Quick Thoughts on "So You Think You Can Dance Season 12 Top 8 Perform"

This post won't be a full recap of the episode similar to what I've written in the past especially about season 10. However, I just wanted to write my thoughts and emotions on the last episode of So You Think You Can Dance as it made me have a lot of mixed emotions that I wanted to get out of my chest.

First and foremost, RICKY UBEDA is back!!! I always wanted to see him as an Allstar because obviously he is one, and a magnificent one at that too! I've been totally obsessed with him ever since last year and it was amazing to see him again on SYTCYD stage, doing a Broadway out of all the other genres too. This gave us a broad glimpse at Ricky and how he grew and changed in a wonderful way after his Broadway experience on "On the Town" as a part of his prize for winning Season 11. I really enjoyed how he portrayed his character; his mimics and facial expressions were fantastic. That is Broadway experience for you! I can't wait to see him more, I honestly hope he will make more appearances if he finds time from Broadway that is. He performed with JaJa who happens to be my favourite dancer in Team Street but come on, if there is Ricky I just won't look at anything or anyone else so I have no idea how JaJa did. I tried rewatching the performance again to look at her but my gaze shifted towards Ricky again so it was fruitless. Sorry JaJa! Ricky is just magical... I can't help it. Here is the video of the performance:

Secondly, I wanted to say how wonderful it is to see Robert again. I developed somewhat of a crush on him (My crush on Ricky is of course unbeatable). It is just fantastic to see him do these amazing movements even after his accident and you can clearly see the joy and life in his eyes that he is able to dance. I love that we see Robert quite often on the show. He is just amazing and he keeps getting better and better. I really enjoyed Mandy Moore's Contemporary routine for Gaby and Robert as well. We haven't seen many breathtaking choreographies so far this season except only a few so I felt so happy to see Mandy Moore back! To me, the performance was a bit overshadowed by Ricky and JaJa Broadway performance because of... well Ricky but if it weren't for him, this one would easily be the very best performance of the episode for me. Here is the video of the performance:

Now there is a complaint incoming. I want judges to leave Jim alone. Jim is my favourite dancer on the show and he is by far THE BEST dancer in this season, possibly among the very best on the whole show across all seasons for sure. He is on a whole other level of greatness, surprassing the other dancers by a significant margin. However, I don't understand why street dancers are always given credit for hard work after a bad performance and judges say how proud they are for their progress, but when Jim can't do Hip hop they just unload a lot on him. There is clear double standard here and it's really pissing me off. Leave Jim alone! You don't say anything to street dancers when they can't successfully pull off Jazz or Contemporary but Jim is to blame when he can't do Hip hop? I hope you win this Jim, you really deserve it! What a magnificent solo too. Here are the two performances of Jim:

Jim Solo Performance:

Another complaint of mine is about the judging panel. Paula Abdul can at least add substantial criticsm for the dancers provided she stops stuttering from time to time; however, what exactly is Jason Derulo doing? What does he know about Paso Doble so much to act like he is the expert? What kind of concrete criticism can we really except from someone who wrote a song about "Wiggling" and all he does is wiggle his arse with a bunch of girls and call it "dance"? How can someone like that judge "professional" dancers? I know I know, he is there for the ratings as the show is struggling quite a lot in that department... That is a whole new low for the show. I really liked the past formats where there would be a different "choreographer" acting as a guest judge every week. Why can't we have that? Or can't we have the other amazing guest judges like Christina Applegate or Jesse Tyler Ferguson? Don't they have one evening free in their schedules? Just one! I really can't tolerate Jason anymore, he needs to go! I really hope he will leave the show if SYTYCD is renewed for the 13th season. He is really sucking the joy and entertainment or even the life out of the show for me.

My last criticsm will not be about the format, I already hate the format but I don't find the use of talking about it as everyone else is basically saying the same thing over and over again. However, I wanna know what the use of Twitch is as team captain. I totally understand Travis as he is an Emmy nominated choreographer and he can actually help dancers grow but what is Twitch doing exactly? Besides having a smirk on his face when he hears that Team Street pulled higher votes than Team Stage of course...Again another low for the show as they are trying to get ratings but making very bad decisions in the process. We all know how beloved Twitch is (I am indifferent to him...) so the show is most likely trying to get some of his fanbase back to watching to show.

Twitch (left), Travis (right)

Nonetheless, despite all these criticism; as long as I get Ricky, Robert, Jim dance and Travis' breathtaking choreographies I'll keep watching the show anyway... You are lucky So You Think You Can Dance.... You are lucky cause I am hooked on your dancers. Not on your show!