest to me to the show I fell in love with (especially compared to this ENTIRE season) but it also didn't make as much sense as I wanted it to. Clarke screaming about Madi these last few episodes is frustrating. I think they handled Clarke's relationship with Madi decently in seasons 5 and 6 (even with season 5 being a big Clarke and Madi season and I didn't like season 5 at all). I think this season has made their relationship utterly annoying. And this is no fault on Madi as a character or the actress! I quite like Madi and I totally see why she was chosen to be the Special One (even though I loathe the trope). But it's how it's affected Clarke as a character that pisses me off. Clarke has suddenly lost something to her, and I think it has to do with how independent she's been and how she hasn't had her SOLE focus just on her daughter. But now it's all about Madi and with how this season has already sidelined Clarke to the point where she's basically only showed up for 30 minutes of the entire season in the first 12 episodes, it just adds to the frustration. It might have been better... had Clarke actually had any sort of plot of her own before these last few episodes. And watching Madi in that last scene and how Clarke AND Octavia were ready to kill her on the spot instead of pausing to find a solution was just bizarre. Obviously Madi is brain dead because Cadogan pushed hard. Maybe it's easier to see the way out because the show intentionally left her still alive. I personally even would have found it more interesting HAD she been actually dead. But having her trapped in her own body is TERRIFYING. This definitely is one of the worst things this show has done. But it still makes me sad that Clarke was ready to kill her own daughter seconds after finding out her fate. After episodes of Clarke screaming about Madi and the need to save her to the point of killing her best friend to do that (unsuccessfully), NOW she's willing to let her daughter die? And then they also decide to leave her alive once they hear that Cadogan has the key? It's just a convenient way to stall for time for them to save Madi and nothing else. It just shows that Madi will find her way back and be fine in the final episode. It's similar to how they just confirmed Emori's fate for me and how she WILL live. I'm not mad about that since I want Emori to live so the most stable couple in the show can have their happy ending (and I also hate the typical dying tropes that they touched on in this episode with all the goodbyes) but it's still VERY BLATANTLY OBVIOUS with how they left Emori's fate up in the air at the end and how they still all got back to Sanctum. It would be pointless if they killed her off at the beginning of the final episode. I will say that the Raven and Emori scene was very touching. It was definitely the best scene in the episode for me. That whole subplot worked well because the acting was top notch from everyone involved. Luisa did an AMAZING job with her scenes and Richard Harmon definitely was the star of the episode for me. We got a taste of grieving Murphy without actually needing to have Emori die and it worked for me. At this point, I would have rather 40 minutes of Murphy, Emori, Raven, and Jackson.

It definitely felt like Derek and Bruno intentionally scored her down to match with Charles' overall score. I wonder if that's because there was another celeb who was close in score or voting with Carole and they needed to knock her down a couple of points so that the other couple wasn't in danger. Overall I do agree with this. Carole did much better here and I actually think she had a very solid dance overall. It seems like these types of dances may end up being good for her. Charles was a bit better this week than last. But I agree that he was probably the one to go over Carole. Some of the dances tonight were clunky. Some were a lot better than last week. I will say that Kaitlyn did a great job even with an injured ankle. I laughed at her quip about cortisone being a big help. Chrishell and Gleb's dance was also very well done. Not surprised that Gleb went sexy with the dance but it does seem to be in his wheelhouse. If he can't choreograph an intimate dance like this, then he's lost. Skai and Alan's dance was not well done. I mentioned last week that their downfall will be the height difference and that showed in this week's dance. They may very well be the surprise semi-final elimination because they're already struggling a bit with the height difference. I have to imagine there's someone who isn't as tall as Alan who could have been Skai's partner. I know Sasha needed to be with Justina because she's even shorter than Skai but was Alan REALLY the only frontrunner for Skai? Jeannie and Brandon are a great pair. I really enjoyed their segment as well as their dance. I also really like Jesse and Sharna, and he has a lot of potential if he could practice with his posture. I feel like he's one of the celebs this season who is holding back a bit. I really want to see him get farther but he will most likely be a middle of the pack celeb who gets eliminated halfway through. Nev and Jenna are great together and Nev is one of the better dancers this season, but he has some work to put in himself. But I really do think he has been so great and I have actually been enjoying Jenna's choreography this season so far! She seemed to learn something over the break from last season! And that is truly a compliment, because I thought the one thing holding her back was her teaching ability and she's been improving so far. Johnny is a good dancer but I think I pinpointed his issue. His overall issue is thinking too much during the dance. He doesn't look like he's having fun because it looks like he's overthinking the dance. If he can let all of his thoughts go, then he can really become a much better performer and hit that full potential. Justina has been a delight to watch. I think she does have a little work to put in but I am really rooting for her to get to the finale. I think she has an excellent shot because both of her dances so far have shown that she has what it takes. Not much to say about Monica and Val besides the fact that she's in the middle of the pack for me. Same with Vernon and Peta. Anne and Keo are great to watch for me and I have enjoyed AJ and Cheryl. Both couples have so much potential and they're the fun couples to root for. Nelly has so much potential but he seems to be so hesitant. He also should switch shoes but he probably won't. Tyra's commentary isn't very good for this type of show. I just felt awkward with the pre-planned questions and how they didn't seem to fit with the show in general. There was such a disconnect in general. I like the judges being cut down for time on their comments because it speeds up the show but it felt so awkward when Tyra spent 10 seconds at the end telling Derek to eliminate someone right that second. I KNOW it was for time and it wasn't her fault but it wasn't handled very well. You're literally eliminating someone here! Give them time to breathe! Plan out the show a bit better to allow an extra couple of minutes for the eliminated couple to process! So far, the ones who I am rooting for are Kaitlyn, Justina, Nev, and probably Jeannie. I also have a soft spot for Anne and Jesse as well.

