Paul/Mackenzie: Huh, I kinda dug that. I mean, there were bits of the choreo that were silly or looked a bit too hard, but mostly it was pretty darn good! Oh, and Paul should work on his facial expressions, he was strange looking at a few points. Maybe his ballroom backgound?

Carlos/Mariah : Aw, I like this one too! It was lovely. (Mary, what do you mean by the other side of the rainbow???)

I feel like the judges totally made the wrong decision based on how people did tonight. Ugh. "America got it wrong" my ass--judges picked the wrong one of Americas choices maybe (well, of the boys at least, i don't have strong feelings on the girls)

I really don't like Nigel and his comments, I wish there was a Nigel mute button.

One season I had a yuff of him and I did indeed mute.

Fikshun/Amy: Eh. It was OK. She seemed to hold her own a'ight; I felt like he was not outshining her in most moments, but it felt more like he was holding back mostly (a few good moments though) rather than her bringing it up to his level. But still. Could've been way worse.

Tucker/Jenna: Damn, I am impressed by the costume crackwhores this week. They must have gotten a good batch or something. Tucker looks kinda hot. And it was cute. B it was there any chacha?? (Ooh, Mary agreed)

Jasmine H./Alan (is it Alan?) are definitely my favorites. Fantastic dancing.

Anyone know which Alicia Keys song that was they used?

I don't understand how they get rid of people from the competition and then make them dance. (I just started the show). I thought their decisions of who to get rid of were mystifying. I suppose I could go either way on the woman - but the woman they booted dances in her style better than the woman who stayed. Neither was flawless though.

The men: it was just so fucking obvious who they should have kept. I just can't even.

asmine M/Alan: Girl, at least you are getting a ballroom boy doing those lifts and not an animator or something! She looks awkward.

I agree. I was cringing the whole dance because I could envision what a pair of really good ballroom dancers could do with that routine.

BTW, I think this is the most unexciting top 20 on SYTYCD in a while.

I don't understand: why did they announce the eliminations at the beginning of the show when they could have done it at the end?

???

What am I not understanding here.

Once again, I was not blown away by any of the routines. They won’t be ones I’m watching over and over again. Can I blame Cat’s bad wardrobe choices? Because what in the holy hell? Where those shorts? Oh, no, Cat Deeley. I rebuke that outfit. On the plus side, Christina Applegate rules as a judge. Can she just stay? Because she was phenomenal.

Dancing? Yes, please!

Top 20 Group Dance Redux/Contemporary/Tyce D’orio/The Heroic Weather Condition of a Veiled Mist – It pains me to speak well of Tasty, but damn if I didn’t think this routine was gorgeous. Creepy Dolls! I mean. These kids were giving me broken down doll realness. They whole piece was very evocative. It was full of graceful quiet moves that somehow still packed a punch. I especially enjoyed all the little leaps off the bed, even Malece’s. And the kids had great synchronization. The final trust fall that I think was Amy? Sensational. Work, children! The first time I saw it, I thought it was a Wade piece. That’s how good I thought it was. Nicely creeptastic. Fine. I give it up to Tasty. He can bring it when he’s not choreographing Broadway. I still hate him.

Dance Ins - Were booty from all the kids. They are still getting to know each other.

Bottom 6

I don’t enjoy this twist. It seems like cruel and unusual punishment to make the kids go ahead and dance after they’ve been eliminated. Also, that’s one more week that any surviving partners will miss out on before they can start forming connections with their new partners. It seems unfair all the way ‘round. I wonder if it has to do with timing. Maybe they have a shorter season this year? Eh. Not a fan, even though both boot-ees really represented for their partners this week.

Girls: Mackenzie, Brittany, Mariah

Boys: Alan, Jade, Carlos

Huh. Not the B6 I would’ve chosen. Utah Krumper and Carlos I expected because that jive was not good. Jade is also not a surprise. The rest are mild shocks. Nico and Alexis must have rock solid fan bases to survive that horrid hip hop. Mackenzie and Alan get saved and that makes sense. I don’t think either of them should’ve even been there.

Mariah Solo/ Hard in da Paint –She has a cool vibe and it still surprises me that this little white girl can hit that hard. It’s just so incongruous. That said, this was not her best. It was a very lazy solo. I was bored. I still like her, though.

Carlos/ Radioactive – The front flip was beautiful as was the turn sequence in arabesque. The rest was just a lot of tricks joined together with not much actual dancing. Not impressed.

Brittany/Hacksaw – Poor ballroom girls. She’s a cutie but that routine was mainly just a lot of walking around, vamping and posing and she lost her balance on that kick. Nice turn sequence at the end, but overall that was nothing spectacular.

Jade/De Novo Adagio – It was a great music choice and something he’s done to great effect before but the dancing kind of fell flat here. There just wasn’t a lot that happened. The song was way more impactful than he was. Still, I think this was a super smart choice on his part. The solo made you think he might be able to do something other than just animation.

So after those solos, I figured it had to be Carlos going home. He’s a spare contempo boy and they have a lot of them who are better. I felt it could’ve gone either way with Mariah and Brittany because both of them (well really all of them) put out tired, underwhelming pieces, but I assumed Brittany would go because from the jump she was just a cut rate Jenna. Aaaand, that’s exactly how it went down. Not too mad about either of those two going. I wonder if the lackluster solos were partly as a result of the kids knowing that no matter what they would still have to dance with their partners later. Hard to leave blood on the dance floor when you know you’ll have to perform later.

Top 18 Performances

Haley and Curtis/Jazz/Ray Leeper/ Mama Knows Best - Haley looked like a sex bomb. Damn. I couldn’t even think straight. (continued...)