Karma Police The Next Step

Previously on The Next Step...

LaTroy, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry too.

'That little conversation was a little awkward,'

but at least it's a start.

I can't stop thinking about him.

I want to spend time with him.

I'm not breaking up with you.

'I know I have to do what's right for me.'

I just wish it didn't mean hurting everyone I care about.

The Next Step will not be dancing at the qualifier.

Riley's job is to get us to Regionals.

This never would have happened if Ms Kate was in charge.

You know, I don't really think things are going well enough here

for you to be sitting down, Riley.

If ever there was a time when I needed my sister, it's right now.

A little bird told me that Riley was having a hard time

at the studio.

I'm here to help my sister get back on track.

What are you doing here? What about university?

I mean, how did you know that I needed you?

Zip it, sister.

I'm obviously here to help you focus on what's most important -

getting A-Troupe to Regionals.

Yeah, it's just things are so complicated right now.

I did a terrible thing. I kissed another guy.

Alfie. He's a prince.

Not a prince as in a great guy, he's, like, an actual prince.

But that's not the point.

The point is that I don't know what's happening with James.

-Our relationship is just a mess and I have no idea how to fix it.

-Hi.

OK, that is a lot of new information.

You have more important things to focus on.

Riley should be talking about dance, dance, dance.

But all I'm hearing is boys, boys, boys.

You are a little bit of a mess right now,

so you need to give me the power to make some hard decisions.

Whatever I say goes, got it?

Whatever you say?

Yes or no, Riley?

OK, let's do it.

Let's do whatever it takes to get the studio to Regionals.

That is the right decision, and I know you won't regret it.

I hope not.

If I'm going to put my trust in anyone, it's going to be Emily.

And besides, things couldn't get any worse, right?

# We

# We're gonna show the world

# Everything we're made of

# We're gonna tear the roof off this place

# Stand up! #

Today is my first day back at the studio

after getting out of the hospital

and it feels like coming home.

I missed everything about it.

Noah.

Hey, what's going on?

-Good to see you, man.

-I'm so proud of Noah.

He fought through his injury

and now he's back with his dance family where he belongs.

OK, everybody listen up.

Everybody.

EMILY CLEARS HER THROAT

'I know everybody is excited to see Noah,

'but we've got to get down to business.'

With Emily's help, we're going to get A-Troupe back on track.

Thank you.

OK, so I would like to introduce all of you to my older sister, Emily.

She was a former dance captain here at The Next Step

and she's going to be helping out,

so if she tells you something, listen to her.

It's time for the team to start focusing on Regionals.

But we haven't even qualified for Regionals yet.

Well, all the other teams who have qualified for Regionals

are already working on those dances,

so do you want to be the team that starts from behind or...?

Right, so when do we start, then?

I will be choosing all of the dancers who will be performing

in each of the routines.

There'll be no more auditions for all of the spots.

OK, Michelle, you will be doing the solo.

As Miss National Soloist for two consecutive years,

-I think you deserve it.

-Thank you.

Riley, remember, you don't have to justify your decision.

-You just have to tell them what we decided.

-OK.

And for the four-person routine that will be performing

once we win the solo round, I have chosen

Cassie, Piper, Sloane and Skylar.

'I'm in the quartet?

'This is amazing.'

I can't wait to dance at Regionals.

For the trio, I have decided on Michelle, Amanda and Amy.

'It's my first year on A-Troupe'

and Riley just assigned me one of THE most important dances.

And for the duet, it will go to Richelle and Noah.

I feel absolutely amazing that Riley chose me for the Regional duet

and I'm just going to show her that she can count on me.

And for the small group, I have chosen Alfie, Noah, Henry,

Sloane and Skylar.

Now, Alfie and Piper,

I need you not to focus on your Regional routines just yet.

All your attention has to be on that qualifier.

I will do just that.

Ever since I walked in on Riley and Alfie kissing,

working on the qualifier duet is impossible.

I've got to say you were right.

It's kind of what I do.

After LaTroy and I apologised to each other,

I realise I have a problem.

As much as I hate to admit it,

there's nobody that knows LaTroy better than Amy right now,

and she's the only one who can help me figure this out.

What's wrong?

I think I'm ready to be best friends with LaTroy again,

but I'm not sure how he feels.

What do I do?

Well, why don't you just text him right now?

'Sloane and LaTroy were best friends and I hate seeing them like this.'

OK, here goes nothing.

PHONE VIBRATES

Sloane just texted me.

Sloane and I were friends and then we weren't friends

and now we're somewhere in the middle.

PHONE CHIRPS

So, what did he say?

I said, "Hey, what's up?"

