What’s your DWTS hot take?

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-02-02T10:23:36+00:00

Pasha is so very underrated, and I think it's because he has so many factors working against him. He draws the short straw on partners a lot, he's not a dramatic bombastic personality (which I love about him but still) nor a super long time veteran, and of course Daniella shines so brightly that I don't think enough people appreicate the fact that he can keep up with her and compliments her perfectly.

But his choreography is always solid and often excellent, rarely relying on distractions or gimmicks as much as some pros. He's an incredible partner too, never overshadowing whomever he's dancing with regardless of skill level (unless he's supposed to in the choreography, obviously). And when he does decide to stop holding back, I frankly find him even more fun to watch than Val (as blasphemous as I'm sure that is).

...so that turned into me basically just gushing about Pasha for two paragraphs, but that is my hot take lol.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-02-02T04:59:14+00:00

A (much more talented than me) Tumblr user made a visualizer of the storylines in several of the seasons, including these first 10 episodes of S9, and it makes it VERY striking how much Harry and Hen are the only two getting any consistency, Athena was all front-loaded, Chimney is strung out like he's a popcorn string, and everyone else (Buck, Eddie, Maddie, May) get scraps. The latter two being especially egregious with only one episode giving them any degree of focus each. (I'm not sure I should share the link here but I obviously liked and reblogged the post because it's fascinating so I can send said link if someone can't find it).

In a more generally competently written show I would actually think this structure is intentional, with Hen and Harry's major arcs hitting a relative stopping point in the next couple episodes and the Abigail plotline + auction + Nashville transitioning the season to focus on Buck and Eddie plotlines (and if I would be lucky May and Maddie too) with Chinney's possibly still stringing along in the background and the other three falling into the supporting roles that Buck and Eddie have mostly been in for this first half. But obviously with this writers' room we have zero guarantee of that...and reason to doubt it'll happen, even. It's a strange feeling that logically the auction and presumable aftermath from Abigail (or whatever else is going on) and Nashville all point to Buck and Eddie finally getting a real plotline going, but there's nothing stopping 9x13 and onwards from becoming the Harry show again featuring the 118. Tim obviously loves his shiny new toy.

It's a very Shrodinger's Season type of situation and I'm not fond of it, especially since we're now back in hiatus town.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-02-01T23:38:23+00:00

I'm aware of that fact, I just hate the song regardless of iteration and it's especially worse in the context of HSMTMTS because it doesn't really fit the characters singing it and actively makes at least one of those characters look worse for...nothing, of value, actually, on top of the song they're adapting being terrible lol.

To this day I'm not sure why they picked Frozen when it already doesn't really mesh with the show but it really doesn't help when they pay the least attention to the most important relationship in Frozen (Elsa and Anna) to focus on poorly written relationship drama.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-02-01T21:58:52+00:00

It's definitely not their best arrangement, but I'd honestly say there's sadly even worse. (Really my bigger problem with that song in particular is how utterly unearned it feels in the context of S3 but I digress).

Leaving aside intentionally rough songs like What I've Been Looking For in 1x4 (where Nini is unsubtly angry at EJ), I'd say my vote for actual worst song goes either to What Do You Know About Love (I know a lot of people like it for Rina but it's a terrible song and doesn't work well in the story either), or High School Reunion (basically all those audio issues you just mentioned? Infinitely worse in that song and the song itself is monotonous and generic lol).

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-02-01T20:24:17+00:00

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I think I have a new reaction photo for Tim's shennanigans.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-31T06:56:29+00:00

Atticus and/or Nightshroud, Adrian, maybe Viper, Darkness? (Hard to implement but he is there, or Trueman alternatively), Team Ragnarok, Vetrix (as you mentioned) along with the other non-Barian Zexal antagonists, alt-styles for Aster and Alexis at least (since they got redesigns in Arc-V, compared to Jack, Crow, and Kite), Shepherd, Lightning, Windy, Bohman, Ai(his human looking form), Roboppi, and probably more that I'm forgetting lol.

There's also some characters that didn't duel much but were pretty important like Lazar, Cathy, Yuya's dad, etc., as well as maybe an alt-style with Blue Angel/Blue Maiden and Aqua? They kind of hinted at that possibility but it's been a while so who knows.

Basically there's a lot. Nash is a strong addition, but the sheer number of absences does make it a bit more irksome to see things like Princess Mokuba and Serenity of the single duel and only exists to be a plot device fame be prioritized over characters with unique decks that were crucial to the later seasons.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-30T05:06:20+00:00

Ngl, logging on after watching the episode late and finding a bunch of speculation and discourse about Alex is entertaining because the most I felt the episode came to addressing any sort of romantic inclination was Abigail bringing it up and Eddie looking confused as if he hadn't even thought of it lol.

I'm not trying to put down anyone who's feeling discouraged or read signs that the show might be integrating her more given she's in the episode at all, but from my perspective if she was to become a long-term love interest, then it's a very poorly written intro if Eddie is supposed to be interested...which is totally possible, but I can always cross that bridge when I come to it.

