Did anyone else feel like they were being manipulated by the whole build up to Mia's dance?

Oh, definitely. I still liked it though. Even better on the second watch. But then, I am a huge sap. Honestly, one of the problems with contemporary is that too often they have to explain the dance before it's actually done. A good dance should stand alone on it's own merit. I would have liked the dance better if I hadn't known what Mia intended.

Rocco - before and after - plus according to Ted's blog he's lost about 30 lbs.

Yeah, he looked good last night. I remember thinking, I don't remember his being kinda hot, but maybe it was just because he's so annoying.

He looked good except that his face looked unnaturally smooth.

Top Chef: Loved it!

(That was on TC first season, right? I can't remember.)

Yup, they definitely did the taste test thing; I was just wishing they would do it again. But that time it was blindfolded, with a bunch of Japanese ingredients that I would have recognized! Hmph. Someone has failed to recognize my culinary brilliance.

I can't believe Hung picked up on the key info and failed to be assertive enough to make it happen. For all his arrogance, he turned out to be a total pushover.

I can't believe nobody else (except the winners) picked up on it at all. C'mon, people, you really think a frozen ziploc (err, excuse me, Glad) baggie with a solid chunk of ice in there is going to heat up okay in ten minutes?

Anyway, I'm glad for the winners. They rocked it, worked together, and totally deserved it. Also, I would completely buy their product. It looked yum.

I thought that both the top two teams did well.

Oh, Hung clearly should have picked up a knife block and warmed up Joey by hitting him in the head with it. Perhaps he would have paid attention then. But stopping Joey was like stopping a runaway train -- once that momentum got going - there was nothing you could do.

How wasHowie resolutely NOT!Communicating with Sarah Not passive-aggressive?

I thought all four of the losers could have gone home and I would have been fine with that.

Out of all of them, the only one I kind of like is Howie, precisely for his bulldogishness, but it was annoyijng last night, and if he can't work better with others, and step outside himself, he can't be Top Chef. Sara was just annoying and Hung NEEDS to get smacked down hard. Like, he needs to get sent home next week, rather than much later in the competition.

SYTYCD: Agree with much that has been said; however, I think that Neil certainly could end up in the bottom 4. And let's hope he does. Despite the shirtlessness, neither dance was very interesting and (assuming that much of the voting is done by younger girls) I'm not sure that voters would relate at all to the theme. Still love Sara and Sabra, though I have to say that the Broadway routines really leave me cold and Sabra really looked like she was struggling in the quick step. I think Pasha really saved her in that. I think (and hope) that Lauren and Dominic will be the ones to go.

TC: I always love taste tests. Howie was annoying for complaining about the bow-tie pasta when he got tomato paste. I would have been happy with anyone in that bottom four getting eliminated. I wish Casey and Dale would have won though. I didn't love the sound of Tre and CJ's dish and agree that I would never call anything truffle "Mediterranean".

I wish Casey and Dale would have won though.

I'm not holding my breath for it or anything, but if Tres and CJ wanted to be really cool, they'd take Casey and Dale.

I wish Casey and Dale would have won though. I didn't love the sound of Tre and CJ's dish and agree that I would never call anything truffle "Mediterranean".

I agree with you, but Tre and CJ were the only ones who "got it" when it came to the challenge. Their dish could have been tasted horrible and been Mexican and they may still have won because they did it right (yes, I'm exaggerating here). Had Casey and Dale even tried to separate their stuff when they froze it, Italy would have been theirs.