While it is theoretically very sweet that Casey would like to hear her mother's voice before embarking on her climactic performance, it is essential to consider the appalling reality of a mother giving her daughter the cold shoulder for two solid months, especially when they are the only two people living under one roof. To be sure, it is difficult to imagine anyone hating the prom queen or ice skating enough to justify such behavior, and so the audience must consider an alternative explanation. It is certainly not out of the question that Joan is still struggling with Casey's scandalous new lifestyle, not as an ice princess, but as a heterosexual; after all, we have observed Joan's heaving excitement for Casey to "experiment" with Penelope Goode .

Ultimately, however, Casey has no choice but to be herself: a Harwood-loving ice princess, officially coronated with a sparkling tiara. This appears to be a touching display of support from Tina to Casey, until we remember the last time we saw Tina acting supportive towards Casey: when she was buying her new ice skates (and Tina did that with a smile on her face, too). In fact, considering the following three possibilities...

1. Tina made a tiara with explosives to be activated at a certain velocity
2. Tina made a tiara out of lead to throw off Casey's balance
3. Tina decided to give Casey a pretty tiara just to be nice

...it is uncomfortably obvious which one of them is the least likely. On the other hand, if Tina has genuinely grown to care about Casey over the last two months, then Casey has done an admirable job of manipulating all the right people to get where she is now without actually deserving it.

Casey wastes no time proving how much she deserves to be here, in fact, during her long program, when she...

• ...skates to another song with lyrics, getting her disqualified after 18 seconds
• ...uses theatrical lighting that is absolutely not allowed
• ...falls on her ass the first time she attempts to jump
• ...takes 10 full seconds to get back up
• ...spots her mom in the middle of the routine and proceeds to stand there and beam for 9 full seconds

Meanwhile, it's nice to see that Gen has decided to follow her own dream of putting as much popcorn in her mouth as it takes to quell her anxiety about Casey's erratic performance. But the most remarkable new development here is between Gen and Ann, who momentarily pause in their cozy embrace as if to realize their mutual attraction, before diving back into each other's arms. And while it may sound repetitive, the only comment we can think to offer here is that we seriously aren't making this up.