“America’s Got Talent: The Champions” S02.E04 Episode 4 Recap ★★★☆☆

The return of old favorites Brian King Joseph, Silhouettes, and Voices of Service, plus Strauss Serpent and other amazing acts!

WELCOME BACK FOR EPISODE 4 OF AMERICA’S GOT TALENT: THE CHAMPIONS, the final preliminary round where we’ll send four final acts through to the semifinals. We’ve already sent 12 acts on to the semis, so that leaves 10 more acts tonight to pick four.

Someone needs to tell Terry a three-piece suit is not the same as a three-piece sports coat. Why is the back of that thing a totally different color? Did they run out of material? I’m confused.

Alesha is tonight’s golden buzzer. She’s proven to be a quality judge so far, so that should be fine. Enough preamble. Let’s get to tonight’s acts.

If you missed any of the previous episodes, here are links to my past reviews and who moved on from each…

• Episode 1 — Angelina Jordan, Duo Transcend, Dania Diaz, Hans
• Episode 2 — Boogie Storm, Marcelito Pomoy, Marc Spelmann, Ryan Niemiller
• Episode 3 — V. Unbeatable, Duo Destiny, Tyler Butler-Figueroa, Alexa Lauenburger

Tonight’s acts

Christian Stoinev & Percy

Tonight starts off with a whimper — the whimper of a cute little dog. Christian was on in 2014 but with another dog… ruh roh. Turns out Scooby didn’t die. He’s just retired.

Unfortunately, Christian is not. This act is something like half-acrobat half-doggy and that’s about the amount of talent we got too — half of each. There’s a saying in football that if you think you have two quarterbacks, you actually have none at all. Christian & Percy have no quarterback.

Voices of Service

Oh no. I was never much a fan of Voices of Service. They’re perfectly fine singers, sure, and of course I appreciate their military service. But that’s precisely the problem. Blind jingoism and American pride keeps voting them forward, when their talent alone is just fine. I’m already bummed they’ll be taking one of the four spots tonight.

But actually, this is probably my favorite VoS performance ever. Was that an original song? It resonated much more with me, far less cheesy than the usual “God Bless America” or whatever they’d do. Oh well. If they’re going to move on, I may as well enjoy the performance.

JJ Pantano

Up next is a precocious little seven-year old Australian dude named JJ. We get a whole buildup about how his mom is a singer and one day he decided to perform too and the rest was history, and I’m expecting some weird operatic voice or a cute singer.

Turns out JJ isn’t a singer — he’s a ZINGer. JJ is a standup comedian and he proceeds to roast each of the judges in order, plus Terry to boot. And his jokes are actually kinda cute and fun! I don’t hate it. I don’t know that JJ wrote his own material or that I need to see him again, but that was fun.

Emil Rengle

That… was not fun. Emil is head-to-toe in red vinyl and he has a nice story after winning Romania’s Got Talent in 2018 as a gay dancer in stilettos. He is in fact those things, and that is basically it.

Both Howie and Simon buzz Emil, and I do too. Maybe all his moves are harder in high heels, but as a general rule of thumb, if I can do your dance moves too, they ain’t nothing special.

Silhouettes

Yay, Silhouettes! These guys are the OGs, kind of. They were the original silhouette act way back in 2011. We’ve had a lot of knock-off acts since then, pretty much always worse. Silhouettes was the real deal, while many other acts tend to use a lot of props and effects. This isn’t actually the original group, of course, because all the kids have grown up. One original kid remains, plus the choreographer.

And it’s a dog!! Yes, we are much more excited for a fake doggy than the real one from earlier. So sue me. Three girls combine to make the shadow puppy and we see a little girl grow old together with her doggy, as they each care for and are there for each other throughout life and when they need each other the most. Is it a little dusty in here?

It’s a powerful creative message, and I’m feeling a golden buzzer here. The judges are into it, and sure enough, this is Alesha’s golden buzzer. I’m not mad. The silhouette thing is still a fairly fresh act, and they were the ones that introduced it to America.

Brian King Joseph

Ahhh, finally, the appetizers are done and the main course is here.

When they released the names of the 40 returning acts for AGT Champions, Brian King Joseph was one of two I was the most excited for (along with V. Unbeatable). The notorious BKJ was awesome on his electric violin and I’m still a little mad he didn’t win. He’s probably my favorite musical act they’ve ever had on the show, and trust me, there have been A LOT of musical acts on this show.

Lest we forget, Brian has the story on top of the talent. He has neuropathy in his hands and feet, which has to make it tough to jam on the violin. As my mom, who also has neuropathy, describes it, it feels sort of like having shards of glass in your hands.

WOW.

A stunning performance. I just love watching Brian King Joseph. He performs with so much joy and that ever-present smile, and man can he play a fiddle. Let’s just say if the devil went down to Georgia and came across Brian, he’d just give up and head back home without even trying. It’s amazing how fast he can play a violin.

What a show! This is Brian’s first original single too, which he just released today for this performance. Very cool. I honestly think I’d pay more to go to Brian’s show than any other act on Champions.

But I’m also nervous. The golden buzzer is gone, and Voices of Service likely leaves only two other spots. I’ve been worried for weeks that Tyler Butler-Figueroa would somehow make the finals while Brian wouldn’t, despite being 100 times the player. Don’t do it, AGT.

Connie Talbot

Up next is Connie, a runner-up from Britain’s Got Talent way back in the first season. She was a cute little 6-year-old then with no teeth. She’s 19 now and she’s prepared an original love song for us.

Taylor Swift she is not. She’s fine, really. The song doesn’t feel emotionally affecting in any way. Heidi says it’s the perfect first dance song for a wedding, but I suppose that’s only true if you’re already on your third wedding like Heidi.

