Make It Or Break It- Time is of the Essence recap/review

What Happened- When Payson is interviewed by a reporter, she fails to talk up Coach McIntire and is embarrassed when the reporter asks her about kissing Sasha. Kelly Parker has her mom find out which person from The Rock leaked the video of Payson kissing Sasha to the NGO. It was Lauren, if you forgot (how could you forget). Jordan hears Kaylie and Kelly Parker talking about it. Payson and Rigo struggle to find the time to catch a date, but Rigo is still able to get a first kiss from Payson.

NGO representative Marcus visits Coach McIntire to observe how training is going. Marcus is unimpressed with how Coach McIntire handles training girls for the first time. Payson goes to Marcus and tells him that she is concerned with the coach’s training methods. Marcus tells the coach that a girl came to him, complaining that Coach McIntire was employing arbitrary methods and failing to inspire the team.

Coach McIntire responds by inviting the girls to his home to bond, watch training videos, and watch Remember the Titans. He leaves the room and the girls take the opportunity to fight. Payson finds out that Lauren leaked the tape, but she pretends that she knew all along so that Jordan wouldn’t get the satisfaction of telling everyone the news. Payson tells Lauren that they are no longer friends, but they make up later. Lauren tells Payson that she is still having dizzy spell and the two agree to go see a doctor together.

Coach McIntire returns to find the girls have turned off the awesome football movie. He comes clean, asking to know who went behind his back to complain to Marcus. Lauren takes the blame. The girls tell the coach that he needs to approach training them in a gentler, more positive way. The coach tells the girls that his pairings and rankings are not arbitrary, but necessary. The coach is able to turn things around and treat the girls better, and Marcus notices.

Comments-  Rigo has so much game. So much more game than the guys in our schools. That’s right, a teen boy on an ABCFamily show has better moves than 25-year-old law and business guys. That was the perfect first kiss. This guy is smooth. Too smooth. There has to be something wrong with him, right?

We love the coach saying, “An athlete is an athlete. Gender doesn’t even play a part.” Of course, the episode would prove that wrong, but we like that the way Coach McIntire thinks. We love Payson, but she really should have threw in a good word for her new coach in the interview, even if just to be classy and grateful. Later, her confession that she doesn’t think the coach knows what he is doing illuminated that she was just trying to be honest and nice at the same time, reserving judgment. But still, it wasn’t smart.

Payson feels like the kiss is going to haunt and embarrass her for the rest of her life. We feel her pain, because we remember the sting of humiliating moments from our teens. Teens reading this: You will always remember how miserable you were, but everyone else will forget and won’t care. Your bad moments won’t follow you unless you let them and keep thinking about them. In five years, the worst thing you ever did will be long gone even if it doesn’t feel that way now. If you don’t let mistakes define who you are, they won’t shape your life.

We like the girls getting along with Kelly Parker. We also liked Lauren saying, “Jordan, you’re dead to us.” The worst thing is when girls pretend to be your best friend when they don’t like you. We will take an upfront bitch any day over that. We totally forgot that Kaylie and Payson didn’t know that Lauren released the tape of the kiss. We have been waiting for Lauren to get her due for that!

We didn’t like when Payson stupidly talked to Marcus about the coach. Bad idea and very cowardly. Always go to the person you have a problem with first. We like Coach McIntire and will only accept a replacement if it’s Sasha. We wish they could coach together, but we do not run this show. Remember the Titans is an awesome movie! Why don’t the girls want to watch it? After watching this episode, WE want to go watch Remember the Titans.

Lauren’s apology worked for us, for the most part. It veered off into Excuses Land when she started talking about how much she wanted to keep Summer and how nobody stays in her life. Lauren kind of made things up for us by lying for Payson. We still don’t love her, but if she really is a new person, then maybe we will come around by the time they put her on the Olympic Team though. We hope karma kicks in and boots Lauren out of the running though.

The girls are upset because the coach criticizes them and doesn’t compliment them. Well, tough titties, we say. Being able to handle and enjoy getting good criticism from a knowledgeable person is one of the keys to life. One of us took eight years of Japanese karate, going three to five days a week for two hours a day. You know how many compliments that blogger got from her sensei in eight years? Four. That’s life and that’s sports. If you need someone to baby you, get off the gym/sparring floor. So the lesson of this episode is that guys are tough and professional, but girls need a bunch of coddling. Nice.

Episode grade: B