Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Hit the Floor: Power Play (3x01)

 SPOILERS AFTER THE JUMP FOR THE THIRD SEASON PREMIERE OF VH1'S "HIT THE FLOOR"! Do not enter unless you've seen the episode.

My Season One review!
My Season Two review!

I'm not exactly when it happened but I realized that Hit the Floor is basically everything Melrose Place wanted to be. It's balance of crime, mystery and soapy goodness is just enough to keep you interested. I'm not saying Melrose Place 2.0 was an awful show, maybe it was just on at the wrong time, or the wrong network, but this show encompasses everything that I think The CW hoped it would be. Melrose Place had more flashy dialogue and humor but I think where the stories are concerned, it's worth missing a little bit of humor in the script.

The way the writers have gotten a grip on everything just for this season premiere is pretty impressive. While the show has always been entertaining and the drama has been out of this world, the characters have always been hit or miss to me. I've been limited to two reviews so far so it's good to be able to really dig deeper into the characters and what I think of their development so far. I think the two characters in the development corner I'm praising tonight are Terrance and Devon Carter (still not calling him German, sorry). Terrance has always been somewhat of a straight man. Yeah, heterosexual, but I mean personality wise. He's always just been a bit of a plot device to me. Being the guy to always check Derek when his behavior was going crazy, learning that Jelena drugged him because she's extremely selfish (that part of "development" being dedicated to Jelena), etc. The two moments I felt him as an actual character were when his leg got injured in the game and when he dance with Jelena that one time in the apartment. Other than that he's been a very plot driven character and I haven't been able to invest myself in him. Immediately this season he comes out of the gate swinging (at Zero, as he obnoxiously says loudly that he is gunning for team captain as Terrance walks by) and we get a little bit of insight into his character and what being a Devil means to him. The other character/actor I thought killed it tonight was my man Devon Carter. The reveal at the end of the season worried me a bit. Sure, it was great they were attempting to give him some purpose but he is such an "idgaf" character that I thought it was a wasted moment but everything about him has elevated with him this season. There was such a tension-filled undertone with his scene with Derek and every time he came on the screen and you saw the look on his eyes you just felt...uncomfortable. And I loved it. The look in his eyes, the little subtle touches were awesome.

Now that the case is over, the writers had to find something to do with Raquel and Sloane now that what's his face is in prison and they don't have anymore cases to investigate...or whatever those two did when they were together. Sloane wasn't that hard to pinpoint, she has Pete now (they're relationship is hit or miss to me. Hit: I like Pete, good for you finding happiness. Miss: Sloane) and she has to focus on the Devil girls, fighting Jelena and Lionel's bitch ass. Raquel hit the goldmine last season - being paired up with Kyle in a faux marriage to legally allow her to stay in the country. It was a brilliant, unexpected move and it's paying off so far. For one, every scene with Kyle and Raquel entertained the Holy hell out of. From their newlywed fight to their realization that now they not only have to live with each other, they work together now so they have almost no time apart from each other and they're driving each other freaking insane. And baby baby baby to top it all off they threatened to kill each other right before the highlight of the episode. Internet billionaire who fucked (or got fucked by) Kyle a few times before came back and confirmed WE ARE GETTING 50 SHADES OF KYLE. I. Am. Ready. Another positive stride in the Raquel department was her freaking reintroduction back into the Devil girls. FINALLY. I was so happy to see that she was being brought back to the team and see a bit of her chemistry with the other girls on the team and how she really acts when she's on the team. Sure we saw a little in the Pilot and it looked as if she was essentially the nicest member on the team the way she helped out our protagonist Ahsha (back when we didn't hate her) but is she always that way? Does she ever play dirty? It's a few questions I can't wait to get the answers to and the story team set all of this up perfectly.

