Well, it”s another Thursday and another two contestants sadly must be sent home. Thankfully, “So You Think You Can Dance” has some of the more entertaining elimination episodes on reality television so at least we have a few things to look forward to before we must face the sadness. Also, this week there”s no awkward product placement, which is always a plus.
The night kicks off with the group dancing a circus-themed contemporary number by Tyce DiOrio, set to music from “Water for Elephants.” It figures Tyce would be Team Edward. Although I didn”t quite “get” the number, the music is especially lovely. More dances should be set to movie scores.
After some banter with Rob Marshall, who looks slightly less orange tonight, Cat calls the four girls out onstage to learn their fates. She switches things up by announcing the top two girls for the week, who, appropriately, are Sasha and Melanie. This leaves Jordan and Caitlynn to dance for their lives later in the episode.
Next, the four guys come out with linked arms of solidarity to face the music as well. Marko is the first to advance, with Jess in danger. Then, in somewhat of a surprise, Ricky is safe and Tadd is put into the bottom two. Looks like Nigel”s concern for Ricky caused a few people to vote for him!
The professional performance of the evening is the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, who are always a treat. The musicality of Christopher Scott”s choreography is just phenomenal. Their new season of…whatever it is they make is on Hulu starting soon! I had no idea such a thing existed! But now that I know I”m still probably not going to watch!
The solos are next, and honestly? They”re all really great. At this point, since the judges are still deciding who gets to go home (more on that in a bit) it”s more about the dancers” body of work than what they do for thirty seconds on that stage. Tadd did have the bonus moment of making everyone worry he was going to paralyze himself jumping off the stage, which was fun. Yay, head injuries!
While the judges deliberate, Lady Gaga takes the stage to perform “Edge of Glory” and “You and I,” and I”m ecstatic because this means MARK KANEMURA, ladies and gentlemen. He is fabulous. It”s a shame they pre-tape these musical numbers so he couldn”t have a little moment with Cat after it was over. The performance itself is dynamic as always, but am I the only person who wants Gaga to hire Sonya Tayeh as her choreographer? They seem like the perfect fit, and her current choreography is such a mess.
After Gaga, Nigel brings Caitlynn and Jordan to the stage and rambles in his very Nigel way, saying that the decision didn”t start unanimous but ended up being so, and the judges are actually voting the same way the public did. This is where I need to take an aside: Is this the first season where the judges are still determining who goes home once it gets to the top ten, or am I misremembering what happened in previous seasons? If this is the first season, why are they making this change? After all, it is called “America”s Favorite Dancer” not “Judges” Favorite Dancer.” Will America”s vote only count in the finale this season? I have concerns.
Aside over. Thank you for indulging me, I just needed to get that off my chest. After saying the vote is unanimous, Nigel (somewhat surprisingly, to me) lets Jordan go. Given my previous rant, since this is what the audience apparently wanted I cannot be disappointed. However, the talent gulf between Melanie and Sasha vs. Caitlynn is fairly vast, so barring some pretty unbelievable circumstances Caitlynn appears to be lined up to be the next to go.
As for the boys, things go much more predictably when Nigel keeps Tadd and sends Jess home. Jess is a wonderful Broadway dancer, but it”s hard to see a pure Broadway dancer winning this show. With Ricky making it through on the fan vote he may have a fan base larger than we are aware of, and could be a bit of a spoiler for either Marko or Tadd next week.
What did you guys think? Did the right two people go home? And were you happy to see Mark Kanemura on the SYTYCD stage again?