World of Dance Season 3, the Finale – Live Blog!!

It’s time!!!! Tonight we find out who wins the third season!! Who do you think it’s going to be??

Apparently, each finalist is going to dance twice – dancer(s) with the highest average wins. Our contestants are:

The Kings
Ellie & Ava
Briar Nolet
VPeepz

and, according to E!, the Wild Card Winner is Unity LA. We find out in just a minute. ๐Ÿ™‚

I wonder if WoD realizes that Unity LA winning wasn’t shown last week.

This opening number is really fun, I think. shows all the teams kinda working together. And it went from really fun to really cool at the end.

I met Derek (for the third or forth time) the other night and he’s just as he was shown on the show. Goofball.

Charity is also on tour with Derek, currently. She’s brilliant. Looks like we’re getting Derek, Charity, Andres and Michael’s dance first. Nice package. I think i posted the dance the other day – it’s brilliant.

Love the Ne-Yo million dollars bit, but really love the choreography bit.

So we’re going to get Ne-Yo now? Why are they front loading the show with the guests??

Eeeee!! Ian Eastwood!! I LOVE HIM. This number doesn’t compare to Derek’s number, but I guess that’s no surprise as he’s mainly a singer and he has a broken foot. Ahem, we’re going to talk to the guys but not the girl??

I guess they don’t want to interrupt the competition because now we have the LAB. And this is a super cool number. Really tight. They were my favorites from the last two years and that’s why.

Wow…Jennifer, that dress is HOT. Wow. Didn’t realize it until she stood up.

Okay, Scott just said ONE performance stands between the contestants and the prize. Hmmm…I read two, but okay.

Are Ellie & Ava going first or are we doing bits on everyone? Okay, they’re doing a bit on everyone, now talking about The Kings. I’m hoping they throw a bit of actually bollywood into their number. I love that. Now Unity LA…love me some Zack and Ashley. And you all know I’m a sucker for talented kids and those are the VPeeps…man, tough call tonight. I would be happy with anyone who wins, including Briar Nolet (and you know I’m not a contemporary fan unless it’s really different and special.

The four of them mentoring together? This should be interesting. Hope Derek gets a word in edgewise. Love the Boot(s).

Briar up first. The answer is no, Derek doesn’t really get to talk much. ๐Ÿ™‚ But they give good advice to Briar. She can’t be all tricks, she needs to feel it.

Started out great, but I don’t know if this has the impact that her last dance did. Yeah, not really feeling that dance too much. It was great, but not really finale worthy. You’ll note none of the judges stood up.

Ne-Yo calls her a superhero and says she’s so strong and has so much power. Ne-Yo talks about her journey and says she’s now on fire. Jennifer says there’s a level of danger to her routines. Derek liked the scream and said it jolted him in a good way. He says she’s defied the odds and she should be proud. Jennifer said her intention got muddier toward the end, and I agree with that. Derek says she’s an incredible athlete and he wanted the raw emotion and he felt it.

VPeepz up next. They already look sharp during mentoring! Hmmm…if this were DWTS, I’d guess the VPeepz would win because they asked that question about The Kings. And it makes me wonder if The Kings are going to win or not. And Derek didn’t talk again.

Love the colorful outfits, love the music, love the energy. Great tricks in the middle. It almost feels like it slows down a bit in the middle though, and not in the usual great way. Seems like it was shorter than others too.

Derek says it was so dope, the synchronicity, the energy was great. He clearly loved it. Jennifer says they should be proud. Jennifer talks about the mentoring and how it was dying a bit in the middle, she loves their precision but doesn’t say that they solved that and I’m not sure they did. Jennifer says it could have used more transitions near the end. Ne-Yo says it might have been too much of a good thing and Derek looks at him like he’s on crack. And Ne-Yo admits that he’s being ridiculously nit-picky. And says they should be proud.

I gotta say, I love these judges. They are so funny and so fun together.

