Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-36491208-20190710144706/@comment-25150955-20190717022333

Generally, tonight was... in the middle for me. I think Messoudi Brothers were the easy winners of the night on sheer talent and athleticism, that Ndlovu sounded amazing despite a less than stellar song choice, that Berywam totally brought the house down, and that Chris Kläfford is probably my favorite solo singer this year, and if anyone’s as excited about him advancing as Jimpa is, it’s me.

Lukas and Falco were okay. They weren’t in my personal Top 7 for tonight, but I think it was fairly unique for a dog act and entertaining enough for me to say, “okay, I’m down to see this again”. And they’re better than the poodles, anyways.

I can already tell Sophie’s gonna get a lot of flack for getting the Golden Buzzer, but... I’m gonna be honest, I get why she got it. First off, she did WAY better than she did last time, even if it wasn’t great. The song’s words were clearer and the rapping, although not good by any means, was at least a little more legible. Her songwriting is amazing and that’s what pushes her over the edge for the judges, though—while she’s nothing amazing if we judge what she sang as if she didn’t write the song, she did, and the song was written excellently. I don’t love her still, and I definitely prefer others to her this episode, but I do kinda get why she got the GB.

Now for the real issue this episode—Matthew Richardson getting the longest intro package all episode, being arguably one of the best of the night by a clear mile, and then getting cut for Emerald Belles. I don’t hate the Belles: I think they did much better than last time in terms of tricks, but they were a little too samey overall. But Matthew? Matthew was INCREDIBLE. Not only is he an amazing acrobat, but what he did was stellar as an artpiece as well. I don’t say this often, but the judges made a huge mistake letting him go. At the very least, I think he’s at least in Wildcard contention now.

I may as well also mention the Sentimentalists, who I thought were good enough to be in consideration despite a semi-montage: I still don’t like their presentation, though. They were far from amazing, but the trick was actually real good, and I think they probably deserved a little more credit for what they did. I think in the end the fact that their presentation didn’t change at all held them back a lot, though. Also, I actually really liked the Orange Magician, it was a nice, fun little diversion from the episode’s otherwise linear path and it was a really unique act, if not goofy.

Overall, pretty average episode as a whole, I would’ve taken Matthew and probably the Sentimentalists over the Belles and the dog. Also, Dakota and Nadia deserved better.