There's been so much nastiness from Abby Lee Miller on this season (the longest ever it seems!) of Dance Moms, I guess Lifetime wanted to bring back Kathy and the Candy Apples for some unrelated drama.
The episode begins with Abby revealing that she would be bringing in a new girl named Fallon who shined at one of her open auditions. Fallon and mom Cheryl arrive as Abby corrals all of the dancers and moms for the pyramid. Abby does introductions, and Cheryl's face looks like it can't move. The moms look defeated as usual, and Abby laments how difficult it is to build an entire new team. Kalani is out because mother Kira didn't abide by Abby's rules, which apparently is never say that your daughter can beat Maddie.
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Kendall is at the bottom of the pyramid for her ninth place finish, followed by Chloe who, while making the top three in the improv competition. spent too much time doing turns. Nia rounds out the bottom tier. MacKenzie is in third for her wonderful facial expressions in the group number. Fallon is in the second spot, and all of the mothers are up at arms. Holly wonders why Fallon is on the pyramid since she didn't perform the previous week, and Cheryl thanks Abby for this wonderful opportunity. Shockingly, Maddie is on the top, and Abby praises her for her best performance ever. Blah, blah, blah. Lather, rinse, repeat.
The girls will be traveling to Toledo where they will come in contact with Kathy's Candy Apples. The ALDC is going for their tenth consecutive win, and Abby warns them that she'll make their lives miserable if they lose (or more miserable than she already does, I guess). MacKenzie will be learning the choreography for the group number, but because the piece is so mature, she may not participate in the actual dance. Fallon gets a solo, as does Kendall. Abby wants Kendall to redeem herself from the ninth place disaster or she can kiss solos good-bye forever. Jill reminds Abby that Kendall isn't perfect which is met with contention, so she quickly changes her tune and inquires about Abby's mom. Jill suggests that the girls go down to the nursing home to cheer up the residents. Abby loves that Jill can go from complaining to kissing up in record time. In the viewing room, the moms grill Cheryl on her age and whether she's had a boob job. Mid-forties and no. Yeah, right.
In Ohio, Kathy is working with her new crew and new choreographer. That sounds about right. Meanwhile, Jill is worried that Fallon is Kendall 2.0, but Cheryl thinks that Abby wants to see how quickly Fallon can pick up on the routine. Abby takes the girls to the hospice care facility where her mother is residing, and I am terrified of the Baby taxidermy staring at her from the bed. All dogs go to heaven, but not all dogs should be stuffed. The girls entertain the home with some fabulous dancing, and both the participants and the audience seem to benefit from the day. Did I just see Abby's mother holding hands with a gentleman in the audience? Back at the studio, Melissa is leading the charge that Cheryl is much older than she says she is while Abby chastises Fallon for forgetting the choreography for her solo. Fallon will be competing against Kathy's Gavin. I'll give it to Kathy–she may not be teaching her dancers, but she certainly lets them know how much she loves them.
What did I just say about Kathy singing her dancers' praises? She's getting frustrated by the amount of technical issues among her troupe, and with her constructive criticism, Kathy reminds her dancers that life isn't all compliments. She hopes to see some maturity in them before the competition. At the ALDS, Abby is yelling at Fallon for a litany of mistakes. Melissa is practically gloating at the fact that Fallon can't keep up with the original girls. Why is Fallon wearing fake eyelashes to rehearse? Abby joins the mothers in the viewing room and tells Cheryl that she misses Kalani because Kalani is perfect and gorgeous. Cheryl understandably takes offense to Abby's comments and starts to cry. Abby finds Cheryl's behavior embarrassing and announces such. I can't believe she's single.
On the way to competition, Abby is appalled to learn that Cheryl left Fallon's solo costume at the studio because she assumed that someone else would pick it up for her. The moms, including Holly, are equally amused and disturbed by Cheryl's behavior. Where did she get her dance mom training? Abby gets distracted from insulting Cheryl to take some time to remind Kendall that she's basically ninth place material. Gavin performs his solo for Candy Apples, and he is technically amazing. That said, I think his dance is boring. Kendall channels her inner Maddie Chloe and rocks her lyrical solo. Abby couldn't look less impressed if she tried. Fallon takes the stage, and Cheryl is upset to see that her daughter forgets the choreography. She doesn't freeze up on stage, but instead improvises quite a believable routine. Abby is horrified that her choreography isn't happening and goes to the judges to demand that Fallon is disqualified for not sticking to her routine. One judge looks at her like she's crazy (he'd be right!) and says that isn't a reason for disqualification.
Back in the dressing room, Cheryl is tending to Fallon's busted knee. After slicing it on the floor, she changed her routine so as not to continue to aggravate her injury. Kathy swoops in to commend Fallon for her performance. Are we going to see a Candy Apple cross-over? Kathy drops the bomb that Abby tried to have Fallon disqualified, and Jill goes off on her. Abby arrives and expresses her disappointment in Fallon. She harps that she doesn't want to hear Fallon's side of the story because all of the judges think she's just a kid who couldn't compete. Across the hall, Kathy is considering taking a page from Abby's playbook and pulling her group number if it's not a winner. Her choreographer wonders what that will teach the dancers, but Kathy doesn't care.
Maddie is once again the star of the group routine. It's executed well, but it's certainly not my favorite dance of this never ending season. Abby couldn't be more thrilled with the routine. After watching the ALDC, Kathy pulls her group dancing and is met with a tearful troupe. Maddie is intel and goes back to share that both the choreographer and the dancers wanted to compete, but Kathy pulled the dance regardless. At the awards ceremony, Fallon places third, and Abby can only imagine how great she would have been if had she remembered her dance. Kendall scores second with Kathy's Gavin taking the top spot. The ALDC wins the group routine. Ten in a row! Because winning isn't enough, Abby needs to kick Fallon to the curb and then go gloat to the Candy Apples about what a coward Kathy is. Par for the course.
TELL US-WHAT DID YOU THINK OF LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE? DOES ABBY LOOK BETTER OR WORSE WHEN FIGHTING WITH KATHY?
[Photo Credit: Lifetime]
