And then we came to the end. And I'll be honest with you. I've been recapping this show all along and watch the show at least twice each week in doing so, and found this finale to be a big ball of What The Fuck? Really, what happened? We had a pointless tribute to Sex and the City, complete with a plug for the godawful Fergie track, an inexplicable cameo by Akon and someone called Colby O'Donis, an audience, then no audience, then Mochi pulling magic tricks, Gob-from-Arrested-Development-style, and finally some really embarrassing air string bass playing. At least one thing was consistent: Mean Gay threw a solid tantrum. And the winner was a no-brainer, too. But enough preamble. One last time, let's Step It Up and DANCE!
Mochi's bid for the Magician's Alliance.
Thirty-six hours before the final performance! Straight Nick is doing his usual manly man eggs and bacon breakfast and the group is reflecting on how badly they all want to win this. They all preen their feathers about how they will be the one winning this, except for Star Cody, who is feeling beat up and broken down. I call that standard reality editing. The frontrunner is always picked on the weeks leading up to the finale. They try and throw us off their scent, but this ain't my first time at the rodeo.
So they arrive at the studio and Nomi announces that they are going to get one-on-one time with Jer Bear. They get to work for half an hour on their solo with him. Straight Nick is up first. Nick's solo is all about "humor". Now Nick has flirted in different performances with some hammy smiles and cartoon-like antics. But forget about shuckin' and jivin' from Carolina Cerisola in the Apache. This is the real deal. All he's missing is the Blackface. I know it's supposed to be funny, but it could also totally be out of Spike Lee's Bamboozled. I loved Bamboozled, but I don't think it's exactly the tone Straight Nick wanted to conjure in my mind. Maybe he's going for Steve Martin in The Jerk, when he gets rhythm.
To wit:
This reminds me of the days jammin' on the porch with mammy and pappy.
Are you f*cking serious?
Here's the story": His "journey" is about a guy that is waiting in the wings, gets pushed out on stage, isn't ready to dance, but then sees the audience and starts shuckin' and jivin' all over the place. There's some irreverent booty-shaking, the painful air string bass playing, and so much hamming it up I can smell bacon.
And Jer Bear thinks the humor will play. His critique is that he needs to make sure Disney Nancy isn't gonna lay into him about his ending, because where can you really end up with this kind of shuckin' and jivin', but with empty pockets? This ain't 100 Gs worth of dance, I'll tell you what. At least not in 2008.
So in comes Mochi Ball, who is going for the Asian themes, finally deviating from her themes of the past few weeks, getting old and dying. And, gosh, I'm glad she's back among the living. I love Mochi Ball's dancing. She's pulling from the samurai warrior ritual and she's bringing the ferocity. All that lion kinging is paying off. I love her little underoos she's dancing in. I love how she moves, I love how strong and yet graceful she comes across. When you watch her, it's clear that her body was made to dance.
At my age you really understand the "Circle of Life". Har har! Old people can make jokes, too!
And then Jer Bear intuitively knows he needs to ask about what she's going to wear, which is a great question, because Mochi Ball is ready to clown herself by draping herself in a giant kimono. Lose it! says Jerry. You can't see the you are a WARRIOR! You are geisha girl with kimono, Mochi Ball. They analyze a few of the lines she pulls with and without the kimono and the kimono hides some of her strongest moments. So Jer Bear blows her mind by saying she should start the piece with it and then...take it off. Mochi gets all saucer-eyed at this "genius" suggestion, as if Jer Bear has just invented stripping right before her very eyes.
Maybe this could be like a thing! And women all over the country can do it and men will pay lots and lots of money to SEE them do it! We'll call it...STRIPPING!
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Comments (4)
They're not tricks...they're ILLUSIONS!
:) AD, I will never stop loving you.
I actually thought the SATC number was cute, although I expected a more difficult routine for the final four (not that this was their fault).
Mochi's solo was cool, other than the stripping and the boob scarf. Miguel's was eh...I've never understood why the judges loved him so much. I know they didn't bear witness to his shitty personality, but really, his technique wasn't very good. Nick is a great dancer but needs to cool it with the "yuk-yuks." We get it...you're trying to be different from serious Cody. That's fine, but you don't need to ham it up so much.
Speaking of Star Cody--amazing. I think his "emoting" was just being a smart competitor and giving the judges what they wanted, because really, he's been emoting all along (just not overacting like Mean Gay and Nick). Yum yum, he's delicious.
1 of 4 | Posted by maybeimamazed02 | Posted on June 11, 2008 8:11 AM
How weird that Jer Bear is so into this show. On Legally Blonde, he basically talked for 5 minutes during the first episode, and then told the other judges "I'm leaving this in your capable hands." And then was never seen or heard again.
(Ok we're only 2 eps in but I dont suspect he'll be back any time soon.)
2 of 4 | Posted by hollywood sucker | Posted on June 11, 2008 1:30 PM
Yay! Cody won!!! he's so cute and he's such a good dancer. i can't wait to see him in center stage 2 (even though i don't think he has a big role)
3 of 4 | Posted by mjm234 | Posted on June 11, 2008 2:33 PM
hollywood sucker:
that is indeed totally weirdo. jer bear is always talking about legally blonde and it makes no sense that he would not be a stronger presence on the show he directs. plus, he's just a doll. he needs to be on more shows anyway.
and to everyone, cody is delicious and amazing and i am totally going to watch center stage 2.
4 of 4 | Posted by theinternetsensation | Posted on June 11, 2008 3:37 PM