America's Best Dance Crew - 3x04 "Whack Track Challenge"

All season long, Beat Freaks, Quest, and Strikers All-Stars have been a step ahead of the pack, though in the last challenge, I thought the Strikers slipped a little (and going into this week, I thought they'd have the advantage of having a Hammer track that still pumps). If the latest poll on MTV.com is any indication, Quest seem to be in firm control of the competition:

Quest Crew 49%
Beat Freaks 19%
Ringmasters 10%
Dynamic Edition 8%
Fly Khicks 7%
Strikers All-Stars 7%

I wasn't nearly as impressed by Quest's routine, mostly because of how much time I spent trying to figure out how Hok was doing his upside-down thing. (Allow me my stupidity, please.) Ask me what else I remember from them this week, and I'd blank before finally remembering Dom/D'Trix pulling up his shorts to show off his drumsticks in rehearsals -- which sort of sums up my feelings about Quest, i.e. they're creative to a fault, sometimes to the detriment of their overall routine. They have no problem hitting their "high spots" (i.e. showstopping tricks, like the blindfolded super-catapult maneuver from the Britney challenge) or working the comic angles, but sometimes I find their choreography lackluster.

Beat Freaks, on the other hand, feature choreography that often involves the whole troupe, with more moving parts and thus a greater feast for the eyes. (And yes, I think they're cute, too.)



In any case, the dual backspins were awesome, and the fourth-wall breaching girlie fans asking for JC's autograph was a great meta touch. What's more, they integrated their humor a lot more into the choreography itself with the stiff, mannequin-like white-boy poses -- but then they also threw in some serious funk behind their Carltons, all of which means I want to marry them all.

Indie rating: Mahogany – "My Bed Is My Castle"