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Make It Or Break It: Pilot
Make It or Break It S1xE1 “Pilot”
Soft, tinkly but inspiring piano music plays as we come up on a gray cinderblock building in the gorgeous mountains of Boulder, Colorado. It’s a gymnastics gym and cars are pulling into the parking lot and dropping off their kids. Some of the cars have reserved spaces, there’s one reserved for “Cruz”. This must be the petite, teenage Latina shown working out on an apparatus, then we cut to her getting out of a car. Another spot is reserved for “Keeler”, “Keeler” is a Viking Goddess in a track suit, her similarly attired younger sister, and a harried middle aged woman who immediately drops her coffee mug on the pavement.
HAH! It’s Perri Gilpin from long lived, Emmy winning sitcom “Frasier”, and she hollers at the kids to just go on without her.
Viking Goddess and Tiny Latina enter the gym, followed by their mothers, Roz Doyle and Older Tiny Latina. Apparently, the gym contains a comfortable viewing booth behind glass, where parents sit and watch practice. There are tons of real gymnasts they hired as extras who are really working out all around them, but they don’t speak because they’re not in SAG. Instead, Viking Goddess and Tiny Latina approach a blonde in an orange leotard doing what I know from personal experience to be a really painful stretching exercise.
“Hey, Lauren,” Tiny Latina says to Orange Leotard. A sleezeball male gymnast with hair that is probably not regulation length (what? They have a rule for everything else, it’s like being a Marine) is giving Tiny Latina THE EYE. Three little girls come over and shyly ask for Viking Goddess’s autograph, she has to be prodded to even notice them. It’s not because she’s awful, she’s clearly just focused. And Tiny Latina refers to her as “Pay”. “Pay”, Tiny Latina, and Orange Lauren talk about “their last Nationals” which is taking place in Boston. Tiny Latina and Orange Lauren are giddy about parades, sleeping in, eating whatever they want, after the 2012 Olympics. Pay just wants to concentrate on training. They both give her “how lame are you?” looks before returning to their stretches.
There are two guys standing on a mezzanine. One is obviously a coach, since he’s wearing extremely coachie clothing consisting of sweatpants and a polo with the gym name on it. The other is in business casual and a sport jacket and I can tell already he’s a douche, he’s talking and confirming it. Apparently his name is “Tanner”, so we’ll refer to him as “D-Bag Tanner” for awhile. D-Bag Tanner makes gestures to Orange Lauren, who is doing beam work, indicating that she should point her toes. Okay, so they have some sort of relationship.
Coach calls the girls together and speechifies about how he’s only taking three girls but he wants to load the national team with Rock girls and “shut out the Denver club”. Meanwhile, an ugly old station wagon is pulling into the parking lot and we just know this is bad news. A tall, skinny teenage girl in a truly unfortunate haircut gets out and says good bye to her young, attractive, well but somewhat overly decorated mother before sprinting into the gym.
Orange Lauren, Tiny Latina and Pay are discussing how many times they’ve already been the top three gymnasts in competitions, when they see Unfortunate Haircut doing fantastic backflips across the room.
“Who is that?” Orange Lauren sneers in shock.
Time for the theme song, which is upbeat, athletic music to a montage of the girls performing gymnastics stunts. And look, I know they’re using stunt people for a lot of this but it’s well knit together and the camera is good at catching the thuds, thumps, sprays of chalk, in and around their moves.
Unfortunate Haircut is working out. And yeah, take a minute to deal with that outfit. It’s different from everyone else’s “leo” in that it is a cotton, spaghetti strapped ballet leotard in muted burgundy, not a spandex/lycra bedazzled gymnastics leotard in an eye searing color like everyone else. You have to know a bit about ballet leotards to realize that not only is she not hip to current fashions but she probably paid less than $30 for that while everyone else is wearing custom made $300 outfits. Ballet clothes are always cheaper, because ballerinas don’t buy custom made workout gear. At any decent school, they’re all required to wear the same thing and any sort of flash or attempt to set yourself apart via your clothing is considered rude and presumptuous. Dancers don’t make a lot of money and leotards are usually worn only for class, so they’re pretty cheap (it’s the shoes and the classes that are expensive). And their performance costumes (if they’re at a reputable, genuinely professional company) are provided out of the company budget and returned after use. The movie CENTER STAGE started out trying to design the dance clothes for their actors, but soon realized it was actually easier and cheaper to buy the gear directly from the same local shops all their professional dancer extras used. The Rock girls, however, are semi professional athletes on a much more visible stage and are already getting endorsement deals worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I do remember feeling uncomfortable because I was the only girl in ballet who didn’t yet have Split Sole slippers, and later feeling even worse when my teacher scolded me for taking too long to buy them because I needed to look exactly like all the other girls. I couldn’t afford new shoes yet. But no, I can see how in this context, a ballet leotard would be seen as the cheap option. Endorsement deals aren’t thick on the ground for young ballerinas.
