So, I’m very tempted to start this recap with a corny joke, like I bent over backwards for this episode… You get it? Because Brooke and she can do that flexible stuff and… no? You don’t get it? Ok, let’s just start the recap.
The pyramid was typical. Maddie was on top, because she won Petite Miss Starquest. Chloe was second, even though she too placed 1st and would’ve won Junior Miss Starquest if she were entered. Brooke was third on the pyramid, which was fine, she deserved it and no one complained, until Abby explained her plans for this week. Abby decided to choreograph an acrobatics number and, as everyone knows, Brooke is by far the best acrobat out of all the girls. I can’t even do a split, let alone do all of those contortion tricks! Kelly was none to happy that Brooke wasn’t on the top of the pyramid for a week they were doing an acro routine. I’ll cut her some slack, since this is only the third week, but Abby judges the pyramid based on last week’s performance, not the upcoming week. If she did a pyramid based on what hasn’t happened yet that would make no sense, unless she could see the future. (That’s So Raven anyone?) Vivi is officially on the team and with the team is her spot on the pyramid, which was at the very bottom. You have to work your way up there Vivi. To help her along, Abby awarded her with her very own solo at this week’s competition, at Starbound in New Jersey.
After the pyramid, the moms retreated upstairs and Kelly proceeded to complain about how Brooke’s not on the top of the pyramid. Melissa tries to explain that Abby’s probably using the results from the last competition and that is has nothing to do with the upcoming competition, but Kelly doesn’t listen. Then, Cathy chimes in and all of the moms start to complain about the pyramid, most prominently Holly, who announced that it was not the Egyptian era.
Happy Birthday Cathy! Melissa decided to surprise Cathy with a birthday cake and a present in the middle of rehearsals. Cathy seemed surprised, but the rest of the moms expected something like that. Christi and Kelly both describe Melissa as “that friend”. You all probably know what I mean when I say “that friend”, but just in case, I mean that friend, that everyone has, who you can only trust as far as you can throw her. She’s a really awesome friend, but you have to be careful what you say around her and what you hear from her.
Kelly continues to complain about Abby misplacing Brooke on the pyramid until she finally gets up the courage to confront Abby. When she asks Abby why Brooke hasn’t been placing higher on the pyramid, Abby simply states that Brooke isn’t committing to dance as much as the others. As Abby explained, Brooke is going through that teenage phase where she wants to have a social life and a life in general besides dance. I know exactly what Brooke’s going through and what Abby’s talking about. I’ve actually never gone through that teenager phase and I’m basically just about over the “hump” so, good for me. However, I have seen my friends go through what Brooke’s going through. I’m glad she’s sticking with dance because I’m pretty positive that she’ll regret leaving it at the end of the day. A prime example of that is actually in Season 2 Episode 3, but I’ll wait to recap that until later.
Cathy and Melissa go out to lunch and, while Melissa sees it as a chance to make a new friend, Cathy sees it as an opportunity to get dirt on the other moms. Melissa looks uncomfortable when Cathy’s asking her questions about the other moms, especially when Cathy asks about Melissa’s husband. Melissa is still going through a divorce in this season and it’s obviously a sensitive topic for her. The moms told Cathy what’s been going on with Melissa’s marriage, but Cathy pretended not to know just so she could ask Melissa and get a rouse out of her. Not cool Cathy.
At the studio, Kelly and Christi are talking about Melissa and Cathy’s newfound friendship. Christi points out that Melissa got Cathy a cake and presents for her birthday, meanwhile Christi just had a baby and Melissa didn’t even buy her a card. I thought this was incredibly hilarious and I’m still laughing about it while I’m writing this recap.
Brooke was complaining that her hip was hurting, so Kelly brought her to the chiropractor. The doctor warned them that Brooke should not be dancing this weekend because it could be highly dangerous to her injury. However, they decide not to listen to the professional doctor and compete anyways, which usually would be a big no-no, but I’m pretty sure the injury was fabricated a bit for television. Abby advised Brooke that she needed to “grind down the hip bone” (which made me cringe) and open her turn out more, then it will stop hurting. Brooke, apparently, doesn’t trust Abby, with her vast experience and knowledge in dance, but it turns out Abby was right all along, because she hasn’t been in pain since.
On the way to the competition Kelly recognizes the bus driver as the driver to Winefest. Need I say more?
Cathy is nowhere to be found on the bus, because of her bus sickness last week. Instead, she’s driving with Vivi to the competition all by herself. Already isolating yourself there Cathy. During her little car ride she decides that Vivi pronounces “ok” wrong, which I find very hard to mess up. So, they spend a good minute repeating the word and making sure to strongly pronounce both letters. How embarrassing if Vivi would’ve pronounced “ok” wrong on National television. That simply won’t do.
When they arrive at the competition Abby immediately has a situation on her hands. Vivi’s solo music is missing! Cathy chooses this moment to nonchalantly mention that Vivi is going to do a solo that Cathy taught her because she was “uncomfortable” with the solo Abby taught her. However, Cathy still expects Abby to put the solo under her name, even though she didn’t choreograph it. How does that make sense? Oh, wait. It doesn’t! Abby, who is incredibly flustered and annoyed agrees with it partly because she really doesn’t want to deal with Cathy. I don’t blame her.
The quote of the day goes to Cathy for telling Vivi, right before she went on stage, “If you forget what you’re doing just shake your butt.” Great advice Cathy! I’ll have to use that later for my school presentations.
When Vivi was preforming you could tell that Vivi was capable of doing a lot more then what was in the routine. Cathy probably taught her it a year ago, when she was still learning the basics, at least I hope that’s the case. A dancer needs to be challenged in order to improve. Either way the real action started after the solo, during Vivi’s awards ceremony. She ended up placing 7th and when she was asked her choreographer and studio name, Vivi said her mother’s name and studio. Abby looked livid and automatically suspected it was on purpose. However, after much coaxing… and singing… Cathy convinced Abby that it was just one big mistake and that they need to move on.
So, Abby forgives her, but it’s a bit to soon for forgiveness. Immediately after they return to the green room, Cathy announces that Vivi and her were leaving, instead of watching the group dance that was preforming later on in the day. Everyone was upset, especially the mothers, who had to wake up early in the morning to head to a competition that their kids didn’t need to be at until much later in the day.
Right before the girls head to the stage to preform their group dance, Brooke has a mini-meltdown. She was probably just overwhelmed and nervous about her hip injury. She calmed down pretty fast, with the help of her mom.
Can I just say that I absolutely love this group dance? Ups and Downs is probably my favorite group dance of this season, besides the number for Nationals. The music is just so pretty (I sometimes listen to it just because) and the girls never get to do acro numbers. If you pay close attention at the beginning you can see Mackenzie doing some of the easier acro tricks with the rest of the girls. She was actually keeping up really well.
Ups and Downs wound up winning the Special Judges Award and 1st overall.*Interesting Fact: Chloe and Maddie also preformed a duet this week, called Everlasting Friends that placed 1st. I wonder why the producers decided to not include it in the episode… (and by this I mean I know exactly why the producers cut it out of the episode)
I’d give this episode 4 out of 5 stars. **** It was a good episode with an amazing group number, but I feel like there weren’t enough actual dances.
Next week is solo week for the girls, but when Abby assigns one of her favorite dancers two solos how will the moms react?
*Do you think Brooke deserved to be on the top of the pyramid this week? Do you have a friend like Melissa? What did you think about Cathy leaving the competition early? Comment Below!*
*On the side is a gif of the girls preforming the group number and the music. I DO NOT OWN the picture or the video.*
