DWTS Week 2, Part 1: Suddenly I See

And so after a whirlwind week of premieres on TV (I watched like 2 or 3 new shows!), our good ol' friend "Dancing With The Stars" returns for yet another week of madness. Or something like that. I found this week's performance show a bit more entertaining than the premiere...and the dancing improved (mostly...cough cough Michael Bolton cough cough). I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. But who knows? Next week could turn out to be ghastly. Like the unexpected appearance this week of...gasp, Sarah Palin! Anyways, let's jump right into how the dancing went down during Week 2.

• Rick & Cheryl (21/30, jive): Oh, so the song was called "Tush"! That explains the whole Cheryl's underwear-uncovering thing. Actually, not really. That was a bit unnecessary. But I guess it at least explains the word choice on the underwear...anyways, Rick did pretty well tonight. I'm not entirely sure it was an improvement, per se, on last week's fairly nice Viennese waltz, but I think it was still a step forward. Rick conquered his foot issues and his crazy height, and went out there and actually nailed quite a few of the steps. It wasn't the best dance of the night, but it worked. Normally he would have to worry that he wasn't incredibly memorable and went first, but it's Rick Fox. Ladies drool all over him. And he might have grabbed a sizable chunk of the male voting crowd with that Cheryl undies flash, too...sigh. :)
• Florence & Corky (19/30, quickstep): And Ms. Henderson brings it! After last week's rather interesting (but kind of head-scratching, in my opinion) semi-Cloris flashback cha cha cha, Florence actually pulled out some fairly serious dancing chops (see, I told you she'd probably be pretty good! Broadway doesn't lie...), and gave a quickstep that would make even a 30-year-old look impressive. Was the footwork perfect? No. But it was a dance with a good deal of content, a bit of fun, a lot of class, and a more-than-necessary amount of Corky Ballas mugging. (Did not particularly dig that drawn-out flourishing by him at the end. Just dance it straight, sir!) The producers even chose a KT Tunstall hit (viva la Tunstall!), of all things...the deliciously spunky "Suddenly I See." (A possible reference to Florence showing she's much more than a number...the number 76, her age? Perhaps...) I thought Florence really stepped up her game tonight, and with crazy rehearsal antics like her giving, ahem, the finger (sorry, I know it's bad but I did find it quite funny...) continuing to pop up, she's definitely still going strong in the charm department.
• Brandy & Maks (21/30, jive): A tweet of mine during the show: "Finally, someone gets Maks to go to therapy!" Honestly, though, it's about time. :) Moving on from that...I thought Brandy did well, but I do agree with the judges that her jive lacked a little something. There wasn't enough kick in the legs, it seemed, and the energy flagged a tiny bit. However, what the dance lacked in sharpness and technique, it made up for in style...the solo was impressive, and the general vibe was cool. I dug it. Her and Maks' interplay with the judges made for some interesting developments...Brandy's admonishment to Maks that he let her listen to the judges' constructive criticism was classy, but then she got a little shaky when she reacted a little too vocally to some of said criticism...and acted as if Maks' solo choreography was a bit shaky. Like other Internet posters have noted...watch yourself, Brandy. Trust your pro. It's Maks. He's cool. Random side note: I know I ranted about Tom (and Cat Deeley of SYTYCD, while we're at it) totally deserving an Emmy in my last recap...but I think someone else deserves one more. For your consideration, I would like to submit Bruno Tonioli's Gwen Stefani imitation from his critique of Brandy's jive. That is all. :)
• Michael & Chelsie (12/30 [yes, you read that right], jive): I'll probably end up writing a bunch about him, anyway, but here's a succinct start to this section about Michael's dance, straight from my live tweeting during the show: "Michael's jive was one part loosening up a bit, one part acting like a robot, and three parts Chelsie dragging him across the floor...sad." The effort was there...I think...but yes. It was bad. 12/30 bad? Well, that's arguable. But honestly, there were literally some points where Chelsie had to drag him. And where he looked clunky and robotic. And where the parts didn't quite fit together. I know it's hard seeing a beloved entertainer/singer of your youth getting trampled by 3 dancing show judges...but it's the hard truth, folks. (As for me, I am free from any love for any Bolton tunes, or for his hair, so sorry, I'm naturally going to be a bit less sympathetic.) It's going to take a lot of love for Michael to escape at least the Bottom Two (then again, Master P did for a whopping 4 weeks, without a particularly evident fan base, and even lower scores), and a likely elimination. Speaking of the P, once Bruno made his "the worst jive in 11 seasons" comment, me and my sister immediately pondered if Master P (AKA the worst contestant in DWTS history, and a constant reference point in the Randall home for celebrity dancing suckitude) had done a jive way back in Season 2. My sister doubted he made it that far, but a Wikipedia check just now reveals that he did, in fact, 'dance' a 'jive.' (You can bet the bank those single quotes are intentional. :) ) But he got a 14. So sorry, Michael. Methinks Bruno wasn't too far off. Good luck tomorrow night...thou shalt need it.
• Audrina & Tony (23/30, quickstep): Will this dance be remembered as an impressive breakthrough for Audrina, or the one that caused Tony to have to shave his legs? Only time will tell. (But probably the latter. Who remembers the dancing, anyway? :) ) Anyhow, Audrina did well last week, but this week, gave an even more terrific performance, with a quickstep that I would dare say was the best of the night. (Literally, it was, actually...it was the highest-scoring quickstep of Week 2.) The footwork was great, the choreography was classy, the content was there...it just all fit together. Not quite near perfection yet, but getting there. As an added bonus, during rehearsal, Audrina broke out the waterworks...but unless most celebrity crying meltdowns, this one was natural and mature...she wasn't mad at Tony, she didn't freak out, she just had a moment where the stress of DWTS got to her...and then she got over it. And life went on. Good for her. (Compared to the partner that Tony had last season, he must be dancing in joy at how classy Ms. Patridge is.) Audrina is really showing some sizable potential...hopefully the voters agree, yes? (And for the elephant in the room...BAHAHAHA that Tony has to wax his legs. Wow. Just wow. This should be interesting. Though as I noted on Twitter, the leg-waxing should be "much less painful than having (insert name of partner that I still refuse to type again here, look on Twitter if you really don't know who it was) as a partner last season." :) )
• Jennifer & Derek (24/30, jive): Full disclosure: Yet again, I did not use my fingers to dial (or click, via online voting) for Jennifer & Derek. I'm just not quite ready to vote for them yet for some reason. But still...this was one heck of a jive. Derek, despite becoming increasingly annoying to watch at times, is a killer choreographer, and his skill at creating routines really manifested itself tonight. It was fast! It was furious! It was fun to watch! What's more, Jennifer more than proved capable of handling the lightning-quick steps. I really loved it. (And no wonder she had to lay/sit down afterwards...ah, if only Marie Osmond had thought ahead and done the same after her infamous fainting-inducing samba back in Season 5.) Apparently the booing after the scores were given was for the low-balling 8s the judges doled out, and not for Sarah Palin's presence (more on that in Part II)...had I been paying attention (I somehow missed the scores and had to wait until the end to find them out), I probably would have joined those boos. A 24 for a fiery jive? Rude.

Part II coming right up! I'll hurry up so it doesn't get posted too late. For now, viva la DWTS!