lavenderblue

I spent the entire second half of the episode waiting for Ben to at least wonder momentarily if Hannah's son was his, because as a viewer I also spent that time thinking "Why would they give her a kid in that age range [dialogue said he was seven, but he seemed older to me] and just....ignore the previous meeting completely?" Like if the kid isn't Ben's, why not instead give her a much younger child, instead of creating this weird question mark that's not even addressed in-universe? Just struck me as odd writing.

Yeah, she did that all the way back with the Thanksgiving table opera cake and it bugged me then, too, when others were actually utilizing cake decorating techniques (and she won that one). Maybe she might've preferred doing the Christmas Cookie Challenge.

Honestly, when they gushed in such an OTT way about the flavors of Justine's cake, I was a little afraid she was going to win even without a completed design. Glad to have dodged that bullet. Ashley's been annoying and I was rooting for Thoa (her macaron wreath was great) but I did like Ashley's cake best so am fine with her win. Nancy was awful tonight. And I couldn't believe she "jokingly" threw something at Sherrod over the insufficiently bourbonized eclairs. I also noticed that it seemed like Carla was making a point of supporting him in the judging.

I deeply appreciate that this has played out with Hannah being fully aware of who Ben is. At the same time, the conundrum of how leaping works in this version of the series keeps nagging at me, because I'm like "is he actually inhabiting someone else's body now? Because if so, embarking on a romantic relationship while in other people's bodies is kind of weird, at best." So I've decided to try not to contemplate it too deeply since I don't think the writers have, heh. This episode felt like whiplash after the mess of last week's not!Salem Witch Trials story, which is another reminder that this show should try to avoid ever leaping prior to roughly the mid-20th century. The mission was interesting enough, and the primary story with Ben and Hannah is introducing a lot of intriguing possibilities, any of which I hope really will be followed through on. Also, this is purely a projection of my own tastes, but I was getting some slight 12 Monkeys (the series) vibes and I was fine with that.

Of all the many, many, many anachronisms in this episode, which you all have amply called out already, I feel like everything involving Morgan and her stupid Victorian blouse and 1980s hair and jumper bothered me most of all. I kept hoping for a reveal that she was yet another time traveler who cared even less about adapting than Ben.

Yeah, I thought in terms of who actually had the potential to be the clear winner, it was Mariana, who had theoretically the best balance of design/decorating ability and concept, and whose stuff I liked best; she fell down on time management, especially not getting the side panels on her camper. Though I expected her to take the first round -- I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention to note where she let them down, besides misspelling "Leavenworth." But Joseph came through in the second round. He was cleaner than a lot of the pros have been in recent weeks (and last night)!

I just want to say that I was very glad to have been doubly correct about Hannah after episode 3, both in thinking that they were hinting towards her returning, and that they were playing up her chemistry with Ben. Otherwise this episode was pretty average, but I'm good with this direction -- whatever her ultimate purpose will be, it's more compelling to me than the whole other/evil leaper business last season, which got sort of muddled with timelines and everything.

Jason getting a nice classic for his foxtrot redemption reminds me of James Hinchcliffe getting "It Had to Be You" for his foxtrot redemption. In both cases I approve. I believe Charity was a cheerleader and Artem's hinted they're going to territory she's familiar with, so I'm expecting some flying stunts.

I've enjoyed Charity, and I thought her dances last night were fantastic. But the main issue I've had with her on a technical level is that what I do agree with the judges on is that in some styles, she's danced slightly small -- styles that might call for more sharpness/attack/groundedness. This was most noticeable with the jazz on music video night, but it's something I sort of feel with the more intense dances, where even if the moves are correct, they're not creating the full effect they could. That said, I've had the opposite issue with Ariana, who I also like; some of her ballroom dances in previous weeks have seemed a bit aggressive or like the movements need a little more finish. Both have really grown dramatically, though, and I'm very happy neither fell victim to a shock elimination. I felt like an alien after the tears and reactions to Xochi's waltz last night from the panel as a dance for all time because while a perfectly nice dance, it made zero emotional impression on me. It was...fine?

Yeah, honestly, I thought she should've won the main heat for doing something that was holiday, whimsical, and took full advantage of the challenge.

Haven't posted in this thread before, but I was a couple eps behind so watched Love Bites last night, then read the truth about the restaurant backstory here. With that in mind I tried the El Cantito episode and turned it off after the bloody chicken incident, which was so patently staged. Gross as raw chicken would be, salmonella wouldn't have set in within minutes of consumption, if that's what we were meant to assume, and the likelihood of this whole vignette unfolding while Gordon's there and has just talked with the guys is ludicrous. I've always taken elements of this show with a grain of salt but I don't think at this rate I can take any of it even as entertainment without being annoyed.

I didn't pay a ton of attention to the last episode, Elf not being my thing, but the entirety of first round cookies were the sloppiest I've ever seen produced on this show. It was bizarre because nothing about the requirements seemed like it should've resulted in more disaster than usual.

Sasha's choreography reverted to its worst forms last night. I think her last couple ballroom dances before this were OK, but all his worst tendencies -- cutesiness, faffing about, gymnastics because he can, not because it fits the music or dance style -- were on display. I loved that CAI called him out on that during judging, that Alyson can handle more content. It was so bad that after the jive relay I was like ".....I think Rylee gave Harry better choreo" and he barely did anything. (Though Alyson was the correct winner, albeit not a good winner; that was a rough match-up in between two great ones with Ariana/Xochi and Jason/Charity.) I am so thrilled with Jason's comeback. He's reminding me a lot of James Hinchcliffe -- the rare male celeb who's strong at the really hard parts of Latin, like the hip action and footwork. Too often on this show you can kind of get by with just having a decent sense of rhythm, but to pair that with the technical is *chef's kiss* and Daniella is very comfortable giving him crazy amounts of content. I was worried after last week, but I'm hoping that as one of the better-known celebs this season, he has a strong voting base that will get him to the finals at least.

There was one moment from Nancy in the last episode that I found really obnoxious, and the extent of the editing shenanigans there was the choice to include it -- her cross-eyed "sour" face when one of the bakers (Sharrod?) used lemon in the first bake, which Duff enjoyed but she found to be too much. She said she found it too tart, which is fine, but the face was such a childish reaction to play up.

Not highlighting this quote to pick on Barry, since he's gone now, but more for the broader point -- I personally have three ranking systems for DWTS. The top tier celebs will always be those who can get handed the most content and then nail it. Those celebrities are obviously rare. My next tier are those who can be trusted with content; they may mess up at times, but they're putting in considerable effort and being challenged. Dani's definitely put Jason into this category, and I appreciate it while also being frustrated that he's given the judges excuses to lowball him (and I did feel like he was a bit off tonight, for whatever reason). But I will always think the celeb who's doing substantially harder work mostly well should be scored quite differently from those who do very little, and that is what's continuing to be awful about the Harry situation. He is not one judge's point off of a Jason or even an Alyson (who's clearly been working her butt off week in and week out, even if I don't love Sasha's choreo), and receiving the gentle feedback he does sort of reinforces this idea that he's remotely on the same level as the other dancers left in this competition. This does happen every season. It's not a novelty for somebody bad to be left at this stage. But the coddling compared with how the judges reacted toward Vinny or Grocery Store Joe or, God forbid, Bobby Bones is just wild and it feels very much like they're conceding to the Harry/Rylee fanbase, which is big enough at this point to have its own Reddit community. I'm expecting Jason or Charity as next week's shocking boot at this point.