All the Strictly
Strictly week 5
At first glance, Tess, Claudia, Darcey and Shirley's outfits were great, but further inspection revealed Claudia and Shirley's ruffles. Not good.
Lots of yellow (flashing up that we'd be having 'comedy' routines from Simon and Brian, but something more electric from Alexandra). Debbie's rumba dress had the wow factor for me.
It was maybe for the best that they let Davood dance first after his undeserved appearance in the dance-off. I thought his timing was good, but he threw away his arms and I still question Nadiya's choreography choices.
The lack of Bruno seemed to suggest that Shirley would use the extra time to reference more steps, Craig's nitpicking would be even lengthier, and it might be worth sticking to the same order so that Darcey could pick everyone up. But, it turned out that it was in the scoring that he'd be missed.
It was wonderful to see Brendan, Neil and Pasha as Bjork!Swans, especially carrying Claudia as she did the T&Cs, but it might have been better not so near a time when the singer had been in the news alleging sexual harassment.
I was shocked that Mollie was in the death slot. Although I am 'meh' about the couple, she's in the top of the middle group of contestants. Was it because she too was battling sickness in the VW? And after seeing the routine, I am even more puzzled, because it was rather lovely. I loved the arm movements to keep the rotation going, and although her BIG FAKE SMILE was screaming that she was battling nausea more than So In Love, that was the most invested I've been in a dance of theirs, so I was pleased at their scores.
Maybe the show was trying to shake things up with the running order, because it went 'good, bad, good, bad' for a bit i.e. Simon was next. But I haven't hearted Karen Cliftton as much as this for a while (if ever): I adored her following in her sister-in-law's footsteps and geekily referencing SiTR in this routine. Sadly, Simon was no Ore, and the synchronisation was poor at times - he made a good case for being the weakest celeb left, taking all performances into account.
I generally am not going to dignify the VTs this weeks, but how this one, and, indeed, Debbie and Giovanni's relationship could be parsed...well, that deserves its own post, and I ain't going there. Debbie's fluidity was what impressed me the most about her rumba. Of course, we had the patented bit where she stuck her leg up, but Giovanni kept it simple conceptually because she's great and capable of doing the steps well, which is enough to keep you watching. Any doubts about her Latin after last week were shoved aside. Deserved return to the top of the leaderboard.
And Craig totally made up for the overload of pedantry by his impersonation of Bruno, complete with falling off his chair. That's been boiling under for years, has it not?
Now I know where Amy is from. Brian performed his jive as you’d expect, but the execution wasn't really there for me. Next to Amy, he looked lethargic and his age.
I thought Susan was fleet of foot in her cha cha (which in hindsight might be a problem), Kevin seems wedded to having her twist him. I liked the storyline (shame they didn't make it Bruno given his absence) and find her infectious, so I was disappointed she was down there with Simon and Brian.
Janette went for a contemporary, twisty take on the waltz, and I'm with Darcey about not loving that. Aston was dressed for the rumba (I don't like what he's done to his hair this week). Claudia is not letting go on the 'stop whingeing, father-to-be' tip.
Loudest reaction from me for the night was to what happened next: Anton was dancing more to the camera than with Ruth, but that's understandable. I thought Craig was right to reference the Pan-Pacifics, but apparently it was all a Latin competitions in-joke.
I am loving Gemma's development (to avoid the J-word). My big problem with the otherwise lovely, graceful foxtrot was her face, As Darcey said, she was looking upwards, and seemed to be too busy trying not to be sick/remember everything, so it felt that her body but not her head was in the dance. Surely the pros have got a fixed point they teach the celebs to stare at in the studio.
By the way, excellent use of lights and set design all show.
Joe pulled out a good, classical paso (though I agree with Craig that it was stuttery on occasion, so I thought Shirley was too generous giving out a 10 - although the pros seem to have sussed that putting in certain steps and getting their celebs to do a half-decent version will get them an extra point). Katya's make-up was again fierce and the inspiration for Joe's look seemed to be Enrique Inglesias (hairwise, certainly).
