Last night’s Make It Or Break It was huge. It addressed the politics behind the national team, something that the show has never done before. There is clearly a lot of corruption in any sport, and gymnastics is one I have followed closely throughout the years. There have been some interesting decisions regarding coaching and centralizing the national team process that I have had mixed feelings about. But I digress. (More on this later).

The episode starts with Payson and her family meeting with the European doctor who thinks her experimental surgery can fix Payson’s back. Payson and her dad are very excited by the prospect, but Kim can’t seem to get behind it. She’s worried about the risks and the possibility for paralysis and for Payson not to be the gymnast she once was.

Back at The Rock, the girls are told by Sasha to be flawless because they are having a National team practice. The China meet is a very important step towards the Olympics, and the girls need to be perfect so they are chosen to compete. Lauren decides to confront Chloe Kmetko and try to get her to stay away from her dad, by “confessing” that her dad is a sex addict. She also confronts Emily about her dress from her mom’s “boyfriend.”

On the first day of practice, Lauren and Emily are in the bathroom, where Lauren repeats words from Emily’s wall. Emily is a little thrown off, and they talk about Kaylie’s mom having an affair with Marty. Of course, Kellie Parker is in the bathroom and hears everything. She decides to use this knowledge as leverage to psych out her competitors. She talks to Kaylie and tells her that her friends told her all about her mom’s affair. Of course, this prompts Kaylie to confront Lauren and Emily, and then mess up her newly landed double Arabian. Emily is off her game too because her mom shows up after she figures out that she is dating Steve Tanner. After Emily and Kaylie falter, Kellie moves on to Lauren, where she talks about how her mom is a drug addict who abandoned her. Of course, this prompts Lauren to throw chalk in Kellie’s face, and chaos to ensue. Kaylie storms out of practice after Marty tells her to take her arabian out of her routine and to trust him. She yells back how is she supposed to trust someone who had an affair with her mom. Sasha can’t figure out why Kaylie stormed out, and Summer confides in Sasha about the Marty/Ronni Cruz affair. Sasha comes back into practice and punches Marty in the face. Chaos at The Rock!

Meanwhile, in the Keeler family household, Payson sees her mom and dad fighting over the surgery. Kim says she knows Mark won’t be the bad parent and tell Payson she can’t have the surgery, so it all falls on her. I have been absolutely loving this focus on the Keeler family. Peri Gilpin is so phenomenal, and she plays Kim Keeler impecably. After seeing her parents fight, Payson declares at dinner that she doesn’t want to have the surgery, but her heart is clearly not behind this decison.

That night, Kaylie returns home and tells her mom she is going to quit the National team, and she can’t stand Marty coaching her. Her mom says she will help lighten the burden, and tell her dad that she had an affair. Sasha then calls the girls back to The Rock and tells them that Marty agreed, due to the circumstances, to keep the awful practice private. The girls will start with a clean slate with the National Team Committee watching. The next day, all The Rock girls are on their A game. Kaylie lands her double arabian, Emily lands her Yurchenko vault, and Lauren has a great practice. When it comes time to announce the girls going to China, it seems like they are shoe-ins. However, out of the three of them, only Lauren makes the team. Kaylie and Emily are left wondering what more they could have done. Sasha confronts a National Team Committee member, who tells him they know about what happened in practice. He can’t keep his gymnasts in line, and they are inconsistent. He argues that they are better than the team that was chosen for China, and he is told that they want Kellie Parker to be the face of USA gymnastics, and this team that they chose can be kept in line.

I found this exchange incredibly interesting. In USA Gymnastics, Bela and Marta Karolyi (two huge names) came out of retirement in 2004 (or slightly earlier) to reorganize the way the National team trains and is chosen for the Olympics. What used to be a system of the top 7 finishers go to the Olympics, is now the top 2 are guaranteed a spot, then the others go to a camp and are chosen based on their performances. 2008 was a great year for USA gymnastics, and they stood a shot for gold. But several of their top team members were injured either right before the Olympics or during, and one even competed on a broken foot. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the way in which a team is chosen now, with critics saying that the athletes are pushed too hard and are injury prone because of their exhaustion. I love the sport. I don’t agree with every decision (past and present–pre and post Karoylis) that has been made, but it’s really nice to see a show that is about the world of elite gymnastics address an issue that is so important to the actual sport. I hope to see much more.

Sasha tells Emily and Kaylie that they consider him the rogue coach, and that his club has rogue gymnasts. It’s not their fault, it’s not fair, and they will prove the National Team committee wrong. Payson discusses with her mom that she goes to her for strength and she can see in her eyes that she doesn’t have faith in the surgery. Kim then explains to Mark that it’s her fault Payson got injured because she let her take the cortisone. We realize why Kim was unable to take the leap and let Payson have surgery, and her and Mark decide to make all future decisions, which was yet another wonderful scene with Peri Gilpin. They decide to let Payson have the surgery, and the ending scene is Payson in the hospital going in for surgery. Kim tells Payson she will be cheering her on at the Olympics, and that she is confident the surgery will work.

I have been absolutely loving this half season. Bringing Kellie Parker back is a great decision, and there have been many more episodes showing the girls in the gym. I like the “outside The Rock” episodes as well, but I love when it focuses on the sport. There are only 4 episodes of Make It Or Break it left in this half season which is sad…but I can’t wait to see how the Lauren/Steve/Chloe situation gets resolved (even though Chloe told Emily she’d stop seeing Steve), what happens with Sasha/Summer, the National Team Committee debacle, and the Emily/Razor/Damon love triangle. ABC Family, you never let me down! I am so excited to see more!

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