Pure World of Dance Season 1, Week 5 (Duels) – Power Rankings

So I really had to take some time to ruminate on Tuesday night’s episode, because it felt like the first time that I got suspicious of this show’s motives.  Don’t get me wrong – I still love the show, and I think the level of talent is unparalleled; and I am fully aware that this is a reality tv show, and a certain amount of manipulation is to be expected to create suspense and draw in viewers.  But some of the other night’s results made me feel a bit icky, because I felt like a few of the acts got a bit exploited in favor of propping up a judges’ favorite – I feel like Kyle kinda got the shortest end of the stick (pun intended, in light of his performance), with The Posse and Royal Flux also being treated a bit like redheaded stepchildren. Given that all three were given quite truncated spots in the qualifier rounds (with Royal Flux not even appearing on the show during those rounds), I think we already had an inkling that they weren’t long for this show – but it just felt like adding insult to injury sticking some of them in duels with powerhouses they didn’t have a hope and a prayer of beating, and then potentially editing out footage that might have helped them save a bit of face (won’t say any more, but if a routine seemed short to you – perhaps it’s because part of it was missing).

Which brings me to the picking of the duels – and let me state for the record that I still can’t say with certainty that the proverbial man behind the curtain might not be telling the acts who to pick. But c’mon – pitting the highest-scoring qualifier performance OF ALL against the second-lowest-scoring qualifier of all??? It just becomes glaringly obvious who was going to win the Les Twins vs. Kyle duel – if it was Les Twins that picked him, sorry, but that was a d*ck move on their part. If they’re so sure of themselves and such amazing dancers, then it would have made a lot more sense for them to pick someone like Fik-Shun, who is closer to both their particular style and skill level. You’re so big and bad? Take on someone that might actually be a challenge for you.  If it was the producers that opted to pit Les Twins against Kyle? Then I have to wonder just what kind of deals were made to get Les Twins on the show in the first place. Like Jabbawockeez (and to a lesser degree, Fik-Shun, Super Cr3w, D’Angelo & Amanda, and the Miami All-Stars), Les Twins were pretty well-known coming into the show – probably second only the Jabbawockeez in terms of how popular they were already. They were touring with Beyoncé, for pete’s sake. And modeling for Jean Paul Gautier. Also worth noting: they’ve appeared on the World of Dance tour. Did they really even NEED to do this show? I’m gonna go with “likely not”, and wonder if they were asked to do the show in order to draw in viewers, much in the same way that Jabbawockeez and some of the other names I mentioned would. In which case, I could see how it might behoove a brand-new show looking to get renewed to keep a popular contestant around for awhile. Yes, I might have my suspicion-glasses on from so many years of blogging DWTS and the rampant manipulation on that show – but I’m trying to make sense of something that seems ridiculously unbalanced.

Anywho – seems like they might be setting it up for a final three of Les Twins vs. Jabbawockeez or Kinjaz vs. Eva Igo or Diana Pombo. In which case, I’ll just be enjoying the rest of the acts leading up to that point, because it seems a bit anti-climactic.  Should be interesting to see how things go down next week, as there’s gonna be a lot of loose ends to tie up – from the looks of the preview, there’s gonna be a 3-way duel between some of the acts from the team division (Jabbawockeez, Ian Eastwood & the Young Lions, and a group of girls that doesn’t look familiar – I’ll give you one guess who probably ain’t winning that duel), and it looks like it’s gonna be Luka & Jenalyn vs. DNA, D’Angelo & Amanda vs. Mihacevich Sisters, Kinjaz vs. somebody, and who knows what else, given that there’s STILL other acts that were called out as contestants prior to the beginning of the season, but didn’t get shown during the qualifier round. Never a dull moment 🙂 Read more..