“America’s Got Talent: The Champions” S02.E05 Semifinals Recap ★★★★☆

12 semifinal acts compete for 6 spots in the finals in a night loaded with talent. Who will come out on top?

AND SO WE HAVE REACHED THE AMERICA’S GOT TALENT: THE CHAMPIONS SEMIFINALS — or at least what AGT calls the semis. It’s not the actual semifinals, except it kind of is too, but we’ll get back to that in a second.

It’s a packed show tonight with 12 acts plus results, so Terry doesn’t make much of a to-do at the top. Heidi looks like she fell into a vat of green goop.

Terry explains the weird format, which is news to me. So far, we’ve had four previous shows. On each one, they selected a golden buzzer, two superfan vote winners, and one judges pick — 16 acts in all. And you might have expected, like me, to see those 16 acts perform for something like 8 or 10 spots in the finals.

Nope! Apparently the four golden buzzer acts are straight through to the finals, meaning we’ll weirdly only get to see the four “best” acts of the year perform twice on the entire season. Weird. That’s good news for Boogie Storm, Angelina Jordan, V. Unbeatable, and Silhouettes who all make the finals despite only one of them being one of the actual four best acts. It’s bad news for all of us at home, who only get to see V. Unbeatable twice.

That leaves 12 other acts for tonight. That means no wildcard returns, and it means 12 acts perform for only 6 spots in the finals. Tonight could be rough.

If you missed any of the previous episodes, here are links to my past reviews and who moved on from each. Let’s get to tonight…

• 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
• Episode 4 — Silhouettes, Strauss Serpent, Sandou Trio Russian Bar, JJ Pantano

The 12 “Semifinal” Acts

JJ Pantano

This is a weird way to kick off the show since we just ended last week by putting JJ through, which mostly reminds me that we are unfortunately watching a 7-year-old twerp in this spot instead of the world’s most entertaining violinist, Brian King Joseph.

JJ roasts the judges again, which — like, what does this kid do when there aren’t judges there? He’s cute and funny, and he gets Simon with a good one-two punch. The punchlines are a bit predictable but fun. JJ is fun. It’s a nice enough way to start the night I guess, as long as that’s it for him.

Tyler Butler-Figueroa

Well, at least we’re getting the kids out of the way early.

Tyler makes it 2-for-2 on me wishing we were watching Brian King Joseph instead. But hey, who wants the supremely talented and entertaining violinst when we can watch one 10% as talented instead just because he’s cute?

Tyler starts in on a boring, slow version of “What a Wonderful World” and I yawn, waiting for the beat to pick up. Except… it never does. It’s sort of just a violin solo, plus a guest singer. It’s nice, but generic. The talent is somewhere between good and above average, and there’s no energy, the one thing we’ve always known we were getting from TBF.

Honestly, I think this is Tyler’s worst performance on any season. Good news is he should be ready to finish top-3 at his elementary school talent show.

Marc Spelmann

Marc sucked me into his last magic trick with the big Shin Lim reveal at the end, but there’s no Shim this time — not as a reveal nor as a magician. Marc does a few mentalist tricks on Terry and there’s no exclamation mark at the end. An extremely forgettable performance.

Duo Destiny

Aha, finally! I loved this Poland act the first time around, and they’re even more entertaining this time.

Just an incredible combination of strength, grace, timing, and beauty. Really astounding strength by both of them. I think the word I’d use here is sultry. Like, scrap the next sequel to 50 Shades of Grey and just let these two do their thing. It’s half dance, half strength, half swing, half romance. That’s 200% and it’s accurate for a duo that’s 200% as good as anything else we’ve seen thus far.

Welp, that’s one act on to the finals, and I think Duo Destiny has a real chance to win the whole thing. I can’t wait to watch them again next week.

Hans

What an absolute mess… and I’m not talking about all the pink streamers. Pink confetti. Pink glitter. Giant pink balls. There’s just… so much pink.

“Make America glitter again!” Somehow that was the only Hans highlight.

Judges… this is your fault. You did this. The crowd predictably eats him up. Let’s just move on.

Dania Diaz

This felt like a step down for Dania, though I still like her. A female magician is refreshing, and part of Dania’s talent is her storytelling. She’s absolutely captivating and really holds our attention well.

The problem is the magic is mostly just good, not great. The big reveal at the end has been done before. Dania is lovely, really, it’s just that you don’t really want “lovely” to be the first word you choose to describe a magic act. Kind of lie describing that new girl you just met as “nice.” Sort of tells you what you need to know, right?

Duo Transcend

It’s really unfortunate that we have two acts with Duo in their name that are both so similar and both so good. This is going to end badly.

Duo Transcend has always been a favorite, but this was not their best performance. They go full circus, complete with music from The Greatest Showman. The act feels much bigger but not necessarily better — almost an admission that they know their act isn’t good enough to win on its own.

I’m pretty disappointed even as the duo grabs skates and does the roller danger act we’ve seen before, because we’ve seen it better — right up until the grand finale, which somehow includes a blindfolded dude spinning on skates with a woman spun horizontally in the air around him at warp speed.

Goodness. That single 15 seconds may have saved the entire act.

Strauss Serpent

Up next is our lone Africa’s Got Talent rep, and he shows up as a twisted version of himself in a glass box that’s much more impressive before Heidi easily fits herself into the box after the act.

Strauss does his thing, his thing being his body is a freak show with double joints every which way. I could’ve sworn this dude broke himself multiple times. Reminded me of the Vince Carter dunk contest moment when he hung on the rim by his elbow and I genuinely thought he’d snapped his arm.

The judges are spot on, though. With the initial shock gone, is this really an act? It’s all pretty similar to last time. I like Strauss, but he could be in trouble.

