I have a love/hate relationship with this show. There's no doubt it's compelling. I've blown through thirty-seven of forty episodes in less than a week. The main male lead, head coach Sasha Belov, played by Neil Jackson, is very lovely to look at. :)
(not the best picture...)
The show revolves around the lives and drama of a quartet of elite gymnasts, living and training in Boulder, Colorado.
The second season also poses as a public service announcement for eating disorders, having one of the girls become anorexic. After a quick Google search for something else, I discovered Candace Cameron Bure (of the 80s sitcom Full House) suffered with Bulemia as a young woman, so it was probably a story line close to her heart.
Anyway, every time I yell at the screen, usually something along the lines of, "Why can't something good happen to so-and-so just once??!!" I remember from my own learning curve in writing that readers or viewers don't want to watch nothing but fluff and rainbows.
But my rant comes from the fact that one of the girls, no matter how conniving and ugly she is, no matter what she does or says or who she hurts, she hasn't once really gotten her comeuppance in public. Everyone else plays nice with each other but they constantly have drama to deal with, whether of their own making or not. Oh sure, she has rare moments of contrition, but they are usually short-lived. And then not ten minutes later she's back to her old tricks. GAH! It's really making me mad. I understand where her motivation comes from, I do, but when is she going to learn the lesson she SO badly needs to learn?
There are a few other frustrating aspects of the show, and I realize some of them are on purpose.
I was going to call it enjoyable, but that has such an up/positive connotation and I do like the show and I do enjoy it, but the show itself is a drama. Is it GOOD? I don't know. Maybe my standards are too high. Do I recommend it? Um, not for young teens necessarily even though it's on the ABC Family channel.
Or maybe I'm just mad at it for not allowing Sasha to find happiness with Summer (Candace's character). They had a sweet little romance going on until recently. And I'm all about the happily-ever-afters after all. :)