The most interesting part of this act was seeing Simon from Connie’s footage 13 years ago. He looks like he’s about 30. Moving on…

Sandou Trio Russian Bar

I really like Sandou Trio! They were on nine years ago and apparently they’ve made it fairly big since then, even performing as part of the circus on The Greatest Showman. That’s pretty neat.

I’m wondering how this act will hold up nine years later, and the act is still fresh but they definitely look a decade older. Sandou jumper woman looks a bit shaky on the bar, like her knee cartilage can’t quite cushion the landing blow as well these days, and AGT does the annoying we’re-not-live thing with way too much slow motion and an annoying commercial cutaway.

Still, it’s a good act overall, just not quite as awesome as I remember it. They should have a decent shot at moving on, though.

Bars and Melody

I don’t know which one’s Bars and which one’s Melody, but woof was this a swing and a miss. B&M was apparently Simon’s first gold buzzer, and I’m not sure what got lost in translation here, but this ain’t it, chief.

Maybe what was lost here was the same thing as Connie and other acts — cute kid acts that age and lose the kid factor and suddenly the talent isn’t enough anymore. But these guys just aren’t good at all. I thought they were rappers but it’s more like R&B or maybe just C.Y.E., as in Cover Your Ears. The only buzzer they get this time around is Howie’s red X.

Strauss Serpent

Our final act of the night comes from Africa’s Got Talent, because of course we have entire shows for Myanmar and Romania but only one for the entire continent of Africa.

Strauss Serpent has a pretty incredible story about his talent being a way out for him and his sisters, and then we see why. This dude is Gumby!! I feel like Chandler Bing in awe of the Lord of the Dance… His arms and limbs flail about as if independent from his body!!

Strauss bends and contorts in every which direction possible. I mean, this dude dislocates every bone in his body. I’m pretty sure he even made his shoulder wink at the judges.

Whew.

That was a wild ride. Let’s get to the rankings.

My personal rankings

The King

1. Brian King Joseph

Definitely Finals worthy

2. Strauss Serpent 3. Silhouettes

Very good acts on a tough night

4. Sandou Trio 5. Voices of Service

Fine but forgettable

6. JJ Pantano 7. Connie Talbot 8. Christian & Percy

Lost in translation

9. Emil Rengle 10. Bars and Melody

So, I’m officially nervous. The rankings don’t really show it, but I have a very clear top five and a very forgettable bottom five. And remember, we only get four acts going on. One of them will be Silhouettes, and one will surely be Voices of Service, my #5 ranked act. As far as I can tell, that would mean one of Brian, Strauss, or Sandou Trio gets sent home.

Let’s see the results.

Tonight’s results

Out comes Terry and he reminds us of the format, which we know enough by now.

Alesha’s golden buzzer has sent Silhouettes into the semis. Now America’s superfans will vote two acts through, and then the judges will pick one final act.

Up first is Emil Rengle, Voices of Service, and Strauss Serpent… whoa!! Legit shocker for me. VoS and Strauss would have been my two most certain acts to go through, just based on judging history. Holy cow, does this mean Strauss is going home? It has to.

But it doesn’t! Strauss is through, and I’m borderline stunned to see Voices of Service sent home. Guess America’s superfans aren’t very patriotic.

Okay, well now I’m feeling much better. Strauss and Silhouettes are through, and this seems pretty straightforward now.

The next three acts are Connie, Bars and Melody, and Sandou Trio. Surely they’re not putting through the forgettable teenager?

Whew. They do not. Sandou moves on, though I must say I am surprised they finished among the top two in votes.

Okay, so that leaves Brian King Joseph, JJ Pantano, and Christian & Percy as the final three, and this feels like an obvious TKO. There’s only one real talent on the board here, but I’m sure the judges will draw out the suspense.

Howie’s up first, and of course he picks the comic. Ho hum.

Alesha sides with Brian cuz, you know, he’s actually talented.

Heidi picks Christian & Percy, because Heidi.

And that means it’s down to Simon, who will surely pick the one talented act here because this is his show and he’s the one reliable judge of talent and

WHAT SIMON PICKS THE COMEDIAN KID?!!?!?

Surely this is a joke.

I am outraged.

The kid? Really? Over an act Simon himself called one of the best musical acts they’ve ever had on the show?!

I smell conspiracy. I think it’s a sham Brian was even in the final three. Maybe he made a deal with AGT to promote his new single but agreed to not get voted through or something.

This is ridiculous. Brian would’ve been a front runner to win the entire contest going forward, and he would’ve put poor Tyler Butler-Figueroa to shame.

Stupid. Dumb dumb dumb.

Well. That’s the end of the prelims, so that’s that. The judges had done so well too. Sigh. Let’s take a look at the 16 remaining acts going forward…

Top 16 rankings heading into the semis

The preliminary rounds are over, and we’re down to 16 acts. It’s possible we’ll get a few wildcard acts back in, but for now, here’s how I’d rank the 16 remaining acts in order of their chances. This is a combination of my thoughts along with how acts of their type typically do.

Here they are, from least to most likely to win…

It’s embarrassing you’re involved

16. Boogie Storm 15. Hans

Cute kids in over their heads

14. JJ Pantano 13. Alexa Lauenburger 12. Tyler Butler-Figueroa

This is the end of your journey

11. Dania Diaz 10. Marc Spellman 9. Sandou Trio Russian Bar

You can win but you need the performance of your life

8. Ryan Niemiller 7. Strauss Serpent 6. Duo Transcend 5. Silhouettes

A very real chance at the title

4. Angelina Jordan 3. Marcelito Pomoy 2. Duo Destiny

The front runners

1. V. Unbeatable

Can’t wait to see how America’s superfans screw this one up next. ■

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