Rasher Report #5: Why Can't My Boyfriend Skate?
As promised, this edition is mostly about figure skating, since both the European Figure Skating Championships and the US National Figure Skating Championships were last week. These two events almost always occur at the same time, which means I almost never see much of Euros. US Nationals has the advantage of being in my time zone, and although I wouldn't consider myself a patriotic fan of US figure skating, it's easier for me to get news about American skaters than skaters from any other country. I did catch some of Euros - part of the rhythm dance, the latter half of the men's free skate - but I watched all of senior-level Nationals and some of juniors live. So with respect to the many athletes who did good and/or interesting things at Euros, I'm going to focus on the Americans here.
It would have been a major upset to see any of the eventual winners at US Nationals do anything but win. The ice dance and pairs outcomes were such a foregone conclusion that I don't have much to say about either discipline. The American pairs field remains a mess beyond Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, which Nationals only confirmed, although Knierim and Frazier were fantastic. The USA has a ton of depth in ice dance, but nobody except gold medalists Madison Chock and Evan Bates seems to be skating up to their potential lately. Some of this is the result of injury and partner switching, but US ice dance has a big problem with unbalanced teams. So many of the teams in the middle of the Nationals rankings have one extraordinary team member who sometimes looks like they're dragging their partner around the ice. A wide range of factors go into forming a dance or pairs team that I would never fault an athlete for a partner choice, but I can name a solid half-dozen American ice dancers who should be slaying internationally but can't seem to stick with a partner who skates at their level. And a good technical match isn't a guarantee of artistic success: Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, who took silver, have an alarming lack of chemistry for a team that's been skating together for four seasons. This insightful Reddit post goes deep into it and says most of what I would have said about the current state of American ice dance.
Ilia Malinin and Isabeau Levito have emerged as the young rising stars of men's and women's singles, and while neither skated to the best of their ability last week, they both did enough to prove that they are way ahead of the rest of the field technically. Levito left out her most difficult elements in her Nationals free skate, but the safe approach paid off: she landed seven clean triple jumps, including a beast of a triple lutz-triple loop combination, and earned maximum levels and high grades of execution on everything. She's not the most charismatic or artistic performer, a weakness that stood out more here because so many of her competitors are veteran entertainers. But she's also fifteen years old, so she'll hopefully have a long career in which to develop that aspect of her skating.
Men's gold medalist Ilia Malinin does seem to be working on his artistry and presence, qualities that I've never seen more in his performances than last week. His style on the ice reminds me of 70s rock, percussive and aggressive but with baby-faced androgyny, which he gets to showcase in his short program to the growly Jay Hawkins version of "I Put a Spell on You." His jumps are unreal, from the hits (the perfect quad lutz-triple toe in his short program) to the misses (the fully rotated quad Axel he fell on in his free skate) to the purely decorative (a choreographic stag jump where he gets enough height to leap the boards). Malinin has made the transition from a skater I admire to a skater I can't wait to watch, and I love that.
Second place and beyond were up for grabs in both singles disciplines, but we got the most expected outcomes for most of the medals. The men's silver went to Jason Brown, who many of us assumed had retired, as he hadn't competed all season and had begun doing choreography for other athletes. Instead, he showed up with two new programs, earned near-perfect Program Components marks, and finished only ten points behind Malinin without attempting a quadruple jump. On the women's side, Bradie Tennell returned from a series of prolonged, mysterious foot injuries that she's struggled with for more than two years. Tennell seemed refreshed, physically and mentally, and I thought her silver medal was well-deserved despite a couple of technical calls where the judges were more forgiving than I might have been. And I say that as a big fan of bisexual icon Amber Glenn, the only woman to attempt a triple Axel at this event (which she landed, although it was wobbly). Glenn's components scores look stingy to me in comparison with Levito's, but her technical errors added up to a clear third place finish.
