So You Think You Can Recap - Top 12 Dancers

Okay, are they specifically pandering to AfterElton readers to get us to tune in to So You Think You Can Dance? Last night we had Jesse Tyler Ferguson at the judging table plus Travis Wall and Louis Van Amstel choreographing. If that's not AfterElton bait I don't know what is.

Not to mention hottie Tadd shirtless. Thanks for that, Travis!

JTF made for a welcome, although seemingly unqualified, guest judge. He's not exactly known for dance. Still, his passion and obvious extensive prior knowledge of the show carried him through. He might have been a wee bit too self-effacing at times with comments like, "My dancing is a tricycle, your's is a mac truck," but he totally scored when he called out the unsung greatness that is Cat Deeley and suggested she deserved an Emmy for her hosting. So true.

I guess the biggest surprise on the judging panel was Sonya Tayeh, who often seems flaky and eccentric in the rehearsal interviews. But on the judging panel last night she came off as warm, completely sensible, and a very thoughtful critic. She may have given the most helpful dancer critiques of any judge this season. Hope she returns to the panel soon.

Let's take a look at some of the individual dancers and dances from last night.

Sasha and Alexander kicked things off with a Paso Doble from Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin. Says Sasha in the interview clip: "It's definitely a battle dance, and I'm gonna beat his ass."

And she does. Sasha throws Alexander around the stage like he's the cape and she's the bullfighter. As I watched, I couldn't help but think how great the number would have been had Sasha been paired with a male dancer who could keep up with her: Neil Haskell, Danny Tidwell, Mark Kanemura, etc.

As it was, she was just overpowering and the whole routine seemed lopsided. The judges raved about Sasha at least, while damning Alexander with faint praise.

Alexander had somewhat better luck with the couple's second performance of the evening, a Broadway number by Tyce "hit or miss" Diorio.

I'm not a big fan of Diorio (particularly when he's on the judging panel), but I'll give it up to him, last night's "That's Life" was really good work.

I'm still ready for Alexander to go home though. Among the remaining men, he's the weakest link.

Jordan and Tadd's first number was a Travis Wall contemporary piece. It was probably the splashiest performance of the evening, with Tadd shirtless and Jordan feathered out like a vulture. It was a big hit, unfortunately the couple followed it up with a Broadway routine from Spencer Liff.  Hated everything about it, from the crappy Rent song to the costumes. (Tadd's dirndl skirt was just ridiculous.)

Spencer Liff also bears the blame for choreographing Ricky and Ryan's first number. That one had the two of them dressed up like Mad Men extras and dancing to Frank Sinatra. The only nice thing I can say about it is Ryan looked nice in that black cocktail dress. I like Ricky, but he just seems too slight and frail to pull off a leading man character performance.

Which brings us to their second number of the evening: a ChaCha from Louis Van Amstel. It featured great music, great choreography, and one thing I'll say for Ryan and Ricky, they have a great ability to dance in perfect unison. But they just always seem like a mismatch. I wish we could have seen that routine performed by a stronger couple. Could you imagine it with Lacey and Danny from season three? Hot!

Caitlynn and Mitchell got stuck with a mess of a hip hop number from Christopher Scott. In the interview clip we're told the dancers are meant to represent the children of Northern Uganda and Congo who are abducted and forced into fighting a senseless war.

A lofty goal, but those "invisible children" are sadly still invisible because, except for the literal text on the dancer's matching t-shirts, there was nothing in the routine that in any way referenced them. Bringing up "the invisible children" just felt like a way of pandering for votes, and thankfully the judges called the choreographer out on it.

The couple was next paired with Travis Wall for a jazz number. It had them dancing to Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart" and featured Caitlynn in bustier and garters. She looked sexy as hell. As Jesse Tyler Ferguson said, "Only you can prevent forest fires... by not dancing in a forest like that because you would start a fire."