Bunheads: A Season 1 Retrospective

Left to right (standing): Emma Dumont, Kelly Bishop, Sutton Foster,
and Julia Goldani Telles. (floor): Kaitlyn Jenkins Bailey Buntain

Upon a request of my sister, I finally got around to watching the ABC Family show Bunheads, in which a Las Vegas dancer named Michelle (Sutton Foster) moves to Paradise, CA and spends time with a dance teacher (Kelly Bishop) and her students. Not being an expert on dance, I was not entirely sure what to expect, especially from ABC Family, a channel I rarely watch outside of old Disney movie weekends. While I was familiar with Amy Sherman Palladino's previous opus Gilmore Girls, I haven't seen more than a few episodes, to which I say that it was quaint. However, once getting through season one of this freshman series, I am having trouble seeing how it was ever close to cancellation.

There was a moment early on in Bunheads' run that I knew that this show was great. In episode 2, "For Fanny," it all just clicked. Upon the reveal that Michelle's very brief husband Hubble (Alan Ruck) had died, the show was already heading for a short life with the gimmicky first episode twist. In fact, by this point, it almost felt like an excuse to transport Michelle to Paradise without any other strong motive. While I loved what was to come, the initial set-up was based on something a little dumb upon first glance.

However, it was at the end of the episode, after Hubble's mom and at the time very adamantly displeased at Michelle character Fanny (Bishop) had gone through this hassle of making Hubble's funeral this big spectacle that everything was torn back. The dancers in Fanny's class instead did a very minimalist dance to commemorate Hubble based on a Tom Waits CD that they found in his glove compartment in his car. By comparison to every dance that followed, it wasn't that impressive. However, it set the tone for the rest of the series. Every week from there on out, there was a big dance number that accentuated the arts portion of the episode while often thematically tying into the plot somehow.

After all, Bunheads is a term that the show established early on as a reference to dancers who wore their hair in a bun. It was only inevitable that they would feature dance in some spectrum. However, what is more impressive is that they managed to develop four empathetic characters on top of them being very skilled dancers. It only strengthened the show and helped to make it one of the most technically impressive week-to-week series that I have seen in recent years. 

As witnessed in the collection of dance numbers above, it isn't just in the choreography. The reason that I am very much impressed by the technical side of this show is the camera placement. Numerous routines, often shot in one takes, were elaborate with the camera moving consistently to capture varying angles. As readers will know, I am an adamant lover of Girl Walk // All Day, which took dance and film making to the next level. It may also have revealed a soft spot. What Bunheads did was take that filming style, added it contextually to a narrative, and almost make dance... crucial. Some routines are just great, while others have romance, jealousy, or other subtext.

All of this from a show that essentially started off on a very rocky path. As established, "Pilot" felt more like an excuse to get to Paradise, CA. Even then, it felt like it was a show centralized on the idea that Michelle is a fish out of water, getting mixed up on private roads and inviting Sparkles store owner Truly (Stacey Oristano) for a girl's night out. It wasn't a bad concept, but it didn't feel like it was crucial to the show's title nor did it do much to distinguish itself. Michelle, for all its worth, is clever and witty with references to old pop culture, but her early incarnation seems a little bit odd.

Whenever she interacted with the four main dancers of the show: Boo (Kaitlyn Jenkins), Sasha (Julia Goldani Telles), Ginny (Bailey Buntain), or Melanie (Emma Dumont), it just seemed like an awkward generation gap played for laughs. True, it was probably done to help establish each separate world before meshing them together in the latter half of the season, but it didn't help to keep things from seeming a little rote at times.

The part of the show that I did love was when it finally developed each of the character's worlds. Michelle and Fanny had their weekly dilemmas with most weeks Fanny being gone. The four girls quickly gained more focus, and that is great news. For the most part, I find them to be a vastly more intriguing group of characters than Michelle, if just because their chemistry just seems to click better and there was something fresh about them. They weren't uptight or cliche, but just four characters that slowly got more and more complex.

