“America’s Got Talent: The Champions” S02.E06 Finals Recap ★★★★☆

10 talented acts compete in the AGT Champions finals. Will one of the international acts come out on top?

WE HAVE REACHED THE AMERICA’S GOT TALENT: THE CHAMPIONS FINALE, and by finale I mean the “finale” before the real finale where we spend two hours waiting for five seconds of news. We started with 40 acts, whittled our way down to 16 semifinalists, and are finally down to just 10 acts remaining in the finals.

Uh oh, did someone leave Terry out in the rain? He looks like he’s trying out for the role of Tin Man in an upcoming Broadway performance. Meanwhile, Alesha appears to have stolen the top half of Heidi’s dress, and you’ll never believe this, but Simon is wearing a V-neck.

Lots of nervous energy tonight, both from the performers and from us watching at home. Terry tells us it’s all in the hands of the superfans now. Normally that would be terrifying, but these judges sent home Duo Destiny and Brian King Joseph the last two times we gave them any power, so maybe American democracy is out best hope.

*gulp*

Ten acts. One winner. A million dollars. Let’s do this.

Our 10 finalists perform

Alexa Lauenburger

Looks like we’ll start our night with America’s favorite German (not much competition there, am I right?). Alexa and her doggos have been cute all season and make sense as an opener to get the crowd going. Unfortunately, they decide to go all Dr. Doolittle in Alexa’s intro and make her dogs talk, and I’m immediately reminded why I’m not typically into animal acts.

Her littlest doggy Anna is ornery tonight, and the act isn’t quite as tight as it has been the last two weeks. As always, Alexa means joy, and it’s nice to start the night with a smile, and we get the doggo Conga line again, but this feels like a missed opportunity. I guess you really can’t teach old dogs new tricks, at least not with only a week of preparation.

Duo Transcend

WOW.

Duo Transcend comes out in blindfolds from the top and you can tell they’re putting everything on the line here. You can see them both sort of feeling each other out, so you know the blindfolds are legit. I hate the mid-act commercial so much, and there’s already way too much editing and slo-mo on this show.

But man, this is an absolutely incredible act. It starts out a bit slow but picks up with the return from commercial, and then they just fire off one amazing act after the other. There are drops and flips and twists and catches, all of them blindfolded. It’s dangerous and sexy and heart-stopping — it’s the best I’ve ever seen these two, and it’s clear they put the right duo in the finals.

They’re overcome with emotion as the act concludes with her suspended from the bar holding her husband in a beautiful final moment. You can tell this was the final exclamation point they’ve dreamed of for years. It was worth the wait. They might win this thing.

Angelina Jordan

It’s been so long since we’ve seen Angelina Jordan. She’s our first returning golden buzzer act, and we haven’t seen her since our first episode which feels years ago at this point. I didn’t like leaving the golden buzzers out of the semis for a number of reasons, but one of them is how much it killed any momentum for these acts. It would just feel weird at this point if Angelina was our winner after only two performances separated by so much time.

And yet… she is magnificent, crushing “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” in a minor key she’s arranged. Angelina is so good. I can’t help but think she would’ve been an absolute superstar on a show like American Idol or The Voice where we got to hear her perform week after week. How is this girl 13?!

The best thing about Angelina is how unique everything about her is. Her version of Yellow Brick Road is melancholy and haunting in the most beautiful way. She’s absolutely captivating with a style all her own and complete stylistic and vocal control.

This finale is shaping up to be a doozy. Two potential winners already in just three acts.

Boogie Storm

And then… Boogie Storm. They’re the argument for not bothering with the golden buzzer acts until the finales.

These dudes do some flips and that’s pretty much it. No choreography whatsoever, just dudes in costumes with fun music. They’re basically a high school basketball halftime show.

The crowd and Simon lap up every second of it. Howie buzzes, because all of us at home can’t. As we head to commercial, Simon asks him where else he’d be able to see an act like this. “Hopefully nowhere,” says Howie.

