S01.E03: The White Swan Lives!

[CountryGirl]

Quote

Monica must face her past when the contestants head to Chicago to watch a performance of "Swan Lake," performed by her old ballet company; Nick digs deeper into Justin's family issues and makes a bold move for the sake of the show.

Original air date: October 4, 2021

 

[gryphon]

This episode—the entire party scene with all the dancing—wow!  Very joyous, plus nice choreography and editing. It looked like it all was going on simultaneously and that is tight work.  
I am liking this show.  It’s light and I’m pretty into it.  I hope it lasts. Most of the characters are easy to like—and I even enjoy Gabby’s son Sam. His “none taken, mom” after her “no offense” was great.   (From the previous episode).

 

 

[tracyhmcd]

I love this show - it's one of maybe 2 new shows that I have been watching. I am hoping it lasts at least a season, as I want to see the improvement in dancing (I enjoyed even the little bit of improvement we saw in this episode before things kind of fell apart). Also, I'm loving Scott Foley... he can be nasty but it seems that he can be a good guy as well, after his talk with Justin.

[DearEvette]

That single-shot, hallway dance party was pure joy.  I loved it, loved the Missy Elliot song they used -- just a fantastic scene.

Gabby needed a win so bad and I am glad the show gave her one.  It was smart narrative choice to do so.  I like that they didn't go the cliche route and decide to give Gabby any triumph until much later. 

Also Gabby and Reggie crashing the dentist convention to get free booze was a hoot.  Also the intercut dance montage scenes of them having a blast line dancing with the dentists to Monica teaching Justin his new role in Swan lake on the roof with Simon in the roof was well done.  Especially liked the shot of Justin lifting Simon and then cut to Gabby lifting a giant toothbrush.

So far I like everyone, except Brittany.  Now she is cliche!  They have given her brother so many interesting layers and he is such a charismatic character but they've relegated her to generic mean girl bully.

Mike has grown on me a lot.  But Paula kinda blends into nothingness. LOL  To be fair, I have that reaction to most of Pepper Perabo's stuff.

And if I were Julia and learning all the stuff about my husband I would start protecting myself.  He is bleeding them dry financially.  Girl, move your money!  Do something.

Fun show, I really do hope is manages to survive.

[HerkyJerky]

3 hours ago, DearEvette said:

But Paula kinda blends into nothingness. LOL  To be fair, I have that reaction to most of Pepper Perabo's stuff.

Agreed for this role but I LOVED her in Covert Affairs!

[tennisgurl]

The single shot hallway dance party was amazing, so much fun with a lot of great choreography and editing. I loved the song they used, I loved its placement in the episode, it was just a joy to watch. I also liked watching Gabby and Reggie having fun with the dentists, this show is just a really enjoyable experience, I hope that it finds an audience. 

I am really enjoying the show and all of the characters. Except for Brittany, who is a pretty stereotypical mean girl so far. Even Monica and Nick are mean in a fun kind of way and do seem to have some depth, which Brittany isn't even fun mean, just unpleasantly mean. I am really glad that gabby got a win and we don't have to watch a whole season of her just getting kicked over and over until she gets her big moment at the end. 

So what are the odds that we find out that Monica's understudy moved the safety mat to get her out of the way? Its not a ballet show until one ballerina causes another one to get a career ending injury to take their place. 

Julia needs to start moving her money and get a lawyer involved, I think its about time to call it on this marriage and try to salvage what assets she can for herself and her daughters. 

[Snapdragon]

10 hours ago, DearEvette said:

 

So far I like everyone, except Brittany.  Now she is cliche!  They have given her brother so many interesting layers and he is such a charismatic character but they've relegated her to generic mean girl bully.

 

Same.  I don't know why they had to make Brittany such a one-note stereotype.  She's even blonde, for pity's sake!  

Other than that, I'm really enjoying this show so far.  From the trailers, it looked like hot garbage but I've been a Scott Foley fan since Felicity and have basically watched at least an episode of any show he's starred in (he's the only reason I tuned into Scandal).  They really should have advertised this as a comedy instead of a feel-good drama, since that's where it's strongest.  And unlike most musical-esque shows (Glee, etc), I'm actually enjoying the dance routines sprinkled throughout the episode.  I think because unlike shows where people start randomly singing (with autotune and a full musical backup out of nowhere), people do randomly dance in real life, so it just seems more natural and not as forced to me.  The hotel party, for example.  Totally something that could happen in real life.  Also, none of the dance scenes go on for too long or are too overly produced, so I'm not rolling my eyes at them.  

