What is fascinating is going back to live-watch threads for the 2018 team event, both here and elsewhere, and see what nearly everyone thought at the time of Patrick's and Mikhail's scores for what they put out on the ice. It wasn't kind or pretty.
Time does blur the memory, in some cases softening memories...
the competition threads are rarely a place where people praise judges with their scoring
I watched the top 3 again. Adam was the cleanest but his program was much less difficult, without quads.. and we all know how to score big in the LP : bringing out the quads.
Mika definitely tried his best but none of his quad attempts were successful. His performance was also flatter than usual.
Patrick started with two gorgeously landed quads... Yes, he did double his 3a next.. but recuperated his EU 3S combo with brio on the following lutz. the 3a was his most obvious mistake with a fall, then he had a small touch of hand on the 3L... but the flip was gorgeous and again, he added the 2t that was planned elsewhere. Despite the jumping errors, which were not as disastrous as Kolyada's, he stayed in connection with the program. Great spins and sequences.
As for the comments, if you check this link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASr2NRVut3M you will see so many positive comments about Patrick's skating and performance. Usually, youtube comments are not that friendly and positive...Reading them reminded me that there are places that are very harsh on some skaters... and as a fan of Patrick, I can tell you that GS is not where he gets praised the most... but that's okay ... I deal with it.