Pure World of Dance Season 1, Week 10 (Finale) – Power Rankings

So ends the inaugural season of World of Dance – can’t say I was entirely surprised with the result, given the song-and-dance we’ve seen from the judges all season long. That sadly made last night’s show a bit of a snooze for me, although I did thoroughly enjoy both of Swing Latino’s performances, one of Eva’s, and one of Les Twins’.

Aside from the general predictability of it all, I think the thing that bugged me most about Les Twins winning was that they were neither humble about it, nor did they really need it. Say what you will about them wanting to send their mom on a permanent vacation, but I go back to “You were touring with Beyonce and modeling for Jean-Paul Gautier before all this.” I sincerely doubt they were too bad off before WOD. On the other hand, Swing Latino members talked about family back in Colombia that they could really help if they won the million dollars, and Eva tearfully admitted that money had been tight in her family in the past year and that she’d like to at least be able to cover her own dance expenses. I thought the million would have genuinely been “life-changing”, as Derek put it, for those two – whereas it just seemed like a nice bonus for Les Twins, which they acted almost entitled to. I’ve really come to question their sincerity when it comes to their backstory, so this is just kind of another thing I’m having a hard time swallowing with regards to them. I only take solace in knowing that – to our knowledge – they can’t come back and win again next season 🙂

Thankfully, it’s sounding like next season is getting a longer time slot, so hopefully things won’t be so hurried and disorganized; I’m also hoping it’s less predictable, given that the show is established now and doesn’t have to try so hard to grab an audience. So there’s that to look forward to 🙂 I am still toying with how I’m going to do the power rankings next season, so feel free to offer up suggestions – we’re still just rolling with it here at PWoD, and things could change a bit next season.  I just ranked last night’s performances in terms of my own enjoyment once again…

1.) Swing Latino, first performance – This was the performance of the night for me – I just felt like they went above and beyond when it came to coming up with new tricks and staging for their dance, and they had my jaw on the floor multiple times.  I really came to appreciate that they were the last act standing that made an honest, conscious effort week after week to up their game and bring something new to the table – too many acts skated by doing the same things over and over, so they have a tremendous amount of respect from me.  Perhaps a bit messy in spots, as Derek pointed out, but considering that Columbian salsa is so fast, I generally cut them a bit more slack on messiness. I don’t really care when they’re tossing women 20 feet in the air 🙂

2.) Eva Igo, second performance – Thank god for this, otherwise I think Eva may not have been able to hope for better than 3rd place after her first, lackluster performance.  Not sure that it really had much in the way of a cohesive storyline, but I liked that she returned to the displays of athleticism that got her to the finale to begin with – much more impressive than the aimlessness of her first performance.

3.) Les Twins, second performance – Probably my favorite performance they did all season, for the simple reason that it was DIFFERENT. Thought the mirrors were a nice touch, and the storyline seemed to sum up their season well. Ambitious song choice, but I feel like it paid off.

4.) Swing Latino, second performance – Not quite as glossy and impressive for me as their first performance, but perhaps cleaner, and still a solid effort. Seemed like a nice ending to the season for them.  Only thing I disliked were the ladies’ costumes…the gold ruffle was kinda distracting.

5.) Les Twins, first performance – Anyone else get the impression while watching this that they were really just kinda running out of ideas? The turntable felt like a bit of an afterthought – like, “Crap, throw in a turntable or something, I dunno, just make it different!” And then the part where one brother was dancing while the other just kinda ran around hyping up the crowd? That bordered on arrogant complacence for me, as if they were saying “Look, we don’t even really have to dance, we can just run around and still win this thing!!!!”

6.) Eva Igo, first performance – She didn’t screw up royally, per se, but I was just shocked at how completely underwhelming the choreography was – it was as if she ditched all the impressive shows of athleticism and just stuck with some vague flailing. I have to wonder if she was either using a different choreographer, or this was just a failed attempt at doing “something different” and kinda running out of ideas.

So those are my final thoughts – what are yours? Did the right act win? ?