Clarice and Jess: Foxtrot (Jean-Marc Genereaux)
The concept is a romantic duet between Crooner (Jess) and Beautiful Woman (Clarice). Jess seems toned down this week, and even last week, you could really observe how he's becoming able to kind of step outside of himself and observe that theater-kid obnoxiousness -- his Tyce Mask, if you will -- and kind of laugh at himself about it. It's a good look on his -- this push-pull with his own abrasiveness is going to be what keeps him from pulling an Evan on this season, for one thing. It also lets me connect with an actual person and not just an attention-starved Rachel Berry. So I'm back to liking Jess again, is what I'm saying. Anyway, psychoanalysis aside, Jean-Marc was kind of sneakily brilliant in his concepts here. It's smart to cast Jess as a rat-packy crooner type, and he's clever in using the "stage" Jess stands on to keep him taller than Clarice (it even assists him with a lift at one point). There's also not a ton of closed-position stuff, so the height differential doesn't keep slapping you in the face. It's a routine that really lets Jess shine. Clarice, God bless her, has become an afterthought in this pairing, as skilled as she is. And as much as her blindingly Swarovsky'd dress is causing a mirrorball effect on Jess's face. Mary commends the gliding, sophisticated, jazzy of the routine -- she loved it. Cheno calls it her favorite routine of the night. And C praises Jess as a "phenom" now, though he allows that a possible future pairing on a krump routine might not be so pretty. Nigel manages to compliment Clarice's dress in a way that may not be leering (a "spider's web of bling!"), and he of course loves Jess a whole lot.