ABBY: The group
in a hospital waiting room.
We have done amazingly well with our group routines
at Nationals.
We started [scoffing] on a high note with "This is my Beauty."
And then "The Last Text" won again.
Then we did a tribute piece to Hurricane Katrina,
and that was a huge win.
And then last year, "Amber Alert."
Undefeated.
We want this season to top every other season.
So imagine if your family, your loved ones,
were brought in by ambulance from a car accident.
So imagine waiting to hear the news.
Is it happiness?
Or is it the worst humanly possible news?
All right.
Do it again for me.
The group number-- it's more than a dance routine.
I would call it a piece.
There is an emotional range.
There's interaction between the dancers.
Maddie is playing our lead.
It's heavy.
Can she pull it off?
Let's hope so, because she's the only choice I have.
[music playing]
I need to see a lot more emotion from everyone.
I think it looks crazy good.
But let's face it, the emotion needs work.
I want the judges to feel something.
I want people to be on the edge of their seats.
So Maddie, let's see what you have.
Let's see what emotion you're going to give me.
Can I say something?
Do you remember when you found out the first person
you ever knew died?
What you did?
Yeah.
[music playing]
I know.
Think about it.
That's what you have to do.
That's what actors do.
They go back to some time in their life,
and that's what makes them cry, not the lines
that they're saying right then and there.
[sobbing quietly]
We've been through so much this season.
But you know what?
I have faith in them 100%.
They're focused right now.
They can do this.
[cheering]
HOLLY: Nationals is finally here.
So much is riding on this week's group dance.
The Elite Team has won Nationals several years in a row,
so I want our girls to do their absolute best.
ABBY: Come on, guys.
This is it.
Season five-- it's been a rocky road.
But we go out there.
We do what the Abby Lee Dance Company is known for.
That's coming to Nationals and winning.
All right. Let's go.
[applause]
ANNOUNCER: Please welcome in Small
Group, "The Waiting Room."
[music playing]
[cheering and applauding]
MELISSA: It was so moving.
I had goose bumps.
Those people behind me-- in tears.
Crying.
[cheering and applauding]
ANNOUNCER: All righty.
In our Overall Small Group category, in second place,
"The Waiting Room," Abby Lee Dance Company.
[applause]
MELISSA: OK. Wait.
Wait.
I'm sorry, but girls, we need to walk out.
I'm done.
It's embarrassing.
MADDIE: I was just shocked.
We can't win all the time, but I thought we definitely
should have won with this one.
ABBY: Let's go.
Go that way. Yes, they can.
MELISSA: They can.
ABBY: They can definitely go.
You can't hold children against their will
in the state of California.
HOLLY: I think Abby's lost her mind.
Again.