Jul 24 2008
So You Think You Can Dance - Will Pulls a Daughtry
Just today a group of So You Think You Can Dance fans were discussing the season. Most were in agreement that this season has had the best talent. Many were also claiming that so far they are enjoying this show more than they have enjoyed American Idol lately. I think they won’t be saying that anymore after this, and I think I know the answer why.
Up until this point most of the people that we expected to leave … left. This is other than the whole Comfort replacing the injured Jessica King. Of course we were liking it more than American Idol. We had our favorites there and had every reason to believe they’d make it to the final four until this week.
Watching the results tonight, I said out loud, “What?” The first surprise that happened was Will Wingfield being named to the bottom two. What? How did that happen? He was the one I was expecting to win, not necessarily my favorite, but how I saw the tide going. He was talking once again about his affiliation with Debbie Allen last night. The judges adored him.
That wasn’t all. Mark Kanemura was safe, while Twitch became the other guy in the bottom 2. Again, “What?” Don’t get me wrong, I like Mark, and in fact, because I have a thing for underdogs, I was rooting him on. Yet even though I was rooting for him, I recognized that there were three other guys there that had much more talent. Twitch was so upset directly after finding out, he turned away and knelt down on the stage. Cat Deeley walked up to help. Courtney Galiano rounded out the bottom 4.
As they danced their solos tonight, I saw what Nigel was pointing out about her feet. I like her a lot, but watching her, I knew she was one of the females that needed to leave. Watching Will, I just could not believe that guy would actually have a chance of leaving. With Courtney’s solo I could only stare and say wow. She doesn’t deserve to go home either. Watching Twitch dance some perfect funk with his Super-T shirt on I could only think he was amazing and that he didn’t deserve to go home, yet I knew at least one of those guys had to.
As expected, Comfort left, and when it came time for the guys, it was the biggest shocker of all as it was Will that left. In the goodbye package they showed a piece that had Will, Twitch, and Joshua Allen saying they were going to the top 20 together, and in fact they made it to the top 8. Leaving, Will calls the experience crazy, and telling people they need to take it for what it’s worth every single day.
I was flabberghasted as the show ended, somehow made even more so by the fact that TiVo cut off the last few moments, and I didn’t even get the final goodbyes. In some ways, that was appropro. I just couldn’t get past the question of why.
I thought back to the conversations we had today and how people were saying they were liking this season of So You Think You Can Dance better than American Idol lately. People were also saying that it seemed odd to have Mark and Comfort paired up. When they were expected to leave this week, it was almost as if them getting paired together was the final boot on their asses to get out. To me it started to feel like that manipulation we seemed to suffer in the last weeks of American Idol this season.
It just reminded me of the sabotage, or what seemed like sabotage, on Jason Castro, as he was critiqued for dances he hadn’t performed yet and forced to do songs that he hadn’t chosen and had never heard of. It somehow also went back to Chris Daughtry leaving a few seasons ago in fourth place when we all knew he should have won. It was somehow similar to Comfort and Mark being paired with each other, having absolutely no chance of staying and getting insult to injury as they pulled the dances of hip hop and fox trot, something where they would shine, but also another that would expose their obvious shortcomings.
Maybe the rest of America had noticed this too and was telling So You Think You Can Dance that this time they weren’t going to be manipulated. It seems like such a long shot, but is the only thing that makes sense. It certainly isn’t because people think Mark is that much better than Will. It’s more like they feel sorry for him being manipulated and not getting a fair shake.
I can only hope for one thing after this. Debbie Allen better appear on the show either next week or the next as a judge. And after she watched the manipulations eliminate her star student, I hope she’s honest to the core about what she sees instead of giving the targeted answers.
Photos Courtesy of fox.com/dance
For more information on So You Think You Can Dance, see SirLinksalot: So You Think You Can Dance , and for a recap of Wednesday night’s performances, see So You Think You Can Dance.
One Response to “So You Think You Can Dance - Will Pulls a Daughtry”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Not A Member? Register for Free!
The same thing happens on Idol. Even lukewarm Mark fans felt that the judges were unfair to him and threw him a few votes. Add those to the feverish voting of his true fans (read their postings on the message boards), plus the fact that everyone “Assumed” that Will and Twitch were safe, and you have last night’s debacle. There are 2 ironies for me: First, I didn’t really like Will until the last two shows. Wednesday, he knocked me out! The James Brown solo was fantastic! I fell in love with this guy, and now he’s gone. I HATE this! Second, knowing that one of the 3 guys other than Mark would be in the bottom 2, I thought it would be Joshua. He was the weakest on Wednesday with flaws in the disco that were obvious even to my untrained eye.
At least the horror wasn’t compounded by sending Courtney home. If this situation follows the true Idol pattern, Mark will go home next week since the “Twitch Troops” will be rallied.