TV Recap: So You Think You Can Dance - The Final Four Are...

Tonight’s results episode of So You Think You Can Dance was a big one as it let us know which four dancers will be performing in next week’s finale. I doubt many were all that surprised by the two eliminations tonight, though I can’t say I’m not a little disappointed. This season seems to be a tough one to predict in terms of the remaining dancers and after tonight’s eliminations, I think it’s really anyone’s game to win.

Filler for tonight’s episode included some of the dancers from last season returning as the four Emmy nominated dances were brought back to life on stage. This included Jessica and Will performing Tyce Diorio’s “Adam and Eve,” Katee and Twitch doing the awesome “Mercy” door-dance choreographed by Mia Michaels, Chelsie and Joshua in Dmitry Chaplin’s “A Los Amigos” and Chelsie again, this time with Mark dancing Tabitha and Napoleon’s “Bleeding Love” routine. We also got a fantastically masked performance by the dance crew, Jabbawockees, who promptly de-masked at the end of their routine and revealed their faces to the crowd. And Reggae sensation Sean Paul performed while women wearing what looked like rubber pants danced behind him. Now onto the results:

Rather than doing the typical bottom-two guys and bottom-two girls, Cat sent one of each to safety, stating that the “safe” person didn’t necessarily poll the most votes, but that they wouldn’t need to be performing a solo and holding their breath later on during the episode when the elimination results were revealed.

Of the girls, Jeanine was sent to safety, leaving Melissa and Kayla to perform solos and wait to find out which of them will go on to the finale. Of the guys, it was Brandon who was told he was safe. It’s clear the producers aimed to maximize the suspense value here, since I’m sure most of us expected to see Jeanine and Brandon in the finale. Sure, Evan, Ade, Melissa and Kayla are all popular but not quite as easy to predict, unless you go by Ade and Melissa’s bottom-two spots a couple weeks back.

After the four contestants performed the same solos they did last night, Cat revealed that Kayla was going on to the finale and Melissa was eliminated. I’m disappointed that Melissa didn’t make it, though it’s truly impressive that a ballerina made it as far as she did. Usually dancers who are fully immersed in a specific genre (eg. Phillip) have a harder time adapting to different dance styles but Melissa definitely held her own this season and will hopefully inspire other ballerinas to audition and branch out a bit in the dance field.

As for the remaining two guys, Cat announced that after last night’s votes, Evan is the contestant that will be going on to the finale and Ade has been eliminated. It’s a little fitting, seeing as Melissa and Ade were partnered for a good portion of the season and both were in the bottom 2 two weeks ago. Like Melissa, Ade adapted well to different dance styles but I don’t think he ever managed to outshine Brandon or Evan in skill or personality (and let’s face it, the votes are likely to be based on both).

And that about does it. The four dancers competing in the fifth season finale of So You think You Can Dance are:

Kayla Radomski
Jeanine Mason
Evan Kasprzak
Brandon Bryant