It was kind of an weird competition. Strange programs, unexpected injury problem with the Shibs.
I like the concept and choreography of V/M's Carmen. It's weird and dark, but so innovative. I love the creativity. I love that they're getting out of their winsome, romantic comfort zone. However, after seeing it twice, my opinion is this program is straining the limit of V/M's technical abilities. It's not smooth, it's not fast. Those lifts are amazing--but you can feel the difficulty and challenge of getting in and out of them. I thought their whole performance, both here and at SC, was fascinating but ragged. Rough around the edges. In a way this isn't surprising, V/M have had a slow start to their season the last few years, so maybe they will have it polished for Worlds. And, for another opinion on the program, I had my husband watch it with me last night. He didn't care for it too much--he thought it went a bit too far and and was "vulgar" (with the thigh-grabbing, etc.).
I/K's Ghost is terrible; they were totally overscored. I don't mind the costumes or the concept of a Ghost program, but the dialogue is terrible, the whole dance didn't look particularly difficult, and Elena falls on footwork. I find this team just hugely overrated, they have yet to do a single program that I find impressive. Nikita is a good dancer and should be featured more; I really have strong doubts about Elena's basic skating abilities. Yes she is hot, but so what. This is not a beauty contest, or it shouldn't be, anyway. They got homer scores but I don't think this dance is going to hold up as the season goes on. When they're up against more lateral competition (B/S, W/P, P/B), I think they will sink below those teams (or I hope so anyway). (The Shibs don't really count as lateral here because of the bizarre injury problem.)
Sinitsina/Zhiganshin are okay, I'm not as excited about them as others seem to be. Sinitsina is definitely a good performer, but in that typical Russian diva mode, which I find rather boring at this point. The program is also entirely typical, there is not one innovative thing about it. Tanith commented on Universal Sports that there was a lot of sloppiness in their skating, and I agree with this.
I am heartbroken for the Shibs, what a disastrous competition for them. I hope they can recover by NHK but if not, perhaps it would be better to withdraw and focus on Nationals as Mrs. P said. Their spot on the World team is looking more vulnerable than I would have thought possible. And their world standing just took another big hit. I like the Geisha free dance and think it might be really good if they could perform it well, but the low levels they received in both dances really worry me.
Now that I've seen all programs from the Zoueva group, I actually feel a bit angry. It seems clear that once again, V/M got Zoueva's best effort by far. Meryl & Charlie and the Shibs got the leftovers, creatively. There have been rumors for so long that Marina favors V/M, and I am now more inclined than ever to believe it. I think D/W and the Shibs should at least give some serious consideration to another coach next season.