Trevor Tordjman & Brittany Raymond as James & Riley The Next Step Canada, 2013.

Michelle: Emily for the last time, I don't like you like that.

I feel like Lily would relate to this song during the times that Kingstily has broken up. Ozzy and Henry are fairly annoyed when Kingstily keeps breaking up so I feel like the line “I hate your friends and they hate me too” could easily relate to Lily.

So I created a Tier List with a good most of The Next Step characters. I have uploaded this before but I realised that Summer and Solane weren’t included so I decided to re-do it and re-upload the list. If you don’t agree that’s fine, leave a message or a comment with what you would change for your own list or upload your own and @ me so I can see them. Also, I’m not great with titles so I hope you can forgive the names of the tiers, I am however pretty proud of the “GET OUT OF THE STUDIO” one. 

I did really like this episode. I’d give it a 7/10.

I have so much to say about this episode. Piper is one of my favourite characters so I’m really happy they decided to focus this episode on her. I’m quite upset they didn’t show Nick from the off-season in this episode but I am very excited to get to know him this season. A Christmas Carol is one of my favourite Christmas stories too so seeing The Next Step’s version of it was very cool for me. It was cool seeing alternative versions of the characters. Like seeing Amy all dressed up like a Diva was weird but cool. Having Richelle and Ozzy on B-Troupe as well. There was definitely some fan service by making them a couple in this story but I think it was done well. The person I oddly loved in this episode was Alfie. in season 4, I didn’t really like him but seeing him being friends with Piper, James and Riley, was really nice. I think he played a good threat to A-Troupe too. In my opinion, James’ anxiety is something they should’ve put a little more emphasis on. I think Piper seeing this side of James would’ve helped her character. Just because she got her Arial at regionals doesn’t mean her anxiety is gone or fixed and I think seeing James, this person she looks up to, feeling the same way she does would’ve been really nice. Some characters to me did seem quite empty but I think that’s because they didn’t have much screen time. There are some characters that I think should have definitely been in the episode that wasn’t, like LaTroy, Sloane, Cassie, Heather, Daniel and Beth. Reasons why would be the Zero Percent club was started by Piper so that would’ve changed things in The Next Step too like the relationship between Sloane, LaTroy and Amy. That and it was Piper that started the fundraiser for Heather to dance so it would’ve been accurate to the character to have Heather working in The Next Steep with Michelle and Emily. Beth would’ve been nice to see as a love interest or even just a friend for James as when drama has happened with Him and Riley before, he has gone to her. Daniel would’ve been nice to see since he was head choreographer at TNS East and he and Piper do have a teacher-student relationship. That and it would’ve been cool to see Daniel not interested in Dance.  It also would’ve been cool to have seen James and Piper’s family since they’ve been in episodes before. Some other characters I think would have made nice appearances would be James’ band (Luke, John and Theo) and Ella. A big one I missed was Noah. Noah did leave last season but since he did grow up there, I would’ve thought that he would attend such a huge anniversary. It just didn’t make much sense to be that Noah wasn’t there. What was also weird is that Thalia wasn’t there either. However, that could just be explained that she was too busy with Acronation. Another character that I think definitely should’ve been there even if he never met Piper was Chris from season 1. I think he definitely should have come with Miss Kate since it was such an important anniversary of The Next Step, I think he would’ve made an effort to be there. That and it would have been cool to see his reaction both to how much the old A-Troupe has grown and how impressive the new A-Troupe is. I did, however, enjoy this episode a lot. I like how she got Finn on side with her first. And Giselle as the ghosts, I enjoyed a lot. Seeing these alternative versions of characters like Alfie as the businessman, James as a Janitor, West as a struggling actor, Seeing Riley dressed so formally… It was strange but also very cool. I rate this episode a solid 8/10.

