S08.E06: Lily's Ultimatum

[Guest]

Airs July 2, 2019

Quote

With Brady gone, Abby challenges the girls to prove that they can win on their own; GiaNina is assigned an over-the-top character solo to go head-to-head with Sarah, who hopes her first solo can be a personal win for her family.

[meatball77]

Oh noes, Elliana is coming back.

Yeah, Elliana and Lilly were doing Jordan Matter photoshoots together all last year. . .

[TomGirl]

Ann drove me crazy in the beginning, but now that she’s settled down some, I find her the most likable of all the moms.

[Chewy101]

I can't keep track of the moms' names, but the one who is Sara's mom looked ridiculous at the competition. Was she dressed in funeral garb to support the group dance? Gross. Her hair looks like Kelly's (original Dance Moms) only with black hair.

Speaking of Sarah, I'm bummed for her that she didn't land the tuck, because she was so beautiful every where else. Her hands and smile were just lovely.

Gianeener needs to go, just so her wretched mother will go. 

[Katy M]

7 hours ago, Chewy101 said:

Speaking of Sarah, I'm bummed for her that she didn't land the tuck, because she was so beautiful every where else. Her hands and smile were just lovely.

Me, too.  If someone tanks a whole dance, well, that sucks, too.  But, when someone does a dance so completely wonderful, but they're human and they end up messing up one thing, it's so frustrating, because you wanted it to be perfect.

7 hours ago, Chewy101 said:

Gianeener needs to go, just so her wretched mother will go. 

That whole argument is going into my list of top 10 things that are so obviously fake.

I didn't really like the group dance, but I think the girls looked like they did a good job.  But, I'm not a dancer, so I don't really know.  I'm not really sure how Lilly could be so confident that she didn't make any mistakes, though.  Abby could bench her for a foot not perfectly pointed, being a half beat behind on one move, or half a dozen other things that I'm not sure you would realize while you're dancing.

[meatball77]

I suspect the Choreography was what tanked Sara's solo.  It didn't look like it had enough dance in it.

[LibertarianSlut]

Where in the actual F did this storyline about Michelle's husband "Larry" never showing up, only to be resolved by "Larry" (don't know why I'm putting his name in quotes; just seems appropriate) showing up at the last minute? Over the course of four (very long) seasons, we never met Chloe's dad once, and over those same four seasons, we only saw Brooke and Paige's dad for a nanosecond.  Why the drama about "Larry" now?  Very bizarre.

Joanne really needs to pick a lane.  I think, if you join this show at this stage of the game, you just have to trust Abby.  If Abby wanted GiaNina to wear slippers on her head, Joanne should have just been like, "on the top of her head, or more toward the sides?"  It's the only way to win with Abby.  For Joanne to say "final answer" that GiaNina is not doing the dance over some damned slippers, only to beg Abby to let the kid dance, only to say that a dancer of GiaNina's caliber shouldn't be wearing slippers means she really doesn't know what page she's on, and she has to check that or the kid will be vilified.

And let's face it, the Mary Lou Retton wig was worse than any slippers could possibly be! The ONLY way I would be willing to cut Joanne some slack would be if she smelled a set-up--that Abby presented the slippers last minute so that they would fall off and Abby would have a good reason to bench GiaNina--but that was not the vibe I got at all.

Anyone seeing the crazy coming out in Abby again?  Like the psych ward, batshit crazy side, not just the evil, abusive side?

I'm not going to pretend I know from the dance world, but I'll explain to Abby how life works:  Abby, the kids should be good dancers.  You should be teaching them how to get better.  Shut up about Brady and how he is no longer there to distract the judges' eyes.  No one should have to distract the judges' eyes because your kids should be good dancers, and by admitting that Brady had basically been tricking the judges up until now, you look like an incompetent dolt.  

Party of one, but I thought Abby looked really good in that hat.  Speaking of distracting the eye, It distracted the eye from those cheap, awful wigs she wears.  Abby, next time you're in New York (since you just told us you compete all over the world, and you are not going to listen to a hick from Indiana), maybe visit the Orthodox community and get a few beautiful wigs made up.  They're going to cost you though.  Not so sure how much cash Abby's go these days, given the state of her studio's parking lot. 

The moms who were not Joanne didn't bother me too much this week, except Michelle looks like she is really grappling with maintaining sanity, and Ann's worrying is starting to get annoying already.  

I wouldn't trust Abby as far as I could throw her, but if you're going to come on this show, I think you really need to just trust Abby.  I'm currently at the end of season five of a re-watch and I have not seen it work out well any other way (one could make the argument that Nia's very brief foray into music worked without Abby, but I think that's because production was pissed off at Abby, not because Holly did anything right.  In the end, it's not generally a winning gamble). 

I liked the group dance.  I prefer musical theatre heavily to the angst-ridden miss-mash of lyrical, contemporary and modern that is usually Abby's go-to.  Since I don't have a dance background, and I can't figure out whether a dance is "good" sometimes, a great rule of thumb I found is that the less time the kids spend with their bodies on the floor, the better the dance.  Unless you're doing the worm, dancing should not be done with your body on the floor, in my completely subjective and untrained opinion.

Oh....goody, we're getting Yolanda and her jaw back next week!  I'll be waiting with bated breath.  

[Katy M]

33 minutes ago, LibertarianSlut said:

Since I don't have a dance background, and I can't figure out whether a dance is "good" sometimes, a great rule of thumb I found is that the less time the kids spend with their bodies on the floor, the better the dance.  Unless you're doing the worm, dancing should not be done with your body on the floor, in my completely subjective and untrained opinion.

