SYTYCD Play By Play: Finale

Wendy Garofoli | Aug 08, 2008 | there are 1 comments

Katee and Joshua: A dancing match made in heaven.

This is it! The finale. I actually boycotted last week because of the Will fiasco. He was my clear favorite to win for the longest time, and while it's really no big deal at the end of the day (because you know the guy is going to have a brilliant career), I was beyond disappointed and became sort of not invested in the show knowing he wouldn't be there. Still, I knew they'd bring him back for the finale, and I had to see if America at least picked the next best thing: Katee. Crossing my fingers!

8:02: Welcome back top 20! Why, oh why, is Will gone? I will never stop being upset about it.

8:03: Okay, I'm officially old. Knowing the Jonas Brothers are guest performers makes me feel well outside my age bracket.

8:04: Turns out the winner of the show also gets a feature role in Step Up: 3D. How exciting is that?

8:05: Cue montage...

8:07: Here's a new Shane Sparks number. It looked like a hot mess. A few cool moments, but otherwise underwhelming.

8:14: Yay for Bollywood! This was a fun, happy routine. I'm glad to see it again. Still, whenever you see the dances the second time around, they always look a little sloppier. I don't know if it's because the dancers are exhausted by now, or because the pressure is off. Either way, some of the magic seems to be gone.

8:17: Here comes the rumba with Courtney and Gev. Love that guy. Yikes...Courtney is showing some poor technique in the back attitude. But, she's sexy as always. Glad that Knicks City Dancer training came in handy.

8:26: YAY! Here comes the battle of the poppers. I'm more excited about this than any of the other dances. Here we go...Oh. Snap! That was off the hook! A whole lot of gummy, awkward, shifty, freaky stuff. I love seeing freestyle honored on the show. We need a little more of that to show audiences where true artistry lies. Because if you're given great choreography, it's not as hard to look good as when you need to rely on your own beat, your own groove, and your own creativity. I tip my hat to these poppers. Right on, homies.

8:40: And here's Comfort and Twitch in the only dance she was great in. What the? Hello camera four! We got a lovely shot of the edge of the stage for about three seconds. That is a great number, though. I like the revisions on the costumes. Much more appealing.

8:42: Here goes Lil' C with his dumbass metaphors. Man...just spit it out. But, I agree with the choice. In fact, Bleeding Love was the only memorable dance for me. Go ahead Chelsie! To embrace Lil' C's annoying metaphor tendency: That girl is a well of emotion, and you feel it just spilling out of her with every step she takes. Once again, the edge was sort of taken away watching this a second time, but Chelsie still managed to move me by the end. Well done, girl.

8:47: Um. Wow. Okay. There she is. Mary Murphy. Being all sexual. Well. There you have that. I was nervous the whole time there would be something really awkward, but you know what? Besides the inappropriate groping, Mary Murphy danced her butt off up there, and she looked great.

8:52: I knew Mia was going to pick this number with Katee and Will. Still brilliant! In fact, more brilliant than the first time because they nailed that turn. Awww, Will. Sadness. Why, why, why are you gone?

8:57: Adam (the judge) is strange. He's an oversharer. He always takes it one step too far, talking about boyfriends and catfights, and you're kind of like...rrrrriiight. I'm going to go over here and chat with Mary Murphy, who we at least know is certifiably nuts. Anyway, Courtney and Mark rocked that number. It was fierce.

8:59: Ooooooh, first round of results. Crossing fingers. Courtney is out! That seems reasonable. I'm surprised she beat Chelsie for the top two spot. Those flowers are bigger than her!

9:08: Man, this is a 2-hour finale? Way to stretch out the advertising dollars. I'm glad they brought back the Five Guys Named Moe number. Shows just how much the guy talent trumped the girl talent this year. And yet, somehow, I think the title will go to a girl. That's just a hunch.

9:11: Nice! I actually wrote a cover story on Wade Robson for Dance Magazine, and he was talking about his collaboration with Cirque. I'm curious to see how this goes. Annnnd, it's another Alice in Wonderland weirdo dance from Wade. Why dancing rabbits? I'm guessing this makes sense in the context of the Cirque show. If it does, then I don't want to see it.

9:15: Yikes, another elimination. I don't want any of them gone. WHAAAAATTT?! Preposterous! Totally wrong! Well, there goes Katee. And there goes the best dancer on the show. Wait a minute...Talk about a wonderful consolation prize! $50,000 for Katee! Well, I feel a little bit better.

9:25: Awesome tap number from the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. How excited are these kids? Hey Nigel!! This is like judges performing night. Man, that was super entertaining, until the random "this is worse than the NY subway" line that just ruined the ending. Otherwise, Nigel rocked.

9:29: Yeah, the door number! Bring on the kiss. Much better this time, haha. That was fantastic. I have to put that one above Bleeding Love now that I've seen them in the same night.

9:32: Okay, Jonas Brothers. I don't have commentary on this. They're too clean cut, Disney, pretty boy for my taste. Plus, they're jail bait. Wait, wait. Are they lip syncing? A BAND? Ludicrous.

9:40: Oh, I'm so glad Debbie Allen made fun of Lil' C. I'm also glad he laughed. But now here's the beautiful dance between Twitch and Kherington, who were my early favorites. That was really sweet and elegant. It was nice to see some romance, instead of raw, sexual partnership, which has been the dance du jour this year.

9:43: Another awesome routine from Tabitha and Napoleon. Notice how many numbers Katee had tonight? I love that last jacket move. And awwww. They are so cute! Loved the genuine hug between her and Joshua at the end.

9:48: Another montage, this one much cooler. It was interesting to see what the other dancers from past seasons have been doing with their lives.

9:49: HEY!! Welcome back ex-cast members in a fabulous, toe-tapping finale number. Holy crap, that was great! Is it me, or are the old dancers better than the new ones?

And the winner is...Joshua!!! So unexpected!

Hey, he got his braces off!

Thanks for tuning in each week to the SYTYCD Play By Play. That will be all for this particular segment of my blog, but you can check out me and my fellow featured bloggers posting on what's hot in the dance world daily, right here on DancerUniverse.com. Thank you and goodnight!