“Dance Moms: The Beginning of the End” Recap

January 1, 2013

Say what you will about “Dance Moms” (After blogging about it for several years now, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard it all), but I’m still as hooked as I was during the first episode of Season 1. The girls, the moms, Abby’s incredibly uncensored mouth…How could I resist tuning in for Season 3? Plus, last season’s finale left us with so many unanswered questions. Mainly, will Brooke and Paige come back?

Read on for my three most awesome—and three most awkward—moments of this week’s episode.

 

AWKWARD
Brooke and Paige do not come back. We still watch them eat breakfast and stuff though, so something tells me they’ll try to make a comeback at some point. Auditions to replace them went great—besides the fact that all the girls were twice as old and twice as good as the girls already on the team. Oh and remember when Abby used her catchphrase from “Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition” to cut a girl? “Today is not your day.” Caught that, Abby. I know you’re super famous now, but let’s try to remember which show we’re on.

AWESOME
13-year-old Ally (the Paige-and-Brooke replacement) is great. She seems mature, technically amazing and has a positive, respectful attitude. But brace yourselves for her mom Shelly, because she’s…also really great. Wait, what’s going on here? Is this still “Dance Moms”? I guess we’ll just have to leave it to the other moms to crush Shelly and Ally’s souls until they snap. I’m sure it won’t take long.

AWKWARD
Kendall is the first to find out she has a solo, so Mom Jill runs to the dressing room to rub it in the other moms’ faces. Good move. Turns out, everyone but Nia and Ally get a solo in the end. Way to count your chickens, Jill. Kendall may have been showing up for rehearsals all summer, but it looks like she may have skipped those technique classes. She cries about how mean Abby was, Abby yells at her for crying, and things fall apart. At least she’s not on probation this season…

AWESOME
I love this group number. “Angel and Demons” deserved that first place win. OK, we’ve seen themes like this before, but I still have to hand it to Abby—everything from the cool choreo to the costumes to the casting (sorry Chloe) was flawless.

AWKWARD
Justice is gone! What will ALDC’s rival studio Candy Apples do? Studio owner Cathy’s daughter Vivi seems devastated about the loss of her dance partner. Just kidding, Vivi doesn’t show any emotion. Then Vivi gets kicked off the team by her own mother. She seems devastated. Got you again; she didn’t care at all. Now Cathy’s creating an all-boys team. If nothing else, this will certainly be interesting.

AWESOME
Chloe’s solo “Nobody’s Perfect.” Chloe is a champ. Ally may have stolen her part in the group dance, but she handled it like a grown up and then kicked butt when she took the stage alone. Oh right, that’s why she’s the national title winner. This girl’s got it. Mark my words: This season, Chloe’s the new Maddie.

 

Oh yeah, and because I can’t NOT mention this, the most AWKWARD, most uncomfortable moment of the episode:

Abby leaves the competition to go on a date! I think I’m in shock.

 

And finally, the QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“You were just a dumb little kid, doing your thing, with a sister who was amazing.” —Abby to Mackenzie

Agree to disagree on that one, Abby. Mac has always been amazing. And now she’s old enough to have braces? I’ve got to say, she totally pulls them off.

I think little Mac says it best: “Haha Abby, I won anyways.”

 

Fess up, did you watch? And what did you think? Let me know in the comments below, and I’ll be back with another recap next week.