PureDWTS Season 22, Week 4 – Power Rankings

Full disclosure: I’m actually not all that excited when Disney week rolls around.  I know everyone gets so caught up in the magic and the wonder and the childlike joy, but I often find myself distracted by songs that don’t really fit the dance styles they’re meant to have, loud costumes, sets that seem to draw attention away from the couple, and the copious use of the troupe. I actually much prefer theme weeks like acoustic week or classical week, where things are stripped down – or better yet, no theme at all.  Just let them DANCE.

Unfortunately, while I would normally have menial things like I mentioned above to gripe about, last night I found myself just absolutely floored at the disparity in judging & scoring that was going on.  I wasn’t even terribly concerned with Zendaya – overall, she did a good job and didn’t rock the boat too far, which is all I can really ask for – I found myself particularly peeved at Carrie Ann, who picked very convenient times to really crack down on certain couples and conveniently overlook the shortcomings of others.  And while last week gave me hope that TPTB might give up on the preseason narrative of pimping the football players and ABC darling Ginger and just let the chips fall where they may, this week the narrative is back with a vengeance – the only change made is that they seem to have decided to to put all their eggs in Antonio’s basket and drop Von, which is probably the most asinine thing I saw all night, given what I’ve seen and heard of the former’s work ethic (or lack thereof). Things are not nearly as rosy as they were made out to be in his package, kids – when you only manage to put in roughly 10 hours of rehearsal time in an entire week (most couples put in 6-8 PER DAY) and you’re apparently late to rehearsal because you’re too busy “always closing” and “getting the job done” and “blessing up” by posting pix of your shoes/house/car/workouts on Snapchat, I’m gonna go ahead and assume that your heart ain’t in this…in which case, you can GTFO. There are too many people on this season that are busting their asses week after week, and putting in the hours in the studio and giving us fantastic performances and heaps of gratitude for the experience, for this show to keep carrying the dead weight of someone that isn’t giving 100%.  I only want to see people who clearly want to be there – and TPTB aren’t helping, with some of the f*ckery we saw with the packages tonight.  I know we often complain about some getting a “bad edit” – keep this in mind: there is also such a thing as an overly-kind edit…

Makes me a bit sad to see Marla go, simply because I found her endless optimism and zen attitude refreshing – plus, while her dances maybe didn’t always excite me, I did find them pleasing and soothing, in a weird way…I found myself kind of hypnotized by her waltz last night.  Glad to see Dougie staying, though, because I do think he’s go more to show us – thankfully, I don’t see anyone going home next week (as is usually the pattern for switch week), so we’ll get at least two more dances out of him.  Getting a lot of questions about who I want to see in the switch – honestly, I have given up on the switch, and I’m just trying to be at peace with whatever pairings we end up seeing, and just hope that some of my more fragile babies (namely Nyle, Doug, & Jodie – and to a lesser degree, Von – I’ll explain later) get partners that are able to be patient and nurture them. I don’t worry as much about Wanya or Paige – I think they’ll thrive no matter what partner they get in the switch. Kim ought to be fine, too, and I don’t really have any investment in who Ginger or Antonio gets.  I guess I’m just hoping that the switch isn’t just another tool to further the agenda we saw this week – I know that’s wishful thinking…

1.) Paige & Mark – This was the week where these two seemed to stand up and say “we’re playing for keeps, too”.  Paige has been slowly breaking out more and more since the week 2 salsa, but this week is when I found myself really believing that she may be able to overcome any potential fanbase issues in order to make it to the finale.  This may have been a quickstep, but it had shades for me of the Up Viennese waltz Mark did with Sadie in season 19 – just adorable, with good detail paid to the movie while still being a good example of the dance.  Paige was handling those quickstep runs with a good amount of control, too – and anymore, I think having excellent control beats having boundless energy. Frame looked fantastic as well – overall, no complaints here, and I think Paige will likely be fine with whoever she gets in the switch 🙂

