Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-36491208-20190822072014/@comment-43560933-20190826184518

My take on last week, it was much more clear cut than before who was going to get through, unlike the week before where only 2 were pretty much dead certain to go through and not really anyone was dead certain to be eliminated, this week we had more of a clear idea who was going to make it and who wasn't.

There were three that were dead certain to go through. The most significant treatment was of V.Unbeatable. I was expecting treatment of them to inform people they are firmly in the winning race. But not as generous as they got. Their performance was incredible, was 2 and a half minutes of absolute attack, and the fact Howie dubbed it the greatest ever AGT performance of all time a week after Kodi made the headlines, are they the favourite now? But the negative of this is have they peaked too early? Should that performance have been saved for the final? But the same could be said for Kodi. And for me both are so far ahead, I do not see the winner coming from outside those two.

In the fight for best of the rest, I'd say Tyler Butler-Figueroa has a chance of emulating fellow violinist Brian King Joseph and finishing in third. He is kind of like a mini Brian King Joseph. What propelled Brian was his ability to command the stage and look like a rock star, something very hard to do with a violin and Tyler, although not quite at that level with that although that will come with time, has a lot going for him. Another person in contention for best of the rest is Ryan Niemiller, who for me is the best comedian since Drew Lynch. He is a natural and clearly has producer favour on his side so can easily make the top 5 of the year.

For the rest, negative treatment for Light Balance Kids, who were thought of as potential winners, although part of it wasnt their fault with the technical issues, turned out quite damaging for them although for me they were never close to the top 2 anyway and a solid result is still possible. I am not sure producers expected Robert Finley to advance, it seemed like they wanted to give him a moment to perform a song live to America as a good way to end his journey, like with The Masqueraders, but he proved a hit.

In the yellow zone, I think it can be seen as quite disappointing the voters didn't embrace the cultural diversity of the Ndlovu Youth Choir enough to allow them to advance without needing the save. They advance but the fact they had producer help and a pimp slot to complement a good performance and still was in the yellow zone doesn't bode well for them when it comes to making the final. Chris Klafford I thought would be this year's Glennis Grace when it comes to trajectory but negative treatment got him in the yellow zone although he got the save. The most surprising result was that Charlotte Summers didn't get the save, I believed she'd walk it if she was in the yellow zone due to her fanbase and her treatment suggests producers thought the same and didnt envision her in the semis, but she didn't even come second in the save.

None of the eliminations were particularly surprising, Joseph Allen was always going to be borderline yellow zone and got shuffled out, I believe the show missed a trick with Marina Mazepa, had they got behind her, she could've topped her fantastic performance she did at judge cuts and added variety to the semi finals, but mostly due to the production it fell flat, although I thought Simon buzzing was really harsh, it was not buzzworthy. The other two didn't have a chance, The Sentimentalists and Nick & Lindsay's performances, particularly the latter, were unbelievably bad.

Next week is going to be key, I don't believe there is anyone that can realistically challenge for the win next week, there are some big hitters that can certainly challenge for the final podium spot. Most notably Eric Chien, the only reason I can't see him challenging for the win is coming a year after Shin Lim. Marcin Patrzalek has got generous treatment but don't see him proving as popular with the public. Benicio Bryant's treatment is gonna be fascinating, after the only two other potentially commercially relevant songwriters have stumbled, one being eliminated and the other being in the dunkin save with poor treatment, if they are planning to bring Sophie back as the wildcard they might possibly give Benicio similar treatment to Chris to clear a niche for her although they could give him positive treatment as a backup for if Sophie being wildcard doesn't work for producers as planned, if they aren't I am expecting him to get really favourable treatment as the only songwriter that can realistically do something.