The 'America's Got Talent' Semifinals Are Literally On Fire

Because The Kinetic King is performing tonight, so Nick Cannon is lowered by a ... rope? Crane? Who cares, it's not like we can understand what's going on anyway. Bring on The Kinetic King! Ahhh that picture of him when he was a kid, looking exactly the same! He promises he'll be bringing out the big sticks. Woo-hoos across America. 

Everyone had to put on their goggles in his honor. It's working! It's working SO WELL! This would only be better if Nick Cannon hadn't inserted himself into the act. "Oh yeah," The Kinetic King says. Fatally Unique has an energy that 

West Springfield Dance Team does not, and they don't have a coach, right? To strengthen the comparison, they're doing a sort of horror genre dance, too. But they're crazy Hannibal-types. Something West Springfield has not thought of. They have some more cheer-type tricks, and I think I prefer them. Will Landon Swank be the first magician to win America's Got Talent? He's bringing his dad in. And more fire? You gotta have more fire. 

Hologram Landon told the judges to choose a button linked to a box rigged with explosives. He's just hoping he'll be in the box without! His dad oversaw the process. Sure enough, he was in the box they didn't explode, and the audience gave him a standing ovation accordingly. The setup was much better than we've seen from him in the past (and other magicians). My one issue with this trick is that after the judges chose their buttons, we saw the second box swaying a little bit. It was good, though! Remember Gymkana from the YouTube show? I do! It's so hard to believe they're not professional. Well, for everyone except Piers who is SKEPTICAL OF EVERYTHING. 

They're using Zuma Zuma's stacking chairs, which didn't turn out so well for them. Piers buzzed them about halfway through, even though they hadn't even added fire yet. It was a lot of people leaping through the air, a lot. OH MY GOD and then that guy hit the flaming hoop and it was scary and a disaster not on purpose and they cut the routine short. 

Ugh, I feel so bad for them. Nobody likes the Summerwind Skippers as much as Piers. They made a mistake last time, so is someone going to catch on fire in this act, too? At least they're going post-apocalyptic and skipping to Britney! Oh but Piers buzzed them! I liked this routine, but I don't know if it's good enough for the finals. 

Piers went off on a "we're the judges so we can buzz whenever we want, this show is about us, right?" tirade, which soured the whole thing for me. It seems like Snap Boogie was a finalist last season we saw him so long ago. His clip package made one thing clear: he does not want to go back to dancing on the streets! So Snap Boogie locked and popped in what seemed to be a museum, which then caught on disco fire. Eh, it was alright. Sharon spoke too much and Howie didn't get to talk at all, which I liked. Anna Graceman takes us into the second hour, putting her own twist on "Home Sweet Home." How odd, for a little girl to slay a Motley Crue song. 

Good job, girl! The judges loved it, of course, because her enthusiasm is infectious. Even though Piers doesn't "get it," Steven Retchless is still here on the pole. Steven Retchless is intimidated/irked because some of the other acts stole his moves (like Zuma Zuma). But nobody can do what he does. Piers buzzed him about halfway through, but I don't think it was BAD.

I guess Piers still thinks this show is about the judges. This is a Vegas act, and Piers needs to get over his thinly-veiled homophobia. Smage Bros. Riding Shows put on a good show last time we saw them. I liked when they knocked their friend's hat off. This time they're bringing in Grandmother Smage!! Yes PLEASE. Their set has certainly improved from the last time, too. It had a farm theme! They jumped over Grandma, and did some more tricks, all on this very small stage. I haven't been too fond of this act in the past, but this time it was awesome. 

Another act that might not be an act: Professor Splash. This time he's adding fire, and jumping twice as high. Death-defying! But with an hour, would he just keep jumping into different things? I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. So he jumped, and it seemed like he landed low on the pool, but he's okay! The judges don't think it had the effect of landing in 12 inches of water. Okay. Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. is full of surprises. 

Or maybe just one surprise, but it's still working for him. This time he's using the dancers and props. It could all go horribly wrong at this point, when you involve the dancers and props. It never ceases to amaze me how much he sounds like Frank Sinatra. Overall, I think it went well. Even beyond the novelty, this guy is great. Last but not least, it's another one of the big contenders this season: Silhouettes. It's hard not to enjoy this act. Even though they're not using fire, they're stepping it up with different props and dimensions. Team iLuminate has some competition! It's always cool, but this time it was just stunning. I think the camera work made the translation to TV a little odd, but I would love to see this show live. The judges thought it wasn't as good as they've been before, but come on, it was still spectacular.