2.) Wanya & Lindsay – While watching Wanya last night, I found yet another thing I love about his dancing: he doesn’t waste a single beat of the music. If he’s not moving, he’s still feeling and expressing the music somewhere else in his body, so there’s never a moment of downtime in the routine – and my attention is just GLUED to him. I loved the way he was really working the syncopation of that samba (those batucadas, YAS!) – and Lindsay, gurrrrl…you just keep SLAYING, honey.  That was fantastic choreography, and it’s the first one this season that I found myself saying “Emmy bait!” on. Carrie Ann’s comment about Wanya “losing control” of Lindsay was a cheap shot – I always thought he was completely in control and was aware of Lindsay at all times; but the fact that he took it like a champ and didn’t argue just made me kinda love him more.  Guys, when I talk about wanting to see people on this show that WANT to be there, and are grateful for this experience – Nyle, Paige, and Wanya are the three names I feel really encompass that philosophy. Because Wanya is happy to dance, I am happy to watch him dance.  I just hope TPTB resist the urge to keep tinkering like they are, because I would hate to see any of those three lose their spot in the finale due to some cheap machinations…

3.) Nyle & Peta – I’m beginning to get whiplash when it comes to the way the judges handle Nyle – it’s as if they feel the need to alternate gushing over him and nitpicking him.  It’s as if they’re afraid he’s running away with the competition, and need to knock him down a few pegs; but then they get such wicked backlash from the fans that they heap praise on him the next week to compensate. It’s kinda icky. But thankfully, Nyle is just such a ray of sunshine that I don’t think he’s phased at all by what the judges are saying, positive or negative – he, like Wanya, is only concerned with competing against himself and making the most of the experience. I thought this samba was both adorable AND had some great content – and man, color me impressed with that hip action on the shadow position runs at the beginning.  Nyle has a LOT of natural talent, guys, and I loved the backflip and the cute little expressions he was giving us at key moments. Len bitching about the bongos just made me roll my eyes – dude, it’s Disney week. Calm your tits. The only reason I don’t have these two higher this week is just due to a really crappy running order position – by the end of the show, I think they got a bit lost in the shuffle from going so early.  Really hoping Nyle gets Karina in the switch – I think she’s probably the one that is most easily going to adapt to his needs.

4.) Antonio & Sharna – Y’know, I’m seriously beginning to wonder if the root of the problem with these two is not Sharna’s choreography – now I’m more convinced that she was probably just doing the best she could with what she had, and Antonio couldn’t handle more. The big problem seems to be Antonio’s level of commitment – and that’s something that conveniently did not make its way into their rehearsal package. Anyone else find that bit at the end with Sharna talking to the genie bottle just a little…I don’t know, weird? Out of place? Anyone else kinda wonder why they felt the need to even include it? Funny how Antonio was suspiciously kinda absent from his own package, isn’t it? Food for thought. While this jazz may have been his “best dance yet”, it was still jazz-by-numbers compared to what we’re seeing from some of the other couples at this stage of the competition. It was basically the same series of straight 8-counts all the way through – no syncopations or breaking up the beat – with some simple hat and kick choreography thrown in. Sure, he sold it well – but was the character all that different from the “cool, pimp daddy” Antonio we see day-to-day on Snapchat? That wasn’t a character he was playing – it was just Antonio being Antonio. And yet, he ended up with the same score as Wanya, who gave us a dance with a much higher level of difficulty and much more complex (and eye-catching) staging.  Calling a foul on that one – if Antonio’s dance got a 35, then Paige, Nyle, and Wanya all should have gotten 40’s. It was a good dance FOR ANTONIO, but not a great dance overall. But for reasons not yet clear to me, it appears as though TPTB have a renewed interest in Antonio, and are likely to cut him some breaks to keep him around longer. Serious head-scratcher for me…

5.) Von & Witney – I think the only thing that chaps my ass worse than Antonio getting a free pass for being a slouch is the fact that they still seem to be painting Von as this goofy, farty, I’m-just-here-to-have-fun class clown – when he’s actually the one really putting in the hours at the studio, taping his rehearsals, taking notes on them from Witney, and then reviewing them each night.  I get far more of a “I’m really trying and I want to be here” vibe from Von than I do from Antonio. I guess they’ve decided that Antonio is more bankable, huh? I threw a few votes Von’s way last night because dammit, I enjoyed his waltz – he looked so handsome in his suit, and he really did improve his frame and his extension.  The dude also seemed to exude more vulnerability this week – he’s really opening up more on the floor each week. I’ll take a refined gentleman over a rowdy pimp daddy ANY day 😀 And I think I even saw shades of enthusiasm from Witney that I haven’t seen in awhile –  dare I hope that she’s getting more excited about this partnership? 🙂 I just really want Von to get someone in the switch-up that can prove that he’s got some real, untapped talent in him – would love to see what one of the other female pros could do with him, ideally Lindsay. I just hope they don’t continue to nitpick Von in order to elevate Antonio by comparison…