Amen, brother. What a waste of a spot in the finals.

Silhouettes

I have to give Silhouettes props.

Like, actual physical props, because apparently they can’t do their silhouette act without them. The OGs of silhouetting, what I loved about this team in their initial act was how they made their silhouettes with just body parts rather than all the subsequent acts that used a ton of props.

Tonight’s Silhouettes are Prop City. I’m not particularly moved by the message of homelessness because I’m mostly annoyed that they keep using literal subtitles to explain the story. If you have to use silhouette words, it’s probably a hint that your storytelling isn’t good enough on its own. Simon needs subtitles on the final moment as the team spells out “Kindness, but in Comic Sans font.

I’m bummed. I liked Silhouettes, but they made some mistakes both in performance and choreography here. A big step down.

Hans

Oh good, I needed a phone break to check my social media.

Simon hits his buzzer on Hans. I only wish he’d have done it before he even walked out on stage. Or instead of voting him through last time.

Ugh.

Tyler Butler-Figueroa

TBF is just another frustrating reminder that we’re watching a cute kid play violin instead of a world-class talent like Brian King Joseph. Honestly, I like Tyler. I’d just like him a lot more if there wasn’t an exact replica of his act in the same competition that’s at least 10 times as talented and entertaining.

It’s just Tyler on stage, and it’s another slow start. Tyler’s a nice violin player, but his thing is energy and dancing and joy. I keep waiting for the beat to drop, for Tyler to start jumping around and get the crowd into it, but it never happens. Instead, we’re at a child’s violin recital. And truly, he’s good, but like, is he finals good?

As always, I will sweat Tyler out until he’s officially eliminated, but I disagree with the judges here. I just don’t see a path to victory.

V. Unbeatable

Not gonna lie, I’m at least a little devastated that V. Unbeatable doesn’t get to go last tonight. I thought AGT would let them drop the hammer.

My disappointment is fleeting though, because OMG THIS IS AWESOME.

You can’t even blink when you watch this team. V. Unbeatable is the greatest dance act I’ve ever seen, and I’m not sure it’s even close. And they somehow manage to get better every single time they’re on a stage.

The verticality and creativity here is just astounding. V. Unbeatable begin the act flipping a kid about 15 feet from the judges to a dude on stage atop another guy’s shoulders. There are bicycles involved and I don’t even know how to describe the things they’re doing with them but they are incredible.

At one point, I’m pretty sure we got five people stacked on top of one another, each of them thrown on top of the other. This is just one giant jaw drop from beginning to end. Howie leaves his chair to give them a standing bow-down-ovation, and he’s right.

Cue up the Vince Carter GIF. It’s over! Everyone, go home!

V. Unbeatable remind me of how I feel when I watch Steph Curry or Patrick Mahomes, like they’re doing something on a stage I’ve never seen before and I’m absolutely mesmerized. They expand the stage horizontally and vertically. I would pay a lot of money to watch this act in person. I had to watch three times just to remember to take a few notes.

Game over, y’all. Game over.

Honestly, just stop reading and watch the act.

Marcelito Pomoy

Weird, Marcelito isn’t going last either?

Okay, this is pretty hilarious. My sister asked for “A Whole New World” last night and she got pretty close — we’re getting “Beauty and the Beast” instead. Cute but not the best choice. We’ve all done Disney songs in multiple parts at home in the shower and, if we’re being honest, is Marcelito that much better??

There’s a chorus sound behind Marcelito at one point too, and I’m not digging it. This feels like a misstep. I’m holding out hope Marcelito brings the show down by somehow harmonizing his male and female voices with the final line “Beauty and the beast…” but it doesn’t happen. I gotta agree with Simon here. I feel like that was a letdown from the last act that could’ve won.

Sandou Trio Russian Bar

Biggest upset of the night so far is Sandou Trio somehow being the final act of the season. Strange choice.

