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I find myself in an area here that I never thought I'd be found in, but nonetheless I feel I have to defend Apolo/Julianne here. As a read of any of my past posts about Apolo can tell you, I'm not a fan (thought not a hater, either), and after reading some things about him pre-premier that showed he could indeed be a bit arrogant at times, I went into season 4 willing to give him a fair chance but no more than that, and was ready to pounce upon the first indicator of a self-righteous attitude that he displayed.Originally Posted by Oceansands;2378151;
However, I can honestly say that I've seen no snippet or shadow of that kind of attitude from him yet. In fact, I've been reluctantly impressed with his attitude of knowing he has lots to learn and being willing to learn those lessons from both Julianne and the judges. Nor have I seen any sign of sanctimony from Julianne. And I have seen improvement each week from their team, sometimes just a little, sometimes more, but always a bit better each week. (Okay, he still hasn't learned to close his mouth when performing, but I'm keeping my hopes up for that) I personally felt that neither of their dances this week was their best, and I also feel they were scored a bit too high on both of them, but I also believe the music played a part of that in that I don't think Julianne's choreography counterpointed it as well as it should have. But I don't know if anyone else could have choreographed any better to something like Clementine (what the heck?
). Are Apolo and Julianne's team the most improved? I really have no idea. Did they come out of the gate as "the best"? I honestly don't think so, but there's plenty of room for debate about that. But I will have to stick up for them in that I've seen only a good attitude from both of them regarding the judge's criticisms and how they then take and learn from that. (This defense of Apolo in no way takes away my still wanting to rip that flap of fur from under his lip every time I look at him though
)
As for who tries hardest to improve each week, that's all pretty debatable at this point also. Personally, I don't think Ian tries that hard to improve -- I think he acts harder at acting like he's trying, but I don't see anything genuine from him yet. I do get the feeling Joey is working harder to improve now than he did in the first few episodes, so good on him. And Laila? She works hard each week, I can tell that, but a strong work ethic is part of her base character as shown by how hard she's worked at her profession. But to be honest, this week and part of last week I keep getting a mild feeling that she really isn't improving much now. She's good -- not great, but good. And she's improved much since episode 1. But I tend to agree with whoever above said that it's like Maks isn't pushing her hard enough, or either she's gotten to a point where she feels she's 'got it', or whatever. But this week they really seemed to be coasting on leftover lessons, to me. I think she needs to bring something new to the floor now.
And finally... I guess that's part of the fun of DWtS, is how each viewer sees thier own participation level in it. Some viewers feel votes should be cast in a very strict sense, as in who performed each dance with less mistakes, kept truest to the dance, etc. Some viewers feel votes should be cast for whoever improves the most from week to week. Some viewers feel votes should be cast for whoever is the most entertaining. Some viewers feel votes should be cast for just whoever they like the best, irregardless of dance performance. And the thing is, all those schools of thought are welcomed by ABC and DWtS producers. And by now, any seasoned viewer of the show knows it and has learned to accept it, even though it may be frustrating to some at times. It was frustrating to me at the end of season 1 when I learned not to expect a status quo in voting, but since then I don't even bother caring who actually wins, I just watch for the fun and joy of watching the dancing and some lower grade stars in a fun venue, and I've enjoyed watching it that way. (I'm a little ticked at DWtS producers for wasting one of the star slots with a gimmick this season, but that's another story, and I'll live).
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