Flesh and Bone Episode 3: Reconnaissance

Flesh and Bone poster - a woman bent in half with her arms around her legs wearing only boyshorts, on pointe and tipped backwards at an angle - she has a tattoo that reads Take No Prisoners
NB: Autoplay music on site.

TW: for pretty much everything, k? We want you to feel safe.

Okay, remember how Claire was supposed to sleep with Laurent but made herself throw up to gross him out? Now she’s walking home the morning after barefoot, having left the FMPs he gave her behind. That’s probably a really bad idea in NYC. As always, Romeo watches what’s going on and seems to know more than he should.

Oh hey, Bryan the rapist brother is in NYC!

So that’s great.

He’s calling different ballet companies looking for her. He gets ahold of Monica who not only confirms that Claire is a member of the company BUT GIVES HIM HER HOME ADDRESS. GOD DAMNIT MONICA WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU!

Bryan the shitbag brother is looking for Claire

Toni, the new choreographer, arrives at the ballet company. Toni is the opposite of Paul. She has the dancers walk around in bare feet so they can feel their connection with the ground or some shit like that. Then she has them hug. Paul is clearly not impressed. Claire trembles as she has to hug a dude.

Toni the new choreographer is all ethereal looking and pale with white blond hair

Claire has to give an interview to a reporter who is a total “pretentious douche,” as Monica puts it. She doesn’t want to answer questions about her past and things get really awkward until Kiira shows up to pee on everything and establish her territory.

Then we get a great scene where Bryan is hanging out a park watching some kids play and a bunch of women totally kick him out. It’s glorious. I love those women.

Now Kiira and Ross aka Sascha-don’t-talk are dancing and Kiira is coked up and not doing a great job. Ross calls her out on it.

Later Paul pulls Claire aside and gives her this long speech about how he started the ballet company and how hard he worked etc etc. There’s a nest of baby birds on the window sill and the birds are chirping and annoying him. In a fit of rage, Paul pushes the birds off the window and kills them. All of this tantruming leads up to Paul being pissed because Laurent pulled his funding, apparently because he was displeased with Claire.

Jessica and Paul approach Daphne about their financial woes. They ask her to go ask her rich dad for a donation. Daphne is pissed about it and demands a role as a soloist in return. After she leaves Paul remarks that, “this never would have happened if Jeffrey were still here.” Later he throws eggs at Jeffrey’s tombstone while sobbing and yelling, “Fuck you!”

Bryan shows up at Claire’s place and meets Romeo and Mia. Because she’s an asshole, Mia starts flirting with Bryan.

Jessica goes home to her daughter and finds out that her ex hasn’t been paying tuition for private school, and her daughter is days from being kicked out

Still reeling from getting chewed out by Paul, Claire goes to Sergei’s strip club. He waxes poetic about ballet for awhile. Claire watches the strippers, transfixed. She gets up on stage and dances/strips as if in a trance. Suddenly she seems to realize what she’s done, and Sergei rushes her off stage and into a car.

Claire dancing the pole at the strip club

Daphne approaches her dad but doesn’t bring up the donation. It’s clear they have a strained relationship and her dad doesn’t approve of her being a ballerina. He wants her to go to an Ivy League school like he did. He views ballet as a phase. Daphne asks Sergei for the money instead.

When Claire gets home she finds Mia giving her brother a blowjob. AWKWARD. Later that night he sleeps on the couch while she sleeps on a mattress on the floor of the living room. During the night, he moves over to sleep next to her. Claire clutches her crystal ballerina ornament but doesn’t sleep. Romeo watches through the window.

Elyse: First, we said it was bananas. Then we said it was dark and bananas.

Now, we’ve got full on DARK BANANAS IN DARK RUM SAUCE.

This show is even trippier on cold medicine.

Dude from the mentalist wide eyed and mouth open like he's about to say something, then he nods and shuts his mouth and looks away with an Ooooooookaaaaaay? expression. generally communicating WTF OK WHATEVER

Honestly, I think we have a serious case of waaaaaay too much going on here. I’m not sure we need the subplot with Jessica’s daughter. Also, I’m sick of the Bryan story. He’s just gross and I don’t want to watch him anymore.