Unity LA up next. Derek points out that they had the second highest score of the night. Once again Ne-Yo and Jennifer do ALL the talking during the mentoring…and we’re seeing them more during the judging. Come on, Derek is the only judge that has competed at several levels. Give him his due people.

I’ve not been blown away by anyone yet, let’s see if they can change that. Beautiful start. Love the music. Loved the opening picture. Love how they’re featuring multiple dancers. That was very beautiful. Very beautiful.

Derek says it was a work of art – agreed. He calls it a Monet, it was so artistic. Jennifer says it was fully conceived and a gorgeous, artful piece. Derek says it’s sensational. Ne-Yo says they’re the total package, they are the icing on the cake. Jennifer says she enjoyed them from the beginning, but she was missing joy before, but tonight they came alive, there was beauty in their passion, she felt their joy.

Of the three acts we’ve seen so far, I’m leaning Unity LA. Ya’ll??

The Kings are up next and they are super raw. So, Derek is doing all the BTS video and none of the talking during the mentoring. Why? Because JLo ie executive producer, would be my guess. OOOOHHH, Derek speaks one sentence during mentoring!!

Were the Kings taking too much for granted or not realizing they were the front runner?? I suspect all this drama about them not being ready might mean they win. But then, Ellie and Ava are going last…

Anyway, time for the Kings to dance. Okay this is super cool so far. I love the dialogue in the song. This is very Game of Thrones. Along with the special effects. That was. Amazing. Super cool.

Judges raving and screaming. Derek says in the mentoring session they wanted it to feel cinematic – and that was it. Derek says they altered reality – and they kinda did. Derek says they had more dancing and he loved the culture. The tricks are amazing. Ne-Yo says their heads touched the lights. He’s without words. Jennifer says they surprised her and she didn’t think they could do that. She says it wasn’t the tricks it was the narrative. Jlo loses her wig and that pretty much sums it up.

They might have just won the show, unless Ellie and Ava do something incredible.

Here we go with Ellie and Ava. Derek speaks his second sentence during all mentoring. I hope these girls kill it.

The staging is gorgeous. The costumes are beautiful. Wow. These two are so in cynic’s it’s beautiful to watch. I loved how they seemed to silhouette each other. Gorgeous.

I still think the Kings might have this in the bag. How can a beautiful contemporary routine compete with the power of The Kings? Will contemporary ever win??

Jennifer says they are one of the most beautiful duets they’ve ever seen on the stage. She says together they are even better, it’s magical. Ne-Yo says they should be proud. Derek says that dancing with a family member is so special and they should soak it in. Money can’t buy it. Jennifer says she’s not surprised they are there. They were breath taking. Derek says he could talk about the technical, but he’s been moved all season. I forgot they are only 13 and 15 until Derek said it. If they’re that good now…

Well, I’ll be surprised if anyone other than the Kings win it. I’m not mad about it – they earned it tonight. But I do wonder if a group like Unity LA or dancers like Ellie & Ava ever have a shot to win against a high energy group like The Kings. I mean, season 1 was won by Les Twins who were cool hip hop. Season 2 was won by The Lab who I adored, but who were also young hip hoppers. The show seems designed to reward that higher energy. And I confess to not normally preferring contemporary – but when it’s done well I love it. But can it win on this show. It’d be funny if Unity LA won after all this commentary. We’ll see in a minute.

Okay, here we go!!

Scores:

Ellie & Ava: 94, 95, 96 for an average of 95

Briar Nolet: 92, 92, 94 for an average of 92.7 and she’s out with not enough points to beat Ellie & Ava. She’s very gracious in defeat.

VPeepz: 94, 91, 96 for an average of 93.7 which is not enough to beat Ellie & Ava (although Derek scored them high). And Derek gives them a great pep talk.

Now we’re down to three…the judges say nice things about the three remaining teams.

Unity LA: 95, 94, 98 for an average of 95.7 which puts them in first place. This is probably how I would have placed the first four.

The Kings are going to score big, I think.

The Kings: 100, 100, 100 and that’s that. Well deserved. I love seeing how happy they are.

Well, that was a damn good season, IMO. What say you??