D-Bag Tanner looks horrified and rushes over to Coach to gossip like a freaked out little girl.
“That’s the girl you’re talking about? The girl they found on a playground?”
Pay (she introduces herself as “Payson”) is the only gymnast who makes a friendly effort, even though some of the boys are staring. Unfortunate Haircut is awkward but sweet. She blurts out that she saw Payson at a competition, then admits it was on tv. Coach comes over, makes her welcome- they’re trying out for Nationals tomorrow. Orange Lauren, however, blurts out “She’s training HERE?” while Tiny Latina (who will introduce herself in a moment as “Kaylie”) covers her face in embarrassment. Coach decides Unfortunate Haircut, or “Emily” should train with these three.
“Where did you move from?” Kaylie asks.
“Um, we just came from Fresno,” Emily says.
“Fresno?” Lauren grimaces. “What kind of gyms are in Fresno??
“Actually, I was training at the Y,” Emily says stoically.
“So you were at a public gym, and now you want to come here, to the Rock?” Lauren could not be worse at hiding her disdain. Kaylie is mortified again. “I see you don’t have any endorsements yet…for clothes…”
Lauren pushes them out of the way and goes off to do her beam routine. Kaylie tells Emily not to let Lauren psych her out.
The Three are in the bathroom. Kaylie and Payson are looking at themselves in the mirror. We hear vomiting and a toilet flushing. Lauren emerges.
“That really screws up your electrolytes,” Payson scolds.
“I can’t help it,” says Lauren. “I’m addicted to breakfast biscuits”.
It’s too bad they chose Lauren to be the bulimic one, that disease doesn’t just target unlikeable, fashion obsessed brats and they’re being awfully uninterested in her serious problem. “ That really screws up your electrolytes? “ How about, that gives you mouth sores (she didn’t even brush her teeth after), and weakens your ability to hold your bladder as you get older?
Coach is training Emily on the vault. Emily keeps running up to it, then freezing. Lauren snickers that she’s afraid of the vault. When Kaylie tries to defend her, Lauren demands to know why she’s “getting so cuddly with her”. When Emily comes over and offers to give them a turn on the vault, Lauren turns and walks away. “Sorry,” Kaylie uncomfortably apologizes and runs after her.
Coach is now talking to Emily, making sure her mother got the scholarship money. Emily apologizes for the fact that her mother couldn’t be there. Coach allows it, but hints “As you can see, we’re a community. The Rock is like a small town, and we find that it works best when the whole family is involved.”
Rock gymnasts, Coach tells her, are home schooled and have to pass their grade exam. There’s no dating, “I catch you with a boy, you’re out. We’ve all worked too hard for you to throw that away. And your mother needs to put in gym time. Did she sign the Parent’s Contract yet?”
Yes. It's one of Those places.
Kaylie’s parents are reminding her about endorsements they’re trying to line up, and some sort of photo shoot. There’s seriously like fifty people trying to advise her. Kaylie wants to stay at the gym late, and her mother warns her not to fatigue her muscles.
D-Bag Tanner is showing Lauren video footage of her “elements”. Lauren whines “Daddy, are they really going to let that girl try out for Nationals?” Her father looks absolutely terrified. So, so far we know that Lauren is a childish, self centered brat with no concept of how the world outside her bubble works, Kaylie is completely unable to stand up to anyone, and Payson is some sort of Valkrie.
Lauren wanders outside into the Colorado Rockies sunshine. She’s wearing an orange sweatsuit. She sort of groans as a young blonde woman in a 60s style bright yellow dress emerges from a car and calls “Hey, girl, are you excited about the contest tomorrow?”
