This one capitalises on that confidence (a sentence I certainly couldn’t have written about her in week one) and takes her up to the next level. Last time, having to restart - rather than cripple her - lit a greater fire under her to succeed, whereas this time her confidence shines through even more, as she’s still running on adrenaline from the success of the last two rounds. And this time she gets to go through the whole routine in one unbroken piece, no restarts required.
Of course, it was always going to be the paso, the biggest MOMENT Laura has had in the competition, not that her latin’s been shoddy: both her salsa and samba were great fun to write, but neither showcased her quite in the same way this routine does. (Fun fact: this and Thomas’ Jazz were also performed back-to-back all the way back in week 5, but it’s Laura who goes second and gets to ride the buzz from Thomas’ performance this time round). And as with every other instance, Thomas fakes a bit of humble shock and awe, while his eyes and the jut of his jawline totally say ‘of course I was getting a 40, suck it Paapa’.
#CAPTAIN CLAW RULE 34 SERIES#
As with any Couple’s Choice, typical scoring goes out the window faster than Bruno can get out of his chair (he’s going to be 66 this year, ladies and gents) it gets Thomas’ fifth and final 40 of the series (no Craig, you cannot give him any more 10s after the show, and no I don’t want to know what that’s a euphemism for). And this time, not only does Thomas have the neck-supported headstand (like he’s being possessed by Heidi N Closet) and the mega-triple-pirouette, he also throws in that most thrilling of show-off stunts: a double back-somersault.
I’m a ballroom-latin purist as you know, but even I have to admire the Chad move of sacking all that off and plumping for whatever the heck you feel like instead in a Strictly final, the more inaccessible the better: indeed Danny’s stated that Thomas’ latin has been a bit hodgepodge for ringer standards, there’s no point reprising a perfect samba, and although I’m very fond of his rumba, this dance feels like a perfect distillation of this couple’s energy, a balance of cold hyper-efficient ringer and woozy blazed-out slacker, so alien and prickly and yet effortless and cool, and it’s both extremely and purposefully clinical and jarring while being all-consumingly horny at the same time. At least when Ashley Roberts did the same thing the Salsa and Charleston were bedded in enough as genres (and basic enough crowd-pleasers, if you ignore the fact it’s Ashley Roberts, the manifest opposite of a crowd-pleaser) (don’t blame me, just look at her votes) (dragged two recaps in a row, will my Pussycatophobia never cease), but Couple’s Choice has been a thing for five minutes.
Tonight, Thomas and Dianne have essentially produced three variations on the same pseudo-balletic contempo-jazz faff-about, now that’s the true height of pretention Paapa, serving three near-identical dishes and acting like they are in any way separate entities, TOTALLY removed from the world of Strictly and TOTALLY in the world of Thomas Doherty.
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