I finally got to watch the free dance last night. Meryl & Charlie were wonderful as usual. Their free dance this season is like the perfect synthesis of emotion & athleticism in dance. It's even more athletic and technically impressive than last year's FD, and still wonderfully passionate and rather thrilling to watch. I really hope they will reclaim the gold at Worlds this year. I think the key for them is what Tracy Wilson mentioned--finding and amplifying those softer, more tender moments in the music. Meryl & Charlie always dazzle with their technical brilliance, but adding that layer of intimacy could put them over the top (I hope).
As to the other teams . . . Aside from Meryl & Charlie, my favorites were Madison Hubbell & Zach Donohue. I just love their flamenco program. It has such drama, such intensity. I thought they skated it really, really well; definitely their best performance so far this season. I'm sad they didn't make the podium and the World team. Reviewing the protocols, it appears they lost GOE points on the lifts versus C/B and S/S. Also both step sequences were Level 3, while the other two teams each got Level 4 for one sequence. I will assume the tech specialists/judges got this right. However, I feel they could have been rewarded more highly in PCS, esp. in the P, C, and I marks. Also in T. I think the choreography of the program is gorgeous, and there are a ton of transitions and very few crossovers. I just find them immensely enjoyable to watch. I hope they won't be too discouraged by this setback.
Lynn & Logan were pleasant to watch. But the Adele program is just too typical and too lightweight, especially judged against their close competitors' programs. To break through, they need to be much more innovative & daring, IMO.
The Shibutanis definitely performed the Geisha free dance very well. As with H/D, it was easily their best performance of the season. However, ultimately I find this FD just boring and uninspiring. It's all very lovely, but it doesn't go beyond that. It doesn't say anything. I have been always been such a fan of Maia & Alex, but I feel like they need to make some pretty big changes. Something isn't working. The programs this season aren't good, they haven't really been skating well, and they're losing so much ground in placements/reputation. I don't know what is wrong. Obviously they need better programs, but I think it's more than that. The difficulty in finding programs that work for them is perhaps pointing to some more fundamental issue. I have to admit, in the past I never thought their sibling relationship was a problem. But now I'm beginning to wonder a bit. Either way, I feel sad, because I do like them a lot, and they're so talented.
The placement I can't understand is Chock & Bates. Yes, they scored well on the lifts and step sequences, and I'll assume that is correct. But to me, the basic skating and choreography of this program was not that impressive, and I'm just very surprised they won the silver. I felt like there were a lot of crossovers and two-foot skating in the program. Artistically it was okay, but nothing outstanding, and it just didn't seem as difficult or challenging as H/D's flamenco routine, for example. To me, C/B lacked both the smoothness of the Shibs and Lynn/Logan and the interest and passion of H/D. I'm really not too happy about them winning silver.
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