“It’s not a contest,” Lauren snips. “Daaaddy! Your secretary’s here!”
D-Bag Tanner approaches and greets the woman a bit too intimately as she replies “Executive Assistant”.
“Nice bling” Lauren says in reference to the tasteful gold cross necklace the blonde is wearing.
“Oh, thanks, my boyfriend gave it to me.”
“I thought Jesus was your boyfriend,” Lauren sighs, and wanders off.
“We have to tell her,” the blonde tells Daddy Tanner. They're dating secretly. I should point out that the blonde actress is former child star Candace Cameron Bure, here playing a woman named “Summer”. Cameron Bure is, thankfully, as far as I know seems much more likeable and easier to work with than her infamous older brother. Obviously, judging from her presence on an actual mainstream Hollywood production, while he burned all his bridges there years ago.
Payson is going over her routine using hand gestures. Her mother reminds her that she can “Chillax all the way home,” but then has to do chores and help with dinner and communicate with her family. This is to show that the Keelers are good people who raise their kids up right in decent Middle America fashion. They also stop and ask poor Emily if she needs a ride, which the Tanners pointedly do not do. Emily turns them down and walks home, on the way she sees Kaylie making out with the long haired male gymnast in a car.
Emily lives in an ugly stucco block of flats painted purple on the top floor. Her house is dark and dingy and full of moving boxes, an apologetic mother, and a little brother in a wheelchair reading “Stranger in a Strange Land”. They’re poor, they talk about being poor and having a disabled family member and how they don’t have a dad.
Kaylie’s secret boyfriend drops her off outside her turreted mansion of a home. They’re arguing about how they’ve been together a year and he wants to tell her dad.
“If my dad finds out, he’ll kill you. No, I’m serious. Like blood and pain and teddy bears and candles on the sidewalk kill you,” Kaylie points out.
Lauren roars up in a silver convertible. Of course she drives a convertible. And she’s changed her outfit since the last scene.
“Oh, crap!” Kaylie says and pulls away from the boy. Now, if Lauren is such a good friend, Kaylie shouldn’t be afraid of revealing her secret. But want to take bets that Lauren isn’t trustworthy and Kaylie knows it?
The boy excuses himself to go see Kaylie’s brother. Want to take another bet that this brother will be erased from existence halfway through the first season?
Lauren informs Kaylie that this is just a quick stop, she wants everyone to know that Daddy Tanner will “take care” of Emily. She must have a dirty secret they can exploit.
Cut immediately to Emily applying for a job at the Pizza Shack. I hate how hungry being on my period makes me- I want that pizza even though I’m sure it’s awful in real life. The woman interviewing her is obviously on drugs and Emily doesn’t have a problem getting hired. Lauren Zizes from “Glee” and a dazed friend come up to order. They’re high too. I mean, that’s what you get when you work in a pizza parlor in Boulder.
A boy packing pizzas for takeout confirms that their manager is a meth head. But I’ll skip the rest of their somewhat flirty conversation because this boy won’t last on the show any more than Kaylie’s brother will and the young men on this show are already boringly interchangeable.
The Keelers are leaving their cheery yellow and white two story to get to the gym, while Emily’s mother let her sleep in and they’re fighting about how it was really, really, important that Emily get to the gym on time.
At the gym, Lauren predicts Emily isn’t coming back, just as Emily runs in. She’s wearing a long sleeved version of yesterday’s leo, and sad gray shorts. Lauren makes fun of the fact that her tag is showing. I think she says “I didn’t even know they made off the rack leos”. Um…yes, Lauren, everyone uses them except Elite gymnasts.
They all do well on the bars apparatus, and all run to hug each other after each successful attempt. No one hugs Emily. Lauren starts her beam routine.
“Is she as good as they say?” Mrs. Keeler whispers to her husband.
“No one can do what she can do on four inches of wood,” he whispers back. She gives him a Look, and HAH! Soo inappropriate but HAH.
Lauren tumbles off the beam, to the consternation of everyone but gets up and finishes the routine. She gets golf claps. Emily blows the crowd away when she does her own beam, catapulting her up the scoreboard and causing Lauren to flee the room and go crying to her father.
