Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5598112-20180830010529/@comment-32881688-20180905103726

Thoughts:

Amanda Mena: It's pretty obvious that the show is doing everything in their power to keep her from going through, due to the abundance of singers (Courtney, Michael, Glennis, Christina). They gave her the opening spot, and on top of it had her sing a generally hated song. It wasn't very good.

Junior New System: I held a bit of a grudge against them for beating out Mochi in the quarterfinals, but they totally won me over with this performance. It was spectacular.

Us The Duo: This was even worse than their quarterfinal, I'm glad the judges kind of agreed.

Voices of Hope: I was never a fan of this act at all, but I kind of enjoyed this performance, really. Still don't want them to go through but a middle 3 appearance wouldn't be shocking.

Shin Lim: Holy moly. He is the best magician I have ever seen on every level and anything less than top 3 in the Finals would be atrocious.

Makayla Phillips: I've had a love/hate relationship with this act pretty much since I saw her audition. This performance was better than the other ones, but I do think it's the end of the road for her.

Front Pictures: OKAY LISTEN UP REAL QUICK. I have a theory and my theory is that his act is simply too complex for most people to grasp. Their audition was like a video game and that was easy enough to understand, and their quarterfinal was a story about an unorthodox hotel, and even that was too much for some people to handle, but their semifinal performance was so intricate and innovative that even Simon Cowell himself felt the need to press his buzzer, trying to convince himself that they were the problem and not him. If one of you reading this didn't understand, the story is an astronaut who's running on low oxygen, and either a) consequently relates to sea animals who don't breathe the same way humans do, or b) gets lost in the constellations and stars and starts imagining a sea world. Because remember, anything is possible in outer space. This was beautiful and if there were justice in the world they would be finalists, unfortunately it's looking very unlikely.

Duo Transcend: I really don't know how I feel about the Billy & Emily stuff. At the time, it was such a surprise that it probably gained votes, so I'll say well done. Am curious to see what they'll do if they make it.

Samuel J. Comroe: He was just alright last time, but he absolutely killed it today. The set was perfect from start to end, I just wish it were longer.

Michael Ketterer: I actually liked the song, but he could've done so much more with it. This was probably his weakest performance yet.

Zurcaroh: I mean, isn't wow the only appropriate word? These guys should win and if they don't there's no excuse.

Predictions:

Top 3: Zurcaroh, Shin Lim, Michael Ketterer

DS: Samuel J. Comroe

JC: Duo Transcend

JC Loser: Junior New System

Bottom 5: Voices of Hope, Front Pictures, Amanda Mena, Makayla Phillips, Us The Duo