Happy for Rika even though she fell on the 3A - one day it will come and that combo also. I am also quite impressed with the development of her performance side, much more mature than last year! Very pleased that she is still in contention for those GPF spots!!
Both Russian girls had some issues with choreo. Fedichkina looked like she forgot what she was supposed to do somewhere in the latter part and had no proper exits from jumps for awhile. But this was the first Lalaland cut that I actually liked - it did not make her look like she was skating slowmo as most others who have chosen the uptempo bits of the OST. Panenkova took on a piece of music she is far, far, far too young to do and the choreo did not help her, particularly in the first part when she looked like the 14-year-old she is having a fight about a phone with her mom and not a person fighting to keep their relationship together. It was hilarious in a very, very bad way. I also think that Trusova and Taranakova look much better at this stage.
Emmy Ma was a nice new face to see - her performance skills are obviously very good, but she maybe should tone down a bit because I felt she was overdoing it most of the time. Also, she drops the character completely to prepare for jumps and then goes back in right after and the difference is way too big to look very good (at least on camera, might work better live). Overall liked her a lot, though.
E