The judges are all over the place tonight. I loved them getting called out by Cat for their overpraising of José.

Oh no, Alex. My heart is breaking. It was those fucking flexed feet jumps. I can totally see how that could seriously mess you up, especially for a ballet dancer who is usually all about points.

If this is as bad as it seems right now, I am probably not going to forgive this show. This, exactly, is why people don't want quote unquote serious dancers to do shows like this. Each of these genres of dance normally takes years of training to get to these levels. I don't know that some of this stuff can be learned safely in the span of time we're talking about, especially not with the style and choreography all being learned in one go.

I'm just heartsick. I may feel differently about it later. But achilles is a bad injury, one that will almost certainly have long-term ramifications. I say this, with a sprained ankle, one of my many chronic sprained ankles that are almost certainly a product of my childhood years of dance.

I do not hope Alex returns. The absolute best case scenario for him is for him to rest his injury and try to recover fully for the rest of his career.

I have little to say about the other dances, and of course I'm still seeing them chopped up. But Lauren did pretty well for me tonight. She and Kent were uber cute. And ah, look, first kiss on national television.

Ashley is a complete washout for me. I'm glad she finally had to do something other than contemporary, but I don't think she pulled it off at all, really. I'm sick of seeing Robert's cheesy face, and yeah, I do feel like he comes off arrogant. But worse, he comes off fake. No time for it.

Adéchiké consistently does better for me than the judges rate him. I still like him, and hope he gets the bugs worked out because when he's full out he's a hell of a dancer.

But then, so is Billy and somehow he's still a disappointment to me this season. Time I admitted it.

Jose is still cute but way over his head. I don't know. Everyone just pales in the face of Alex's injury. If I don't have him to cheer for, I don't know who I'm advocating.

Everyone just pales in the face of Alex's injury. If I don't have him to cheer for, I don't know who I'm advocating.

This. Can I just call in and vote for Alex anyway? Write in vote? C'mon, people.

Yeah, exactly. Under the old rules I could pity vote and I would totes pity vote him to the win.

The loss of Alex has so discombobulated this show that TBC was the best of the night. That's just wrong. And I'll just echo Liese here and say once again, frikkin' chireographers. That jump sequence should not have been in the routine. Period. It would have been very difficult for even a trained Bollywood specialist to pull off let alone a novice to the style. You didn't see Nakul demonstrating that shit during the backstage clips, did you? Exactly.

I'm not really invested in these other kids, but since they danced, here goes:

Tops of the night

TBC - Well, fuck. TBC kind of turned it out again this week. The cha cha with Pasha was fun and sexy, if a little bit slow. And there were a couple missed hand connections, but I believe that's the best ballroom we've seen this season. And her body is sick. What? The contemporary with Kent was everything. TBC was heaven in that. The floor work was sensational. Really great choreography from the Peanut. (And for the most part, good choreo on the night) Snaps to TBC, and somebody in production must like her because her hair and make up were not hideous.

Kent - Speaking of that contempo, the Wapokeneta kid was second best on the night. He partnered Lauren really well through all those lifts, something he really struggled with in his routine with Allison. He was totally focused on and connected to her, no mugging for the camera. Good musicality and solid technique as always. Crazy then that TBC still outdanced him. His hip hop with Comfort was also really good. Super smart choreography from Dave Scott, too. It was a perfect choice to give Kent that smoothed out, JT-fied boy band hip hop. And Kent killed it. Seriously, the first time I've ever gotten even a hint of a sexy vibe from him. And he kept up well with Comfort, who is as Nigel noted tearing it up as the resident girl hip hop all star. There was a little mugging and some fakery, but solid job overall. Kent had a really good night.

