DWTS Week 3, Part 2: Put It In A Love Song

Random side note before I start Part 2 of this recap: This week I caught most of the opening-week dances of Series 8 of "Strictly Come Dancing" (as in the original UK version of "Dancing With The Stars") on YouTube (thank goodness, because BBC won't let me access any of its videos...it's like I don't live in Britain or something). It was rather interesting. I enjoyed it. The 4-person judging panel they have there actually works pretty well (Craig Revel Horwood's a complete and utter brat that I'm sure all the Brits love to hate, Len's the same tough yet softie-prone curmudgeon he is here, Alesha Dixon is the nice, sweet, young judge, and Bruno is...Bruno. :) ), Bruce Forsyth proves as quick-witted a host as Tom (and at the age of 82!!), Tess Daly is a much more lively backstage hostess than Brooke Burke (and Samantha Harris, while we're at it), and even though I was intimately familiar with maybe 1 or 2 of the competitors, it was fun to watch. Anyways, just wanted to bring that up. Hopefully I can keep up with it. Now, on to the show at hand...

• Bristol & Mark (19/30, foxtrot): After making excellent progress last week with a fine quickstep that scored a respectable 22 with the judges, Bristol seemed to kind of move backward this week. Part of the reason her foxtrot didn't go so well was purely the fact that she still needs to work on the stylistic/acting portion of effective dancing. Tonight, while she was nowhere near the robotic horror that was her appearance on "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" (sorry I keep referencing it, but it's actually relevant for once in this case), her expressions and storytelling skills fell a bit flat. But beyond that...I feel tonight the producers really let her and Mark down with their song choice. "Just The Way You Are" (the Bruno Mars one) is a pretty song (after a friend's coaxing and my own change of heart, I now have it on my iPod), but it simply did not lend itself well at all to the foxtrot. Mark clearly was desperate this week choreography-wise, and it showed...the dance felt plodding and overly simple. In past seasons, I've seen the havoc weird song choices can wreak on even the best of dancers, and I'm afraid that happened tonight. I fear Bristol may be in or near the Bottom 2 tomorrow night, not just because of a subpar dance, but also because the producers have put staying culturally relevant (in this case) over giving their celebrities and pros good material to work with.
• Brandy & Maks (24/30, samba): It's nice to see Brandy & Maks near the top (after last week's detour into "se-VEN!" land), and tonight's samba was pretty darn excellent. I really liked the 'bodyguard/singer' story they told (the way it came full-circle at the end with Maks looking about and Brandy coaxing him through dance into love was very nice), and the dancing was of a high caliber. The judges seemed to feel the same way...but Len's short rant on how he disapproves of Maks' tough teaching approach was a bit odd. First, I can't believe that it would have taken this long for Mr. Goodman to notice that Maks isn't the gentlest dance instructor in the world (I know the man judges two simultaneously airing dance competitions of the same format on two continents twice a year, but still...). Has he been paying attention to any of Maks' rehearsal footage since he first joined the show 9 seasons ago? :) On a more serious note, though, I don't think I've ever seen a judge call a pro out as much as Len did tonight, and I'm not sure I liked it. Sure, Maks slapping Brandy on the posterior was a bit awkward, but it's not something to go off about. Anyways, Brandy danced very well tonight, her and Maks seem to have a good partnership (yes, they argue, but they also play well off each other). So let's give Maks a break, and move on with the dancing.
• Kyle & Lacey (23/30, waltz): The rehearsal footage yielded some notable moments...I found it interesting how Kyle & Lacey got to change their song, first off. I didn't know that was allowed...I guess since they didn't get to pick the replacement, it's still kosher, but it still seemed odd. (And who the heck hasn't heard of the Eagles? I'm younger than both Kyle and Lacey, and I'm still fairly familiar with their work. Then again, I've heard "Desperado" constantly since childhood [though mostly through the Clint Black cover that plays on my local country radio station all the time], "Take It Easy" mentions a town in my state, and my Calculus teacher played "Take It To The Limit" during a "Limit Party" we had my senior year. :) ) Of course, the fact that it was Landon Pigg's simply lovely "Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop" helped put me at ease. Anyways, another notable moment was Kyle making out with himself awkwardly. (Had to mention that moment. :) ) As for the dancing...it was a charming waltz, and I thought Kyle did very well. (As for Lacey, as I noted in one of my tweets, she looked "like she's working at Hooters rather than a coffee shop"...didn't she used to, y'know, wear clothes??) Carrie Ann (I know I keep coming back to her, but I guess her comments were the most memorably concise or something) pointed out, correctly, that Kyle's footwork needs a bit of improvement. (OK, so did Len, but he was a bit too harsh in his assessment that it was "nonexistent.") Once Kyle gets that ironed out, he (still) has nowhere to go but up. And up from a 23 is a very good place to be in "DWTS" land.
• The Situation & Karina (20/30, foxtrot): The producers dealt another doozy of a number for a foxtrot here. "Boom Boom Pow"? Really with Seth & Amy?? Karina even noted this in rehearsal, in fact. Well, the dismal song choice notwithstanding (it really did force Karina to be a bit creative, and not necessarily in a good way, with her choreography), I think tonight's dance was The Situation's best of the competition so far. I could even spot portions of the dance that were actually foxtrot-esque. But...he's still not quite up to par, by any means. It felt way too generous of the judges to hand him a collective 20 (seeing him break into the 20s while Margaret lingers at 18 feels a bit dirty, in fact), and his personality still grates beyond belief. (Though his newfound commitment to rehearsal this week was very admirable. A lazy Master P-type character, he is not.) Sure, it might be pleasant in a way to give him another week or two to surprise us, but really, I think it's clear at this point that it's probably best to let The Situation go.
• Rick & Cheryl (24/30, samba): This samba was kind of hit-and-miss with me. I still like Rick...he's fun, his dancing is good, and he hasn't started to grate on me as a viewer yet. But I wasn't quite enamored with his dance tonight...maybe it was the open shirt (sorry, but as the president of the potentially imaginary Anti-Heartthrob League, as you know I cannot condone such nonsense), but it seemed not quite all there, a bit inconsistent. Cheryl dancing on the table was quite spicy (sorry, but it was :) ), and Rick got some really good hip action into the mix, but it needed a bit more polish and flow. Maybe it's just me...anyways, Rick did well tonight, and although it wasn't the best, he still continues to earn his keep in the competition.

And, to close, I'm going to organize my usual "let's divide up the dancers" thing a little differently this week. I'm going to base it on the dances, rather than the people...mostly. Let's see how this goes:

My Favorite Dances Tonight: Margaret's spunky samba, Audrina's incredibly impressive waltz, Florence's sweet waltz, Brandy's excellent samba, and Kurt's classy foxtrot.

Honorable Mentions: Rick's fairly good samba, Kyle's charming foxtrot, Jennifer's teacher-ific samba, and Bristol's OK foxtrot.

The Bottom Two Should Be: The Situation's subpar foxtrot, and since we do need another member...I hate to say it, but Bristol should probably round out the Bottom 2 (if they actually have one this week). The one that should go home, however, is definitely The Situation.

See you tomorrow for the results show! Interesting (and ironic) how Michael Bolton will be stepping in for Susan Boyle...will he sing an angry number to Bruno about how hurt he still is by his harsh comments? Hopefully not. But that would be kind of fun...in a bizarre way. :) Anyways, for now...viva la DWTS!