Yee haw! It's 'Dance War' ya'll!

This week on Dance War...oh lord, it's Country week. This could go very, very wrong.

Spoilers below!

The overly dramatic recap at the top of the show reminds us that Team Bruno suffered the first loss and, as a result, Charity was sent home. Then it's on to the big co-group number - a song by Big & Rich that I assume is called "We Like It Loud." It was far less Fame this week but still very...show biz, if that makes any sense. I actually liked it and the vocals didn't suck at all. After the number, Drew Lacey informs us that we're meeting the new Bachelor and Taylor Swift performs. I was wondering where that extra half-hour of programming came from.

First up is Team Carrie Ann's montage, starting out with their jubilant reaction to winning last week. To kick off Country week, C to the A brings in a mechanical bull for everyone to ride. After the fun and celebration it's back to business as, after some initial practice, Carrie Ann goes over some notes from the performances last week.

Their first performance is "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," a song I tend to despise but I liked the performance. Qis really shined this number. It was a lot of spoken word and tight harmonies but, unfortunately, Chris had another mic issue - the boys had holsters where they were keeping their microphones while dancing and he couldn't get his in at one point, opting to toss it. I didn't see that happen though as the directing kind of sucked and the camera was often not where I'd want it to be. Carrie Ann complimented Qis on the good job he did and told Mariel to dance bigger since she's smaller than everyone. Bruno was unnecessarily bitchy once again and really attacked Chris for having his problems, overly pushing the "you can't chase the choreography" note. While that has merit, it's hard to take any of Bruno points seriously since his such a drama queen.

Next up is Team Bruno's pre-taped segment. We see Charity's tearful goodbye and the emotional fallout for the team (Bruno's first reaction when he sees them is to gather them for a group hug). Their number is "Life Is A Highway," I presume the Rascal Flatts version. Phillip is playing the guitar with a mic stand to start out with. He also starts out with pitch problems. Zack also has a few issues. Tony held it together pretty well though (and was he really playing the harmonica?) and the chorus sounded good. Despite having a lot of good energy, overall I found the number to be a little eh. It was good, but it wasn't great. Definitely vocally better than the "Caught Up" debacle of last week. Bruno compliments Phillip on his growth and that, no matter what happens, he's proud to see it. Which means he's probably out next. Carrie Ann points out that Zack and Phillip were singing at the bottom of their register and not quite hitting the notes, but acknowledges how difficult it is to go from lower to upper register in the transition from verse to chorus. She also congratulates everyone on showing more personality and individuality this week.

After the commercial break, Drew introduces us to Matt Grant, The Bachelor from this season. He's cute enough, but cuter because he's British. He talks some, but other than the accent, I could care less. This segues into Taylor Swift performing "Our Song." I like her sparkly guitar and she's like a foot taller than Drew. Taylor compliments Team Bruno's song choice (is that like telling the parents of an ugly baby that it has "a lot of personality?") and Team Carrie Ann's intricate choreography. She also gives a shout-out to Elizabeth who she remembers from concert meet-and-greets - she used to say how she wanted to be a singer and now she's on national TV and Taylor's very proud. I may not like her music, but I like her. She's enjoyable.

Team Carrie Ann's second segment spotlights how her team had focus issues because they were living off the fumes of a win. She has a word with them about it and also takes the girls through some barre work (that's ballet training for those who don't know) to refine their movements. We also are shown the beginnings of a potential romance between Qis and Mariel. Carrie Ann cautions the whole team, and the "offenders" without pointing them out, that being close is great but relationships have a tendency to break up groups. Qis assures the camera that they're just friends right now and wouldn't do anything to jeopardize their chances of winning.

Their second number is C to the A's more modern take on Country, "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" by KT Tunstall. It's a really hard song because it could easily go wrong and/or sound awful but thankfully, it did neither. Chris comes out on stage first, singing solo followed by Elizabeth to make a nice little chord before being joined by the rest of the group. Elizabeth really sounded great on the number. Carrie Ann tells the girls that their vocals blended perfectly (I totally agree) and points out that Elizabeth went early on that last bit of choreography but sound fantastic.  Bruno goes after the choreography again, saying it was just posing and Carrie Ann fired back saying that, no matter how small the movements, it's still challenging to to get a uniform look when everyone is a completely different size/shape. Being I'm very tall, I can attest to that. I'm really starting to despise him.

Bruno's looking to show America that they have some personality with this Country number. There was a funny little sequence with Zack and Tony exclaiming "Yee Haw" and doing a little jig. They also have to sprint back and forth across the floor while singing to make sure their singing doesn't fade at the end of their performances. The Big B gives Kelsey the nod to open the number and prove herself vocally. Lucky for her, their second number is "These Boots Were Made For Walking," which is not necessarily the hardest song to sing. Unfortunately, it's the Jessica Simpson version - I'm a Nancy Sinatra purist myself. I must say, though, this was their best number to date. Kelsey did really well while Lacey started off shaky but improved on the second half, understandable as her big vocals are a bit out of place on a number like this. The harmonies were solid, though they need to work on having lower notes in the chords the guys sing because they sound a bit empty. They had a surprising "Walk It Out" breakdown in the middle that I rather enjoyed. But I enjoyed Carrie Ann calling Bruno out for it even better. That nice little change in direction was just like what she did last week in the Temptations number and she called him a "biter" for it. Burn! But her real problem with it was that it was unnecessary and she thought it distracted from an otherwise really great number. She gave Kelsey big-ups for being so good and complimented them on their performance as a group. I'd tell you what Bruno said but it just doesn't matter since he says the same favorable platitudes every time.

Before we get to the results, we're gifted with another pre-taped segment about what it's like when the two teams get together for practice. Qis and Tony both get called out for trash talking but everybody is guilty of that sort of behavior in some way or another.

Then we get the news that Team Carrie Ann has won for a second week in a row. Bruno, ever the gracious one, says that he doesn't understand why America doesn't get that they're growing every week and delivering differing numbers full of vocal and dance content. The first two he saves are Kelsey and Phillip with Lacey being the last off the hook. Now Zack and Tony have to sing for their lives! *dramatic music sting*

Wow, this is really hard. They sing "If Tomorrow Never Comes" and both sound great. Bruno says that this is the "unfairest night in television history." It's a shame Tony didn't sound like this all the time which is why he is the one to go home. It sucks because I like him but he'll fair much better off the show then on it. He was extremely gracious to his credit and Bruno calls him a real man and a "true American." All of Team Bruno was very unhappy and Team Carrie Ann also shed a few tears for their fallen compatriot.

As an overall thought, did anyone else notice that they seemed to be setting Team Carrie Ann up for some backlash? I can see why the producers would go that route but it'll never work because Bruno will always, always counteract anything they can do by talking over Carrie Ann and being generally jerky.

Are you surprised Team Bruno lost for the second week in a row? Should someone else have gone home (like Phillip)? Are the teams improving in general? Do you care?

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