And honestly, I’m over it. She jumps. We get it.

There are nails underneath her, and eventually fire. And she jumps on the bar and twists and lands. Every. Single. Time. Spoiler alert, if you miss the bar and land on the nails below you, the fire ain’t your biggest problem.

The final blindfolded jump is interesting but too late. I actually think I might have buzzed them. There’s just not enough staying power on this one, and I don’t get why the judges are so into it. Weird way to end a very good show.

Let’s get to the rankings…

My personal rankings

The deserving winner

1. V. Unbeatable

Incredible performances worthy of a title

2. Duo Transcend 3. Angelina Jordan

Sort of stuck in the middle

4. Marcelito Pomoy

Disappointing night and disappointing would-be winners

5. Alexa Lauenburger 6. Tyler Butler-Figueroa 7. Sandou Trio Russian Bar 8. Silhouettes

Let’s just pretend it never happened

9. Boogie Storm 10. Hans

That’s the final rankings to me, and it’s all pretty clear. Mom, Dad, and sister agree — V. Unbeatable are our winners.

Duo Transcend and Angelina are next, and I could be talked into either order. I still think Angelina would feel like an odd winner, but either of them would be very deserving. I think Marcelito would be too? I had him in a tier with those two but he’s exactly #4 tonight for me, clearly above the rest but a level above our top three.

The two acts in the bottom were a complete waste of a finals spot. The three kid acts (counting Silhouettes) and the tired Russian Bar you can probably put in any order, but they’re the four acts I’ll be rooting “against” in the finale reveal. Happy to have had them on the show, but I just won’t feel good about any of those four winning this thing.

Finale predictions

Of course, it’s reality TV, so we’re not getting any results tonight. Instead we get two more hours next week, including plenty of past acts and celebrity cameos. This whole thing is one giant AGT advertisement, after all.

We haven’t been told how the finale will work, but I’m assuming we’ll narrow our 10 acts to five and then slowly count down toward a winner from there.

You truly never know with America’s superfans, but there are three acts I’m ready to count out: Hans, Boogie Storm, and Silhouettes. Given that we have to knock two more acts out and that Alexa was in the bottom three judges vote before and didn’t have a great night, she’s our fourth one out. I’m nervous from there because that leaves my clear top four acts plus Tyler and Sandou Trio, both of whom the judges and superfans seem to adore.

It’s really hard for me to see multiple danger/acrobat acts in the top five, so that means one of Duo Transcend and Sandou Trio has to go. And though I’d be devastated, I think it’s Duo Transcend. I wouldn’t even be too shocked to see them purposely pair these two together when they reveal.

If Duo Transcend goes out, I’m V. Unbeatable or bust at that point.

That leaves V. Unbeatable, Sandou Trio, Tyler Butler-Figueroa, Angelina Jordan, and Marcelito Jordan as our top five.

I’ll pick Tyler heading home in fifth. I just don’t really buy him as a potential winner and I remember him going out earlier than expected in his last finals. I truly don’t buy Sandou Trio as a winner either — or Duo Transcend, if I’m being totally honest — so I think they go home in third or fourth.

We have no idea what the superfans think of Angelina since they haven’t had the opportunity to vote for her yet, but I just don’t think it makes sense for her to represent the season. Let’s go with Angelina in fourth and Sandou Trio in third.

So that leaves a final two featuring one act from the Philippines and one from India: Marcelito vs V. Unbeatable. Between those two and Angelina, I feel pretty confident predicting we’ll get an international winner. Normally I would never pick a big group to win, especially against a singer, because it’s so hard to have a central story to sell on a group. But Vikas is the story on V. Unbeatable, and we really don’t know a ton about Marcelito.

V. Unbeatable is the best dance act I’ve ever seen, and they’re the act I’ve been raving about every night they’ve performed on every season of AGT.

Do what’s right, America.

Vote V. Unbeatable for the win... ■

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