I understand what you are saying but not sure i totally agree. I like it when a skater has ideas of his own and is brave enough to stick to those ideas. We have too many similar programs (Hallelujahs too!) chosen only because skaters or their teams think it would please people and judges. Mika's last season programs were controversial in a sense too but they stood out and there were plenty of people who loved them. Would Mika have won so many fans with some war horses however pleasing it could be? I doubt it.
I am a bit confused about his LP but I'd wait to see it skated clean. I watched on purpose a bit of Cirque du Soleil on Sky Arts and I must say there is plenty of more interesting music there to choose from (though I hate circus myself and always hated even as a child) tbh I don't know how they managed to find such pieces at all.

I actively do not like the middle part of the program I'd go that far but if Mika feels it is right for him - that's all that matters. Interestingly BESP commentators were quite complimentary. Catherine (who is this new lady BTW?) said that she enjoyed the program up to the fall on the lutz. She criticised choreo of quite a number of skaters - constructively I must say but she didn't say anything negative about his LP. But about his sp both Simon Reed & herself were very vocal how the music is very Russian and works well for Russian audience but would not work same way in other parts of the world (I smiled remembering how crowd in Boston enthusiastically clapped along!

) As a topic his LP is not good only becouse it is in the same genre as the sp. I think the original idea was good, to try something new in the sp and stay in the comfort zone in the lp as to allow to add second quad into it. But thanks to Lakernik & Co we have what we have.