SYTYCD: Some Surprises & Some Not-So-Surprises

So You Think You Can Dance: "Top 14 Results Show"

My predictions going in: Karla and Vitolio will get the boot.

Play-by-play:

• Do people in The Wiz really wear such a little amount of clothing? Kayla is practically indecent. Isn't this supposed to be a family show? Think of her poor grandpa having to watch this... Brandon isn't wearing much either (besides some weird wing-like feather contraption).
• Speaking of The Wiz, isn't Season 4's William Wingfield in a production of The Wiz in New York right now? That's what I gleaned from his Twitter account a couple weeks ago anyway. (Google search says I'm right.)
• Finally, Cat wearing an outfit that is somewhat interesting. She looks rather rocker chic in her shiny silver mini dress and messed-up-on-purpose flat-ironed hair.
• Hmm, Karla and Vitolio vs. Evan and Randi. This is the 1/3 of the bottom 3 that I wasn't sure about. Last night I was thinking Karla and Vitolio were in the bottom, but upon further reflection, I could see Randi and Evan taking the spot. But! I was right last night! It's Karla and Vitolio! Even fabulous quick step routines are the kiss of death!
• Ok, well I did get at least one couple wrong: Brandon and Janette are not in the bottom 3. That's fine with me; they were good last night. Does this mean the invincible Chbeeb is headed for the bottom 3?
• WHAT?!?! KAYLA AND KUPONO ARE IN THE BOTTOM THREE?!?! What kind of nonsense is this? Where were all the Twilight fangirls?
• This is the most understated outfit I've seen Kupono wear yet on solo night.
• HAHAHAHA!!!! Revenge of the aliens! Caitlin and Jason are safe! (Were the judges really trying to use reverse psychology with all their complaining, or did we just beat them at their own game?)
• This could just be my personal spin, but maybe America put Phillip and Jeanine in the bottom 3 as a message to the producers of SYTYCD that we're sick of their obvious manipulations and DO NOT want to see Phillip and Jeanine do another Nappy-Tabs hip hop routine ever again.
• Wow, Mary, way to completely ignore that Jeanine is standing up there too. That's real nice. Perhaps the problem is that everyone is just not as enamored with Chbeeb as you are.
• Hmm, so now we get to see what good ballet actually looks like. This might have been helpful as a reference point last night.
• And look, Mia! One of these ballet dancers is black and one is white too! Imagine!
• This girl's extension is disgustingly awesome. The guy's not bad either, of course.

The solos:

Karla: Doing some weird, birdlike moves to "Blackbird" (which, interestingly is the song Kayla used for her audition). Karla's solo is good but I felt like she was just really getting going by the time her time was up.

Vitolio: Dancing to a country song? It's kind of weird. Not super impressive. He's really not that great at solos for some reason.

Kayla: Showing off her impressive leg kicks some more. In fact, that's kind of all she's doing. She basically stayed in the exact same spot on the floor, and should have moved around the stage some more.

Kupono: My mom points on that Kup is dancing to "the Jon and Kate song" (from when they "renewed their vowels" in Hawaii). LOL. He looks like he's having fun, but he's not doing a whole lot of dancing...like at all.

Jeanine: We get to see her doing contemporary for the first time ever. And guess what? She's pretty good! I mean, at least she moved all over the entire floor and did some splits and leaps and a freaking pirouette. We've not seen many great pirouettes this season (once Alex Wong had to leave anyway).

Phillip: I think I'm less impressed with Chbeeb's shtick tonight than I was before (and I was never all that impressed). I mean, wasn't Cedric cooler than this in his solos?

Geez. Let's kick out all three boys. Remember when SYTYCD solos were actually good? Last season, Joshua, Twitch and Will consistently nailed their solos week after week. Remember that time that Will did a James Brown impression? That was so awesome. And Twitch's mad conductor routine? And how funny Joshua's hip hop attitude was? And it wasn't just the Season 4 kids who could do solos: Danny, Sabra, and Neil all did some great ones in Season 3. And of course Travis killed in Season 2. It definitely seems like this season's dancers are just not of the caliber to which we've grown accustomed.

More play-by-play:

• I'm not the biggest fan of this "I Don't Hook Up" song, but Kelly Clarkson was the first musical guest this season that didn't have me reaching for the mute button at some point during the performance.

The results:

Girls: Nigel says Jeanine is safe because she did, without question, the strongest solo of the night. Take notes, fellow dancers: leaps, pirouettes, leg extensions. Nigel says that Kayla's solo wasn't great and just looked like she was doing a lot of kicks. Nigel says that Karla is a fantastic dancer but hasn't captured the star quality they thought she had, so she's going home. Which is not a surprise and (unfortunately) means that I've gotten another one right in the EW SYTYCD prediction game. Poor Karla. She just didn't get all that lucky in this competition: Jonathan held her back a bit then she got the quick step then she got stuck in the bottom 3 with a judges' favorite and someone who did a great solo.

Guys: Nigel says Philip's solo was a little desperate tonight and that they feel like he still has a lot of hard work to do to manage the other genres, but he gets to stay anyway. Nigel asked Vitolio to step forward and Kupono steps forward. Ha ha--that was great! Nigel says that Vitolio always looks like he's going to be a major star but never really delivers. Nigel says Kupono is lucky that this isn't So You Think You Can Choreograph because his solo was weak. But it's the end of the road for Vitolio. Again, no surprise there. (I've gone two-for-two again with predictions.) I feel badly for Vitolio too, however. Vitolio says the best part of SYTYCD for him was that he's received a lot of e-mails from people saying that he's inspired them. (Who has Chbeeb inspired? Nappy-Tabs apparently.)

Kayla and Kupono did have lackluster solos, but ultimately I'm glad they didn't go home tonight because they really shouldn't have been in the bottom 3 at all this week. But, even though the writing was on the wall for Vitolio and Karla, seeing them eliminated still kind of sucks.