Ah, the struggles of an athlete. It sounded a bit cliched, but I imagine that Sasha Beloff (Neil Jackson) – sorry; I love saying his full name – that Sasha Beloff was right when he told Payson’s (Ayla Kell) mom, Kim (Peri Gilpin), that a teen-athletes problems are not of the ordinary nature. Do you risk the health and safety of a child who you’ve already given so much to, all in the name of their dream? Where do you draw the line?
I think that’s a question that’s impossible to answer unless you’ve been there. I also have the sinking suspicion that, while they may have countless advisors on set, the writers of Make It or Break It simply have no idea. Maybe that’s why Kim seemed to be surprised to hear that Payson might need to be handled differently than any other sixteen year-old.
Sasha jumped in with Carter (Zachary Abel), as well, warning him to stay away from his girls. I suppose it makes sense, but I felt that this was the first time we officially learned that the guys have a different coach than the girls. Where is he, and why doesn’t he have some sway at the Rock?
So, Marty (Erik Palladino) was back, but in little more than just-passing-through capacity. The competition with his Denver gym was totally ridiculous; the Rock’s success, save for Emily (Chelsea Hobbs) – who didn’t have any, anyway – is 100% attributable to Marty, not Sasha. The Denver club’s success, save for Kelly Parker (Nicole Gale Anderson), number one in the country and new transfer, is attributable to whoever came before Marty. So where was the mano-a-mano aspect to it? If the Rock won, Marty won. If Denver won, no one won. Congrats!
Otherwise, this episode was all Lauren (Cassie Scerbo), all the time. First she planted a seed of doubt in Kaylie’s (Josie Loren) mind about boyfriend Carter. I mean, she’s right, and all, but, nice best friend. It isn’t even clear if she wants Carter for herself, or just doesn’t want Kaylie to have something that she doesn’t. Or maybe she just wants to hurt someone else the way Carter using her as a one-night-stand hurt her. Kids.
Then there was the political play of guilting daddy into tanking his relationship with Summer (Candace Cameron Bure). Steve’s (Anthony Starke) spineless when it comes to Lauren. And then Lauren relayed the gist of that conversation to Summer … and then followed that up with verbal insults the next day. She deserved to be shocked by the engagement, and to get the word from Summer instead of from her father, thus causing her to screw up on her routine as a result. Actually, she deserves that for a lot of reasons.
And, how about Kaylie’s mom, Ronnie (Rosa Blasi)? We actually didn’t know that she and Marty were officially over, since the last we saw of him, she was entering his house as Emily’s mom, Chloe (Susan Ward), looked on. So, Ronnie’s running “back” into Marty’s arms, and of course Kaylie overhears the conversation, since Ronnie was being so clandestine by talking on the home-phone in the living room. What does mommy-dearest do? She reminds Kaylie that she has the goods on her and Carter. Aw, some mother/daughter blackmail! Is that a bonding exercise?
To my initial thought, though; I didn’t watch much more than the first few episodes of Friday Night Lights, but I have a fuzzy memory of the big-shot quarterback going down hard, and early, opening the door wide for a new superstar … and his girlfriend to sleep around with able-bodied men? Anyway, I think I see Payson going down, and Emily stepping up.
The shame of that is, here, that means Payson’s last shot at the Olympics passing her by. But, then again, this is ABC Family … anything can happen in the land of the Mouse.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jul 28, 2009 @ 14:00 EST5EDT
I agree with most of what you said. My exception was Summer #1 coming to the meet and #2 gloating about the engagement. Summer is supposed to be an adult and she behaved as childishly as Lauren.
*POST AUTHOR*
Crazy immature, right? I suspect that Summer is actually supposed to be very immature, almost as if she were still a teen, because Lauren needs to feel like she’s being replaced (which would hit her harder if it was someone who seemed more like her).
And, I think the fact that Summer’s “normal” will also come into play later, which will be more effective if it seems a tiny bit like Summer’s a normal teen, versus Lauren’s teen-athlete. Totally just my guess, though.
I fear you’re right about the impending roster change. I would much rather watch Payson than Emily win, but I suppose there’s not as much drama in the girl who’s neither poor nor involved in a love triangle nor struggling with her moves. Why can’t driven, dedicated and mature be enough?
The coaches’ rivalry may have been personal (and I got the sense there was some personal history when Sasha referred to Marty’s predilection for unavailable women), but the competition was only about the clubs themselves and their performers. Who trained them wasn’t as important as what they could show on the mat, and as Sasha said, whichever gym won here would gain the momentum and prestige advantage going into nationals.
I’m not sure from your wording if we viewed Lauren’s performance on the bars differently, but it was clear to me that she intentionally let go rather than screwing up out of shock. She didn’t look surprised in the least when she landed, and her scorn to her father afterward made it seem that she only did it to teach him a lesson.
When Damon was “emoting,” I was irresistably reminded of Milo Ventimiglia’s character Jess on Gilmore Girls. Heck, his voice even sounded the same in this scene.
Still, a far more exciting episode than last week’s.
*POST AUTHOR*
Yeah; although it’s an ensemble cast, Emily is definitely the lead.
I know the competition was about the clubs … I was saying that, in the mano-a-mano pissing contest between Marty and Sasha, neither could really win. The whole situation is too messed up.
I definitely didn’t get that as being intentional by Lauren. Would she really be that masochistic? It could cost her her increased degree of difficulty, which hurts her chances at Nationals. I think she liked how it affected daddy that it happened, but it didn’t look intentional to me. I could definitely be wrong, though.
Logically, you’re right about Marty and Sasha, but they seem to be reduced to jocks when in the same room together. They both would consider it a win, even if undeserved.
The thing is, this isn’t a subtle show. Steve said twice that Lauren messed up on the easy part of the routine. I think that if it she had slipped accidentally, it would have been at the hardest part and we would have seen a flash of regret on her face at some point. Letting go in the beginning, as well as her words to her father, (paraphrased) “If you could give up, I figured I could too.” seemed aimed at making it clear to him that it was all deliberate.
*POST AUTHOR*
I definitely missed all of that happening, so, like I said, I could very well be wrong. But I wouldn’t assume that, if she made a mistake, it’d have to be on the hardest part of the routine. Even the best make little slips (Payson landing out-of-bounds?)
I think your quote supports your position, but I think it could cut the other way, too: to rub it in daddy’s face, even if it wasn’t intentional. Lauren could have been pissed at herself, pissed at him, and just been kind of brushing him aside by taking a jab at him. Making him feel guilty, even if it wasn’t his fault, would just be a bonus.
Oh, I see what you mean about the quote. Yeah, it could have played that way instead.