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...)

( continues...) This dance was not for family consumption. Also, it was a crazy easy routine. Like, open level, walk in, studio class easy. Come on, Ray Leeper. There was so much posing and walking. Even the lifts were not all that challenging. And it was way too sexy. I’m sorry. I don’t need to see that much ass grabbing on my family show. Are those two doing it? They will be tonight. I agree that there could’ve been more contrast, more soft and hard. Good job, Christina Applegate. She’s so amazing. See how much better the commentary can be when actual dancers are there to give critiques?

Other Jasmine and Aaron/Lyrical Hip Hop/NappyTab/Tears Always Win –I completely disagreed with the judges here. I thought the piece did not sit well on them. That first partnered section was not good. They looked very awkward together And Jasmine is trying to hit the routine super hard but this is NappyTab in their unfortunate lyrical hop mode so as a result all that aggro, hard hitting movement is making her look a little bit frantic. I did enjoy Aaron once he got into the routine. He was kind of tearing it up. Although, I wish he hadn’t smiled through the whole thing. At times it seemed inappropriate. Also, I didn’t feel a ton of chemistry from them this week. I’m thinking of the Twitch/Sasha Misty Blue piece or Joshua/Katie in their Lyrical Hip Hop. Maybe Mark/Chelsie is a better analogy because they had the love hate thing going on. But any of the above oozed chemistry in their lyrical hip hop pieces whereas these two kinda didn’t. They had buckets of chemistry last week, but I just didn’t feel it here. I like both of these dancers a lot but this piece didn’t move me. Both tapper boys brought it this week, though. Well done.

Malece and Jade/Bollywood/Nakul/Radha – So right from the beginning of this routine there was a whole lot of walking around. They looked the part but that was pretty much my only bit of positive praise for this piece. That was one of the easiest Bollywoods they have ever had on the show. And Jade really was not getting the technique. Malece was better. That was bad, y’all, and the judges were really stretching trying not to call them on this crap. Oh, the soft bigotry of low expectations. It wasn’t good, kittens. And worse than that, it was boring.

Alexis and Nico/Contemporary/Stacy Tookie/Old Skin – I still can’t believe that these two didn’t hit B3. They must have some serious fan bases. Alexis was really gorgeous in this piece. She had lovely toe point and really good tension through the legs and feet. Very pretty soft arms. I found myself tracking her more, even though this is Nico’s style. Both of them did really well with some complicated lifts. I enjoyed it. Alexis is no Kathryn, not even close, but no one is. I didn’t really notice Nico at all in this piece except for his solo at the beginning which was fine. What I did notice and adore was Christina calling him out on making that opening turn sequence easier by ditching the attitude turn for a simple pirouette. Ha! She takes notes on the dress rehearsal. Yes. Love her!

Brittany and Bluprint/Broadway/Spencer Liff/It’s Oh So Quiet– Awww, Bluprint is learning about chenais turns and pirouettes. Good boy. And he was trying to bring more life to his face. I saw a smile and a wink. That said. He was very stiff and robotic in his movement. He was really trying, bless his heart. And he did partner Brittany very well. But…the movement just sat so poorly on him .You could really see the effort. It shouldn’t look hard. It should look light and carefree. Spencer did choreograph some tough stuff for them. I was glad to see Bluprint actually have to dance. Stretch and lengthen through the back and shoulders, amen, Mary. He really, really needs to heed that advice. And never let ‘em see you sweat. Jasmine and Alan/Tango/Miriam and Leonardo/Escape from Slavery – Look at that posture from Alan right out of the gate. Magnificent. He was giving me everything here. Jasmine, however, did not sell me. She looked very tentative, very (continued...)

( continues...) unsure of herself. Alan was owning that stage. The feet were giving me life. He was so solid here. I should not have been watching him more than I watched her but I totally did. And Jasmine didn’t help at all on that last lift. He got that up on muscle and grit alone. He was great and she was not good. Totally agree with Nigel that Alan should not have been B3. Hope he won’t go there again.

Mackenzie and Paul/Jazz/Sean Cheesman/Mannequin – Oooh, I loved the opening…all the business on the podium. Yep. Just like that. Mackenzie gave me all I could handle. She was great in this. Paul was trying and from a technical perspective he was fine, but I didn’t buy the character from him. And what is with all the sexy sexy tonight? Did the wardrobe hos just want to go costume shopping at Hustler? That was a totally enjoyable routine. And Christina brought the great critique again. Can she just be around all the time?

Mariah and Carlos/Contemporary/Stacey Tookie/ Dead in the Water – This routine had a gorgeous beginning. I buy Carlos as dead inside. And that was a fantastic turning lift they did. I’m impressed with Krump girl in contemporary. She had beautiful grounded movement. She pulled off a clean double turn. She displayed some gorgeous technique getting down into those plies and showing good flexibility through the back. I really appreciated that number. In its quiet way, it might have been my favorite of the night.

Amy and Fik Shun/Hip Hop/NappyTab/After Party –. I didn’t have a lot to say about this routine. It was fun, I guess. I like NappyTab more in this vein than in their lyrical hip hop mode. Overall, the piece was kind of fluffy and I’m sure I will barely remember it by this time next week. I kinda just wanted to watch Fik Shun. He was shutting it down. Amy did her best to get her twerk on, but well . . .oh, girl. Bless your heart. She just needed to let go more and just flow with it. And more ass work. More ass work was required. The panel just decided to give them the Malece and Jade treatment and not judge them. Alrighty then.

Jenna and Tucker/Cha Cha/Dmitry/I Like It Like That – Well, I guess it’s the sexy-fecta then. Jenna? Sexpot from the jump. I did enjoy the Hey, Big Spender feel at the beginning. At least until I started wondering when or if Tucker was going to dance at all. She was most definitely doing all the work. Which, whatever, she’s amazing, but where was the cha cha in this cha cha? The little bit of cha cha Tucker did do was sort of terrible. He posed well, though. And looked good in a tux. That . . . was not a cha cha cha. I agree with Nigel. It was contempo-cha or maybe jazz-cha. And it was fine, but dude, that’s not a show closing routine. I’m not usually a fan when Nigel scolds the choreographers but seriously Dmitry? You can do better.

In my B3

Malece and Jade – Again. Always. Until they both go home.

Bluprint and Nico would be my other two guys in B3 and Amy and Jasmine would be my other bottom 3 girls surprisingly, although neither of them should come close to going home.

In my going home

Do I even have to see it? Malece and Jade every week until they both go home.

And now to read what everyone else had to say!

Here is the AV Club's review, which I thought was pretty good (with some links to previous dances).

[link]