Bunheads - Season 1 Episode 7 - Recap and Review - What's Your Damage, Heather?

Tonight's excellent new Bunheads sees a surprising hookup, an even more surprising breakup, and an act of theft with broader implications in Michelle's teaching career, going forward.

Read the recap and review of "What's Your Damage, Heather?"

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After weeks of build, Michelle Simms (Sutton Foster) is finally teaching at the ballet studio, as Fanny (Kelly Bishop) has extended her vacation another week. Michelle is in virgin territory here, struggling to find a groove in her teaching style, not at all cutout for teaching weak-bladdered little girls, swing-dancing seniors, zoomba enthusiasts, or housewives taking erotic aerobics at God-only-knows what time in the morning. For such a skilled dancer, it's strange to see Michelle so astonishingly incompetent, barely being able to keep up with the older dancers in the class she's teaching. The question of whether or not she's fit to teach comes up later, but first, Michelle has to deal with her lack of ability at managing the studio itself, as the ceiling in the girls' dressing room springs a leak and soaks the carpet. Michelle calls Fanny for advice but gets only her voicemail, forcing her to come up with another way to deal with the situation (if nothing else, we're treated to Michelle's Fanny impression, which is just aces). This leads to Michelle turning to Truly (Stacey Oristano), who suggests she do the sensible thing and call a plumber. Problem is, the plumber she calls has a history with Truly.

In tonight's “what the hell?” moment, Todd Lowe (Terry Bellefleur from True Blood) plays Davis, the one-eyed plumber employed to fix the leaky ceiling. Truly gets bent out of shape for reasons that, on the surface, appear to stem from the fact that he's a terrible plumber (as evidenced by the leak coming back almost as soon as he's finished working on it). However, when Michelle notices a light on in the ballet studio that night, she enters to find Truly and Davis making out. Michelle is amused, but the kissers both seem suspiciously ashamed about what they've done. As we come to find out, Truly is still in love with Hubbell, and feels as though she's been unfaithful to his memory. It's a reminder of Hubbell's presence, in spirit, in the town of Paradise and in the lives of those who knew him, a presence which has been somewhat minimized in the past several weeks. This heart-to-heart between Michelle and Truly is a welcome addition since it further develops the friendship between the two women, a friendship they both clearly need in their lives. Trying to be friends with the teenage girls clearly isn't working out for Michelle right now.

As Michelle lets the bunheads into her house to change, the girls go through her stuff, over Boo's protestations, and criticize the fact that she's 36 years old and doesn't appear to have very much to show for it. Perhaps it's that attitude that fuels what Sasha (Julia Goldani Telles) does later on, but the fact of the matter is that Michelle is an awkward teacher with everyone but these girls, perhaps signifying that these girls might well be what she will ultimately have to show for her efforts.

In fact, not only is Michelle a natural with the girls, but the girls seem to genuinely have a good time with her, dancing to “Desire” by Mates of State in a light, fun little sequence that ends with Davis the One-Eyed Plumber complimenting the girls in well-meaning but creepy fashion. Michelle is the cool teacher every kid would want, taking the girls out for a fried food smorgasbord and chatting like a girl friend. Of course, that gets ruined when Sasha decides to steal a shirt from Michelle's place, turning Michelle into a hard-nosed disciplinarian in response, a role that feels as unnatural to her as it is for us to watch. Sasha ultimately shrinks back into a wounded little dove and goes back to class after Michelle's shouting reprimands, playing off of last week's episode where we discovered just how much of a front Sasha's mean girl persona happens to be.

Awkwardness of her disciplining aside, Michelle seems supernaturally good at knowing what's wrong with each girl's form without even looking at the girl: Boo isn't breathing properly, Sasha isn't getting her leg high enough, etc. Michelle teaching these girls is clearly something that's meant to be, but she's having major trouble bridging the gap between teacher and friend. Her advice to the girls about not being tied down to any one person in their youth leads Ginny (Bailey Buntain), who we learned several episodes ago has been dating the same boy since second grade, to make some big changes in her life. She breaks up with her boyfriend Josh, leading Ginny's mother to take Michelle to task for talking her daughter into dumping “the perfect man,” adding that if she didn't know Fanny was coming back in a week, she'd pull Ginny out of ballet altogether.

Unfortunately, Ginny's newfound availability means bad news for Boo (Kaitlyn Jenkins). Her crush, Melanie's brother Charlie, acknowledges her by name - but only to ask her to talk him up to Ginny. Being a good friend, Ginny says she won't date Charlie, but she finds the mere possibility of it thrilling, as an entire world is opened to her now. That doesn't change the fact that Charlie remains this show's most thoroughly insufferable crybaby, whining about everything as it concerns his own sister, and not wanting to do anything himself, delegating to Boo the responsibility of winning Ginny over for him. But he apparently has that swarthy, youthful aura that teen girls find attractive. Hell if I know what anybody sees in him though.

Michelle's internal conflict between her knack for teaching these girls, and her desire to be liked by them continues to tear at her by episode's end. It's a compelling conflict for her to find herself in, though with Fanny coming back, who's to say it won't go back to the status quo? Can Michelle and these girls (Boo excluded, since she apparently worships Michelle, as we learn from Boo's mother) go back to the breezy friendship they had before she became their teacher? Or is that bond irrevocably changed? If so, how has it changed? These are the questions we're left with as the season winds down to a close. Bunheads has been compelling television throughout the season, some episodes more than others, but as the show fleshes out its characters and the conflicts between them, we're presented with a show that's more than the sum of its parts, with far more going on beneath the surface than what appears. Those are the parts where the show excels, illuminating the conflicts between characters and the conflicting emotions and desires that are at war within themselves. It's part and parcel of any good show, and episodes like these illustrate why Bunheads is just that.