The problem area of the premiere to me was when it came to last year's breakout couple. Zero & Jude. Individually, I was pleased. Zero had one scene with Terrance and he brought some of the nasty and Jude was, well, Jude. I don't hate having him on he's just not that interesting outside of the relationship, in my opinion and I haven't had any problems with him previously or before the relationship begun. His whole redemption story with his father was initially why I thought he would be interesting but now that daddy's out of the picture (well out of his life for the moment) there's not much for him to do...except be offered EVP of the team by Lionel! This may sound all fun and awesome but it called for Jude to make a tough decision. Have his dream of working for the Devils, or continue to manage the guy he's low key really fallen for that doesn't seem to want him as much as he wants him. My problem was their relationship status. After the end of last season, I kind of thought we were going to see a different side to the couple. Sure Zero never promised to stop being an asshole but after he revealed something really personal about himself it's almost as if he just decided to throw that wall back up and just go "yeah, whatever, okay. so business. but i'll fuck you on the side." which was essentially their entire relationship last season so it'd be a step back on the character development front. However I think it'd be great if I was wrong and instead the writers allow this to even further their development as individuals/partners - especially for Zero. Him putting up another wall can allow Jude to be the one to break it down and maybe dig really deep into why the hell he just...doesn't want to love. It was sort of answered in the finale with him revealing no one really loved him as a kid, but maybe we can dig a little deeper in there and pull out something heartwarming? I dunno? Maybe?

As for Lionel, she's still a trash ass bitch that I'm here for. The one thing that really showed deep into her character was how loving she was when she came in to talk to Jude about the offer (which by the way, he ended up accepted -- aka he's not working with Zero, Zero is working for him now basically) and as soon as he said he'd have to think about it her face dropped like when Stephanie dropped that pie on Thanksgiving on the first season of Full House and she went into attack mode. Bitch. Love it. Keep it coming. She read the fuck out of Jelena (telling her she doesn't take orders and while Jelena basically handed her the position, she doesn't give a fuck because you don't mess with her or tell her what to do) and Terrance (because, boy, why were you playing on that broke down knee of yours?) I caught 50 Shades of Life (and yes, that was a direct reference to my excitement and NEEEEEED for 50 Shades of Kyle).

Also, I guess we know why Devon killed Olivia? Ahsha spilled all of her herbal tea to him about how she asked Olivia to fix the vote back at All-Stars so she would win over Jelena because she just wanted it that bad. She was holding it over Olivia and, how convenient, she dies like a week later - taking it to her grave. Alright. Cool. We have a motive for Devon now, considering he was holding a note over Olivia's body with Ahsha's name on it that he presumably read and killed her over to keep her quiet. Kind of a shitty motive but, hey, looks like Olivia was a crappy person and it made Devon a better and more interesting character because of it so I'm really not complaining here. But, ugh, the bad dream might have suggested he has a conscience. I get it. He's a good guy at heart but I really wanted him to just sucum to all his evil desires this season. But that dream lead to him calling out Olivia's name in his sleep, which clearly Ahsha heard and woke her up. I assume that because, number one, she asked why the hell he was calling out that dead white woman's name to begin with. And number B, because she looked like she was wide awake already. When he first got up I was like bitch are you just watching him sleep? But I'm guessing the name calling woke her up. Anyways, uh oh, he called out her name!

The dancing was on point for the most part! Great to have the auditions back, I thought it was masterfully tense and heartbreaking and insane in the Pilot. It wasn't as interesting, mostly because it was originally the clever way of introducing us to several of our key players but it was so great to see how the show has just grown when it comes to the basic dancing it had before. The solos were saw this episode were fire, bright and awesome. And I loved the first dance of the basketball season! Of course this was a TV show, so they film and edit to make it look perfect but everyone was just so in sync with each other...man, I loved it. So far the dancing part of this show hasn't disappointed and it looks like we're getting a firefighter themed dance number next week that is sure to be fire! ...Okay, I'm done.

EPISODE GRADE: B+
Great way of reintroducing us to the characters and plots after almost two years of not being on. The character development was absolutely amazing and the plot heated up really quick. Oh, and Terrance proposed! And this time it wasn't a hilarious way to Punk her by putting in a pill bottle in the ring box. Nice move.

-"Don't worry she's a former devil's girl." 

-"The reason you will never be captain is because I would burn this arena to the ground before that ever happened."

-"It was obvious. Your fortes were sloppy, your flexibility isn't anywhere near what it use to be and your conditioning is a joke."

-"Please don't make this a thing."

-"I'm afraid I'm going to cut your throat while you're asleep." "I'm afraid I'll do it while you're still awake."

-"Maybe drugs."

-#FiftyShadeOfKyle

-THESE BITCHES (Jelena and Terrance) WANT TO BUY THE DEVILS? BITCHHHHH.

-Gross. Oscar's back (on the show). Rowan Pope ass.

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