The TV Chick

After a wonderful premiere, Make It Or Break It kept up its momentum in episode 2 titled Follow The Leader. The girls of The Rock are eagerly anticipating the announcement of the National Team coach, and they all expect Sasha to be named. In a shocking development, rival coach Marty is chosen. Each of the girls struggle to accept Marty. Kaylie knows he slept with her mom, Emily feels abandoned by him, and Lauren knows about her dad bribing him. The girls plan on sabotaging Marty, one way or another.

Meanwhile, Razor has returned and Emily finally admits to him that she’s a gymnast. In addition, one of the National Team committee members informs Emily and her mom that she has to get a B in math to remain on the team. In steps Damon, the “mathlete” and new tutor (Emily’s mom asked him). It is clear he has romantic intentions, so I’m curious to see what happens in this love triangle. This episode also explored the interesting relationship with Emily and her mom. When taking her math exam (supervised by Summer), Summer shows Emily all the letters her mom sent to Marty to try and get her into The Rock. Emily slowly comes to realize that her mom has helped with her gymnastics career all along, and has always had her best intentions in mind.  

The other big storyline involves Kaylie continuing to grapple with the pressures of a National Champion. She decides she is going to tell her dad about her mom’s affair, but is unable to go through with it. She calls Carter for support and opens up to him about the pressures and Marty, and feeling like she isn’t in control of her own life. Kaylie starts to kiss Carter and things get a little heavy, but he stops it. He tells Kaylie he’s not giving up on her, and is always there if she needs him. I like that Carter is back in Kaylie’s life. I think he has a lot of making up to do, but in this case, he did the right thing. I hope their relationship will continue to develop.

Because Kaylie couldn’t go through with the Marty sabotage, the girls think up a new plan. They tell the new National team members several petty lies (he’s very hands-y, he has bad breath, don’t look him in the eye) to make Marty look bad. Sasha catches on to their plan, and is clearly disappointed in the girls. In an interesting twist, Kellie Parker reveals to Payson why Sasha wasn’t chosen: essentially because his star gymnast got a career ending injury. Payson goes to talk to Sasha, who reveals that a previous gymnast of his suffered a fall, appeared to be fine and then ended up dying. Sasha tells Payson that the girls look up to her, and she needs to be a leader. Throughout the episode, Sasha (and even Marty) asked Payson to coach, and she said she wasn’t interested. During this talk, it seems as if Sasha finally got through to her. She decides to talk to the girls and tells them they will all be going to the Olympics together–maybe not in the way they anticipated, but it would happen one way or another. Payson may have given in (in a sense) but that fire isn’t gone. While the National Team photo is being taken at the end of the episode, she turns to her mother and tells her she’ll be up there next year, as the new National Champion. (Way to go, Payson!)

I really enjoyed this episode. The return of Kellie Parker was great (she is always a good counter-bitch to Lauren), and I loved seeing Payson step up her role. I hope to see her back in the gym one day, but this was a good start. Also, Emily and her mother’s relationship has always been unique, and I enjoyed seeing this side of Emily’s mother. She seems like the perpetual screw up — always late, always forgetting things — but this episode brought her into a new light. In the scenes from the next episode, the girls hit Hollywood, and there’s more to Damon than we think. I am Damon girl myself, so I’m curious to see what happens. 

Make It Or Break It airs Monday nights at 9 pm on ABC Family.