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.)

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.

This is very true. There's one guy I'm rooting against, but I can't even work up much dislike for him (Angelo). There's nobody I'm particularly pulling for at this point.

I can't stand Angelo! I hope they are selectively editing him because if he is that way in real life, I'd want to kick him.

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.

Yes.

I feel the same way about Top Chef, although some more personalities may get clearer when the crowd thins a bit more.

The baby food thing was weird -- I had the same thought, Jess.

Work of Art: Miles is getting more annoying. And I call bullshit on the judges' love of his piece. If you didn't know what the challenge was, there's no way you were getting "oasis in chaos" from that piece. The oasis, sure, but where did he actually represent the noise and rush of the city around it? The two wooden ... things? I thought their praise was absurd.

Also, the editing is weird - normally when a chef says something like "MY SCALLOPS ARE ALWAYS 100% PURE AWESOME AND EVERYONE LOVES THEM" you know it's a lead-up to a judge saying "Man, these are the worst scallops I've ever had!"

But this season it seems like they've just been dropping in those comments at random with no follow through.

I also thought it was weird that the winner was chosen from the bottom three teams.