Cat started off the show with a stat-dump before sending us through the opening credits to catch up with the reunited top twenty, assembled into their original couples, do the dance-in.
As I watch them prance about I find myself sadly wondering: Am I the only one who can’t remember some of these peoples?

Cat’s flapper-hippie dress looked like it had been attacked by a bedazzler. If I could only forget the last time that happened to me.

Lo and behold, a big pile of judges are crammed behind the table including my new fav, Li’l C. Mia’s hair, an Annie Lennox affair, seemed quite cool.

So lets talk about the dancing and the amazing assortment of mixed fillers, including a pop-off and Nauseating CG Bear Happy Dance Time…

Group Dance

All Twenty of These People
    Hip-hop by Shane Sparks danced to BOOM, SIN feat T-Pain
Twenty dancers really is too much for that stage unless you start going marching-band on us, which didn’t happen tonight. I did like the way the finalists were the only ones left standing in the end, a bit of drama that saved this Target commercial of a dance-number.

Top five dudes
    Broadway danced to Five Guys Named Moe, Joe Jackson
Dynamic and athletic, this runabout and leapy number was as high-energy as the musical selection. It looked simply exhausting.

The Best of So You Think You Can Dance (mixed assortment of dancers from the past seasons)
    Various Styles danced to Don’t Stop the Music, Rihanna
I guess I’ll have to take back what I said about twenty being too many; there was several tons of smokin’ hot dancer flesh running, bouncing and spinning across the stage during this hip-hop routine. A phenomenal group dance that I’ll watch a few more times at least, if only to look at what’s happening at the edges of the frame, I loved seeing all my old favs. My wife squealed for Benji and I would’ve squealed for Lacey had she been evident. No matter, I love the Lauren, too.

Judges Requests

Nigel requests Joshua and Katee dancing Bollywood!
    Dhoom Taana, Om Shanti Om (Soundtrack)
I don’t know the style well enough to judge the technical merits of this dance, but I loved the piece the first time and I loved the flawless reproduction this evening. The music is fun and exotic, the

Mary requests Courtney and Gev dancing the Rhumba
    Wishing On A Star, Rose Royce
This dance was certainly hot, especially Courtney’s slinky slinking. I found it captivating and really memorable, which makes it all the more strange that neither I nor my wife could actually remember seeing it danced the first time. Is it possible we missed an episode? I… I don’t know how that might’ve happened…

Adam requests Comfort and Twitch dancing Hip-hop
    Forever, Chris Brown
This was my favorite hip-hop routine of the year, even with the not-so-subminal Wrigleys Doublemint propoganda playing the background.
I’m especially glad to see the felt-applique costume Twitch originally wore failed to reappear.

Li’L C requests Mark and Chelsie dancing Hip-hop
    Bleeding Love, Leona Lewis
Li’l C has the wierdest grasp of the English language. Reminding me of the old Wayan brothers’ self-educated convicts, he strings an amazing number of polysyllabic words together in a barrage of erudition that might just possibly make sense…

Mia requests Katee and Will dancing Pas De Deux
    Imagine, David Archuleta
Mia, is “choreographically” a word? Never mind, lets all be amazed at this dance. Even David Archuleta’s horrid screeching can’t deflate this soaring skyship. Wow.

Adam also requests Mark and Courtney dancing Jazz
    The Garden, Mirah
Creepy, wierd, sexy and fascinating, this piece was easily in my top three of the season. Mark’s lascivious grins, Courtney’s grinding hip actions, the graceful abuse dished out, the twisted and lovely musical choice, all combined to really make this special. Isn’t it wierd that the best dances of the year are so varied in style? This is as far from Josh/Katee’s Ballywood as you can get and yet they both seem so sweet and oddly equivalent.

Mary also requests Twitch and Katee
    Mercy, Duffy
Ah, the door routine. I thought there was too much business with the door and not enough actual dancing in this number, but what do I know? Everyone else seems to like it.
This time around, mercifully, Katee performed without a beehive.

Debbie Alan requests Twitch and Kerrington dancing a Smooth Waltz
    A New Day Has Come, Celine Dion
Overwrought by virtue of being overly laden with unnecessary meaning by my least favorite choreagrapher, Jean-Mark, this routine was supposed to be dedicated to Jean-Mark’s disabled daughter. I

Nigel requests Joshua and Katee dancing ‘Miracle’ Hip-Hop
    No Air, Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown
A story piece about a girl saying goodbye to her soldier boy, this dance bore more than a striking resemblance to Mark and Chelsie’s dance from earlier in the show. Very nice.

Fillers!

Nausiating CG Bear Sponsored Happy Dance Time
    Not worth mentioning. So why did i… never mind.

The Pop-Off:
CHBEEB vs MURAINE
Freaky contortionist vs noodle-limbs, this bit was immensely entertaining and, apparently, “buck.” Robert, a Hollywood street performer, combines a rubber-jointed contortionists palate with some hard-hitting pops and a keen sense of the beat and awareness of where he is in the accompanying musical piece. Phillip has a fluidity to his movement with a lyricality that kinda outmatched the one-note freakshow he was put up against. Unfortunately for him, however, Robert’s impossible moves were impossible to beat and Robert was declared the winner.

Surprise Mary Dance
    Baila, Baila, Angela Via
Performing an excerpt of the Joshua and Katee Samba that fried my brain, Mary shook her thing with Dimitri. It was a performance that was pretty good, but was missing the bits I loved the most about the original. Namely the strutting walk down-stage and some Joshua business stage-front. Mary failed to surprise me; I always assumed she could shake her thing if necessary.

Cirque De Sole
    By Wade Robison danced to Homage to the Rabbits, Eric Serra
From the title card I intuited that these are UNDEAD bunnies we see before us. I have no corresponding explanation as to why there are bunny ears protruding from the casket. IN any case, these bunnies seem kinda pissed, and while they invite comparisons to Sir Andrew Weber’s cat-folk, I doubt those felines would stand a chance against this gang of Lepus.

Surprise Nigel Dance
    Boogie Wonderland
Performing a respectable tap routine with a gaggle of Debbie Alan’s tykes, Nigel took to the stage for once. I’m sure tap was chosen to avoid forcing our chronologically challenged host/producer to jump or kick a joint out of whack or risk a cracked pelvis. Regardless, he seemed spry enough on the whole.

Jonas Brothers
Setting aside their weak Maroon 5 immitation of an act for the moment, let me say that I can’t wait until these boys are on their way to their first stint in rehab when they hit their quarter-life crisis.

Eliminations! ELIMINATION!

Courtney is the first to be told that, no, she isn’t the winner. She’s OK with that, really! She had plenty of time to make peace with it, as there was never much chance of her winning tonight anyway. Bye-bye, cutie.

Second off the show was Katee. Many people felt that Katee should’ve been the winner, especially considering her consistent excellence. Several things, however, were working against her. First, the teenage girls with the speed-dial really like the dudes. Second, in my opinion, is that Katee is no good alone. She ONLY seems to really shine in partnership with another dancer and this contest is not about that. Katee had some tears, but was still quite upbeat, especially when notified that she would be receiving some $50,000 (minus applicable taxes, of course).

AND THE WINNER IS:
Joshua

His momma jumped up and down, his daddy cried openly, and bits of paper rained down upon them all. In a way, I feel worse for Twitch than I did for Courtney and Katee. Partially because those two knew they weren’t going to win while Twitch probably felt he had a shot. But mostly because Twitch didn’t get a good-bye video package.
No hard feelings, though, as Twitch lifted Josh as we leave the show for the season. I am satisfied with this completion and I consider the matter closed.

Final Thoughts

Now what am I going to watch?!?