Entertainment

Nigel and Mary Get It On in the 'SYTYCD' Finale

by Molly Fitzpatrick

Last night marked the season 10 finale of So You Think You Can Dance. Only two of finalists Aaron, Fik-Shun, Amy and Jasmine could be named America's favorite dancers—and win a $100,000 prize. Full disclosure: Fik-Shun is unabashedly my personal favorite, because Steve Urkel : Stefan Urquelle :: Magnitude : Fik-Shun.

Besides host Cat Deeley, Twitch, Adam Shankman, Paula Abdul (with a hairdo that exceeds the volume of her actual head), Mary Murphy and Nigel Lythgoe are all on hand, because SYTYCD has more judges than some reality shows have contestants. The judges and finalists are each invited to nominate their favorite performance from this season to see it performed again live.

Jasmine revisits her dance to "Blurred Lines" with All-Star Marko. This is the delicious smoothie you'd get if you threw Janelle Monáe and Pee-wee Herman together in a blender. At Adam's request, Twitch pulls off his tux jacket stripper-style (or at least Gob Bluth-style) to get into costume for another "Hello Good Morning" with Fik-Shun.

Aaron's pick is "Kissing You," a performance he shares with All-Star Kathryn. This is objectively lovely, but I've discovered that I have the same taste as an awkward sixth-grader at a school dance: FAST SONGS ONLY, PLEASE. The dance crew from Battle of the Year, a 3D dance movie co-starring Dominic from SYTYCD season three, also makes an appearance. Their choreography, sadly, is not in 3D.

The top 20, costumed as flappers and fedora-wearing dandies, offer a Rat Pack-influenced cover of "Wonderwall," and later a beachy take on "Rock Lobster." The top 10 guys throw sand around in a dance inspired by Brian Wilson's living room circa 1966. Pretty much everybody participates in a modernized "Puttin' on the Ritz," but fall woefully short of Young Frankenstein.

Jenna and All-Star Mark do something deeply weird (and deeply enjoyable) to 2NE1's "I Am the Best." It's basically Sprockets crossed with K-Pop. Amy and Fik-Shun reprieve "After Party," in character as sexy bellhops who probably get excellent tips despite their objectively terrible service. Mary and Nigel even take the stage for a jokey version of "Let's Get It On," which is somehow even weirder than Korean Sprockets.

After we cut to a strange, surprisingly talky performance by a dancer costumed to look exactly like President Obama, it's time to announce the results. The winners are ... Fik-Shun and Amy! They're both endearingly tearful, humble and sweet.

Now it's official: they know, for a fact, they can dance.

Image via FOX