Dance Academy: Samuel's Dad

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

This show is beginning to wear on me. Maybe the switch to two episodes a week will be better, as more will happen in a smaller period of time? Oh yeah, if you didn't know, rather than Friday nights, the show is moving to Wednesdays AND Thursdays... so they're either trying to burn it off faster, or possibly build an audience. Guesses? And, while we're at it, let's make some predictions... we haven't seen the list of best-to-worst in a while, so I bet that'll pop up again. I think Christian is going to give us more about his background soon, and I'm betting it's very-special-episode-style. Ethan and Tara are eventually going to get together. Kat is bound to put the moves on somebody soon... I didn't think it would be Christian, but now it seems that she has taken an interest in him. Abigail is likely going to be the one plagues by an eating disorder, as she has no friends and takes every bit of criticism seriously, plus she's a perfectionist in most things already. I'm not sure what we'll see for Samuel... maybe a sexuality-questioning storyline? Do they have those on teen shows in Australia?

Dance Academy "Real Men Don't Dance" (S01E05): Tara needs to focus, so she gets rid of a photo that has Ethan in it. [are we really supposed to believe she has actual photos in this day and age?] Sam gets a B+ and thinks his parents will kill him, as he promised straight As and that he'd go to synagogue every Saturday in order to be allowed to study at the Academy. [a family with an ancestry of becoming doctors doesn't bode well for a dancer...] At Shabbat, his father tells him that he needs to take both his religious observances and his studies more seriously. As if this wasn't enough to frustrate Sammy, Christian also gets upset at how messy his roommate is. [cake crumbs in someone else's bed IS gross, though!] Luckily, Christian is all talk for once. [good. I can't stand this kid doing any more fighting! it was sad, however, that he was kicked out of the cemetery.]

Samuel struggles through his Saturday morning dance class and gets sick before it's over as an excuse to leave early and head to Temple. Tara tries to cover for him, but the instructor sees through it - so she tells the truth. [these kids and their flimsy excuses these days! GET BETTER AT LYING!] As Christian also had a rough time in class, Kat asks him what's going on, learning that he doesn't like people touching him, even if it's for position correction. Kat touches him and diagnoses him as "peoplephobic." [so are we about to learn that Christian was abused? because that's where I see this going...]

Samuel is called to the administration office, where he learns that his father has pulled him from the Academy. [awwww. bummer. but we know it won't last... Sammy is in the cast pic for the season...] Tara tells him to fight for what he wants, but he's afraid to. [it's hard for kids that young! I gave more than a few pep talks to my college students about majoring in what they want, rather than what mommy and

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daddy want.]  As he moves some of his things to the dumpster, he pauses to practice, and his father sees his ambition. While the guy doesn't understand, he does allow Samuel to stay. When helping Samuel look for his toe shoes in the trash, she sees the photo that she had earlier trashed, and takes it back. [we know her lust for Ethan isn't over, the promos keep showing the two of them with locked lips...]