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Make It Or Break It series finale – London calling

In the series finale of 'Make It Or Break It,' the Olympic gymnasts are chosen at last! But more importantly, the gymnasts show what it really means to be part of a team: to never let another girl stand alone.

- Season 3, Episode 8 - "United Stakes"

Is it just me, or was the series finale of Make It Or Break It not really representative of what the show can do? While there is always a lot of pressure for a season finale — let alone a series finale, which this was — I wasn’t as moved as I could have been. And surely not as I have been in past seasons.

Maybe in general, Season 3 felt a bit rushed. There were only eight episodes, after all; it seemed more like a mini-series. And things seemed to resolve themselves way too quickly. Here are a couple of plot lines I’d like to have seen play out in a longer time frame:

1. Jordan and Kaylie go from being bitter enemies to practically best friends in the course of a couple of weeks. I suppose I can forgive that one, since they had been best friends back in their younger days, and the fact that Jordan admitted that she had been molested by coach Ray explained her behavior towards the other girls, as well as her lack of self-worth. Kaylie is really trying to find some new friends, I guess! First Kelly Parker (which still seemed a bit forced until the very end, but still sweet), and now Jordan. Well, she can’t be married to the Rock girls forever.

2. Payson takes one Latin dance class, has a speedy training session with Sasha, and she’s got a brand-new routine!  However, I know better than to take that at face value. This transformation was all about attitude, which Payson definitely had. She had always been strong from the inside out, but this season she developed a deeper self-confidence and wasn’t afraid to take risks. Payson always had the skills on the floor, but she also had doubts. In the finale, she put the skills to use and cast the doubts aside.

3. Sasha and Summer. Come on! A quick speech about how they can’t be together, followed by lots of kissing … and now what? Give me more, dammit.

4. Wendy getting caught with the psuedoephedrine. Yes, we all know that Lauren is a maniac who will stop at nothing to expose people (especially those who deserve it), but that sure was crafty and quick! In the course of one routine, she found the package and traced it back to the online order. Okay, okay, I’ll just go with it. Especially since Lauren wrote the book on how to be a sneaky manipulator. (Can we just stop for a minute, by the way, and admire how far she’s come? Way to go, Lo! Also, I think I made my husband disown me for a bit when he saw how intensely I was watching Lauren’s beam routine. “Don’t get to five! Don’t get to five!” I kept shouting urgently.)

5. Using “Social Lounge” to post a question to the effect of “Who’s been molested by Coach Ray?” and then have several responses pour in right after one another in the middle of the night. Yes, it was very moving, and I’m obviously glad this got resolved, but it was sort of done in a “Quick, let’s get this Ray guy outta here so we can heal Jordan and, while we’re at it, bring Sasha back!!!” kind of way.

6. One last thing that kind of irked me, but which I totally understand, is how all the Rock girls made it to the Olympics (plus Jordan, of course). We do see that Lauren gets cut in favor of Wendy before Wendy is caught with drugging Kaylie … but was Lauren really ready or good enough to go to London? And was Payson? The show always has these other random girls on the team who aren’t as good as the main characters for this very reason, I guess. And the fact that Kelly Parker dropped out was kind of a surprise in the middle of the season. (Nice of her to make an appearance for the trials, though, KP — unlike EMILY!!!! Where is she? Drat. I’m sort of sad that I’ll never see her or Chloe again. I miss them.)

However, here are things about the finale that I’m happy with:

1. The relationships of both Jake and Lauren (who I think are really cute together) as well as Austin and Kaylie weren’t overdone or obviously tied together with a bow. Neither of them had a gross make-out scene with these guys, which is preferable, in my opinion. The episode wasn’t about guys, anyway. It was about not being alone, which, in the girls’ case, means that they not only stuck together through emotional issues (like Jordan’s abuse and Kaylie’s drug test), but that they also made it together to the Olympics!

2. I’m glad Payson and Rigo didn’t have a whole “Oh nooo, what are we gonna do?!” cry about being separated for awhile. Those kids will figure it out, I’m sure.

Did you enjoy the series finale? Was it what you expected? What would you change?

Quotes:

“You look so cute on the little beam! You remind me of myself when I was five.” — Wendy, to Lauren, who couldn’t practice on the regulation beam yet due to her recovery

“And here I thought you just wanted to dance with me.” — Rigo, to Payson, upon finding out that she brought him salsa dancing to prepare for her floor routine
“Mister, that ain’t the half of what I wanna do with you.” — Payson

“I didn’t fight all of these years just for a trip to London. Isn’t a gold medal worth the risk?” — Payson, explaining her motives to Sasha
“Well, this may sound selfish, but I would like my gold medal back … and that will likely only happen when you win one of your own, so let’s get busy, shall we? Romeo, beat it. We’ve got work to do.” — Sasha

“The NGO doesn’t give in to threats. That was the worst case of insubordination I’ve ever seen.” — Marcus
“That, or the greatest team ever.” — Coach McIntire

“I’d like to show you what I can do.” — Payson, approaching Coach McIntire right before her routine
“I know what you can do, Payson.” — Coach
“No. You don’t. But you’re about to find out.” — Payson

 

Photo Credit: ABC Family

One Response to “Make It Or Break It series finale – London calling”

May 15, 2012 at 10:36 PM

I was very disapppointed that we didn’t see the team actually go to the Olympics…. it would have been interesting to see who actually won gold.

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