So You Think You Can Dance: Finale -- Winner Revealed Live (Episode 423)

The show goes out with a bang with an action-packed final episode. We begin with the reappearance of the entire top 20, minus Jessica, whose ribs are still healing, apparently. Poor Jessica. I really hope she does get to go on tour as promised. We have six judges on the panel tonight: Mia Michaels, Adam Shankman, Debbie Allen, Lil' C, Nigel and Mary. All of the season's other, apparently lesser, choreographers are sitting at the kids' table in the audience. Adam Shankman shares that the movie in which tonight's winner will have a featured role is the eagerly awaited Step Up 3-D. No, really. Sure to be a classic for the ages!

We see a montage of season highlights, and then the top 20 perform a very entertaining Shane Sparks hip-hop. It ends with only the top four standing, the also-rans splayed out on the floor. Then it's time to take a walk down short-term memory lane and revisit the judges' favourite routines of the season. Nigel's first choice is Katee and Joshua's Bollywood routine, which I heartily approve of. They dance it again, and it's just as fantastic the second time around.

Mary's choice is Courtney and Gev's rumba. There's a moment or two of awkward transitions, but they have dynamite chemistry and it's very nice to see them together again. Then it's time for the Pop-off of the Century, featuring Phillip Chbeeb and Robert Muraine. They pop and contort themselves to the strains of Kanye West's "Stronger," and I think Phillip is certainly the better dancer. Robert is the more ickily spaghetti-limbed, though, and he wins with a surprising 5-1 vote, with Mia Michaels the lone Phillip fan. So Mia and I were in harmony on that. I feel weird.

Adam's fave routine is Comfort and Twitch's futuristic hip-hop, which they perform very well. However, I'm much more excited by Lil' C's choice: Chelsie and Mark's "My Baby Takes the Morning Train" "Bleeding Love" routine. Yay! I never, ever get sick of watching this one. It's actually weird to see it with new camera angles since I'm so familiar with the initial version. They hit it hard, and I fall in love with that routine all over again.

Mary, suddenly missing from the judges' table (where, oh where, could she be?) appears on stage with open-shirted hottie Dmitry for a...samba, maybe? Something latin. I can never remember the difference between the latin dances except for the slow rumba. I realize Mary is at least 10 years past her dancing prime, but I thought she'd be a little sharper. Her gams look dynamite, though, and she was having a ball. I'll give both her and Dmitry seats on the Hot Tamale Train.

Mia's pick is the Katee/Will pas de deux, and again, I heartily approve. Katee and Will don't make a mistake this time (I imagine they were going to get that turn if it killed them), and afterwards Will says the performance was just what they needed tonight. Considering she's in four of the nine top numbers this evening, I suspect Katee needs a nap or an upper, but she never lets it show.

Adam, who cannot get over how awesome Katee and Will's dance was, gets a second choice: Courtney and Mark's strange jazz routine from last week. I wish he'd picked something we haven't seen so recently, but the kids dance it well.

The top four assemble, and Cat reveals that Courtney is out. We see her goodbye montage and then she cries and talks about what an honour and joy it was to be on the show and how youth may be wasted on the young, but it won't be wasted on her. Bless your heart, Courtney. She's so sweet.

The top five guys come and do the "Five Guys Named Moe" routine again, and it's still very entertaining. Then it's time for Cirque du Soleil's Wade Robson-choreographed number from the new extravaganza Criss Angel -- Believe. The show is billed as a "haunting exploration deep inside the inventive mind of mystifier Criss Angel®" Yes, he's registered his name as a trademark. Angel's mind apparently contains dead rabbits, and we're treated to a bizarre rabbit funeral, with the dancers wearing rabbit heads. I think it's safe to say that Angel's mind has been influenced by repeated Donnie Darko viewings. I suspect this routine was more impressive in person, as group numbers often are.

Then it's time to find out who else isn't winning, and it's Katee. Boo! I didn't realize how much I wanted her to win until she didn't. Josh and Twitch hug her and we see her montage. Katee says this was an amazing experience that has changed her life. Then Cat has very good news for her, announcing that this year the top male and female are both getting a prize, and Katee has earned $50,000. Katee's overjoyed, as I would be. I think it's entirely possible the producers just decided on this new prize after tallying the votes and realizing that Katee deserves something, dammit.

Next up, Cat sits in Nigel's seat at the judging table and talks to Debbie Allen about what it was like for her watching the show at home with the rest of the little people this year. Debbie tells us that she hurled many an expletive at the screen when she disagreed with the judges. US Magazine is right: Stars, they're just like us!

The Debbie Allen Dance Academy students treat us to a tap number. Now there's a discipline I'd like to see more of on this show! Nigel joins them, and I've got to say he acquits himself very admirably. Quite a fun routine, and they all penquin walk off the stage when it's over, shoes clattering. Cute. Adam says he wants a dance-off with Nigel next season, and I say, bring it on. Backstage, Nigel is surely thinking, "Oh, it is brought-it."

Mary's second favourite dance is Katee (sensing a theme?) and Twitch's Mia Michaels' door number. The kids dance it just as well as the first time, and it's great to see it again. This routine is followed by the Jonas Brothers, who are no Zac Efron, in my opinion.

Debbie does a spot-on and hilarious Lil' C impression featuring big words and deep thoughts, and tells us her dance pick is Kherington and Twitch's Viennese waltz. It's just as lovely the second time. Nigel's final choice is one of my personal faves, Katee and Josh's "No Air," about the soldier going to war. This was their first dance together, and it's a treat to see it again.

Then there's a montage of dancers from seasons past, and what they're up to now (touring with pop singers, dancing on Broadway, etc.). I don't know any of them, but apparently I'll get to know Blake on the Canadian SYTYCD this fall. Looking forward to it!

Now for the moment of truth. Josh and Twitch, who both appear ready to pass out and/or hyperventilate, are told that the winner is...Josh! He leaps for joy, and then I think Twitch hugs him, but it's hard to tell amidst the enormous amount of confetti obscuring them. Twitch doesn't get a farewell montage, and Josh only has a few moments to tearily encourage kids not to give up on their dreams before the credits are rolling. I don't think Cat even mentions the $250,000 Josh has won, but I'm sure he's well aware. Ah, live TV. I would have liked to have cut out some of the filler to get more than 20 seconds with the winner.

Thus ends the fourth season. Keep dancin' and keep it real. If you could see me right now, I'm doing that ridiculous "IV real" gesture with my hand.