Anyway, this episode is two hours of Group Night, which is always entertaining, what with the breakdowns, and angst, and tears, and occasional singing worth listening to.
Evening 1: At 8:30pm on Day 2 of Hollywood (which is really Pasadena), all of the survivors are gathered together in the auditorium. The Day 1 kids thought they were ahead of the game by breaking into groups and rehearsing a full day ahead of the Day 2's, but such an unfair advantage is not to be- not only must all of the kids form groups (of 3 or more), but the groups MUST be comprised of survivors from both days. So kids- consider this a warning: the house always wins.
There is a mad, and increasingly desperate, scramble to regroup and integrate the proper composition of singers. Horrible Tiffany Rios cooked her own goose by announcing to one and all that she was better than the rest, and now no one wants her in their group. And I mean: no one. Most of the groups won't listen to her sing- they even avoid eye-contact with her. She approaches Scotty McCreedy, and tries to flirt him into acceptance. Skeptical Scotty asks for an audition, which Tiffany can hardly believe. But she does sing, kneeling in front of him suggestively, which skeeves poor (and might I add, young) Scotty totally. He can't get away from her fast enough.
Ryan promised drama, and for a change, he wasn't kidding. I'm not going to recap the many mini-dramas, except to say that unstable and weepy Ashley Sullivan is weepy and unstable. She declares an intention to quit and leave her group in the lurch. Oh, and Clint Junbug is a jerk- he arbitrarily cut Jacee (the chubby 15 year old, with the angelic, unchanged, voice) for no reason that I can discern. Poor Jacee wanders around for a long time, before he's absorbed into another group.
The kids practice all night. They sing, they fight, they weep, they have power struggles, they complain about Stage Mamas, they find out who can and who can't dance, and eventually, they collapse.
Day 2: JLo is wearing a gold top with 80's spangles and shoulder pads, and light colored satin harem pants, Steven Tyler is in a metallic gold shirt, and Randy is in a very busy red jacket.
Group #1: Pia Tascano, Allesandra Guercio, and Brielle Van Huegel- all in heels and exceptionally long legs. I don't know they song they're singing, but each of them pronounces "you" as: yauh. They don't impress me, but the judges send all three on.
Group #2- 4 +1: Jordan Dorsey, who was majorly annoying the night before, and a real Diva, Robbie Rosen, and 3 unnamed members all get the okay.
Group #3- 440, Adrian Michael, Lauren Turner, Erica and Shane (no last names for them), all make it.
Group #4: Horrible Tiffany Rios and the only person she could poach to sing with her, a Jessica Something. They had to get a special dispensation to do a duet, since no one else would sing with them. Tiffany is wearing unfortunate animal print shorts. They sing that to-the-left song, starting out on the floor and then clumsily standing up. They're so awful that Randy laughs out loud. He stops them mid-song and tells them no. Not surprisingly, Tiffany simply cannot believe that anyone can deny the awesomeness of Tiffany.
Group #5 Spanglish has a bit of drama. One guy simply forgets to show up for the performance. The camera crew knocks on the door, which has a do-not-disturb hanger, and wakes him up. He seems confused about the existence of cameras, and the reason he's there to begin with (and I suspect he was not alone in the motel room). The judges graciously wait for him to get his shit together. Kevin Campos (the slacker), Jorge Gabriel, Karen Rodriguez and Jovany Baretto, perform. Jovany and Karen move on. Kevin probably goes back to bed.
Group #6: Omigod- some girl is pulling a noodle out of her nose, a trick I refuse to watch, much less describe. She and her purposely skanky group pull Steven up on stage, where they cleverly sing directly to his groin, which he enjoys hugely. Unfortunately, only Lauren Alaino goes through.
Group #7- Nashville Stars has Colton Dixon and backwoods feller Matt Dillard, and some other people. Matt is bad, Colton is good, and the judges react accordingly.
Next up is a long list of awful, including Paris Tassin (she of the special-needs child). Unfortunately, Emily Anne Reed and Aaron Gutierrez are also cut, though the other Gutierrez Brother makes it.
Group #8- The Hits: four girls, including Ashley, who didn't quit, though she looks like she's going to shatter. Keeira Lynn Ford, Ashley Sullivan, Ashthon Jones and someone else, all sound fantastic together. If this isn't a Beyonce song, then it should be. All of them make it, including the one without a name.
Group #9- The Minors, with their really obnoxious Stage Mamas: Keonna Evans, Jalen Harris, Sariana-Joi Crowe, and Deandre B-something. Frankly, I didn't love this, but the judges did, and so we'll be stuck with their mothers for awhile.
Group #10 Deep D's: sing the same Queen song as the Minors. James Durbin, Emma Henry, Danny Pate, Caleb Johnson, and John Someone sing, and man, this is bad. Only Caleb and James make it through.
Group #11- The only thing my notes say about this group are the names Corey Levoy and Hollie Cavanaugh, and the word *bad*. But I think Corey and Hollie made it through anyway.
Group #12 Night Owls: Casey Abrams, Dan Noguchi, Lara Johnston, Julie Zarillo, and Melissa Lucas sing an a Capella Get Ready. Casey and Julie go through.
Group #13: Da'Quela Payne, Matthew Noss, Naima Aedopo, and Jacob Lusk sing the same song as above, also a Capella. All of them make it.
Group #14- 4 Non-Blondes and That Guy : Caleb Hawley, Chris Medina, Devyn Rush, Erin Something, and Carson Higgins (who is That Guy). All make it through except Devyn, who falls apart.
Group #15- Sugar Mama & The Babies: Denise Jackson, Stevie Cain, Natalie Hansen (Sugar Mamas), Bret Lowenstern, and Jacee Badeaux (the Babies). Oh my, Jacee sounds pretty terrible, but he is very lucky to have had a recent sob story (being cut from his group), and he gets to go through with all of the rest.
Group #16- The Guaps: Clint Jun Gamboa is the one who cut Jacee. The judges give them grief about this, and Scotty McCreedy apologizes. Monique De Los Santos, Frances Coontz and the guys sing Get Ready, arranged around Scotty's bass. WOW!!! This may be the best group sing in the history of the show. they all go through, of course.
Group #17- Three's Company: Jacqueline without Nick, Rob and Chelsea, who have all had a rough night. Rob basically gave up, and his performance showed it. Rob was cut, but truly, all three were bad. The girls were just plain lucky.
So, the next episode is Solo night, where the 100 remaining are cut to 50. It should be interesting.
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