I have a sinking suspicion that the title of this show was all about the above question, on some level or another. Real crafty.
So, yeah, the Rock hit Nationals this week, for the big season finale of Make It or Break It. I’m glad Greek returns next week, but I am definitely sad to see the Rock go; the season was too short, for a show that has surprisingly grown on me. Who knew?
The most disappointing part of this episode was actually the gymnastics — too bad, too, when everything that’s come before was leading up to the big showdown. I don’t know the first thing about the sport, but every time I thought, “that sucked,” the judges called it spectacular. Maybe that just reinforces my lack of knowledge on the subject, but I have to imagine that if something aesthetic looks bad, it can’t have been so good. My wife felt the editing sucked, so maybe it was that.
Couple of weird moments: Where was Marty? Also, Not-Damon picked Brian up and just hopped over from Colorado to Boston? In a bus? In less than a day? I may know a New Yorker’s amount of geography (where’s Colorado?), but I’m not sure how that would work…. Plus, keep him away!
Another head-scratcher for you — why would Emily be good enough to stand a chance at Nationals? Raw talent is something that can influence your trajectory, but grit wouldn’t prepare someone like her to compete with the most polished athletes in her sport. I’m not insulting her, or trying to say she sucks, but I don’t see why we should believe for half a second that she should have had any shot there after so short a time at the Rock.
Maybe it’s the difference between setting your mind to accomplishing something versus overcoming physical impossibilities. Like, if Kaylie wasn’t seen as champion-material after day one of the competition, she couldn’t have been nearly close enough in points to Kelly Parker (Nicole Gale Anderson) to catch up on day two. Even if Kaylie picked up incremental points, Kelly would have had to have had such a bad day that we would have heard about it … no such news from Nationals. Nice story, but not likely.
By the way, I called Payson’s accident like a month ago. Even seeing it coming though, there’s no question that it totally sucks for her, and I feel bad for the actress and the character, even knowing this is make believe. Any athlete who trades their life for their sport doesn’t deserve to have their body, the unknown that they must have blind faith in, crap out on them. I truly am sorry for her. Chin up, Pay-Pay!
I’m beyond tiring of Lauren, and the truth is that I wasn’t even going to so much as mention her in this farewell, but the last scene of the episode just forced my hand. When Lauren walked into Payson’s hospital room first and they’re alone for a second, and we get a shot of the drip-drip of the IV … I totally saw Lauren murdering Payson. Not in a jokey way, or a “that’s so spooky” way; I took it for granted, with no puzzlement as to why, that Payson was about to die. That’s how successful Lauren has been. I don’t see anything being added by her vixen of a character.
So, we give it a rest for a few months (or however many), and when we return, Kaylie, Lauren, and Emily will be training as part of the US National Team (with or without their teammates; I don’t know how that works), while Payson deals with the end of her dream.
Does that mean Kim’s out of a job? Come join the Family next season and find out.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Aug 25, 2009 @ 17:00 EST5EDT
Considering the show wasn’t guaranteed to have a second season, that was a surprisingly downbeat ending scene. And I thought the same as you, although it didn’t necessarily have to be Lauren: when someone’s alone in a hospital room with an unconscious patient on television, it’s an IV air bubble or pillow smothering just waiting to happen.
The funny thing about Payson’s accident is that usually you take the drug, then bad things happen to you. Here she made the moral choice and crapped out anyway. Heck, it might even have been the unmasked pain that caused her to let go of the bars and hit the floor near her neck and shoulders rather than the back injury itself.
And I had to laugh that Kelly Parker was written so one-dimensionally that she was still insulting Payson to the other Rock gymnasts mere moments after the girl had just suffered a disturbing, possibly paralyzing injury and had been carted off on a stretcher with neck brace.
Will Payson even be back in the winter? Her parents’ dialogue made the injury seem inoperable and irreversible, which would have been fine for a series finale, but where will the writers go from here?
I forgot to mention how bizarre it was that Kelly Parker knew all the girls’ scandals that were just revealed in the campfire scenes last week, as well as their innermost fears, in order to insult them properly, when she trains all the way over in Denver and not at The Rock. It’s like she watches the show with us.
Yes, I thought that there was going to be a twist that she had a spy on the Rock team, or bugged Kaylee’s gym bag or something.