My heart with this episode. I may or may not have cried a bit. If you’ve read my previous posts, you guys know that I have been waiting to meet Nick and honestly, I’m not disappointed at all. I genuinely love his character. The fact we have a vital character on the show whos best dancing is dad dancing brings me so much joy. I really want him and Emily to have a good relationship which as of this episode, it looks like they have that based on the whole cake discussion and the nickname “Embo”. I liked when he met Michelle and like his meeting with Emily, there was a misunderstanding about who he was. I kinda hope that’s a small running joke within the series. I won’t lie, I really ship him and Emily and have done since the off-season. Richelle's side drama just made me giggle. It’s so Richelle to overreact about something like having a moustache drawn on her. I like how it addressed that Richelle’s two closest friends had left the next step and how it changed her attitude. I’m looking forward to seeing how her dynamic with Kenzie will be changed since they have become “Frenemies”. Now, A-Troupe’s send-off for Michelle. Seeing Addicted To You again, I love that dance so much and seeing the new A-Troupe do it, my god, it hit me in the feels. Also, Piper and Finn doing the ‘Inside Out’ Duet... It was amazing. That and the flash mob that James originally organised to get back Riley, was great to see a call back to. I genuinely loved all the throwbacks. The end credits with all Michelle’s white walls and some of Emily. It’s always weird to see them how they look in season 1 since they’ve grown up so much. As much as I have high praise for this episode, there are two things that are quite nitpicky that I didn't like. I don’t think Emily should've destroyed Michelle’s costumes but on the other hand, her character was really hurting so I understand why she did. The other thing is Lily walking in the studio halfway through Michelle and Emily’s goodbye. I really would have saved that for the next episode. But as a whole, this episode was worth the wait and I can’t wait to see the rest of Season 7. 

This episode was definitely juicy. I love Piper and Finn. I think they are adorable. Seeing Piper smile and laugh at his messages is so cute. That and it’s so sweet how she wants him and Amy to get along. I do like how Amy didn’t like him at first, I think it’s really sweet. However, I still don’t want Amy and Finn to get together. I just think it’s a bad move. I do hope that Amy gives Finn some advice on Piper though since he was crushing on her through season 6 and I think having Amy focus on her friendships rather than relationships is what she needs. Plus seeing wing-woman Amy would be genuinely cool. On Cleo and Richelle, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN THEY BECOME GOOD FRIENDS?! They are quite alike and I think Cleo will help Richelle a lot. She already has with helping Richelle deal with dance captaincy and being an ear to listen to. I genuinely hope she has another chance to be dance captain this season. In my last post about episode 3 I wrote “I don’t think Summer is the best fit for dance captain though. Summer is just far too sweet and I don’t think she can make harsh decisions that a dance captain will have to do” and so far what I’m saying is correct. She didn’t stop Heathcliff and Ozzy and the episode left us with her potentially having to cut Henry from the small group. I predict she won’t do it and it will cost something for the team. I think either Summer will lose her captaincy or she will find a way to be co-captains. I personally hope the co-captaincy happens with Richelle because A) Richelle needs to be dance captain, it’s been hinted at so much and B) I think they’d make a good team as Summer is more caring and honestly quite similar to Michelle, and I think Richelle would be able to deal with more of the cut-throat stuff like kicking someone off a dance because they’re not up to scratch. Now onto Heathcliff and Ozzy, they are genuinely so cute. I think their rivalry is adorable. I have a feeling that Heathcliff and Ozzy are going to become like Richelle and Jacquie and end up being good friends or even best friends. At least I hope that happens. I don’t think it’s The Next Step if you don’t have a rivalry that turns into a friendship (See Hunter and Eldon, Emily and Michelle, James and Alfie, Jacquie and Richelle etc). Seeing Richelle give Finn advice was so cute. Then watching Finn try to explain to Amy and put the advice Richelle gave to use was just brilliant. Finn is one of my favourite characters this season. Now onto my favourite character ever, Nick. I loved seeing a more strict side to him. I think he dealt with Ozzy and Heathcliff very well in a way that actually helped Ozzy and Heath understand each other, even if it was only a little bit. That and Nick on Emily’s chair made me giggle quite a lot. I ship them hard. All in all, I did like the episode. I rate it a 7/10.