And he said, "Not much."

This isn't going to work. I don't want to talk to LaTroy like this.

I want to have an open conversation with him like he does with you.

Well, actually, I have a great idea.

Meet me back here after my trio rehearsal.

I think I know how I can help Sloane and LaTroy work through

their communication breakdown.

I just want to say thank you

for doing everything that you've done to help me out.

'I'm feeling so much better about everything.'

One day of Emily and the studio is back on track.

Riley...I have something very difficult to tell you.

What?

You need to break up with James.

What?!

OK, no, you are way out of line, OK?

What does my relationship with James have to do with the team?

I can see that this is wrecking you.

You're beating yourself up over what you've done,

and keeping James in limbo like this is just making things worse.

Riley needs to press the reset button and just start again.

She's not being fair to James and she's not being fair to herself.

Look, sometimes you have to just cut things off

when they are not working. It's better to just let it go

than just struggle to try and make it work.

Do you agree?

I guess so.

And then when your mind is clear,

you can focus on what comes next, right?

Right.

Emily just perfectly summed up

everything I've been feeling recently,

'but breaking up with James can't be the solution.

'Can it?'

'While Riley is thinking about the James situation,

'I have other matters to attend to.

'Amanda dating Noah.

'Noah dating Amanda?

'When?'

Why?

I did not come here to ask questions about your relationship,

though make no mistake, I have questions.

Many questions.

A lot has changed since Emily's left,

and I can understand why she'd be a little bit confused

about my relationship with Noah.

It's kind of funny, actually.

No, I actually came to check in with you.

Riley and I assigned you a lot of dances for Regionals,

and I just wanted to make sure you're up to the task.

'The last time I saw Noah,

'he wasn't much taller than my waist

'and now he's just getting over a back injury.'

I need to know if he's ready or not.

You're worried I can't handle it

because you still think I'm little shrimpy J-Troupe Noah.

The whole world thinks that, Noah.

-Really?

-NOAH SCOFFS

-No.

-Really? OK.

Excuse me.

Do you think this guy looks shrimpy?

-Yes.

-Good answer.

-What?

-Sorry, it was just really cute.

-Her or me?

-Both.

I wasn't even flexing.

Anyway...

Emily's got nothing to worry about.

My doctors gave me the all clear, so I'm good to go.

I'm more than up for it.

You know what? I'm feeling stronger every day.

In fact, I feel like I can compete tomorrow if I had to.

-Really?

-Yeah.

I've been doing a lot of physio to get back in shape

-and I'm feeling good.

-Glad to hear it.

Now I have other things to attend to.

Glad to have you back, Em. You're really getting things done.

I'm pretty awesome that way.

'Now that I've answered the Noah question,'

I can focus on the other problem.

What is going on with that qualifier duet?

One, two, three, four...

'I can't face what Emily has told me to do,

'so I'm going to see how the trio is doing.'

..six, seven, eight. One, two...

That looks great, guys.

-I'll be right back.

-OK.

Hey, so how are you doing now that Emily is back in the picture?

Well, Emily's methods are a little bit Draconian,

but she's got the nerve to make the hard decisions.

I just don't understand how she knew that the studio was in trouble.

I certainly didn't tell her.

I know.

I did.

Wait, you did?

I know you're going through a lot with the whole Alfie/James situation

so I thought you could use some help.

'If Michelle felt she had to call Emily in'

then maybe Emily's right.

Maybe my drama with James really is affecting the studio.

-For this to work, you've got to be able to trust me.

-Trust?

-Let's take five.

-Yeah.

Piper, can we please talk about this?

Let's not and say we did.

What can I do to make things right?

Go back in time and don't kiss Riley.

You don't understand.

-Look, maybe one day...

-Give me a break.

You broke my brother's heart.

What don't you get?

It's not that simple.

I can't do this.

-What about rehearsal?

-Forget it!

'Something is going on between Piper and Alfie.'

If I'm going to fix this duet, I need to figure out what it is.

So I guess rehearsal's over, then?

We decided to take a break.

Well, she looked pretty upset when I passed her.

It's a very passionate dance and it stirs up a lot of emotion.

That's cute.

And those lines might work on my sister,

but they definitely don't work on me.

So how about you just tell me the truth

and let me know what's wrong with this duet?

Piper's mad at me because of my feelings for Riley.

So Piper knows about the kiss?

Yeah, she saw it.

Things are a lot worse than I thought.

You know, it's fine. I can make this work.

OK.

Oh, one last thing.

Alfie...

..you know I would do anything to protect Riley, right?

Mm-hmm.

Good.

Me too, Emily.

