"So You Think You Can Dance" recap: Super-sized finale edition

Last night the winner of So You Think You Can Dance Season 4 was anointed and carried from village to village like the Olympic torch but before we can get to the much honored hoofer there's a lot to cover.

The format will be a little different for the two-night 4 hour finale this week: I'll still be recapping each number and slamming some of the hideous outfit choices (see Katee's camel toe above) but it will be in more of a stream-of-consciousness liveblog format.  So step into your time machine and turn the dial to Wednesday because it's time for our last  So You Think You Can Dance post of the season!

Wednesday's Finale Performance Episode:
The show is just starting and I can't help but wonder if everyone watching from home is scratching their heads wondering how the hell Courtney Galiano snuck into the Final 4?  I mean she's great and adorable but come on, there's no way I would have predicted she'd be standing there at the end of the season.  

The still Emmy snubbed Cat Deeley is looking stunning in her golden goose collapsible layered dress.  She's one of the few people that can take a sexy short strapless dress and make it classy ... she's got magical powers, that Cat Deeley.  Work it girl!

Cat's dress looks like one of those camping cups

There's going to be a ton of stuff coming fast and furious for the finale and I can't touch on all of it or we'd crash AfterElton, but I'll do my best to guide you through the murky waters, pushing past the bodies of the Top 20 and what's certain to be a misstep or two.

The Dances:
Courtney Galiano and Twitch
Routine: Hip-Hop by Napoleon and Tabitha  My first gut reaction is, finally NappyTabs have decided to create a harder edged routine ... Obviously they've been reading my blog because you know I've been dogging their lazy slow hip-hop numbers all season.  Sadly, their "harder" hip-hop still sucks so I think I'm only going to judge tonight's dance based on the outfits instead of their talents.  In this case, Twitch rocked it with his 70's Insurance-Salesman-meets-Hipster number while Courtney is a hot mess in her almost Salvation Army rags.  It was not opening number at all and for some reason the Judges were going coo coo bananas for it (over-compensation much).  Courtney was just not matching Twitch's power and it showed big time. I'm already annoyed.

The best couple of Season 4 kicks it again

Katee Shean and Joshua Allen
Routine: Contemporary by Wade Robson  It's the return of the King, Wade Robson, and I couldn't be happier.  His routines are dark and emotional, offbeat and hauntingly beautiful so pairing up the best couple of the season with the best choreographer on the planet is just magic.  I love the passion that Katee and Joshua poured into the number; I mean at the end it took Joshua a minute to recover because his heart and soul were ripped apart on the stage - he looked spent!  If I could pick two for the win, you know I'd be picking these two.  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Seriously?

Katee and Courtney
Routine: Broadway by Tyce Diorio  Props are back which is fine and all but these are the fugliest lace parasols ever ... i just can't even look at my screen.  So the song they performed to was "The Trolley Song" and instead of wanting to watch the number I wanted to hit youtube to find a clip of SNL's Sweeney Sisters!  "Clang Clang Clang goes the trolley!" Oh how I worshipped Nora Dunn and Jan Hooks and their lounge singer shtick!  I feel like I need a mint julep or something to wash the cutesy aftertaste of this heinous routine out of my mouth. 

I needed a stiff one after this Russian number

Joshua and Twitch
Routine: Russian Trepak by Youri Nelzine and some John Hall-look-a-like  The fake rivalry that the show created was fun until Twitch called Joshua a pansy.  What's that all about my man? Not cool.  So the routine was not really much of a choreographed dance as it was a Christmas special gone bad; one where Twitch and Joshua were completely out of sync and out of their league.  At least the previous two seasons gave us some homoerotic pieces to work with; think of Benji and Travis doing their geeky co-dependent thing in Season 2 or Danny and Neil's battle of the princes last season.  Those routines almost made me paso my doble because they were so good.  What I'm saying is that yes, this was difficult and showcased their power but it wasn't incredible nor was it as gay as it could have been.

Katee and Twitch
Routine: Fox-Trot by Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin  Before Nigel could even call it, I'd declared Twitch as the new James Bond, looking all fine in that suit of his.  Katee's flowey gown did wonders for the movement of the routine and made her look flawless.  These kids took a fox-trot that was supposed to be all sexy and made it something so much more.  It was romantic and complicated and accentuated both of their amazing talents.  A simply divine dance.

Courtney and Joshua
Routine: Jive by Jason Gilkison  This was supposed to be a pretty fast and manic jive but it didn't work for me.  I don't know that it was the best idea to push them with a high energy routine considering they're both dancing like 50 numbers this week.  They were slow and passionless which is something that no one needs to see at this stage of the competition.  This is the finale and it's supposed to be spectacular, not craptacular.

Braveheart Meets Airline Chic

Top 4 Routine:
Contempoary by Mia Michaels  Wade and Mia in one night?  The possibility of the greatness is almost too much to fathom heading into this final group number.  Twitch and Joshua are shirtless and wearing plaid kilts while the girls look like Flight Attendants for Air Haggis.  These outfits are ugly as sin and actually taking away from the experience of the routine.  I can't believe I'm going to say this but Mia Michael's just had her first misstep: this number is actually one of the season's worst.  I'm floored, the Judges loved it.  What did you guys think?  Mia was off the mark, right?

The Other Stuff:
Each dancer performed their final solo routines and if you've been following along you know that I'm so over these damn solos.  The only highlight was watching Courntey nail a perfectly emotional solo.  She truly is blown away by the scope of this show and her involvement ... that kinda makes me love her.  The others all did their normal thing ... snooze.