Billy - I thought Billy also had a really solid night. His broadway with Katee was heaven. Cats! I love Spencer Liff. I hope Tasty broadway is gone forever. It was a fun routine. The choreo did in fact sit well on him. And that fool's feet? Insane! Toe point of the gods, y'all. On his African jazz with Jose, well, I was in Camp Mia. Before I get into that, I have to just restate African jazz is a thing whichos not a thing and the show should just step away from African dance as they don't know what it is, what it means, or what it looks like when done well. Most especially Mia, who really needs to shut it down. Umm, where was I? Oh, yeah. I was gonna talk about how I agreed with Mia here about Billy's performance. That sequence of poses where he was circling Jose stopping every 4 beats or so and getting into some physically impossible configuration in a deep plié in second with more turn out than god? Just oh my stars! The whole snake/iguana vibe was the fault of the crackwhores putting him in that hideous black and white unitard, but his movement quality was very sinuous and feline. Well done.

Middle Of the Road

Ashley - As always, she was just kind of there, not horribly inoffensive but not outrageously memorable either. It's weird because objectively, she's a beautiful dancer, but from a performance standpoint, she's such an empty vessel. The NappyTab routine is a perfect example. It was a great piece even though it kills me to say it about those two clowns' work, and How Low is a really fun club banger. And she hit hard, displayed nifty skills in both booty popping and stripper splits, and she got the character. But it was all so very boring. The Quickstep with Robert was terrible, but that wasn't her fault. Her frame was solid and she did a good job following a really bad lead whichos not easy for a novice ballroom dancer. Her footwork was sharp, yeah overall good. Still, I wish the show would stop trying to make this girl happen. She's not going to happen.

Robert - Yep, I had him in my #5 slot, which puts me on the wrong side of many Buffistas. I thought he was very good in his first dance with Kathryn. The choreography was so clever and inventive. The work in the box was killer, especially when they climbed the plastic to get out. It's hard to make that look like dancing and not like rock climbing! The lifts were iffy (None of these guys seems to possess that skill) but for me he was dancing more into the floor and grounded then ever. And since he was playing something fake and plastic, the mugging worked for once. And yeah, he was awful in the quickstep, terrible frame and the arthritic, lobster claw hands were killing me. But the worst was that one sad little foot hanging out during those attitude turns. Heinous. Still, one good routine and one bad this week puts him above both Jose and Adechike whose two returns were not of the good.

Bottom Two

Jose - Never Tear Us Apart? Oh, Mandy. You came and you gave without taking. Jose was really not good in this, not that the judges seem to care. The flexed feet where pointed feet were called for . . . Yeah, no. And here's an example of where a choreographer crafted a piece seeking to minimize the dancer's weaknesses in an entirely new/unfamiliar way but did it poorly, managing instead to call attention to the dancer's lack of ability rather than to mask it. See also Mia's contemporary for Cedric and Shauna. Stand around and then walk and then pick the girl up and toss her does not a solid routine make. Mandy should see Dave Scott to find out how it should be done. If possible, his performance in the second routine was worse than the first. Sean Chessman did not dumb down the choreo to cater to Jose, and Billy was serving in both performance and technique. He took Jose to school. I wish the judges would stop treating him like the misguided mom on the field trip who attempts to "help" the student with identified special needs by babying him outrageously. Don't be that mom, judges.

Adechike - Were the judges harsh? Yes. Unnecessarily so, especially given the way they give passes to other dancers who e done far worse? Yes, most assuredly. Having acknowledged that, I feel I have to hold his feet to the fire. The opening Jazz routine with Coutney was lacking. Mandy had an off night, even with INXS. I kept wondering when they were actually going to start dancing as Courtney writhed around on the bar and Adechike walked around aimlessly. The side-by-side choreo was neither demanding nor particularly creative. And Courtney's gold lame number was a crime against humanity. And the Bollywood was sloppy and not of the good. There were a couple of times where it looked like Adecjike was doing the Running Man or the Roger Rabbit or something. Perhaps that's what Mia meant by "african" the judges double standard for Jose is wrong. Doesn't change the fact that h this was bad.

Going Home

Despite only ranking him second last, I would like to see n Jose go home. He's just in over his head right now.

Oh, Alex. I am heartbroken.

Top Chef is odd this season - I've been enjoying the challenges, but the casting is so blah I don't have much to say about the show.

(I will say that Padma, your 2 month-old should not be eating solids yet. And Tom's 8 month-old is probably already on to soft finger foods. So neither of your children are eating purees out of a jar, but nice try anyway.)