Daddy Tanner promises to do something about it but in the mean time, he advises Lauren to go out and do the vault of her damn life. Instead, Lauren chooses to tamper with Emily’s distance specifications on the chart of the competitor’s vault preferences which is conveniently within reach while everyone is busy watching Payson vault. The assistant coach is moving the springboard…Lauren is smirking and not doing anything. Emily is running and running and when she hits the springboard, she fails to vault onto the horse and crashes into it instead. I’m thinking, as Emily is lying there insisting they not call an ambulance (she probably thinks she’d have to pay for it herself) that this accident could’ve permanently injured or even killed her.
Frigging Lauren.
Emily and her mother have a heartrending conversation in the office while waiting for that ambulance they can’t afford. I bet the Rock would pay for it, but it’s hard to overcome those instincts. The announcer calls Lauren’s vault and this seems to spark something in Emily, who marches back out and demands a second chance.
“What?” Lauren squeaks. Do yourself a favor, Lauren, never murder anyone.
“And I’ll set the board myself this time,” Emily says.
Whadda you know. She delivers perfectly, even the judges crack a smile, while Lauren looks on in horror as she finds herself bumped to fourth place.
When the girls are talking with their coach, Lauren complains, she’s been at this gym for five years and she’s been in the top three for two. In desperation, she points out Kaylie’s “contract infraction” of dating a boy. Emily immediately covers for Kaylie.
After hours, Daddy Tanner, whose first name is Steve, visits privately with the Coach, whose real name is Marty. Steve and Marty have a friendly chat, like gentlemen, if one of the gentlemen named Steve was blackmailing the other gentleman named Marty with a photograph taken by a PI that shows him doing something he clearly wasn’t supposed to be doing. You see, Steve hired a PI to look into Emily’s background, and the PI just happened to have this unrelated photo of Marty. Steve will drop the matter if Marty agrees to abscond to the Denver club, and Steve promises to bring his daughter and the “fourth through seventh” ranked gymnasts.
When the other parents find out, they are furious. Payson is yelling “I did everything right, and my coach just leaves!” Lauren, however, is cackling like a Disney villainess, telling Kaylie “If the rules were enforced, I’d be number two, not you” and insisting that Emily is the one who ruined the gym. She gleefully flounces out, and someone, somewhere in the building turns off the lights. Everyone stands there, befuddled and helpless in the dark.
Soft, tinkly but inspiring piano music plays as we come up on a gray cinderblock building in the gorgeous mountains of Boulder, Colorado. It’s a gymnastics gym and cars are pulling into the parking lot and dropping off their kids. Some of the cars have reserved spaces, there’s one reserved for “Cruz”. This must be the petite, teenage Latina shown working out on an apparatus, then we cut to her getting out of a car. Another spot is reserved for “Keeler”, “Keeler” is a Viking Goddess in a track suit, her similarly attired younger sister, and a harried middle aged woman who immediately drops her coffee mug on the pavement.
HAH! It’s Perri Gilpin from long lived, Emmy winning sitcom “Frasier”, and she hollers at the kids to just go on without her.
Viking Goddess and Tiny Latina enter the gym, followed by their mothers, Roz Doyle and Older Tiny Latina. Apparently, the gym contains a comfortable viewing booth behind glass, where parents sit and watch practice. There are tons of real gymnasts they hired as extras who are really working out all around them, but they don’t speak because they’re not in SAG. Instead, Viking Goddess and Tiny Latina approach a blonde in an orange leotard doing what I know from personal experience to be a really painful stretching exercise.
“Hey, Lauren,” Tiny Latina says to Orange Leotard. A sleezeball male gymnast with hair that is probably not regulation length (what? They have a rule for everything else, it’s like being a Marine) is giving Tiny Latina THE EYE. Three little girls come over and shyly ask for Viking Goddess’s autograph, she has to be prodded to even notice them. It’s not because she’s awful, she’s clearly just focused. And Tiny Latina refers to her as “Pay”. “Pay”, Tiny Latina, and Orange Lauren talk about “their last Nationals” which is taking place in Boston. Tiny Latina and Orange Lauren are giddy about parades, sleeping in, eating whatever they want, after the 2012 Olympics. Pay just wants to concentrate on training. They both give her “how lame are you?” looks before returning to their stretches.
