So You Think You Can Dance 5, June 17: The Only Thing That Scares Me is Keyser Soze

Cat’s wearing half of a red ‘80s prom dress. I wonder what happened to the other half. I wonder if it’s any less ugly. She should have switched clothes with Mary, who’s wearing a really pretty green dress. Lil’ C, tonight’s guest judge, thinks that this is going to be an amazing season and a close race. Cat asks if Mary’s going to reveal anything else this week, like she spilled about her Botox last week. “What happens on the performance show stays on the performance show,” Mary says. What about the results show? Nigel tells the prospective bottom six dancers to show their strengths, not their weaknesses.

Evan & Randi – jive – Louis van Amstel

The theme of the videos tonight is secrets about the dancers’ partners. Evan reveals that Randi treats her dog like a child, even talking to it on the phone. Randi says that Evan loves cars. He even built a car from scratch. Evan loved being on stage last week. Randi found it strange to have people screaming her name.

The two are dancing jive for the first time. They’re with Louis van Amstel. Louis loves the jive more than any other ballroom dance. The technique isn’t about posture, it’s about swinging each other around. Randi says they’re going to show their dorky sides. Evan wants a counter on the screen to count how many times the three of them say the word “fun.” The editors happily oblige and the count tops out at 14. I love the editors.

The two dance to Ray Charles’ “Shake a Tail Feather.” Can I say that it’s fun without getting a point? Evan & Randi really look like they’re enjoying themselves. This is one of those partnerships where both dancers seem equally strong; the voters are going to vote for both of them, not one or the other and drag the other one along. Cat notes that Randi grabbed Evan’s butt. He’s probably still worried about her husband.

Lil’ C thinks that Ethan might be too smooth and should approach the moves differently because he has them down. Randi was a firecracker. The two have a great partnership and neither dancer outperformed the other. This was a solid beginning to the show. The “fun” count starts up again, with the judges purposely driving it up. I hope they don’t keep this up all night.

Mary thinks Randi & Evan are the two contestants built for the jive. They’re both powerhouses. However, they fell short a little. Randi’s stronger and got the footwork down better than Evan. Mary likes the performance overall, though. Nigel officially welcomes Louis, then agrees with Mary that Evan & Randi are built for the jive. He thought Evan would be better than he was. He didn’t bounce enough and lost the double bounce. Though Randi did better, the two are a tremendous couple and were just out of their zone a little tonight.

Ade & Melissa – jazz – Sonya Tayeh

Ade tells us that Melissa has been married for four years, and her sister is married to Melissa’s husband’s brother. That happened in my family; my mom and her cousin call themselves double cousins. Ade has a really long name and people still say his nickname wrong. He’s obviously thrilled that the judges liked him and Melissa last week.

This week they’re doing jazz. Ade hopes they’re with Sonya though Melissa’s more worried about it. Sorry, Melissa. She describes the routine as being about tough love. Ade’s trying to get rid of Melissa but she keeps coming back. The dance is tough on their bodies. Melissa knows she needs to get rid of her nice-ballerina style.

Terry Poison’s “24 Hours” plays as the two have a dance fight. The choreography is pure Sonya, in that you can get the story completely from the movements. I like Ade’s moves but I think Melissa could have lost even more of the nice-ballerina thing. She needed to be a little edgier. That said, overall, it was pretty good. Cat calls them “rock and roll imps.”

Lil’ C pronounces the routine buck. Cat, Melissa, and Ade do a three-way chest bump. Lil’ C remembers that Ade was really surprised to make the top 20. He thinks Ade is everyone’s competition. He’s “modified [his] manipulation of movement.” Mary and Nigel like that. Lil’ C likes that Sonya gives dancers the steps but makes them look for the character. He thinks Melissa was a little timid in the rehearsal but went for it in the performance.

Mary says she has to give some tough love, and the audience boos, because apparently they were all born yesterday and don’t think she’ll fake anyone out. She says that it was tough for her to find anything she didn’t love. All the details were there. Ade stood out with his lifts and technique. Scream. Nigel says that the dancers really got to show off their technique. Not only was Ade strong but Melissa matched him. If he hadn’t known Melissa was a ballerina, he wouldn’t have guessed it tonight.

Jason & Caitlin – hip-hop – Shane Sparks

Caitlin spills that Jason used to be obsessed with Michael Jackson. Cue the home video! Adorable. Jason tells us that Caitlin makes baby voices and imitates a velociraptor. He probably shouldn’t reveal that that drives him crazy, because now you know she’s going to keep doing it. They tell us how hard they worked on their Bollywood dance last week and how great the energy was on stage.

The lucky duo gets to work with Shane Sparks this week. They’re playing a couple who meet in a bar, then see each other again. Caitlin accidentally pantses Jason. “Her hands were getting caught in my pants,” he says, realizing that sounds bad. Shane says that the dance and characters need to be in there together.

The song is “Missing You” by Trey Songz. Question: is Jason more adorable now than he was as a child? I can’t decide. Caitlin gets a little solo. Her moves are smoother than Jason’s; he’s hitting it harder. I think his style is working better for the routine, but they’re both really good.

Lil’ C says that the audience loves Jason, but he didn’t love the number. The choreographer’s fantasy needs to be the dancers’ reality, but this was more like a nightmare. It seemed corny because the moves were so clean. Mary says this was like Michael Jackson dancing with Britney Spears – two good but different dancers. The moves weren’t synchronized and didn’t fit together, so the chemistry wasn’t there, unlike last week. Mary loves Caitlin & Jason but is confused. Nigel says that we expect to see hard-hitting hip-hop, but the style has evolved over the years on the show. Shane just gave two non-hard-hitting hip-hoppers a different kind of style. Nigel thought they looked really good.