Dance Moms recap
Kalani Hilliker (right) was the star on Tuesday’s “Dance Moms.” She not only lead the group routine, she also got a big birthday surprise. Lifetime

Cathy Nesbitt Stein couldn’t help herself but torture Abby Lee Miller for a second week in a row. Tuesday’s “Dance Moms” Season 7 installment on Lifetime saw the Candy Apples go up against the ALDC again, this time with two solos going head-to-head.

Episode 3, “Return of the Rotten Apples,” kicks off with Cathy taking a stroll by Abby’s West Coast studio. After commenting on the poor condition of the building, she asks her daughter, Season 1 star Vivi-Anne Stein, if she’ll be featured in her studio’s weekly routine. Vivi agrees, and “My One” is born. Cathy says with her daughter in the dance, they’re in for a surefire win.

Meanwhile, inside the ALDC, Abby applauds her team’s win and pats herself on the back for benching the minis. With another mature piece planned for the coming competition, she decides to stick to her older students, including guests Daviana Fletcher and Camryn Bridges, for the dark dance “Pretty Reckless.” For once, the moms agree, they don’t need the minis, they need more mature dances.

Abby goes on to announce the number will star Kalani Hilliker, who is celebrating her 16th birthday, and will end with the girls driving off a cliff. Abby hopes the routine will be as memorable as ones of years past.

During rehearsals, in honor of Kalani’s birthday, the teen is surprised with a Range Rover by her mom. Abby uses the moment to teach Kalani a lesson, saying a car is “luxury that can be taken away at any moment.” Abby adds that her livelihood could also be taken away in a “split second.” She tells the girls to always be responsible while behind the wheel but to be “reckless” onstage.

 

The madness was amazing!!! Someone's sweet 16!!!!!! _

A video posted by Kira (@kiragirard) on

After reaching the top of the pyramid, Abby gives Kendall a solo. With the threat of Cathy winning on her mind, she tells Kendall her open routine, “The Scream,” is reminiscent of one she would have given her former pupil, Maddie Ziegler. Abby tells Kendall she needs to act and let out a blood-curdling scream onstage in order to win. Jill Vertes worries no one, including her daughter, will ever live up to Maddie in Abby’s eyes and worries this may be the “end of the road” for Kendall.

“I just wish that Abby wouldn’t always go back to Maddie,” Jill says. “Maddie chose to leave. Let’s move on. Let’s make it a Kendall solo.”

At the CADC, Cathy informs her team about their lyrical group routine, which requires them to feel, act and look “pretty.” She also assign Nicaya Wiley a solo based on Harriet Tubman and says she wants to leave California with a big win.

After running into each other en route to the competition on the road (Black Patsy tries to moon the other team on the bus, but Cathy stops it), the two groups arrive. When Cathy notices the attendees cheering for Abby’s girl, she calls them “stupid, stupid kids.” Cathy continues to get upset when Abby avoids confrontation with the Candy Apples by running past the group.

In the dressing room, Abby tells Kendall she needs to be first with her solo. “If you go out and you don’t nail this solo, no more solos,” she warns.

“Maddie just had something about her that made this team ever better,” Kendall explains of her desire to do well. “She was the leader of the team but maybe if I do well, I could be the leader. That’s always something I wanted to do.”

At the completion of her dance Jill is pleased, but Black Patsy tells the cameras she’s not impressed, saying everyone knows Kendall is the weakest dancer on the ALDC team. Black Patsy and Cathy go on to slam Kendall’s choreograph for being too similar to her other dances. Abby retaliates by laughing at Cathy for combining “tribal” dance moves with ballet technique in Nicaya’s solo.

“She’s a witch with awful droopy boobs and I hate her,” Cathy tells her girls of Abby back in the dressing room. Ahead of the group performances, Cathy sneaks into the ALDC’s room, with the goal of rattling Abby, and brings Black Patsy as backup.

Just as Abby tells her students to “shut that witch up” and beat Cathy’s dancers, the duo shows up. Abby calls the CADC appearance “out of line” and send her students away. Jill and Abby tell the women they’re not welcome, but they refuse to leave. Patsy screams at Jill for yelling in her face and puts her finger in Abby’s face, which she pretends to bite. (Kelly Hyland, anyone?)

After the two teams perform, Kalani says she was enthralled with their group dance and Abby gives it a big round of applause. Did the New York Dance Experience judges feel the same way? With only one overall winner in each disvision, Kendall is awarded the top teen solo much to Jill’s delight and Nicaya’s obvious upset. The teen group overall winner was also the ALDC with “Pretty Reckless.” (Read the full competition results here.)

 

A video posted by Gianna Martello (@gmartello22) on

“You won because you’re famous,” Nicaya complains to her team after awards. “I hit the step. We all hit the step. We deserve that award.” Cathy responds by giving Nicaya a high-five.

Abby responds by telling the CADC to go home after two weeks of losing and says Cathy doesn’t have the “common sense” to feature her daughter properly in a routine. Abby tells Cathy she will not cut it in Hollywood and Cathy tells her nemesis she’ll see the ALDC at nationals, which is around the same time Abby will have her bankruptcy fraud hearing. Abby goes on to tell Cathy having her join her team once upon a time was the “biggest mistake” she ever made.