My favorite part of the entire night, though, has to be the one-on-one interviews with Cat and each contestant: they were personal, insightful and I loved having that touch in the finale.  Personally I think they should put some of those in the Top 20 or Top 10 rounds so we have a better idea of who each dancer is outside of the competition.  We got a glimpse of Courtney's mob-lite clan, the origins of Twitch's nickname, the secret behind Katee's relationship with Joshua and the fact that Joshua used to wear a full spandex body suit.  Hello!   

Overall I have to say that I was underwhelmed by this finale (I wrote a scathing review over at my TV Blog).  Aside from the Wade routine, nothing really blew me away, which is sad considering this is the best of the best.  Going into the finale I'm voting for Katee Shean which is hilarious to me because at the beginning of the season I wanted her to be the first girl eliminated.  She's just extraordinary at what she does.  I have a feeling though that Joshua or Twitch will actually take the title of "America's Favorite Dancer."  Let's see what happens...

The Top 19 reunite

Thursday's Results Show - The Winner Is Crowned:
The Top 19 are there in their original pairs, Jessica King is still MIA after her injuries.  All of Cat's babies in the house and it's exciting to see them all!  Right off the bat we're graced with a wonderful surprise:  Shane Sparks, who's been doing America's Best Dance Crew all season choreographed a number just for the finale!

Top 20 Group Routine by Shane Sparks  While I was originally soooo down on the performance episode, I have to say that my favorite part of the finale has been the return of the prodigal sons Wade Robson, Shane Sparks and finally the return of the Queen Debbie Allen.  Shane's opening number was an incredibly hard hitting and super high energy hip-hop robo-routine and it's what I love about SYTYCD!   Take that, Napoleon and Tabitha: learn from the masters.

All season they've been talking about a Robert Muraine vs. Phillip Chbeeb Popping War and finally they delivered.  It was crazy good and as much as I wanted Robert to win (which he did), Phillip's versatility and speed made him the bigger entertainer in my book.  Those crazy kids! 

She'll give you something to scream about...

Judge Mary Murphy and Season 2's Dmitry (still shirtless and still Sloth looking) worked out a hot Latin number.  It's good to see that she can burn up a dance floor with the best of them.  I called it two years ago but I'll say it again, those two are so bangin'.

The Cirque du Soleil cast of Chris Angel's "Believe" performed a group number that was totally Tim Burton meets Wade Robson, Donnie Darko meets Alice in Wonderland concoction of greatness and I loved how quirky and imaginative it was.  Dear Dear Anya from Buffy would have sliced herself in half had this dance number come to fruition before her eyes. I on the other hand loved every second of it.  Wade Robson is the one I bow down to.

Don't get in the van with the scary man kids, don't do it!

The Debbie Allen Dance Academy did some Disco Tap number that was ruined when Old Toothy Camera Hog came out.  I will however say that it was good to finally see Nigel get his ass out there and work it after all these years.  He's surprisingly limber for being 100. Doesn't he look like a creepy majorette leading the children to a deserted cavern with candy or something in that picture above? Jeepers Creepers!

The Judges picked their favorite routines to showcase.  Nigel picked the Bollywood routine; Mary picked Courtney and Gev's Rhumba, Shankman picked the Comfort/Twitch hip-hop number.  My boy Lil C picked Mark and Chelsie's early hip-hop (one of NappyTabs' actually watchable routines), Mia Michaels chose the Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rosen Pas de deux and I liked it so much more this time around.  The Shank chose Sonya Tayeh's naughty burlesque number from Week 8 and amen to that because the number is still banoodles.  Mary Murphy picked the violently passionate door routine between Twitch and Katee (another one that I absolove)!  Debbie Allen picked the Twitchington Celine Dion number which I do have to admit was beautiful.  Katee and Joshua's "No Air" NappyTabs ditty was picked as well and I guess that I have to concede because the number is pretty fierce.

My favorite part of the entire night and possibly of the entire season was THE BEST OF SYTYCD!  Honestly, it was what I was waiting for all week!  I'd read about it on Monday and knew it would be crazy good and it did not disappoint.  First we got video updates on a ton of dancers from the first 3 seasons (shockingly, Season 3 winner Sabra Johnson is completely MIA - I think she's possibly hunkered down with Osama at the moment, why else would she be so absent?) then it was time for an alumni dance off!

All of my personal faves were back: Season 2 and 3 boyfriends Travis Wall and Neil Haskell were in the house.  Season 1's Ryan, Season 2's Benji, Allison, Dmitry and Jailbait Ivan were burning up the floor as well.  It was cramazing and I rewatched the reunion 3 times.  I'm a total freak.

Cat eliminated two contestants early on in the episode: Courtney was the first one sent packing and she was so sweet that it made me a little sad.  She's adorable, I can't stand it.  The second dancer to be eliminated was my girl for the win, Katee Shean.  While I partly expected it, I have to say that it hurts to see her go because technically she was the best of the final 4; thankfully SYTYCD threw in a surprise and she won $50,000 for being the best girl of Season 4.  Not too shabby! 

That leaves us with Twitch and Joshua ... a very interesting Top 2.

Joshua Allen wins SYTYCD Season 4!

THE WINNER OF SYTYCD Season 4 is Joshua Allen and rightly so!  If Katee couldn't win, I wanted Joshua to take home the gold.  He's just damn adorable and the boy worked his ass off all season.  That's not to say that Twitch didn't have the personality vote because he was great fun to watch for the last 10 weeks.

Are you guys happy with the outcome?  Are you pleased with the season as a whole?  What would you like to see changed for Season 5?  Let's talk...