Alexandra looked amazing. As per usual she owned all the attention while simultaneously sizzling with Gorka. I wasn't looking at her feet. But as soon as we got the scores, I jotted down their number.
Jonnie got the inevitably acting coach (not buying it led to a breakthrough). There was something sweet about the dance/it's hilarious that anyone would wear Oti's outfit to a supermarket. It was zippy (I wanted to say springy too, Shirley), and more than decent, but not quite as infectious as Susan's routine if they're always going to give the glory slot to a quickstep.
So, I voted for Alexandra and Gorka, and then, after a squiz at the leaderboard and the replay of everything, for Gemma and Aljiaz, probably because I like them the most of the clump at the top of the leaderboard, although I thought Mollie improved and Jonnie is going the right way. I hope Susan and Ruth are saved, mainly for their pros’ choreography, but yeah, Debbie owned it.
Strictly Results
Sharp pro routine. Boring outfits (and another dodgy one from Shirley). Nothing much that was new from the recap.
Simon was under the red lights. Will Aston be wearing flannel next week? Will Courtney Love or Dave Grohl be there? How can a Nirvana song on Strictly not be weird?
Too much time spent looking at The Script’s lead singer when the camera could have been on Oti and Aljiaz.
We learned about ‘chassezzzz’, but it was fun to see Craig watch his Bruno impersonation back.
Gemma and Jonnie were made to suffer because their partners had been dancing, I think, and the order made perfect sense in hindsight. Susan and Ruth are more popular than the two men with the same score as them who had already been in the dance-off. Who knew?
Very excited Oti about Halloween, possibly even more excited than I am about Alexandra’s tango. Susan’s face as she learned Eamonn Holmes’s nickname for his wife was SPOT ON.
I thought it would be Simon going until they did the routines.
Honestly, I could have lived without all of that, bar Oti and Aljiaz's dance and finding out the result.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/299263.html.
At first glance, Tess, Claudia, Darcey and Shirley's outfits were great, but further inspection revealed Claudia and Shirley's ruffles. Not good.
Lots of yellow (flashing up that we'd be having 'comedy' routines from Simon and Brian, but something more electric from Alexandra). Debbie's rumba dress had the wow factor for me.
It was maybe for the best that they let Davood dance first after his undeserved appearance in the dance-off. I thought his timing was good, but he threw away his arms and I still question Nadiya's choreography choices.
The lack of Bruno seemed to suggest that Shirley would use the extra time to reference more steps, Craig's nitpicking would be even lengthier, and it might be worth sticking to the same order so that Darcey could pick everyone up. But, it turned out that it was in the scoring that he'd be missed.
It was wonderful to see Brendan, Neil and Pasha as Bjork!Swans, especially carrying Claudia as she did the T&Cs, but it might have been better not so near a time when the singer had been in the news alleging sexual harassment.
I was shocked that Mollie was in the death slot. Although I am 'meh' about the couple, she's in the top of the middle group of contestants. Was it because she too was battling sickness in the VW? And after seeing the routine, I am even more puzzled, because it was rather lovely. I loved the arm movements to keep the rotation going, and although her BIG FAKE SMILE was screaming that she was battling nausea more than So In Love, that was the most invested I've been in a dance of theirs, so I was pleased at their scores.
Maybe the show was trying to shake things up with the running order, because it went 'good, bad, good, bad' for a bit i.e. Simon was next. But I haven't hearted Karen Cliftton as much as this for a while (if ever): I adored her following in her sister-in-law's footsteps and geekily referencing SiTR in this routine. Sadly, Simon was no Ore, and the synchronisation was poor at times - he made a good case for being the weakest celeb left, taking all performances into account.
