Was that so hard?

 Tesssa & Scott's interview with P.J.Kwong.

P.J. asked each to define what romance means to them. Tessa can't help herself - at first she thrashed like a fish on dry dock and pretended the question was about the romantic elements of Funny Face. Which, you know, isn't really a romantic program. Audrey & Fred in Paris -come on. Let's look at it techically, from a composition standpoint. I could go on for days:

 

Romantic? Funny, we don't think of Funny Face as romantic; it's a
man helping a woman to have more fun, take life less seriously, they
rub foreheads and cheeks together like Eskimos, they stroke each other's
faces a little bit and then end up gloriously in love, but is that really romantic?

To be fair, on the scale of what Tessa and Scott usually do on the ice, that's not romantic. I think what she getting at is saying it's not JUST romantic - they actually do other activity besides paw each other between elements. Activity like having fun together, teasing each other, being playful, holding hands and gliding and twirling, fooling around with different dance styles. So, not romantic.

But then Scott takes the ball:

How crushing for Tessa/Scott shippers. Clearly, he was thinking of:

There she is to his left - his other half. And he didn't even have to find her in the world. Skate Canada served her up on a platter.

Then Tessa says her definition of romance is:

"I think the ability to laugh and be completely yourself with
someone is the most romantic thing ever."

That's got to sting. When has Tessa ever said her favorite thing about Scott is that he makes her laugh?

In their own tightly-wound way, they basically said they love each other and romance is each other. They won't admit that's what they said, but they didn't go out of their way to describe something that couldn't possibly be each other - they described what could only be each other.

And they didn't turn into pillars of salt, nobody burst into flames, people's heads didn't swivel as they pointed fingers and made fun. The world didn't stop spinning and Tessa was still breathing when she was done answering. She wasn't spewing pea soup.

Baby steps, for which they will compensate by sham-messaging just as soon as Jessica can unclutch herself from embracing and intertwining fingers with Sebastien.

Have to give Jessica credit - that relationship was turning toxic but I believe Jessica's drive to remain viable in Canadian skating and postpone engagement with the real world - her status as a demi-celebrity and top dog in Quebec skating is so central to what drives her - that she actually focused, and turned the relationship with Sebastien around - and that (relationships where SHE steps up) is not her metier. But she's got willpower when it comes to her agendas, that's for sure. She doesn't want another worlds medal, she doesn't care much about international results, and she's as ecstatic with a mediocre program skated with meh GOES as others are with near-perfection. Going forward is not her agenda but absolutely, her world as it's been since she's been in senior skating is how she wants it to stay.

At the same time, at Canadians, she demonstrated plainly that she's not some insecure nervous-in-the-clutch figure skater who underperforms despite her deep desire to succeed. That's fans being defensive about Jessica - needlessly. The Jessica they protect is a fantasy version.

The real Jessica doesn't get down on herself. The real Jessica thinks she's fine and if there's a problem it's going to be someone else's problem.  She was one of the few pairs women to keep her composure and hit her elements despite more than one wobble (and a de rigeur doubling of the 3 salchow). She's not nervous, self-doubting or insecure. In the past, she didn't put in the work, she was lazy, she has a great deal of strong, natural technique, great balance and stability and gets deep into the ice. Without those assets in combination with her work ethic in the past, she'd have been even worse.  What's happened in the past with her is her resisting her partner, putting more energy into that than in training, resisting going outside her comfort zone, and also using the ice as a passive aggressive venue if, off ice, someone else's will (Bryce's, say) prevailed over hers in any area either professionally or personally. She'd pay them back on the ice.

At this point it does appear as if she's succeeded in simply putting Sebastien in Bryce's place - only a Bryce who is not pushing for higher level of difficulty, more challenging content, and a shake-up in training centers. Just nice, basic, reasonably consistent pairs programs (Skate Canada-speaking) that keep her in the mix.