Actually
@alchemy void, without the fall, as I said, Amber Glenn is clearly a lovely skater and she would certainly have been ahead of Polina and Starr. And it could be argued that she should still have been ahead even with the fall. I think the problem is that Amber doesn't have enough solid reputation competitively. She's another skater who needs a confidence boost with her blazing talent! While Hannah should score higher on some PCS categories over Starr, I would have Starr higher on others, including interpretation. Of course, Starr has areas of her skating to improve upon, but IMO, it's just like with James/Cipres, the nitpicking becomes rampant at times for certain skaters, no matter what.
Everyone can believe as they will and see what they see. The judging is always political. Mariah, Karen and Ashley have reputation and good quality skills, so with mistakes they aren't taken down too far in the scoring. Still, Ashley was punished in being placed behind Angela, while Karen was given the gift of being placed ahead of Angela. With her save on the loop, Starr was more harshly judged, without even a step-out or anything. It was a good save with no foot down and no turn-out. The 62+ was a lowball score for that effort. I would have had Starr at least 64+ with Polina slightly ahead of that or slightly behind, especially with Angela Wang at 67. Yes Angela has lovely skating skills and she performs well. She's previously seemed to lack self-belief in big moments, which has been why she's had a difficult time breaking through. I've actually seen Angela perform that well before and be low-balled at Nationals, so it all depends on politics and the weather.
Now with her friend Ryan Bradley coaching her and helping her to relax, Angela's done well this season. It definitely helps that Ryan is coaching Angela because he's well-connected and well-liked. I simply feel that Karen should be behind Angela, especially if Ashley is behind Angela.
Based on how the scoring was going, I wasn't surprised to see where Mariah ended up. I predicted it, as she is a talented skater and she also has good rep, so the similar mistake that Ashley and Karen had on their combo jumps, also kept Mariah in middling range contention above Polina and Starr, but behind Angela. Polina hasn't skated well all season, so it was nice to see her keep it together here. But I can't see Polina getting all the way back to top form. She's also battling a changed body (she's much taller and more filled out, and it doesn't help that she never had great speed). What Polina has always had though is loads of confidence.
That's why I like Bradie, and I hope she can continue to show confidence under pressure. That's what U.S. ladies have been lacking for far too long. While Ashley always has had confidence, I think she's often faltered on the basis of poor technical training earlier on in her career, and having to work harder to excel, since her best asset is her chutzpah rather than a stellar arsenal of jumps and spins. Bradie has great jumps and consistency. And now that she's healthy, she's been having good competitive results. Skate America was a great opportunity for Bradie, and she grabbed it. And in her sp at Nats, Bradie managed her nerves well. That's what these ladies need to do. Get rid of the self-doubts and the hesitation and nerves in big moments. For some of these ladies, it's taken years. They need to step up when the opportunities are there for the taking, and stop settling for just good enough, or being held up by the judges sometimes.
Applause for Mirai. Finally, the fed may put her on another Olympic team, as long as she maintains confidence and fully rotated jumps in the fp. I do think Mirai should have landed the 3-axel. Everyone knows she can do it. She hesitated slightly going into it, and that was her problem. I've seen her also sometimes go too hard into the jump. She needs to relax and attack just right.
Somebody's got to do it.
Unfortunately, I don't trust Karen. I was so gung-ho on her doing well this season, and she's just been disappointing. Why couldn't she have just kept her
On Golden Pond sp from the get-go, and then concentrate on someone helping her get a more outstanding fp, instead of those constant program changes and the distraction of writing a book?! Well anyway, with this scoring set-up, it shows what the fed feels they want politically. The question is whether they will dump Mirai again for Ashley?
Just Kidding ... I hope not! Would they dump Karen for Ashley? If Bradie performs the way she can, they sure ain't gonna dump Bradie for Ashley, eh! Best case scenario: Maybe Karen will under-perform and Ashley will skate lights out with
La La Land. 
Of course, they could both perform well and make it difficult for the judges. But there are only 3 spots for the Olympic team.
Ladies with rep got the pass for mistakes overall (including Karen and Mariah. Ashley though was punished and placed behind Angela Wang). Starr Andrews was low-balled skating early and being kept behind Polina. Also weird how Starr with her great presentation skills was low-balled so heavily on PCS! Starr behind Hannah Miller on PCS??!!! Wang did not skate that much better than Polina and Starr, but you wouldn't know it from the scores.
