Samantha Who?: 2.01 ‘So I Think I Can Dance’ Recap

Original Air Date: October 13, 2008

Goody for Sam! During the season premiere of Samantha Who?, our girl is on a high because she’s leaving her parent’s nest for the second time and returning to her own apartment. The only problem, as she quickly learns when she’s blissfully dancing around almost naked, is that she’s not alone because Todd is still there.

His last client, a bride, stiffed him on a wedding shoot because she didn’t like his work. So, it’s up to eager lawyer Andrea to, as she puts it, make the bride cry and kick him out of Sam’s apartment. She’s so thrilled at the prospect, she takes Todd’s case pro bono.

Meanwhile, Sam drops by her parents house for some last-minute forgotten stuff and finds them in the garage practicing for the Walnut Valley Club dance contest. The video of last year’s performance they’re practicing with is recorded over footage of Sam looking good dancing a Broadway routine during a long-ago recital. After she gets over the fact that her parents never bothered to give her the good news she can dance in the midst of their constant criticism, Sam gets pumped that she’s actually talented at something.

It doesn’t even bother Sam when her mother compares her unfavorably to the daughter of Regina’s dance-competition rival Paula Drake (Cybill Shepherd); she’s a successful married doctor with two kids, whereas it took Sam a whole day to learn how to peel an orange again following her accident.

Sam’s high over being good at something is what also inspires her to blurt out that she and her mom are partnering for the big dance competition after they bump into deliberately rude and haughty Paula Drake while shopping. When Paula protests a girl-girl team, the Newly women are quick to point out that we’re living in a changed world right now, so same-sex couples are no longer a big deal.

The real big deal, as Angela learns during a night out, is that Sam’s dancing post-amnesia is awful, and Sam’s doctor confirms it: she has lost her ability to do the one thing she was good at. Still, Sam perseveres and even gets Regina to help her practice her moves, but her hopes of competing are crushed when she finds her mom and dad practicing together one night. Clearly, winning the competition and beating Paula are more important to Regina than spending time with her daughter.

Until, that is, Howard’s disapproval and irritation force Regina to realize what she’s doing. As a result, Regina and Sam end up dancing the crappiest dance of their lives at the competition after Regina orders Howard to fake a bum knee so Samantha can substitute. There’s no way they’ll beat Paula and her pro partner Matteo (Mark Ballas), a three-time international ballroom dancing champion, but at least they proved once and for all that the Newlys never quit.

Dena’s presence in this episode is pretty light, focusing mostly on her eagerness to be on the tech team for the dance competition and work the lights. Todd and Andrea are another story, however. As mentioned earlier, Sam’s best friend is angry enough at Todd for not getting out of Sam’s apartment to take his case against the non-paying bride free of charge.

Todd eventually gets the money not because of Andrea, though, but because his emotional diatribe about his situation with Sam — just as he realized she might be the one for him, she ordered him to move — freaks out the newlywed, who considers getting a restraining order, at least according to Andrea (and we all know she could be exaggerating).

I’m still undecided myself whether Sam and Todd are meant to be together, so it’s going to be fun sticking around to find out what happens between them this season. No matter what, nice premiere!