I'm not surprised at this at all. I think that it's very likely that it was going to head in this direction (if not this season, then definitely next season as the last). I think that it's a smart move as well. As much as I'll miss many of the characters, I think that it's better to end on a high note (despite the fact that I do believe that last season was a total mess).

So.....this would have been a lovely episode to have....TEN EPISODES AGO. It was so great to have everyone alive back together for the first time since last season but this season has been so shitty and even this episode was so out of character in terms of the reaction toward Bellamy and his death that it's just more frustrating with very little payoff. Gabriel's death should have been Bellamy's. Period. Gabriel got a better send off than Bellamy did. Gabriel should have been the brainwashed one who needed to be killed by Clarke and Bellamy should have gotten this heroic death by trying to save Madi. Now, the episode was beautifully directed by Jessica Harmon. I enjoyed a lot of the choices she made to make the episode as tense as possible. I even enjoyed how she also got screentime and Niylah was a highlight of the episode. I also loved seeing Leader Murphy make his way into the forefront and nobody even questioned it. I thought for sure that Raven would make a quip about how he was suddenly willing to sacrifice his life for people he barely knew. It's such a change from Murphy even from last season that you'd think someone would comment on how weird it is. And even Hope gets to meet her favourite person from Octavia's stories (even if it switched to Jordan/Hope romantic scenes). How in the world is NOBODY commenting on how Earth should still be desolute and barren? If time is the same on Sanctum than it is on Earth, and Monty predicted that Earth would never come back from the second/third Apocalypse....HOW COME IT'S TOTALLY GREEN? C'mon, show. It's just as dumb as Indra not shooting her gun around the entire room once they realized that someone came through the Anomaly with the invisible outfit. And just as dumb as Indra, again, leaving Sheidheda alive. Again, things just turn dumb with everyone also leading Sheidheda directly to Madi. Did they NOT hear the heavy ass footsteps beside them? I can't imagine Sheidheda is THAT light on his feet. I did like the classical music moment from Gabriel, though. I don't think I'll actually miss him but it was nice to get a nice last scene before he got stabbed. Clarke/Madi are always fighting, but I get Madi's point completely. She's, once again, left with nobody her own age to talk to and that has to be frustrating after finally making friends. As for the end...Madi gets taken by the Anomaly back to Bardo and Murphy/Emori get crushed by debris from the bomb?? I'm gonna assume that both will be FINE. They BETTER be fine, show! I may have wanted Angsty Grieving Murphy before the season started because I was curious to see how he'd deal with a loss like everyone else on this show has. Now, I'd rather Murphy/Emori lead the people of Sanctum once they all inevitably get back to Earth and have cute babies.

So, I rewatched the entire show last night with the commentary and judging. I felt like Tyra did a slightly better job than I thought she would do. I did enjoy seeing her excitement over hosting and I think she means it, and I thought she did an ok job at asking the celebs different questions (although some of them were a bit too intrusive). She's obviously no Tom (and never will be) but I'm willing to give her a chance because she really wasn't a bad host. As for the judging, I think having Derek as a judge was an extremely smart choice. I was watching a Youtube video that Lindsay did on Tuesday with commenting on the season and she talked about how she thought Derek was a great judge because he could give proper critiques that the pairs needed since he's been in the pros' shoes before and, thus, knows what he's talking about. Plus, Derek really did balance out the entertainment value with actual critiques as best as he could (seeing as they needed to watch out for time, I noticed the judges spoke far less than usual and cut it to 30 seconds max each, if that). Bruno and CAI did also give their critiques as usual but I see Lindsay's point when she says it's different coming from someone who actually has had to do the job that the pros do. As for relooking at all the dances, I change my opinion a bit on Justina. I think Sasha gave her the right amount of choreography and although I do stand by my opinion that he could definitely push her more and she would deliver, I thought he gave her excellent material for this first week. I also didn't realize how close the choreography for Vernon/Peta's dance was in comparison to Meryl/Maks from years ago but....there really were a lot of the same movements and at similar places in the same song! I was more impressed by Johnny/Britt's dance upon another rewatch as well. I also think that Kaitlyn/Artem's dance was more subdued than I thought it was. It was as if Artem slowed down some of the choreography at times....which isn't necessarily a bad thing.