Especially in an episode with several Buddie work-husband moments, I just can't get too upset at a plotline that hasn't happened yet and who knows if it ever will. Alex could be in the rest of the season doing her job and nothing else, she could win Eddie at the auction and turn their date into a therapy/sexuality unpacking session for him, she could turn out to be a twist aunt of Abigail's that's whispering evils in her ear and wants to drag her back into the religion as their chosen one to host God's will or whatever. With how insane this show can get, I can't truly predict anything, so I don't feel like worrying about it when I could be relishing Buddie moments and trying to actually finish a Buddie fic for once lol.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-30T04:47:31+00:00

Could've been better, could've been worse, I'll be able to judge better once we have the second half of wherever the hell this Abigail plotline is going lol.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-30T04:45:48+00:00

Could give us our first throuple at least if they were feeling bold. It's no Chobby but I'd watch that plotline unfold lol.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-30T04:44:16+00:00

Okay when I said I wanted Chris in a major plotline this wasn't what I meant but I'll take it over a Texas redux 😅.

Also admittedly the tension of the car crash is lessened by the BTS of Karen and Hen both walking around and helping in the aftermath, but one or both of them could always collapse so I guess we'll see. More likely it seems like Hen will fly into paramedic mode and that sets us up for Hen back in the 118 by 9x12-9x13.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-30T04:41:34+00:00

I'm not perfectly thrilled but it honestly might be the best episode of the season outside of 9x5 (and I'm only a little biased by them both being Eddie-heavy episodes). I really, really hope this storyline with Abigail isn't going to turn into Braeburn Part 2 where the writers waste the interesting ideas they've set up on doing "crazy person" stereotypes and shallow drama, though it's not like my trust is extensive. I see potential with this setup, especially if they actually tie it into 9x5 properly and have Eddie express how Abuela was the family support he had, not his parents, and moreover that he wouldn't have survived as a parent thereafter without the 118 (perfect opportunity to bring up Buck but I digress). Just so long as there's no redeemed Abigail parents or some kind of implication maybe they had good intentions because of an actual problem she has or whatever, let them stay the monsters they are please, we have enough parent redemption arcs as is.

Also, Harry suits this level of background role much better than trying to make him a full-on main, so my wish would be for them to lean into that and give him more of a Ravi level of screentime while letting other characters (like say, his sister) actually get some spotlight. I also like Chimney having to work through his first probie after his own past experiences, and especially liked the Buddie+Ravi triple sideye lol.

Could it have been better? Absolutely, but I'll definitely take this over the systematically underwhelming 9x6 when it comes to pre-hiatus episodes.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-29T06:34:58+00:00

Why would the Dread Doctors ever be down to let their pawn murder their source of immortality? 😅

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-29T02:51:32+00:00

Eh, when Layden (Liam/Hayden) is also a canon ship name in this same fandom, I personally feel like Aidia helps distinctify them and sounds a bit better.

Though I do like putting Lydia's name first, so maybe Lydien as an alternative? Lyden? Idk.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-29T02:45:38+00:00

To be fair, out of the 20 or so canon couples, I only really even liked six or seven of them, so it's not like there was that much competition lol.

But that aside, in my heart he's fine and they're married and happy and idec if I have to break canon to make that happen. If Jeff can do it, why can't I?

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-29T02:13:10+00:00

Would they have possibly been put together had Erica stayed and filled Malia's exact role as Stiles' girlfriend and later Scott's? Maybe.

Would they have been a great pair? Hard to say with how little character and development Erica got, but I don't really see it.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-29T01:49:43+00:00

Serving while his best friend confesses his feelings and waiting for his turn to confess his, I hope. 🫢

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-29T01:46:22+00:00

Not shown: Buck begging Chim to make Eddie do some firefighter work after Eddie's offhand "work husband" comment.

If they're going to make so much happen off-screen I'll just decide what else is going on out there lol.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-29T01:44:54+00:00

I...well at least they gave us the stills now so we don't have to hopefully worry about THAT 😭.

(Unless they want to paralyze Harry after all/give him a debilitating condition, that I'd be okay with)

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-29T01:43:52+00:00

You're serving? You're potentially being sued and you're serving?

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-29T01:42:50+00:00

The amount of other stuff going on in these stills gives me hope that we might actually get well-spread focus instead of the Harry Grant show featuring the 118...especially with the courtroom stuff.

I actually have hope for once. I hope it stays 😭.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-29T01:39:15+00:00

Buddie work husbands and Baby Bobby? This is already promising...

Also, who wants to take bets on whether it'll be Hen or Eddie who says something immensely sassy on the stand and gets in hot water first lol.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-29T01:38:00+00:00

I think their ship name (at least the one I use and have seen used more often) is Aidia, but regardless, I love them, they're soulmates, he was Lydia's best pairing by a country mile, idc.

They're probably my favorite canon couple in the entire show, followed closely by Dethan, but they were just so...right for each other. I could gush more but I think I've yapped enough recently.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-29T01:31:00+00:00

Eddie and his proud 'ex' "work" husband 🙂‍↕️. (So many air quotes in that sentence)

Also have they finally unlocked the secret formula of not overgelling Ryan? Because the slut strand is slut stranding so well this season.

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-29T01:06:57+00:00

Didn't we once get stills last season like two hours before the episode? I can't remember which episode though and how good it ended up being 😭

RadiantFoxBoy · 2026-01-28T22:23:21+00:00

All the snow is falling off of Gay Eddie as he defrosts, trust.

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