This brings us to the two greatest moments of surprise and delight at 2023 US Nationals. On the women's side, that moment belonged to Josephine Lee. Lee was a few days shy of her 15th birthday at Nationals and was in no one's conversation for a medal. She placed an unremarkable 11th in the short program after doubling her planned triple flip and missing her jump combination. And then, first to skate in the middle warmup group, before most people were paying attention, Lee had the kind of night that everyone dreams of having in their senior Nationals debut. She kicked it off with a big, redemptive triple flip-triple toeloop, which she followed with several more clean jumping passes. About a minute in, a light switched on, as she realized she was skating well; a smile spread across her face, and she showed impressive emotional range for the rest of the program. Carmina Burana is huge music for an athlete of Lee's size, but her excitement and drive matched it. As she took her final pose, I said out loud, "This is how you skate at Nationals." Lee held onto the lead for what felt like forever and ended up in a remarkable fifth place. She might have been fourth if she'd skated later and received slightly more generosity from the judges on grades of execution. Regardless, she's headed to the Junior World Championships in March. Many skaters of Lee's age and caliber fade away before they can become stars, but I hope she sticks around. She's not just technically gifted, but a pleasure to watch, with an infectious joy for skating.
A day later, the new comeback king of American men's figure skating brought a triumph even more exciting than Lee's. Andrew Torgashev has been on the edge of glory for what seems like his entire career. I remember watching him sail away with the Intermediate title at 2013 Nationals, when he was 11 years old, and thinking he was going to be the next big thing. Instead, he spent the next decade never quite getting where he wanted to be, battling injuries that took him off the ice for long stretches, and sometimes expressing frustration with the emphasis on technical achievement when the artistic side of the sport appeals to him most. In 2019, he made a big coaching move to Rafael Arutunian. A few months later, he blew it in the free skate at both 2020 US Nationals and Junior Worlds, and then he disappeared for three years. He had to qualify back into 2023 Nationals through 2022 Eastern Sectionals - and he only placed second there. Nobody knew what he was going to do when he got to San Jose. Nobody expected much.
Torgashev fell on his quad toeloop in the short program but was strong otherwise, and he finished the first round in fifth place, ahead of a bunch of guys who messed up much worse. That put him early in the final group on the afternoon of the free skate. Already ahead of expectations and with zero pressure to do anything but remind America that he still remembers how to skate, Torgashev delivered a free program so excellent that it was unreal. The quad toe that had given him trouble in the short? So perfect he netted 3 bonus points for grade of execution. That artistry he longed to deliver? I wouldn't predict a wide range of emotion from a Carmina Burana-EDM mashup, but he gave it. (Carmina Burana was definitely the smart music choice for underdogs this year.) For those four minutes, Torgashev fulfilled all the potential he'd shown as a kid skating Intermediate. Despite Malinin's arsenal of quads and Brown's unbeatable components scores, Torgashev straight-up won the free skate. Overall, his medal was bronze, but that third place finish was an unqualified victory. Since he didn't have a National Team jacket, Torgashev wore an inspired t-shirt to the medalists' press conference; click through to understand the title of this newsletter issue. He has to hurry to the Netherlands in a couple of weeks to earn minimum international qualifying scores, but it doesn't look like that will be a problem. We'll see him at Worlds.
The Batman Bake-Off
Ami and I rated our favorite versions of each Batman character. I'll be posting a few results every week until we run out of mooks. I've proofread Ami's responses, but her words and opinions are her own.
Helena Bertinelli/Huntress
The Contenders: Helena only shows up five times in film and TV. Amy Acker voices her in the Justice League Unlimited animated series. She’s a recurring character on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Tara Strong. She’s called Helena Kyle on the WB Birds of Prey series, but the character is close enough to count here. In the Arrowverse, Jessica de Gouw has a major recurring role for a couple of seasons, then disappears. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays her in the DC Extended Universe.
Sarah: I love Huntress and am disappointed that most of the major franchises never made use of her. She would have fit so well into the Dark Knight trilogy, if only Nolan had noticed that women are people. When she does show up, she’s often forgettable - she was a big part of Arrow when I was watching it regularly, and I had to go back and remind myself of what she even did there. That leaves Acker on Justice League, whose performance some people love but doesn’t suit my vision of the character as much as Mary Elizabeth Winstead, whose eyeliner-heavy, socially awkward Helena adds heart and humor to Huntress’s killer crossbow.
