Land o'Lessa

I find it very hard to write about something so visual, a show that’s dependent on personal opinion – you either get it, or you don’t. Fortunately for the top 20 this year and their performances, I got it more often then not. I’ve always wished I could dance, and seeing some of those routines Wednesday night made me wish I was 20 years younger.

The creme de le creme, of course, was Katee and Joshuah and their slow hiphop routine to Jordan Sparks “no air”. Even if they hadn’t mentioned the ‘night before he leaves for war’ connection, I still would have gotten it. And it hit me in the chest and sucked all the air from my lungs and the self-proclaimed ‘crybabies’ brought tears to my eyes. I ADORE routines that can make me feel like that through a television screen. Nigel’s words right after – the very soft spoken “that was really really good” echoed exactly what I was feeling. Just… wow.

(don’t know how long the vid will be up. Seems Fox is being a bit of a bear about youtube and they don’t post any damn vids on the site either so whatever – watch it while you can!)

I also liked Mia Michael’s piece, danced by Chelsea H and Mark. Mia can be such a bitch, but her work is amazing, she never fails to get some sort of reaction – usually good.

I think everyone did a fantastic job, and the first cut indeed cut the deepest, as it was hard to choose who should go. In the end, after Kourtni, Jessica, Rayven, William, Matt and Jamie danced solos in their style, the judges sent Rayven and Jamie home.

So you think you can dance brought us the last of the open auditions from Milwaukee last night where the filled the first 30 minutes of the show with recaps of the previous auditions, showing us some that we hadn’t seen before. And Nigel getting all gangsta. I know. Scared me too!

The guest judges were a husband and wife choreography team, Tabitha and Napoleon D’Umo – though why hubby dearest was there, I don’t know. I don’t think he said more then 2 sentences the entire time, letting Tabitha do all the talking for them. Whatever.

There were some good performers and tickets to Vegas and choreography rounds that send more to Vegas, and it was a typical show – until Mom called to ask “DID YOU SEE THAT?” and I had to say “OMG YES WHAT THE HELL?” and we cackled so loud we woke up Papa while we watched Ashley Henry shake her booty like nobodies business. She was, however, infectious with her enthusiasm when she spoke to the judges afterwards, and they rewarded her by sending her to Choreography round, though they all – even Ashley – knew she’d be horrible at it. They did it to give her the full experience, and to hopefully inspire her to take lessons and maybe come back – by the time we said goodbye, she’d already signed up for two ballet classes. Good luck to her! (Though really – Mom and I haven’t laughed THAT HARD at something in a while – FABULOUS!)

We also had inspirational – Yesie got all the way to the 4th round in Vegas last year, and said it changed her life. She’s back, 50 pounds lighter, with more training, but unfortunately with a bum knee. Nigel sends her off to get her knee fixed and tells her he wants her back to audition next year. Her bff watches her stumble and break down, but manages to hold his own emotions intact to audition, and earns himself a ticket to Vegas where he’ll continue for the both of them.

Then we got eye rolling – the preacher man who showed beautiful technique and choreographed his own routine, earning the respect of all 3.5 judges… he couldn’t get his ticket though, because being a man of the cloth, he couldn’t muster any connection with his partner at all. Sigh. Like it’s sinful to dance beautifully and with emotion if your not married. That sound – my eyes rolling. Again.

Last but not least – a surprise audition! Dressed in Drag, Travis Wall performs to It’s Raining Men, and afterwards Nigel jokes that it’s Ryan Seacrest, and Travis harumphs and stalks out to mad applause. *L*

Tonight we hit Vegas callbacks, and by the end of the show, we’ll have your SYTYCD top 20! WHOOO! Let the REAL SHOW BEGIN!

Has anyone on any show whined as much as Hell’s Kitchen’s Matt? Seriously, that guy had more excuses then my teenagers, and that’s quite a feat, let me tell ya! After his seasoning the appetizers with his own sweat, making people send it back because it was salty last week, (and also, OMG EW!) I was disappointed to see him survive another week so that he could blame everything on everyone else again this week.

The chefs were taken to the roof of The London West Hollywood, which will be where the winning chef becomes executive chef at the end of the season. The teams merge, and it’s a chance for them all to individually shine – if they can quit whining long enough. In the first individual challenge – Matt does a passing job on the veal, but it comes down to Jen, who wins a trip to Vegas for the night much to everyone’s dismay. She takes Corey with her and they have dinner with last years winner, Rock Harper, while the rest of them have to unload the trucks for delivery day punishment.

Cue Matt’s whining. O. M. G. I wanted to slap him through the screen. Sure, Christina went a little militant on the leading, but it’s not like he was unloading all te trucks himself. Bobby starts to worry that Matt’s gone all Full Metal Jacket while I wonder how he was even chosen for the show as he CLEARLY can’t handle the stress of….unloading delivery trucks. Snerk.

Dinner service has Ramsey telling them what stations they’ll be working and encouraging them to work as a team – then putting Matt and Christina together on the meat station. He can’t remember a damn thing – not even when Ramsey tells him what he needs four times in a row. Four times in a row, Matt gets it wrong. Then he blames a sudden Migraine that he’s supposedly just gotten, as well as the meat itself for daring to confuse him. Corey burns her hand, and has to be yelled at to go see the medic, but comes back in and steps in to help get things on track, Christina gets caught cooking two different meats in the same pan, and Matt has a meltdown when Ramsey yells at him for overcooked meat, causing him to act like a 3 year old once again. He offers 80gazillion excuses for why he’s screwing up, claims a migraine again and Ramsey drags him out by the hand and tells him to go lay down.

Then he tosses Jen after she burns a pan of rice she put on someone elses station, then he kicks them all out and declares them useless and for the love of all things holy Shut. It. Down! The team is told to come to a consensus and put up two for elimination and tells them to piss off. Matt stays behind and whines like a little bitch to Ramsey about how he knows he did wrong, and if he should give up because of a migraine, so be it. Ramsey tells him to man up and fight for heaven’s sake, and Matt takes that as a sign that Ramsey loves him and would never kick him off the show.

….

He then proceeds to tell the other chefs to go ahead and put him up because he won’t go because he’s better then all of them.

….

Delusional much? Bobby pegs it by saying Matt “deserves to be kicked off the universe.”

Elimination time, Corey says she thinks she deserves to be up there too, and he adds her to the mix, but thankfully FINALLY kicks off Crazy Matt. (I swear, I’ve never met a Matt who wasn’t delusional. Sane Matts – are you out there?!) In an interview with Buddy TV, he says he was just being funny, and that those who know him understand that. Umhm. He’s now the executive chef in South Jersey, Pizzicato.

I’m afraid none of these guys are good enough to be executive chef for Ramsey – though of them all, perhaps Bobby and Jen (much as she annoys me with her arrogance) have the most solid chance. What do you think? Is this the worst final 5 yet?