There are two guys standing on a mezzanine. One is obviously a coach, since he’s wearing extremely coachie clothing consisting of sweatpants and a polo with the gym name on it. The other is in business casual and a sport jacket and I can tell already he’s a douche, he’s talking and confirming it. Apparently his name is “Tanner”, so we’ll refer to him as “D-Bag Tanner” for awhile. D-Bag Tanner makes gestures to Orange Lauren, who is doing beam work, indicating that she should point her toes. Okay, so they have some sort of relationship.
Coach calls the girls together and speechifies about how he’s only taking three girls but he wants to load the national team with Rock girls and “shut out the Denver club”. Meanwhile, an ugly old station wagon is pulling into the parking lot and we just know this is bad news. A tall, skinny teenage girl in a truly unfortunate haircut gets out and says good bye to her young, attractive, well but somewhat overly decorated mother before sprinting into the gym.
Orange Lauren, Tiny Latina and Pay are discussing how many times they’ve already been the top three gymnasts in competitions, when they see Unfortunate Haircut doing fantastic backflips across the room.
“Who is that?” Orange Lauren sneers in shock.
Time for the theme song, which is upbeat, athletic music to a montage of the girls performing gymnastics stunts. And look, I know they’re using stunt people for a lot of this but it’s well knit together and the camera is good at catching the thuds, thumps, sprays of chalk, in and around their moves.
Unfortunate Haircut is working out. And yeah, take a minute to deal with that outfit. It’s different from everyone else’s “leo” in that it is a cotton, spaghetti strapped ballet leotard in muted burgundy, not a spandex/lycra bedazzled gymnastics leotard in an eye searing color like everyone else. You have to know a bit about ballet leotards to realize that not only is she not hip to current fashions but she probably paid less than $30 for that while everyone else is wearing custom made $300 outfits. Ballet clothes are always cheaper, because ballerinas don’t buy custom made workout gear. At any decent school, they’re all required to wear the same thing and any sort of flash or attempt to set yourself apart via your clothing is considered rude and presumptuous. Dancers don’t make a lot of money and leotards are usually worn only for class, so they’re pretty cheap (it’s the shoes and the classes that are expensive). And their performance costumes (if they’re at a reputable, genuinely professional company) are provided out of the company budget and returned after use. The movie CENTER STAGE started out trying to design the dance clothes for their actors, but soon realized it was actually easier and cheaper to buy the gear directly from the same local shops all their professional dancer extras used. The Rock girls, however, are semi professional athletes on a much more visible stage and are already getting endorsement deals worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I do remember feeling uncomfortable because I was the only girl in ballet who didn’t yet have Split Sole slippers, and later feeling even worse when my teacher scolded me for taking too long to buy them because I needed to look exactly like all the other girls. I couldn’t afford new shoes yet. But no, I can see how in this context, a ballet leotard would be seen as the cheap option. Endorsement deals aren’t thick on the ground for young ballerinas.
D-Bag Tanner looks horrified and rushes over to Coach to gossip like a freaked out little girl.
“That’s the girl you’re talking about? The girl they found on a playground?”
Pay (she introduces herself as “Payson”) is the only gymnast who makes a friendly effort, even though some of the boys are staring. Unfortunate Haircut is awkward but sweet. She blurts out that she saw Payson at a competition, then admits it was on tv. Coach comes over, makes her welcome- they’re trying out for Nationals tomorrow. Orange Lauren, however, blurts out “She’s training HERE?” while Tiny Latina (who will introduce herself in a moment as “Kaylie”) covers her face in embarrassment. Coach decides Unfortunate Haircut, or “Emily” should train with these three.
“Where did you move from?” Kaylie asks.
“Um, we just came from Fresno,” Emily says.
“Fresno?” Lauren grimaces. “What kind of gyms are in Fresno??
“Actually, I was training at the Y,” Emily says stoically.
“So you were at a public gym, and now you want to come here, to the Rock?” Lauren could not be worse at hiding her disdain. Kaylie is mortified again. “I see you don’t have any endorsements yet…for clothes…”
Lauren pushes them out of the way and goes off to do her beam routine. Kaylie tells Emily not to let Lauren psych her out.
The Three are in the bathroom. Kaylie and Payson are looking at themselves in the mirror. We hear vomiting and a toilet flushing. Lauren emerges.
“That really screws up your electrolytes,” Payson scolds.
“I can’t help it,” says Lauren. “I’m addicted to breakfast biscuits”.