Me too.

This is so not going to work, Amy.

It totally is. OK.

Are you sure you want me to text him from your phone

and pretend to be you?

Well, yeah, it's the only way you and LaTroy

can have an honest conversation.

If he thinks he's talking to me,

he won't feel awkward or uncomfortable.

He'll tell you what he's really thinking.

OK.

Amy texts me and tells me that she talked to Sloane

and that Sloane wants to be friends again.

You know what? Me too.

PHONE CHIRPS

"Tell Sloane when I see her again,

"I know we'll be back to being best friends."

-You done?

-Yeah, I learned everything I needed to know.

Thank you.

"That's sick"?

Since when does Amy say...

Ah, OK.

I text "Amy" back.

"Tell Sloane that when I see her again,

"I'm going to give her a huge hug."

I saw you blow out of rehearsals back there.

Care to explain?

I just need a break for the day. I'll be right back at it tomorrow.

Tomorrow?

Piper, do you think that they'll delay qualifiers a day for you too?

I have it under control.

Look, it's clear that you don't, OK?

Why don't you just explain to me what's going on?

Here's what's up.

I saw Alfie kiss Riley

and then Riley broke my brother's heart.

Look, it's clear that there's a problem with the duet,

so in your opinion, what is causing the problem?

The problem's Alfie.

If I was dancing with Michelle or somebody,

we would be so ready.

I can't dance with Alfie.

OK.

Look, Piper, I think I have all the information I need.

I'm going to talk to Riley and we're going to get this all sorted out.

Emily, thanks for hearing me out.

If you could get Alfie off the duet,

I think everyone will be a lot happier.

After talking to Piper, one thing has become abundantly clear.

This duet will never work, especially with these two dancers.

We need to talk about the qualifiers duet.

What about the qualifier duet?

Well, for a start,

you paired some dude that you have a crush on

with your boyfriend's little sister

and then dropped an atomic bomb on the entire situation.

And for some reason you still think this duet is going to work.

So it's all my fault?

That duet is not going to win at qualifiers,

therefore we need to replace one of them.

No, no, Em, it is way too close to the qualifier to make any changes.

Riley, I spoke with Piper and I spoke with Alfie.

There is no way they are going to be ready.

'Riley has to face the facts.'

Piper and Alfie - never going to work.

If this duet doesn't win at qualifiers,

The Next Step does not go to Regionals,

and we have gone from a team that won Internationals...

to a team that wins nothing at all.

On your watch.

Don't you see, Riley?

The situation with James is clouding your judgment.

You have to do something about it.

Wake up, what is your reluctance?

OK, I'll think about it.

'Breaking up with James is the last thing I want to do...'

..but Emily's right. I have to do what's best for the team.

I'm here because someone has to deal with the qualifier duet.

I don't think Riley can do it, so I will.

Piper, close the door.

'When Emily asks to meet me,'

it can only mean one thing.

Payback time for Alfie.

So, have you kicked Alfie off the duet yet?

Piper, I will not be kicking Alfie off the duet.

He is willing to try and make it work.

You are not.

Look, I've tried to make it work.

I just can't.

I understand that...

..and that is the reason I will be taking you off the duet.

Me?

You're taking me off the duet?

No, you can't.

It's not that I don't sympathise with your situation, I do...

but Alfie was willing to put aside his personal drama

and dance for the team, something you were unwilling to do.

The team needs someone who's willing to do that.

Fine. Congratulations, Emily.

You just cost the team our last shot at the Regionals.

'I'm sorry for Piper, I am.'

But A-Troupe needs to get to Regionals,

and this was the only way to do it.

You wanted to talk to me?

Yeah, we need to talk.

OK.

I think...

I think that you and I are headed in different directions.

I'm here trying to run the studio

while you're off travelling the world entering hip-hop competitions.

What are you talking about?

Our relationship has become so complicated

that it's now a distraction,

and I need less distraction in my life right now.

You realise you created this distraction when you kissed Alfie?

Is that what this is about?

Do you want to be with him?

So you're breaking up with me, Riley.

Say it.

Yes.

'I had to do this.

'I was hurting James, I was hurting the studio...'

-VOICE BREAKING:

-..but seeing his face,

seeing how much pain he is in right now...

..it's almost too much to bear.

VOICE BREAKING: Riley breaks up with me.

Goodbye, Riley.

'I thought James and I would be together forever.

'I can't believe after all this time...

'we're over.'

# We

# We're gonna show the world

# Everything we're made of

# We're gonna tear the roof off this place

# You

# You can never fade us out

# Don't even ask the DJ

# Everybody knows we own this sound. #