 

As much as I'm enjoying this show though, I'm not sure how the plot could go for more than one season.  After they perform Swan Lake, then everyone should go their separate ways so having some scenario that keeps them all together just seems like it'll be really contrived.  

Edited October 5, 2021 by Snapdragon

[DearEvette]

3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

So what are the odds that we find out that Monica's understudy moved the safety mat to get her out of the way? Its not a ballet show until one ballerina causes another one to get a career ending injury to take their place. 

We all know this totally happened. LOL.  Also Monica reminds me of that dancer from the movie Center Stage who in the movie is married to Peter Gallagher who was the head of the ABT but also had a thing with the blond brash Mikhail Baryshnikov knock off character.

I forgot to mention that I appreciated that the professional ballet dancers weren't all sneery when they were watching the amateur dancers.   Each time the camera went to them in the audience they were attentive and seemed to be watching with interest.  It wasn't until Justin noticed his father and everything went pear shaped that a little bit of exasperation seeped in.  But overall i liked that they weren't condescending.

And finally, we've gotten a chance to meet all the major players but I find I am very curious about the show's own 'corps de ballet' i.e. the extras who round out show but have no major parts.  Namely the five or six African American dancers who have a lot of swagger (especially that one tall guy with the thigh high boots).  They are obviously real dancers.  I looked them up and one is Comfort Fedoke of So You Think You Can Dance fame.  Apparently she and a couple of the others choreo'd the hallway dance party ( in addition to some off screen choreographers). 

[Retired at last]

I remember Comfort from SYTYCD. Will have to look for her. I liked most of this episode, but didn't like the genital herpes conversations and saw NO reason for the "are my boobs normal?" scenes. I did enjoy the dancing and was happy with the ending.

[Brian Cronin]

2 hours ago, Retired at last said:

I remember Comfort from SYTYCD. Will have to look for her. I liked most of this episode, but didn't like the genital herpes conversations and saw NO reason for the "are my boobs normal?" scenes. I did enjoy the dancing and was happy with the ending.

Clearly, that's Paula's "thing," but ooooooh boy, they handle it so jarringly. It is really sort of the problem of modern broadcast television period, right? When the shows are shrunk to barely more than 40 minutes long, you lose time to set things up naturally, so you get this "My boobs are like gummi bears" unnatural scene. The topic (the realities of boob jobs after double mastectomies) is an interesting one (and one worth talking about on TV), but not as the, like, E-plot of a drama series rushed into fitting into 20 second scenes. 

[CarpeFelis]

15 hours ago, DearEvette said:

And if I were Julia and learning all the stuff about my husband I would start protecting myself.  He is bleeding them dry financially.  Girl, move your money!  Do something.

From the phone conversation she had at the end I think we’ll find out next week that it’s too late and the asshole already drained their accounts. I so want to see her get some sort of revenge.

[GaT]

11 hours ago, Snapdragon said:

As much as I'm enjoying this show though, I'm not sure how the plot could go for more than one season.  After they perform Swan Lake, then everyone should go their separate ways so having some scenario that keeps them all together just seems like it'll be really contrived.  

I hadn't really thought about it, but you're right. Unless they don't get to the final performance this season, but how long could they stretch that out? It's a shame, because I'm really enjoying this show.

8 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Monica reminds me of that dancer from the movie Center Stage who in the movie is married to Peter Gallagher who was the head of the ABT but also had a thing with the blond brash Mikhail Baryshnikov knock off character.

LOL, I love that movie.

[judyri]

Monica reminds me of the first violin in Mozart in the Jungle

[ssj]

[peachmangosteen]

So disappointing that it's gonna end up cancelled. It's such a genuinely fun, funny, heartwarming show. 

[mauledbypandas]

This show is funnier than I thought! 

Tho I think Piper Perabo is a bigger star than an ensemble part?  She used to lead her own show.  I appreciate her breast cancer storyline as I'm a middle aged woman and bc is just around my life. 

Plus, Teri Polo is maybe too big for this show too, but perfectly cast?  She can really do ballet. I wish I could move like her!

I'm in for Episode 4.  I've already deleted La Brea and Ordinary Joe off my "pilots to try" list.  I hope The Big Leap continues to be funny!

On 10/5/2021 at 9:08 AM, HerkyJerky said:

Agreed for this role but I LOVED her in Covert Affairs!

I love Piper Perabo!  Ugly Coyote forever!  I think she should be a bigger star.