Make It or Break It

Competition gymnastics is, for most of us, terra incognita. We know what we see at the Olympics, but we certain do not see what goes on behind the scenes: the sacrifices that one has to make in order to get to the top of the game and what it takes to stay there. Also, the lurking knowledge that one small accident or slip could destroy a career.

“Make It or Break It” follows the arc of four gymnasts at the Rocky Mountain Gymnastics Training facility, pursuing their dreams. On the purely physical aspect, you see some superb floor and beam work. The camera work really highlights the prowess that these athletes bring to the sport and the gymnastics are on a par with anything you would see in genuine competition. But this story is more than working the rings or the pommel horse. We also see the family life and those struggles to balance all aspects of their lives together while chasing those dreams.

Now, I know how competitive athletes are. Even if you are cheering them on from the outside, inside you cannot wait for someone to fail. This is going to happen in this series, but we again fall back into stereotypes. We have the core three girls who now have to contend with an interloper who maybe, just maybe, be better than them all.

But then it dissolves into soap opera travails. Blackmail! Deception! Dishonesty! Drugs! Duplicity! Am I in Boulder or Peyton Place? Do people really lead lives like this or is this being done for my benefit? It just never rang true for me anything that went on or how things were handled.

Maybe this is part of some new wave of television, where people have to have lives more unhappy or stressful than yours for you to feel good about yourself, but does this make for good television? I don’t mean to imply that it’s a bad show, but it’s just not as good as it could be. I don’t feel a connection between the performers and me, so I really am just a spectator and when it’s all over, I go home and that’s that.

The extra features were particularly thin and I have found that deleted scenes were deleted for a real reason. I know, this is to give better insight into the characters, but it comes off more as an annoyance.

It is nice that there is an attempt to produce a show that highlights female athletes, but I still feel it could have been done better and without all the storm und drang.