The Television Column: DWTS Week 2

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In previous seasons, after the premiere episode the contestants would get thrown into the complex, fast-paced and steamy Latin Night. As fun as it sounds, Latin Night tended to come too early into the season and it never turned out to be as great as it sounded. Thank you DWTS gods for hearing our prayers regarding  Latin Night in Week 2 –  That said, I hope it doesn’t mean that we don’t get Latin Night at all #Fingerscrossed.  TV night replaced Latin Night, where the couples danced to TV theme songs. There were a variety of shows that ranged from shows that ended before I was born, some that are still on air and others somewhere in the middle; such as: The Brady Bunch, Family Matters, Game of Thrones, One Tree Hill, The Walking Dead, X-Files etc Enough about other shows, here’s my breakdown of the night:
Biggest surprise of the night 

Vanilla Ice and Witney Carson’s Married with Children themed Foxtrot was a surprise for me. Wait, hear me out. This foxtrot proved that Vanilla Ice has potential to nail the technical moves in ballroom dance and not just cover it up with hip hop moves. Witney definitely gave Len what he wanted by including lots of Foxtrot content, and I must add she looked good as Peg Bundy. Vanilla Ice is fun to watch, he has energy and really knows how to put on a show. I did not find myself cringing at that dance, that’s a good thing.

He’s here to have fun. Judges’ score: 26 out of 30

Highest scored couple

Week 2 and Laurie Hernandez is still at the top of the leaderboard. I wonder if every week her name fits this section of my recap (I know, I know, something mysterious will happen a couple of weeks from now that’ll make Laurie surprisingly not top anymore, then she’ll make her come back closer to finale, and then win. I know how it all works). Anyway, Laurie Hernandez and Val Chmerkovskiy’s DuckTales Jive was fun and energetic. I have never seen DuckTales so i couldn’t relate but Laurie keeps getting better and stealing the show.
Julianne called her Disney’s Beyonce – you go girl!  Judges’ score: 32 out of 40
Second lowest scored couple
Rick Perry and Emma Slater got the lowest score of the night but because they got the “Biased review of the night” spot, I decided to elaborate on another duo.
The lucky dance goes to … Jake Austin and Jenna Johnson’s Go, Diego, Go! inspired Cha-Cha-Cha. Fun fact (at least for me): Jake was the voice of Diego in this Cartoon when he was 9, #tbt.
Watching this was so awkward, so I laughed all through. I had high hopes for this duo especially because this is Jenna’s first season as a pro and she is such an amazing dancer. Jake seems to have good moves and potential but again, he was ahead of the music. He seems to be passionate about learning to dance but they need to work on their partnership and chemistry. The scores were a bit high in my opinion. I wonder if they’ll be the first couple to be eliminated.
Why not Wizards of Waverly Place? #NoDiegoNo. Judges’ score: 24 out of 40. 
Most impressive couple 
Terra Jole and Sasha Farber’s Bewitched Quickstep was impressive for a couple of reasons. The major reason was the anticipated challenge of them being in hold because of their height difference (Terra: 4’2″ and Sasha: 5’7″). However, they made it work and their dance was way better than last week’s. The judges raved about this performance, and Julianne further commented that it was the best frame and her best dance of the night!
I honestly couldn’t stop awwing and wowing during this performance; I even gave a standing O (ask my roommate).  The dance was so magical, light and so much fun. Sasha’s choreo, their partnership and their dancing, makes my heart happy. I expect to see this duo in the ballroom for much longer. This was also easily the moment of the night. 
According to Len, diamonds come in small packages. Judges’ score: 31 out of 40
My biased review of the night
Couldn’t help but smile through Rick Perry and Emma Slater’s Green Acres themed Quickstep. The Quickstep was ironically quite slow and stiff, but the choreography and Rick’s execution of the dance was so much fun to watch. It felt like i did not have to hold my breath for Rick and Emma. This duo still has more work to do but dwts is a marathon and not a sprint, so there’s no rush. Attitude indeed goes a long way, and Emma has a special choreographing skill. I loved it.
Making progress, slowly but surely. Judges’ score: 22 out of 40
That’s it for tonight. The scores and votes from last week will be combined with those from tonight. The couple with the lowest combine score will be eliminated on Tuesday’s results show. I wonder which couple leaves first.
 
 
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