Ami: I loved me some Birds of Prey, and if you catch me on the right day you’d probably get me to say Mary Elizabeth Winstead, too. But instead I’m going to give it to Amy Acker, from Justice League Unlimited, who’s a more traditional version of the character. Impulsive, violent and quick witted… plus she’s clearly shacking up with Jeffery Combs’s The Question, and their dynamic makes for a delightful series of spotlight episodes on the pair.
Clayface
The Contenders: Clayface is the name of a number of villains with similar powers of shape-shifting and/or turning people into clay. Cassius Payne is a one-off villain on the WB Birds of Prey, and Basil Karlo (Brian McMenamon) is a minor recurring character on Gotham. Matt Hagen appears in a number of DC Animated Universe series and movies, usually voiced by Ron Perlman, and in Young Justice, voiced by Nolan North. In the animated The Batman, both the Ethan Bennett and Basil Karlo incarnations appear, voiced by a few different actors. Kate Micucci voices Basil Karlo in The Lego Batman Movie, and Kevin Michael Richardson does so in Scooby Doo vs. Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Basil Karlo (aka Stephanie, aka Billy Bob Thornton) is a main character on Harley Quinn, voiced by Alan Tudyk.
Sarah: Clayface is almost always a B-list villain, even though the Animated Universe and Birds of Prey have significant fun with him. I have not seen Scooby Doo vs. Batman, despite Ami’s threats to resolve this tragic gap in my pop culture knowledge and her assurances that this will revolutionize my understanding of Clayface. Until then, Alan Tudyk is the clear winner for me, as a Basil Karlo who just wants to be respected as an actor. Tudyk’s line readings are hilarious, and he lends compassion to Clayface’s kooky genderqueer path of self-discovery.
Ami: You know, if Sarah hadn’t said Alan Tudyk, I probably would have. They’re just such a delight, and give off nothing but the best energy whenever they’re on screen, but I’m giving this one to the most unconventional version of the character: Steve Harris playing Ethan Bennett from The Batman. Ethan was a unique character to the series, and his arc over the first season was just plain jaw dropping. Without going into spoilers, his version of Clayface was one of the best things that ever came out of the criminally underrated The Batman series.
Some More of My Favorite Movies
At the height of the pandemic, I made a list of my 124 favorite movies and started watching them in alphabetical order. Here are my thoughts.
Clueless is the defining teen movie of my generation, and it's still great fun even though it's showing its age. The jokes about big cellphones are obvious, but the pop culture references are growing mysterious, and a few quips that sounded innocuous in 1997 are now uncomfortable. As a semi-proud graduate of a suburban public high school full of rich kids, I can verify that nobody looked or dressed like that; it's a sumptuous fairy tale of high school, not cinema verité. It's nice to see major Black and gay characters, even if race and sexuality don't get addressed with the depth and nuance we'd hope for in a teen movie now. Ultimately, it's a warm and kind movie about outgrowing selfishness and learning to be a person in the world, and the strength of that message and character arc outshine any fleeting rustiness.
Cool Hand Luke has aged gracefully, especially for a late '60s counterculture movie. It pinpoints what's fundamentally wrong with carceral systems and gets close enough to indicting the poverty-to-prison pipeline to get full credit. It's another old movie that gets at racial injustice through visible absence: for an hour and a half, it's maddeningly white, and then Luke escapes to a Black farm town and you remember that in the 1950s South, even prisons were segregated. The violence has grown tame by our standards, and the lack of sexual violence is either a missed opportunity or refreshing, depending on your feelings about that prison drama cliché. Definitely a classic, definitely glad I had the excuse to watch it again.
And Another Thing
Song of the Week: LLYLM by Rosalía, which Spotify autoplayed for me even though I have autoplay turned off. I guess it was that important to the algorithm. Anyway, it worked. I will accept this quality midtempo Spanglish bop, thank you.
An important data visualization (thanks, Chaz). Click through for more iterations.
US Figure Skating is paying good money to throw shade at the International Olympic Committee on Facebook.
And a cat photo.
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