We have lots of work to do. Let's go.
Boom. Stomachs tight.
Strong arms. You're reaching for her, Brooke.
Reach out there. Boom!
This week's group number is called "Taken."
And it has to do with four little girls
who are all dressed the same
and they're watching this other little girl.
She's dressed in her own color. She's happy.
And of course, they wanna be like her.
But they know that that is not a possibility.
So what do they do?
They get her to be like them.
Don't be so far away. Move in close.
Right here. We go that way.
I am worried, because Abby's after a clean sweep
and Chloe is doing a solo, she's her only soloist.
That makes me nervous.
Abby really wants to stay on this winning streak.
And by not giving Maddie a solo,
she's putting an extra amount of pressure on Chloe to win.
Why were you at pyramid?
I thought Abby said that she was gonna just call you
if she needed you. Did she?
Well, trust me, I wouldn't have shown up
if she didn't tell me to.
I don't want my daughter or myself
to step on anybody's toes, but Kendall deserves
to be a part of this team.
Abby invited us to pyramid,
here we are, these moms need to deal with it.
You are one lucky little girl.
You get to be rehearsing with these people
who have won week after week after week.
Every one of those bad habits that you came to my studio with
got worse when you went to Cathy's.
Now I have to clean up the mess. Thank you.
Even though I'm letting Kendall do the group number,
and I've selected her for a duet with Mackenzie,
she is, under no circumstances, a member of the team.
She is still a guest at the Abby Lee Dance Company.
Girls, let me talk to you about this number.
This is a very deep number
and it's going to be difficult to get across to the judges
in two minutes and 30 seconds.
So, Maddie is the one that I've chosen
to do her own choreography.
You come out, you're a free spirit,
you have all the privileges, you're allowed to do anything.
I've chosen Maddie to be the lead role
in this piece because she is perfect for the part.
She has the facial expressions
that can tell the judges the story.
You guys, you don't have any of those pleasures of life
that she has. She's different.
You're gonna make her want to be like you.
I'm pretty sure when she was discussing the group dance,
there's one little girl who's special
and they all wanna make her conform.
Who do you think that's gonna be?
Apparently Abby is using this as an opportunity
to explain to the world
that our girls are a mediocre cult.
And if they see someone who is better than them,
they're gonna drag her down to their level.
I mean, she's obviously using this as a parallel
to last week, and I think it's very offensive.
That she's gonna say, "It's a number." You know...
"It's interpretive. It's art."
It's [bleep]
She's always talking about how different Nia is,
and her hair and all of this, and here's a prime opportunity.
She can capitalize on Nia being different
since that's a featured part of the dance.
The storyline is, is that Maddie's above us,
and we're trying to bring her back
-to be like us. -[Melissa]
are reading way too much into this group dance.
It's like they are always looking
for something to argue about. All the time.
You can't celebrate other people,
but when we don't celebrate Maddie,
-it turns into this thing. -Everybody celebrates everybody.
Okay, that's why you talk about my daughter.
You've talked about Chloe.
Christi's taking Chloe out of school and to the movies.
No comment? No deflection?
You talk about my daughter all the time.
[Christi] No, I talk about the way Abby favors her!
Have any of these women heard me talk about Maddie?
Or have I talked about the favoritism?
My daughter is a 10-year-old little girl.
And when you have 40-year-old women
who will stop at nothing to tear her down
because of a dance, sorry, I'm gonna step in.
And I'm not gonna take it.
You are a [bleep] troublemaker.
And you're a bitch!
I'm not the liar of the group. Sorry.
Just like you lied about my daughter cheating.
I didn't lie. You told her you cheated!
I did not!
-You told her that! -I did not!
I'm not [bleep] doing this anymore.
Who's the liar in this group? Who lies all the time? You.
Who had an affair with her boss?
Who's living with a man who's still married?
-[dramatic music playing] -That's it.
I did not have an affair with my boss.
-[Christi] Yes, you did! -[bleep] you. I did not!