I generally am not going to dignify the VTs this weeks, but how this one, and, indeed, Debbie and Giovanni's relationship could be parsed...well, that deserves its own post, and I ain't going there. Debbie's fluidity was what impressed me the most about her rumba. Of course, we had the patented bit where she stuck her leg up, but Giovanni kept it simple conceptually because she's great and capable of doing the steps well, which is enough to keep you watching. Any doubts about her Latin after last week were shoved aside. Deserved return to the top of the leaderboard.
And Craig totally made up for the overload of pedantry by his impersonation of Bruno, complete with falling off his chair. That's been boiling under for years, has it not?
Now I know where Amy is from. Brian performed his jive as you’d expect, but the execution wasn't really there for me. Next to Amy, he looked lethargic and his age.
I thought Susan was fleet of foot in her cha cha (which in hindsight might be a problem), Kevin seems wedded to having her twist him. I liked the storyline (shame they didn't make it Bruno given his absence) and find her infectious, so I was disappointed she was down there with Simon and Brian.
Janette went for a contemporary, twisty take on the waltz, and I'm with Darcey about not loving that. Aston was dressed for the rumba (I don't like what he's done to his hair this week). Claudia is not letting go on the 'stop whingeing, father-to-be' tip.
Loudest reaction from me for the night was to what happened next: Anton was dancing more to the camera than with Ruth, but that's understandable. I thought Craig was right to reference the Pan-Pacifics, but apparently it was all a Latin competitions in-joke.
I am loving Gemma's development (to avoid the J-word). My big problem with the otherwise lovely, graceful foxtrot was her face, As Darcey said, she was looking upwards, and seemed to be too busy trying not to be sick/remember everything, so it felt that her body but not her head was in the dance. Surely the pros have got a fixed point they teach the celebs to stare at in the studio.
By the way, excellent use of lights and set design all show.
Joe pulled out a good, classical paso (though I agree with Craig that it was stuttery on occasion, so I thought Shirley was too generous giving out a 10 - although the pros seem to have sussed that putting in certain steps and getting their celebs to do a half-decent version will get them an extra point). Katya's make-up was again fierce and the inspiration for Joe's look seemed to be Enrique Inglesias (hairwise, certainly).
Alexandra looked amazing. As per usual she owned all the attention while simultaneously sizzling with Gorka. I wasn't looking at her feet. But as soon as we got the scores, I jotted down their number.
Jonnie got the inevitably acting coach (not buying it led to a breakthrough). There was something sweet about the dance/it's hilarious that anyone would wear Oti's outfit to a supermarket. It was zippy (I wanted to say springy too, Shirley), and more than decent, but not quite as infectious as Susan's routine if they're always going to give the glory slot to a quickstep.
So, I voted for Alexandra and Gorka, and then, after a squiz at the leaderboard and the replay of everything, for Gemma and Aljiaz, probably because I like them the most of the clump at the top of the leaderboard, although I thought Mollie improved and Jonnie is going the right way. I hope Susan and Ruth are saved, mainly for their pros’ choreography, but yeah, Debbie owned it.
Strictly Results
Sharp pro routine. Boring outfits (and another dodgy one from Shirley). Nothing much that was new from the recap.
Simon was under the red lights. Will Aston be wearing flannel next week? Will Courtney Love or Dave Grohl be there? How can a Nirvana song on Strictly not be weird?
Too much time spent looking at The Script’s lead singer when the camera could have been on Oti and Aljiaz.
We learned about ‘chassezzzz’, but it was fun to see Craig watch his Bruno impersonation back.
Gemma and Jonnie were made to suffer because their partners had been dancing, I think, and the order made perfect sense in hindsight. Susan and Ruth are more popular than the two men with the same score as them who had already been in the dance-off. Who knew?
Very excited Oti about Halloween, possibly even more excited than I am about Alexandra’s tango. Susan’s face as she learned Eamonn Holmes’s nickname for his wife was SPOT ON.
I thought it would be Simon going until they did the routines.
Honestly, I could have lived without all of that, bar Oti and Aljiaz's dance and finding out the result.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/299263.html.