Phew! After an intense last episode, the team is back in action!
The episode starts out with Giselle practicing her routine furiously; she’s determined to make her mark now that she’s back on A troupe!Later on, Michelle and the team are in the studio observing a Bharatanatyam dance (that’s certainly a mouthful!) Michelle thinks their dancing style is emotional and passionate and wants her own team to infuse their performance with some of the same emotion before Regionals. That could be just what their routine is missing! The team is impressed and enthusiastic and Giselle throws out the idea of adding in an overhead “helicopter” lift to their routine, a pretty risky and dangerous move. Kate and Chris are wary and immediately forbid it – but that doesn’t stop them from practicing! Emily oversees while Daniel and Giselle start work on the lift.
Meanwhile, West is at the juice bar when all of a sudden he sees Marcel – the head of the old hip-hop dance troupe he left, Seeds. Things didn’t exactly end well between the two, as West basically abandoned the team for The Next Step studio. Marcel asks where he’s been and tells him they really need him; West becomes increasingly awkward and ends up just walking out! Seems like he isn’t a big fan of confrontation…
Back at the studio, Giselle asks Eldon to spot her and Daniel as they practice the helicopter lift for the first time. The time comes and… they execute it perfectly! They can’t wait to show Kate and prove to everyone that they were right.
Meanwhile, Stephanie gets a call from her agent and finds out she got the part in the TV show she auditioned for! But there’s a catch – it shoots the exact same weekend as the Regionals competition! Looks like she has some things to figure out!
We then see Chloe in a terse private meeting with Kate. She’s unsure if she’s going to be able to afford Regionals, even with a second job, and Kate has picked up on some of her anxiety. Chloe doesn’t let on that she’s having financial issues, and brushes Kate’s concerns off; she’ll just have to wait and see if she can swing it. Poor Chloe!
Then the entire troupe is practicing their final Regionals routine. This is it! Daniel and Giselle surprise everyone with the helicopter lift move – all of a sudden, Daniel collapses to the floor mid-lift in total agony. Uh oh! He completely re-injured his ankle when he was lifting Giselle. Kate comes out and says it’s a grade 3 ankle sprain, meaning he is absolutely out for the Regionals competition. The team is heartbroken and in total panic mode, and everyone starts blaming everyone else. Michelle feels awful, and admits she thinks it’s her fault. Kate intervenes and tells everyone to stop; it was just an accident.
Daniel comes in on crutches, and announces that he’s probably going to need surgery on his ankle and won’t be able to dance for several months. Everyone is devastated! They all realize what a huge mistake they made in attempting the lift.
Wow, that was a tearjerker! Poor Daniel. What do you think the team is going to do now? Will they be able to find someone to fill his place in time for Regionals? Find out by watching THE NEXT STEP on Family Channel on Friday at 7 p.m. ET!