I was sad to see the trouble Shen and Zhao had too; they're one of my favourite pairs teams, and it was a real *ouch* to see not only the fall, but how long it took him to really get back into the program.
I was really surprised to see the judges put them in first place (at that point) over L/A, who I thought had a really terrific skate with lots of fire, and well-executed elements. But I've read the previous comments and know that there is a lot of dissention on this topic, LOL.
Zhang and Zhang - WOW!!! Barb Underhill wasn't kidding when she said their elements were "explosive". That double twist was absolutely incredible - what height, and as Rosaleen said, "hang time"! You could hear the audience gasp when they did it.
I've never been a big T/M fan, but I thought their SP had really nice flow; they went from element to element seamlessly, and I had a really good sense of them skating a real *program*, and not just ticking off elements one by one. I'm not sure I'm describing this right, but I was impressed by their skate, and thought they deserved to win the SP.
All in all, I was really impressed by the pairs last night, and by how many clean programs there were! Lots to choose from... I was sure glad I wasn't a judge on that panel!
I'm really looking forward to the FS!!
. They've timed their elements very well to the music. Their elements are very well placed. I was using hyperbole when I said they had no choreo, but they have very little, but they have almost no transitions. Their long telegraphing on most of their elements is also vexing. 
I miss Cotton Club already.
