Make It or Break It – Still better than a dance-off

When it leaves the gym, Make It or Break It can be almost painful. But when it sticks to gymnastics? When the story’s about the competition? It’s great.

Unfortunately, the show seems stuck on the drama of life … so you can imagine how tough it is to be a fan these days.

I knew Payson would have little room for error in her continued plot to regain her status at The Rock. And I’m not so sure that she served that well by giving up on gymnastics, hiding from Sasha, and yelling at her mother. It is surely legitimate that she be frustrated, embarrassed, fed-up, or whatever other emotion she’s feeling, but what’s always been true about Payson is that she is fiercely focused on her goals. And so to see the progression she’s made, the counter-cyclical path from girl grossed-out by how sex might affect a teenage athlete to girl who won’t face her coach, who wonders what it’s all for, is not only disheartening, but also disappointing. That’s not the Payson whose deeper dramatic plot I cheered last season.

It was funny to see her sister Becca (Mia Rose Frampton) back. I wonder what the reason for digging her up now was, and also why it now seems as if she’s an only sometimes participant at The Rock. I didn’t know commitment to an elite training facility could be so unregimented.

Speaking of which, it was ridiculous for Becca to suggest that gymnastics can also just be fun … not that it shouldn’t be as well, but if you’re going to the gym every day knowing that you simply can’t compete on an elite level, you’re wasting everyone’s time. The only reason a person should eat, sleep and breathe an undertaking is if they have the potential to over-excel at it. No recreational baseball player is going to one of the ultra-competitive summer leagues for the hell of it.

Dinner at the Tanners was extremely uncomfortable to witness (only slightly less so than Steve’s announcement at the gym about him and Chloe), and it continues to amaze me that anyone still speaks to Lauren. Loved Mother Tanner (Jessica Walter), and the fact that, as was to be expected, she was not the snob that Steve and Lauren were making her out to be. Not to say that she wouldn’t interfere if she heard that Steve had plans to marry Chloe, but certainly at this point it was nice to see someone setting Lauren straight, even if she’ll never listen.

The Austin Tucker (Zane Holtz) idea? Boring. If this guy is meant to add more muscle to the men’s side of the show, I’d just as soon leave them in the shadow of the women. He’s only not going to be boring when he’s annoying. And sooner or later he and Carter are going to grow to be enemies because of Kaylie. Wonderful.

But the episode did shine, if ever so briefly, with the gymnastics-off. Cheesy (like the promise rings)? Yes. But it was fun, and seeing the men on the women’s apparatuses (Austin struggling on the beam in practice was great), and vice versa, was really enjoyable, and a flash of early season one. And I’m glad the men won — she may have twirled her little heart out, but Lauren did the rings completely wrong. And I can say that knowing nothing about the sport.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jul 14, 2010 @ 13:00 EST5EDT