I agree, she did so much better. Often scoring discrepencies arise when there is strong emphasis on artistry. There is a direct correlation between artistic integrity and lower scores. A closer look at Take Five will tell us more.
Brubeck emphasized that Take Five, together with the other songs in his album "Time Out," were written to extend jazz into time signatures not previously used. He thought of it as a pioneering composition, as an attempt to advance jazz metrically. To him, the whole point of Take Five was making music to measures with 5 beats (instead of with the usual 2, 3 or 4 beats). That is why you hear the "one-two-three, one-two" rhythm repeated throughout the piece in the string bass and piano. If you don't make the 5 beat bars central to playing or hearing Take Five, then you miss Brubeck's purpose.
Nastya's entire choreo (except when setting up elements) is based on 5 beat phrases broken into 3+2. Brubeck would love her work because she goes right to the heart of his music. And with imagination. She's not just marching to an endless series of 3+2. Her movement also reflects other notes that we hear, and mood. Anyone who thinks this is simple should try moving in 3+2, and then add movement that fits the other notes into this 5 beat base, and do it with beauty and style. In fact, it is so difficult that she deserves a huge score for creativity. But she gets nothing special. Maybe the judges don't understand the music, so her movement seems to lack meaning (in which case her artistic score might actually be lowered!). Maybe it's of little importance to them. If Brubeck were on the panel he would shower her with praise and reward her with a perfect score for artistic integrity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWM9LKK8P0I
Watch Chan's version from 2012. You will be hard put to find any repetitions of the 5 beat core. It could have been Take Two, or Three, or Four, ... However graceful his movement and cool his gestures, Chan's Take Five contained little of Brubeck's Take Five. He cuts the corners and reaps the rewards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GZo-WpSqcI
Nastya is a natural musician. She connects with music from inside and spares no effort to communicate its message. Others are natural athletes and jumpers, that's where they invest most of their time. Jumpers are often graceful, but their performances are not especially musical. Figure skating is primarily a sport. At the end of the day, the biggest rewards go to the best athletes.
Merry Christmas to all.