Ryan Niemiller

Up next is one of my favorite acts, our friendly, unarmed comedian. I like that Ryan does some non-disability material, but I’m left a little cold with him for a second straight time.

Ryan is really funny, but this was not his best set. Still, he better not lose to JJ.

Alexa Lauenburger

We’re hitting the home stretch now, and I’m surprised how delighted I am to see Alexa again. I’m not a pet owner and usually not too excited for animal acts, but this is as much about Alexa as her dogs and that’s the difference.

Alexa just brings so much joy to her act. I swear the dogs are having fun out there too. And I’m smiling. Alexa is smiling. Everyone is smiling.

She really has incredible control over them. Honestly, I haven’t seen this much Alexa mastery since I bought my sister an Amazon Dot for Christmas.

Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all night.

Sandou Trio Russian Bar

Sandou Trio are another act I loved in their initial appearance, but I’m growing weary with the act. It’s just… the same thing over and over again.

Tonight the “Trio” stands for a trio of jumps. There’s a bendy balance beam thing, a woman leaps high into the air and does some twists and turns, and she lands. There’s fire underneath that adds nothing.

I think I’m over it. I’m bummed and a bit worried about the fact that we have three acrobat type acts in Duo Destiny, Duo Transcend, and Sandou Trio. They’re all incredible, but the trio is easily the worst of the three, but I worry the votes will split between all the similar acts.

Marcelito Pomoy

You can always tell who AGT knows will bring down the house based on who gets the hammer to end the night, and they nailed this one.

Somehow on a night filled with incredible duos, Marcelito might be the best duo all on his own. He has a woman’s voice and a man’s voice all in one, with incredible voice control for both voices. My sister wants to hear him do “A Whole New World,” and I can’t really object.

Marcelito is an amazing talent, and the important thing here is that he’s not just a novelty but a genuine talent. He’s still just as jaw-dropping even after the initial shock logs off. He’s a real contender to win this whole thing.

My personal rankings

Good enough to win it all

1. Duo Destiny 2. Marcelito Pomoy

Definitely need to be in the finals

3. Alexa Lauenburger 4. Duo Transcend

Good acts that didn’t raise the bar tonight

5. Ryan Niemiller 6. Strauss Serpent 7. Sandou Trio Russian Bar 8. Dania Diaz

Thanks for entertaining us but this is a talent show

9. JJ Pantano 10. Hans

Really disappointing night and it’s time to go

11. Tyler Butler-Figueroa 12. Marc Spelmann

A really impressive night overall. Only one act was a genuine snoozer, with a ton of talent throughout the night.

And as fun as that was, it makes me worried about the results. Only six of these act go through to the finals.

I didn’t do it this way on purpose, but my rankings split the acts up into three groups of four. I’ve got four acts clearly through, four clearly out, and then four stuck in the middle to pick two. But there’s so much talent here, I just know one of my top four is going to be left out. Hopefully not more.

Let’s get to the results.

Tonight’s results

Out comes Terry with a reminder that America’s superfans are doing all the voting here. I should be more terrified, but the fans have done a pretty good job through four episodes so far, with the only egregious error coming at the hands of the judges themselves last week.

We’re short on time, so Terry hops right to it.

Up first are Hans and Strauss Serpent. Not exactly the pair I would’ve started with, but I guess Strauss moves on? Unless maybe they’re just doing the whole “Neither of you” thing, which would be a bit of a relief.

And then… somehow it’s neither of them. Egad. Hans is in the finals.

And we’re just getting started.

JJ and Tyler are up next. Two of my bottom four acts. At this point, I’m straight up expecting the worst. Terry is putting both of these precocious kids into the finals, isn’t he? I mean, I knew Tyler would go on but JJ too?

It’s just Tyler, it turns out. I am relieved until I remember we’re down to four spots for my top six spots.

Dania and Marcelito are next, and even the superfans can’t screw this up. Dania does her best trick yet, disappearing in plain sight.

We’re flying now, and Alexa and Marc are next. Again, this feels like a no brainer, and sure enough, it’s Alexa going on. No magic in the finals this year.

Only now does it hit me where things stand. We’re down to two spots left and we haven’t done any of the three acrobat acts yet, nor my guy Ryan Niemiller. I wanted all four of them in the finals, and now we’re sending two home.

I’m in panic mode.

Up next are Ryan and Sandou Trio. I barely even have time to be upset about Ryan getting sent home because I’m already hyperventilating about the final duo of acts staring us in the face.

It’s a duo of duos, Duo Destiny and Duo Transcend.

I hate that they’re making me pick between these incredible duos when both deserve to be in the finals, and when Terry tells us the judges get to make the pick, I already know the answer. Howie somehow thought Destiny did the same act as last time, and the judges always think bigger is better.

I’m even more perturbed by the fact that these acts finished 6th and 7th on the night. That means the superfans were stupid enough to vote Hans and Tyler clearly ahead of them and I just don’t understand.

Simon, Heidi, and Alesha all vote for Duo Transcend, and Howie surely would have too.

I hate this show.

They’ve now voted out two of the three best acts in the entire show. And to be clear, the judges themselves have done it.

I’m all in now on V. Unbeatable in the finals. I’ve got them several tiers above any other act left, and I’d list Alexa and Marcelito as their top competition.

I can’t believe we have to watch Boogie Storm and Hans in the finals instead of Duo Destiny and Brian King Joseph. I’m devastated.

I’m going to go pout now. See you in the finals, where we’ll somehow combine Hans and Boogie Storm into one act and declare them the champion. ■

Follow Brandon on Medium or @wheatonbrando for more sports, television, humor, and culture. Visit the rest of Brandon’s writing archives here.