It’s too bad they chose Lauren to be the bulimic one, that disease doesn’t just target unlikeable, fashion obsessed brats and they’re being awfully uninterested in her serious problem. “ That really screws up your electrolytes? “ How about, that gives you mouth sores (she didn’t even brush her teeth after), and weakens your ability to hold your bladder as you get older?
Coach is training Emily on the vault. Emily keeps running up to it, then freezing. Lauren snickers that she’s afraid of the vault. When Kaylie tries to defend her, Lauren demands to know why she’s “getting so cuddly with her”. When Emily comes over and offers to give them a turn on the vault, Lauren turns and walks away. “Sorry,” Kaylie uncomfortably apologizes and runs after her.
Coach is now talking to Emily, making sure her mother got the scholarship money. Emily apologizes for the fact that her mother couldn’t be there. Coach allows it, but hints “As you can see, we’re a community. The Rock is like a small town, and we find that it works best when the whole family is involved.”
Rock gymnasts, Coach tells her, are home schooled and have to pass their grade exam. There’s no dating, “I catch you with a boy, you’re out. We’ve all worked too hard for you to throw that away. And your mother needs to put in gym time. Did she sign the Parent’s Contract yet?”
Yes. It's one of Those places.
Kaylie’s parents are reminding her about endorsements they’re trying to line up, and some sort of photo shoot. There’s seriously like fifty people trying to advise her. Kaylie wants to stay at the gym late, and her mother warns her not to fatigue her muscles.
D-Bag Tanner is showing Lauren video footage of her “elements”. Lauren whines “Daddy, are they really going to let that girl try out for Nationals?” Her father looks absolutely terrified. So, so far we know that Lauren is a childish, self centered brat with no concept of how the world outside her bubble works, Kaylie is completely unable to stand up to anyone, and Payson is some sort of Valkrie.
Lauren wanders outside into the Colorado Rockies sunshine. She’s wearing an orange sweatsuit. She sort of groans as a young blonde woman in a 60s style bright yellow dress emerges from a car and calls “Hey, girl, are you excited about the contest tomorrow?”
“It’s not a contest,” Lauren snips. “Daaaddy! Your secretary’s here!”
D-Bag Tanner approaches and greets the woman a bit too intimately as she replies “Executive Assistant”.
“Nice bling” Lauren says in reference to the tasteful gold cross necklace the blonde is wearing.
“Oh, thanks, my boyfriend gave it to me.”
“I thought Jesus was your boyfriend,” Lauren sighs, and wanders off.
“We have to tell her,” the blonde tells Daddy Tanner. They're dating secretly. I should point out that the blonde actress is former child star Candace Cameron Bure, here playing a woman named “Summer”. Cameron Bure is, thankfully, as far as I know seems much more likeable and easier to work with than her infamous older brother. Obviously, judging from her presence on an actual mainstream Hollywood production, while he burned all his bridges there years ago.
Payson is going over her routine using hand gestures. Her mother reminds her that she can “Chillax all the way home,” but then has to do chores and help with dinner and communicate with her family. This is to show that the Keelers are good people who raise their kids up right in decent Middle America fashion. They also stop and ask poor Emily if she needs a ride, which the Tanners pointedly do not do. Emily turns them down and walks home, on the way she sees Kaylie making out with the long haired male gymnast in a car.
Emily lives in an ugly stucco block of flats painted purple on the top floor. Her house is dark and dingy and full of moving boxes, an apologetic mother, and a little brother in a wheelchair reading “Stranger in a Strange Land”. They’re poor, they talk about being poor and having a disabled family member and how they don’t have a dad.
Kaylie’s secret boyfriend drops her off outside her turreted mansion of a home. They’re arguing about how they’ve been together a year and he wants to tell her dad.
“If my dad finds out, he’ll kill you. No, I’m serious. Like blood and pain and teddy bears and candles on the sidewalk kill you,” Kaylie points out.
Lauren roars up in a silver convertible. Of course she drives a convertible. And she’s changed her outfit since the last scene.
“Oh, crap!” Kaylie says and pulls away from the boy. Now, if Lauren is such a good friend, Kaylie shouldn’t be afraid of revealing her secret. But want to take bets that Lauren isn’t trustworthy and Kaylie knows it?