I don't know if a dance is objectively good or not.  I just decide it's good if I like it:)  I certainly didn't hate last night's dance, I just thought the whole theme was weird.  I get the parallel with Brady (at least I think that's what she was going for), but to have a bunch of young girls doing a dance about how happy they are that their husband is dead is just weird.  And since there's only one casket, was this a Mormon thing?  Or was he one of those pilots that has a different wife in each city he flies to?

[Stats Queen]

14 hours ago, TomGirl said:

Ann drove me crazy in the beginning, but now that she’s settled down some, I find her the most likable of all the moms.

Same here. She is definitely more likable than the others. I initially thought that maybe she has anxiety issues, maybe generalized anxiety disorder, which has got to be rough. I have a couple of friends who suffer from that. But it could be many things in their talking heads, like nervousness in front of the cameras or too much caffeine.

31 minutes ago, LibertarianSlut said:

Joanne really needs to pick a lane.  I think, if you join this show at this stage of the game, you just have to trust Abby.  If Abby wanted GiaNina to wear slippers on her head, Joanne should have just been like, "on the top of her head, or more toward the sides?"  

Has Joanne watched any previous seasons because her continued arguing was obviously going to result in GiaNina’s solo being pulled?

I wouldn’t have been thrilled to have my (imaginary) daughter having to portray Snooki while the other solo was Mary Lou Retton, but I would have shut up about it unless I really wanted the solo pulled.

2 hours ago, meatball77 said:

I suspect the Choreography was what tanked Sara's solo.  It didn't look like it had enough dance in it.

I totally agree.

38 minutes ago, LibertarianSlut said:

Anyone seeing the crazy coming out in Abby again?  Like the psych ward, batshit crazy side, not just the evil, abusive side?

IMO I think her being abusive and telling them how horrible they are is at a much, much higher percent of the time than previous years. I don’t see much that time being spent on teaching and developing them. Of course, the producers my cut that footage out because it’s less dramatic.

42 minutes ago, LibertarianSlut said:

I liked the group dance.  I prefer musical theatre heavily to the angst-ridden miss-mash of lyrical, contemporary and modern that is usually Abby's go-to.  Since I don't have a dance background, and I can't figure out whether a dance is "good" sometimes, a great rule of thumb I found is that the less time the kids spend with their bodies on the floor, the better the dance.  Unless you're doing the worm, dancing should not be done with your body on the floor, .. Snipped for space.

I took ballet and jazz from 2nd grade thru high school but nothing competitive. While I took dance I wasn’t that great, I got rheumatoid arthritis when I was in the 8th grade so couldn’t do do toe shoes too often and couldn’t do acrobatics. 

Occasionally we would do something on the floor in jazz class, but not often. 

I’m 54 and wasn’t familiar with contemporary or lyrical dance until I started watching So You Think You Can Dance. IIRC they SYTYCD did not have a lot of floor time.

@LibertarianSlut

I always love you posts on multiple forums, but I really loved this one:

 “Unless you're doing the worm, dancing should not be done with your body on the floor, ..

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Stats Queen]

2 minutes ago, Stats Queen said:

Same here. She is definitely more likable than the others. I initially thought that maybe she has anxiety issues, maybe generalized anxiety disorder, which has got to be rough. I have a couple of friends who suffer from that. But it could be many things in their talking heads, like nervousness in front of the cameras or too much caffeine.

Has Joanne watched any previous seasons because her continued arguing was obviously going to result in GiaNina’s solo being pulled?

I wouldn’t have been thrilled to have my (imaginary) daughter having to portray Snooki while the other solo was Mary Lou Retton, but I would have shut up about it unless I really wanted the solo pulled.

I totally agree.

IMO I think her being abusive and telling them how horrible they are is at a much, much higher percent of the time than previous years. I don’t see much that time being spent on teaching and developing them. Of course, the producers my cut that footage out because it’s less dramatic.

I took ballet and jazz from 2nd grade thru high school but nothing competitive. While I took dance I wasn’t that great, I got rheumatoid arthritis when I was in the 8th grade so couldn’t do do toe shoes too often and couldn’t do acrobatics. 

Occasionally we would do something on the floor in jazz class, but not often. 

I’m 54 and wasn’t familiar with contemporary or lyrical dance until I started watching So You Think You Can Dance. IIRC did not have a lot of floor time.

@LibertarianSlut

I always love your posts on multiple forums, but I really loved this one:

 “Unless you're doing the worm, dancing should not be done with your body on the floor, ..

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Retired at last]

The girls, at least to me, looked more like a team than they did with their individual movements, then all get in a line, then separate and do their own things and then back in the line they had been doing with Brady there. That said, I am not liking these ridiculous dark themes for these little girls to dance to. And that Mary Lou Retton wig???? That looked as bad as that meat suit that poor Chloe wore that time, thanks to Cathy! I was afraid the wig would fall off and she would get in trouble for that.

And, yes, I agree that if Abby wants to be taken more seriously, she needs to get some decent wigs, or at least have the ones she is wearing cut to her head. Does she not realize that no one wears wigs out of the box without some cutting in? No matter how much or little she pays for them, they don't have to look like bad wigs.

I am not familiar with the girl they are bringing back, but I think I am done. I don't know all of the mothers' names, but that one who wore the funeral hat and/or other hats is ridiculous.

Edited July 3, 2019 by Retired at last

[Absolom]

Ratings crept up a tiny bit:  690 K viewers and a .20 rating. 

The production manipulation on the season is far too heavy handed.  The forced drama is painful.  

[Lastwaltz]

I confess I NEVER understand modern or lyrical dance, and my daughter took dance from age 5 all through high school, then majored in it in college. At one of her final performances, I whispered to my husband, "I have no idea what this is about" and the director of the college's dance program happened to overhear me (ack!). He smiled and said, "best not to overthink - let it wash over you." For what it's worth :)

I'm here for Elianna's return. This girl is talented and a sweetheart, although I wish she came with a different mother.