[bleep] bitch. [bleep]
-There, I said it. -There's a new word.
We haven't used that one yet.
[Jill]
because she was very upset.
And I think she does things, you guys,
to... to get along.
She wants to be on the team and be a team player.
And, you know... I don't know.
-I don't know why she does... -All I'm gonna say is this,
Melissa is an incredibly smart woman.
[Jill] So she knows exactly what she's doing as she does it.
[Melissa] I know.
[sobbing]
Come on.
You think you're one step ahead, she's four steps ahead of you.
Do not underestimate Melissa.
[Abby] I need to talk to my dance captain.
Come here.
You're down a dancer.
So I want you to go out,
get your cell phone, call Maddie,
and tell her to get her butt in here right now.
[Nia]
I have to call Maddie
and tell her to come to the dance studio,
but I don't know how to get her here
because I'm not her mother.
Miss Abby really needs you here right now,
because I know that you are
one of the featured parts in the dance.
During the phone call, Maddie says
that her mother won't let her come to the dance studio
because Melissa is always mad at the moms.
[Abby] Take it from the top, straight through.
Remember, you guys are all as one.
You think alike, you stand alike, you act alike.
Reach in.
Go. Three and four.
No, no, you're on the outside.
Then you, then Maddie.
Then... here we go.
Maddie is the center of the group choreography.
And without her here,
it's really difficult to go on with this routine.
[Melissa]
But I finally thought,
I need to drop my kids off at rehearsal.
I really don't have to be there when they practice.
[Abby] Get in here, let's go.
[Holly] Maddie arrived. Good timing, she's here.
Good. So then our kids don't have to bear the brunt
of this one's anger.
Hey! I never want this to happen again.
You're in a group dance. You're part of the team.
You do not miss rehearsal.
This whole thing with your mother, forget about it.
You're gonna... Look up there.
You're gonna let those women dictate your future?
That's crazy.
I cannot believe how much time we have lost
because of Melissa.
Run, run! Up, go!
We've got to dig down deep inside
and use everything we've got
if we're gonna win this weekend at Starbound.
Girls, we have two more days.
Two more days to get this number clean.
You understand?
-[girls] Yes. -All right, go.
[girls] Thank you.
Thank you for calling and tipping me off, though.
I appreciate my friends in this business.
Thanks. Bye-bye.
So, lo and behold, I find out
that Cathy and her rotten apples
are going to be joining us this weekend.
Cathy has entered a routine in each one of our categories.
She's obviously out for revenge.
Justice is in a duet with another little boy.
They don't have another boy.
This just gets better and better.
Cathy's bringing in a ringer
to dance with Justice and go up against my duet.
Maddie can beat Justice.
-She's beat him before. -She has to do a solo.
She has to do a solo.
I know I told Maddie she didn't get a solo this week,
but now I want her to go up against Justice
just to intimidate him.
-Hey, babe, how are you? -I'm good.
-Hi, Abby. -Hi, guys.
You girls get ready. I wanna talk to you for a second.
Melissa waltzes into the studio like nothing happened yesterday.
At the very least, I think that woman owes me an explanation.
I need to know, where were you yesterday,
and why the girls weren't here.
I was not here. I don't have to be here.
I know Abby's upset,
but I don't need to be here when my kids are dancing.
And I'm just sick of being bullied by the moms.
My kids take care of themselves. They are here on time.
-So I'm not playing games. -I'm not playing either.
Maddie's doing a solo this weekend.
Yes. You signed a contract with me.
Abby just needs to know, giving my daughter a solo
the night before a competition is just too much pressure.
[indistinct chatter]
-Hey. -[Jill] Welcome back.
[Holly] You gotta fix yourself.
-[Maddie] Can I go... -No, because
Abby's gonna tell you you're doing a solo, and you're not.
You know, it's funny, when Chloe misses rehearsal,
she's screamed at. But when Maddie misses,
she's rewarded with a solo. Double standard?