The boy excuses himself to go see Kaylie’s brother. Want to take another bet that this brother will be erased from existence halfway through the first season?
Lauren informs Kaylie that this is just a quick stop, she wants everyone to know that Daddy Tanner will “take care” of Emily. She must have a dirty secret they can exploit.
Cut immediately to Emily applying for a job at the Pizza Shack. I hate how hungry being on my period makes me- I want that pizza even though I’m sure it’s awful in real life. The woman interviewing her is obviously on drugs and Emily doesn’t have a problem getting hired. Lauren Zizes from “Glee” and a dazed friend come up to order. They’re high too. I mean, that’s what you get when you work in a pizza parlor in Boulder.
A boy packing pizzas for takeout confirms that their manager is a meth head. But I’ll skip the rest of their somewhat flirty conversation because this boy won’t last on the show any more than Kaylie’s brother will and the young men on this show are already boringly interchangeable.
The Keelers are leaving their cheery yellow and white two story to get to the gym, while Emily’s mother let her sleep in and they’re fighting about how it was really, really, important that Emily get to the gym on time.
At the gym, Lauren predicts Emily isn’t coming back, just as Emily runs in. She’s wearing a long sleeved version of yesterday’s leo, and sad gray shorts. Lauren makes fun of the fact that her tag is showing. I think she says “I didn’t even know they made off the rack leos”. Um…yes, Lauren, everyone uses them except Elite gymnasts.
They all do well on the bars apparatus, and all run to hug each other after each successful attempt. No one hugs Emily. Lauren starts her beam routine.
“Is she as good as they say?” Mrs. Keeler whispers to her husband.
“No one can do what she can do on four inches of wood,” he whispers back. She gives him a Look, and HAH! Soo inappropriate but HAH.
Lauren tumbles off the beam, to the consternation of everyone but gets up and finishes the routine. She gets golf claps. Emily blows the crowd away when she does her own beam, catapulting her up the scoreboard and causing Lauren to flee the room and go crying to her father.
Daddy Tanner promises to do something about it but in the mean time, he advises Lauren to go out and do the vault of her damn life. Instead, Lauren chooses to tamper with Emily’s distance specifications on the chart of the competitor’s vault preferences which is conveniently within reach while everyone is busy watching Payson vault. The assistant coach is moving the springboard…Lauren is smirking and not doing anything. Emily is running and running and when she hits the springboard, she fails to vault onto the horse and crashes into it instead. I’m thinking, as Emily is lying there insisting they not call an ambulance (she probably thinks she’d have to pay for it herself) that this accident could’ve permanently injured or even killed her.
Frigging Lauren.
Emily and her mother have a heartrending conversation in the office while waiting for that ambulance they can’t afford. I bet the Rock would pay for it, but it’s hard to overcome those instincts. The announcer calls Lauren’s vault and this seems to spark something in Emily, who marches back out and demands a second chance.
“What?” Lauren squeaks. Do yourself a favor, Lauren, never murder anyone.
“And I’ll set the board myself this time,” Emily says.
Whadda you know. She delivers perfectly, even the judges crack a smile, while Lauren looks on in horror as she finds herself bumped to fourth place.
When the girls are talking with their coach, Lauren complains, she’s been at this gym for five years and she’s been in the top three for two. In desperation, she points out Kaylie’s “contract infraction” of dating a boy. Emily immediately covers for Kaylie.
After hours, Daddy Tanner, whose first name is Steve, visits privately with the Coach, whose real name is Marty. Steve and Marty have a friendly chat, like gentlemen, if one of the gentlemen named Steve was blackmailing the other gentleman named Marty with a photograph taken by a PI that shows him doing something he clearly wasn’t supposed to be doing. You see, Steve hired a PI to look into Emily’s background, and the PI just happened to have this unrelated photo of Marty. Steve will drop the matter if Marty agrees to abscond to the Denver club, and Steve promises to bring his daughter and the “fourth through seventh” ranked gymnasts.
When the other parents find out, they are furious. Payson is yelling “I did everything right, and my coach just leaves!” Lauren, however, is cackling like a Disney villainess, telling Kaylie “If the rules were enforced, I’d be number two, not you” and insisting that Emily is the one who ruined the gym. She gleefully flounces out, and someone, somewhere in the building turns off the lights. Everyone stands there, befuddled and helpless in the dark.