Dance Academy: Family

June 1, 2016 12:24 AM - Season 1, Episode 13

It's recital week and everyone's families are visiting. Or conspicuously absent.

Tara's family is overtly rural and broke. Abigail is incommunicado at home on bed rest. Natasha is as grating as ever. Christian's entire lack of a family is wistfully downplayed. Sam's asshole dad conforms to type.

posted by tel3path (2 comments total)

I was kind of mystified as to why Christian and Ethan latched on to each other when they got off to such a bad start - Christian nicking Ethan's wallet and them getting over it like it's nothing? Then Christian bailing on Ethan's choreo project once he'd repaid that? You'd think there'd be not much trust or confidence there to build on, but they've been the bestest of buddies all semester. And now I get why: they both have absent or neglectful parents.

Natasha forgetting to take Kat home on the plane when she was little? Yowza. I'm surprised Kat's "attitude" isn't a lot worse. I guess having Ethan at school with her makes all the difference.

Tara wasn't the least bit twee or annoying for the entire episode. She was impressive, actually. And there's no way her statement didn't influence the scholarship decision, either.

Christian is always the protective one, the guy who looks out for others. He was showing that in this episode too, and a big deal was not made of it.

I figured out why Sam is drawn to Abigail, too. It's not just that she's difficult, like his asshole father. It's that unlike his father, she's difficult *and tractable* and she's just barely beginning to show it a little bit. Sam did a good thing for her there - it might be the thing that makes the difference between her continuing to self-destruct, or not.

I don't understand what they were doing on the bridge with the selfie?
posted by tel3path at 12:34 AM on June 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm glad to see Abigail starting to be developed more as a person. I'm also glad that this is an eating disorder / eating issues storyline that hasn't relied on showing a dramatically thin actress. It's a good reminder than you don't have to be emaciated or morbidly obese to have an eating issue.

I like Sam and Abigail's budding relationship.

I thought Tara's family storyline came from nowhere and was too easily resolved. It would have been nice if there had been hints earlier in the season about her family struggling. And I didn't buy that her mum would really pressure her to leave, knowing how much this was her daughter's dream. The scholarship seemed like a deus ex machina, especially since Tara had been shown as one of the weaker dancers.
posted by daybeforetheday at 12:44 AM on July 13, 2017