The strip-club scene was interesting but cliched. Here’s Claire trying to regain her sexuality–in a venue that’s populated by creepers staring at her. I don’t totally get it. MALE GAZE MUCH?! Of course in a weird flip, Sergei isn’t forcing Claire to be sexual (she got up on the stage and stripped on her own) while at the ballet company, which should be “innocent,” Paul is clearly pushing her in a sexual direction.

I would be happy to ditch all of this and just watch ballet company dramz. Is the prima all coked up?! Who will get the lead role?! Is Toni a total hippie crazy person?! I want MOAR DANCING! I want MOAR BALLET DRAMA! I WANT TUTUS GODDAMNIT!

Honestly, if this whole show was just a Kiira-Claire battle royale for the lead role, I’d be super thrilled.

RHG:

I agree. I’m here for ballet dramaz and don’t really need this family/incest ridiculousness dramaz. I mean, knowing what we do about Mia, I’m not totally surprised that she’d decide that blowing Claire’s brother within five minutes of him showing up is totally within character. But come on, there’s enough innate drama in this ballet company that we don’t need to add that much more. (Though the scene with the nannies at the playground kicking Bryan out for being a creeper was perfect, if kind of disturbing in the larger context, that dudes just existing around children are assumed to be pedophiles, which isn’t fair to anyone and doesn’t keep anyone safer. Anyway.)

There really is too much going on here. Deadbeat Ex doesn’t need to be a thing. Claire’s family issues don’t need to be as big (or as gross) a thing.

I kind of love Daphne and her machinations to get a promotion, but Claire’s second job at the club? I don’t need that. Sasha needs to stop talking. Just dance, my precious. Just dance. THAT PRETTY MUCH GOES FOR EVERYONE.

What I do want more of is Toni’s approach to arts and life and being the earth mother in this ballet company. I kind of suspect it’s supposed to be second rate, trying to nip at the heels of the American Ballet Theater and New York City Ballet, but the Big Two are like “What? Who? Huh? okay.” The tension between classical and evolving dance forms is always fun for me.

SYTYCD fans: do we think Toni is a composite expy of Mia Michael and Sonyah Tayeh? DO WE? Discuss.

Comments are Closed

  1. marjorie says:

    Would not watch this show, no way no how, but I love that image on the poster and wish it were a book cover. For a good non-rapey non-incesty non-avian-murder-oriented book.

  2. Crystal says:

    I don’t get to watch the show, but as I said last week, don’t care, reading ALL THE SPOILERS. Anyway, read the description and went, “Ah, Mia Michaels.” Yes, I’ve watched a lot of SYTYCD, my love for that show is boundless.

  3. DonnaMarie says:

    @Marjorie, I don’t know if he’s responsible for the poster image, but you might want to check out photographer Alexander Yakovlev’s work. It’s been used on book covers in the past.

    Yes, Mionia! Yes, nore dandcing! Please more Alex!

    And how interesting, the strip club owner and the not quite right in the head homeless guy, both marginalized by occupation or circumstance, are the only decent men on the show. Like I said last week, I think Romeo is going to try to be a hero for Claire. Unfortunately, I also think he’ll pay a big price for it.

  4. DonnaMarie says:

    Hey!! There are snowflakes on the background! I LOVE IT!!

  5. bev says:

    I think this would be too dark for me. Bunheads is more my speed, lol.

  6. Trish says:

    > SYTYCD fans: do we think Toni is a composite expy of Mia Michael and Sonyah Tayeh? DO WE? Discuss.

    Oh HELL yes.

  7. SB Sarah says:

    @DonnaMarie: Yup! We have holiday trimmings, courtesy of Wax Creative. 🙂

  8. Carolyn says:

    The problem is that the series lacks balance. There is no light to balance the gloom. Subplots are picked up and put down again with little development. Do we care about the principal dancer, the roommate, the new choreographer? Is everything in ballet degrading, exploitive, oppressive, and/or nasty? Considering the toxicity of the ballet company, the strip club might be a better option!

  9. L. says:

    I don’t get this channel but this totally sounds like the kind of crazysauce show I would watch. I hope you continue to recap it.

  10. bookworm1990 says:

    As someone in the performing arts profession, I get so pissed off at stuff like this. I hate when backstage movies/tv shows use the art form as a setting for what really is just a tv drama.

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