The two that initially struck my immediate interest was Boo and Sasha. In "Pilot," it almost felt like Boo was going to be accused of being the fat one. However, she comes across as the most vulnerable character on the show, not entirely sure how things will go. She also has a really great plot that involves dumpster diving as a waitress at the Oyster Bar while the others wait for sexy bartender Godot (Nathan Parsons) to recognize them. Boo also has an odd family life, and probably the most personal that this series gets. What I appreciate about the show is how quickly it went from her having weight issues in "Pilot" to now focusing on her as a person with awkward parents. It did the show more justice.

Probably my favorite character however was Sasha. True, she had a more trouble family life, but she also had the most interesting story lines outside of that. She became a cheerleader, took everyone to see a horror movie, and became emancipated. On top of that, she was probably one of the more established dancers, having been a central performer in several of the show's more memorable routines. She also tended to have a lot of the show's better jokes, which as a whole, is very juicy to listen to and makes this show authentic and fun.

My only problem is that the other characters took longer to develop. Melanie and Ginny were great characters as well, but it almost felt like the majority of the season focused on Sasha and Boo, almost suggesting that they were just more interesting. However, when the show became more about high school and new dancer Cozette (Jeanine Mason) made everyone feel inferior, the show became what I enjoy. There was plenty of it before, but the teen angst and strife for acceptance in a society that has a dance studio funded by someone who thinks that there are dwarfs in Sleeping Beauty (Liza Weil). 

Even the supporting characters evolved throughout the season. Truly went from this weird, socially awkward character to a fully competent companion to Michelle. Fanny, when she was in town, became less of a cranky character and more of a reasonable person, though occasionally using her son's death as an excuse to go mental. These are flawed characters for sure, but what makes this universe work is that it accepts everyone because they all have quirky sides and something endearing about them. Maybe there's a one eyed plumber that everyone makes fun of, but they don't go out of their way to be mean.

The season as a whole was a progressive example of how to do a great first season. Not only from an impressive technical angle, but from a character perspective. True, it did leave room for some ridiculous moments, including macing an entire dance troupe, but it tackled some heavy issues, including the idea that these girls would have sex by the finale. It treated it all as this scary, new world and innocence was still important to them. In fact, it wasn't until this concept came up that Michelle went from being a little bit of a bugger and more of a character. By learning to communicate on a personal level, Michelle and the girls felt like the stronger dynamic that the opening credits sequence suggested.

Overall, Bunheads is well worth investing in, if just for those dance moments that come spread throughout the episodes. I have read reports that this isn't as great as Gilmore Girls. As someone who has no idea how to compare the two, I feel kind of fortunate to have that gap, if just to help me have a more open view of this show. It may not have always worked in story, but when you get plots like "Movie Truck" that are just so fun and youthful, it is easy to overlook the small flaws and just realize that in the first season, these characters evolved from the awkward, clumsy characters brought together by a kind of dumb concept and turned it into an exploration of dance and life in a very thrilling and exciting way.

For those wondering if I am opposed to Hubble and the twist of death, I am not. It definitely connected certain points together, notably when Michelle would head back to Las Vegas from time to time or when Fanny would have one of her breakdowns, including a great plot involving taxes. It even worked to make Michelle have a short runned theme of overcoming being called a whore. It added some emotional depth, but it was an odd mislead to say the least. Of course, that wasn't as problematic as the early Michelle fish out of water tales that while humorous, felt familiar. Either way, Hubble is what it is, and it lead us to Paradise, CA, which isn't a terrible thing to happen.

I don't know if I love this show, but I definitely come away admiring it. I cannot see how anyone could really oppose. When I heard that it was close to cancellation, it seemed like a joke. Very few shows have this amazing depth and technical skill on a weekly basis, especially with people who can dance and act so well. I still consider Sasha to be a revelation of a character and I just love when the show dives into their lives. In fact, I pray that season two only gets more and more interesting, possibly making Melanie and Ginny feel like more than secondary, which was being done by the end of the season. In fact, it is possibly going to be on my recap roster come this fall. I am just sad that it is all over for now. Where else am I going to get amazing dance numbers on a week-to-week basis mixed with an equally engaging story?


Rating: 4 out of 5