6.) Ginger & Val – Ginger’s dance is what happens when you get too caught up in the trappings of Disney week: too much attention paid to the song (things were getting a tad too lyrical, which interrupted the dance), too much in the way of the set pieces (was it just me, or did they have the most complicated set, with the village and the fountain?), and too many extra people involved (yes, I know that the scene in the movie has a lot of townspeople, but jeez – was this the troupe plus 10?) Any of those elements by itself, I could have probably tolerated, but all in all, it was just too much extraneous stuff and not enough actual dancing for me.  Her frame was actually pretty good, but I didn’t get to see very sustained, long periods of it in order to appreciate it more – once again, a lot of very stop-and-go choreography from Val, and a lot of time-killing nonsense. So for this to tie for the high score with Paige, who had probably triple the amount of dance content? Just another “enough, already!” moment for me last night. The Ginger pimpage train may have slowed down last week, but this week, it was full-throttle once more – is she just not “happening” the way they want her to? Or are this season’s juggernauts (Wanya, Nyle, and now Paige) stealing too much attention away from their ABC brethren? Would love to see her get Mark or Sasha, who I think will really put her through the paces and really earn those scores.

7.) Kim & Sasha – I feel like I end up saying the same thing about these two week after week, and that in and of itself is beginning to worry me 🙁 I fear they’ve become the quintessential “middle of the road” couple for me – they’re not doing bad, but they’re not doing great, and all in all, they’re being a tad safe in their performances.  I will commend Kim on keeping up pretty well with the quickstep, even though I still think she’s moving a bit small & timid; props to Sasha, though, for the troupe shadowing he & Kim during that first quickstep run down the floor…a move right out of the Derek playbook, very visually striking 🙂 But anywho – gahhhh, I really hope these two can find a way to take some risks and stand out just a bit more.  They’re very nice to watch, but when I’m excited to watch Nyle & Wanya & Paige, nice…kinda fades into the woodwork.  Kim’s excitement makes it fun, but I want to really see her do some daring stuff. Would love to see her get Mark in the switch to hopefully bring out a wilder side 🙂

8.) Doug & Karina – Well, if Antonio got the free pass with his rehearsal edit this week, than poor Doug pulled the short stick and got the dreaded “bad edit”. Sucks that they seemed to really hone in on that moment of frustration and it kinda set the tone for everything this week – while I actually think Doug made it through his dance pretty well, it was just that: making it through.  I don’t think he was enjoying himself, and I think he was really, really nervous. But god bless Karina, who actually seemed to find choreography that suited him, and made the wise choice to give him a lot of lifts – I actually thought those were the parts of his routine that he was most competent with. While he may have hit a bit of a slump again this week, I do find it heartening that he managed to get the votes to stick around – I don’t think he’s out of the woods, by any means, but maybe a decently well-performed switch week dance with a patient and clever pro (maybe Peta?) could buy him another week after the switch?

9.) Jodie & Keo – Eeeek. Two back-to-back appearances in jeopardy, a relatively weak dance, and we’re headed into a two-week period with a massive points dump that is going to determine who goes home in week 6? If Jodie isn’t getting the votes now, I doubt much is going to help her, even if she gets a perfect score on her switch week dance. Which sucks, because like so many others this season (and unlike a certain other contestant…), I think Jodie really wants to be here, and I do think she’s really working hard and having fun.  Hell, she’s even making me rethink my stance on Keo, because dude is seriously upping his game as a pro this season. It was unfortunately just a bad night at the office for Jodie – her music did seem bizarrely quiet, and I actually have to wonder if that animation of the gazelle was hindering them…they seemed to put a lot of emphasis on not running into it during rehearsal, and it seems like it might have contributed to what I saw as Jodie moving kinda small & tight. It really kinda sucked that she seemed to get off-time and never got back on, because I actually did see some really promising hip action out of her.  I did see Keo trying to kinda bring her focus back onto him, but I think Jodie had just kinda gotten so flustered by that point that she never really got back in the pocket. If someone were getting eliminated next week (I doubt they will, but nothing has been confirmed), my money would be on Jodie; but I’ve been hearing on Twitter that a lot of folks were getting a busy signal when trying to call in votes for her. Have the troops been rallied sufficiently? God I hope so…

So what are your thoughts on Disney night? Was the scoring fair? What did you think of Zendaya as a judge?