I was wondering if taking the drug would have prevented Payson’s accident– I hope she doesn’t regret not taking it for the rest of her life. Also, I can picture her returning the gymnastics in secret, against her parents’ wishes, just to pursue he Olympic Dream. I feel very badly for her (yes, I realize she is a TV character), and was very surprised that ABC family had an ending like that.
Ultimately, I was disappointed with the finale, but I am looking forward to the show’s return. I’m surprised how much I enjoyed it!
*POST AUTHOR*
It’s hard to tell because it happens so fast – did she lose her grip because she was in pain? I thought maybe (and I could easily be wrong) it was just her not being good enough that day. I know she hurt herself before, but except for the moment where they were telling us she was in pain, she seemed okay. I wonder….
*POST AUTHOR*
I agree with you, but on this show? With female teen athletes? And I don’t think it’s us – it’s Lauren.
Yeah; I think Kelly was created with a one-sentence description, and they kind of completely forgot to build her out. Instead of her being an interesting counterpoint to Payson, she seems a bit like a caricature.
Like I said before, this has the quarterback in Friday Night Lights written all over it. Of course, I only saw when he was paralyzed, and his girlfriend started sleeping with his best friend, so I don’t know if there’s something else in Payson’s future. I think, though, that someone needed to get bounced to make room for Emily in that 1-2-3 grouping that they talked about in the pilot. Maybe Payson will end up as an assistant coach (after her ill-fated attempt at a comeback)?
“It’s like she watches the show with us.”
Maybe she has cameras at gymnastics camp, just in case. ;)
Female teen athletes would take a pipe to a kneecap. Oh no, I’m sorry, that was her boyfriend, so it would have to be Carter that killed Payson. In retrospect, it is strange that Lauren doesn’t have a sniveling smitten boy that jumps to do her bidding. Unless that’s Steve? I can totally see him arranging an accident to remove Payson from competition.
Personally I would have been just as apprehensive if it was Emily, Chloe, Kelly, Steve, Summer, Damon, Becca, Alex, Ronnie or Sasha alone in that room with Payson. Yeah, I don’t really trust any of them much more than Lauren.
With Payson’s fall, all we see is the stunt double slip, hit the ground and not move, and from a distance at that. There’s no way for the viewer to tell what the cause was, but since she decided against injecting the cortisone directly before that, it’s an easy assumption for many viewers to make. I just thought that was an unusual dramatic statement for a normally obvious show, even though it’s probably simply attributable to sloppy storytelling.
*POST AUTHOR*
Interesting … I wonder if the show’s built Lauren up as such a villainess, purposefully ignoring the ruthlessness of all of these people, only to hit us with it as the series progresses. I think you may have an intriguing point there.
No, I definitely agree that the progression was there. I just wondered what move Payson had done that could have caused her so much pain as to fall. Plus, I didn’t remember hearing her yell in pain right before it happened, so I just considered other possibilities.
“The most disappointing part of this episode was actually the gymnastics…”
Really…? I thought the girls wearing tight clothing is the whole reason why this show made it to episode 10. :-p
*POST AUTHOR*
Pre-pubescent teenage athletes, my friend. ;)
i was soooo suprised when payson sliped. but the fact that kelly parker was getting was getting ingections wasn’t a suprise. the girls have such different personlaties.Kaylie was such a friend to payson and emily! lauren is such a brat to every one! Payson is such a dedicated gymnast. And emily is stubborn,she tries, but she knows waht she wants. then again all of the girls do! I acctually didn’t get to watch the whole last episode. it wsa the first day of school and i hade to wake up at like 6 so i needed to go to bed. but i had a sleep timer on.the sleep timer turned off right after payson fell. So it SUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to see the rest of the episode sooooooo bad i can’t wait tell it is on again i check sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo often! I can’t wait tell season 2 !!
*POST AUTHOR*
That sucks, but the episode is still on ABC Family’s website. Click below to watch it. Enjoy! :)
https://community.abcfamily.go.com/watch/460199/full-episodes
my compter is super slow i have tried to watch it and it is weird. i can hear it sorta but the video is reay scratchey and WAY slow!! But thanks
*POST AUTHOR*
:-( Sorry!
its ok. thanks for the offer anyway $-) :-) :*} 8-}