‘America’s Got Talent’ review: Emily West, Miguel Dakota, Mike Super, Mat Franco, more stand out

Tonight, “America’s Got Talent” is holding its most-important round of the competition to date (obviously): The top 12 performance show! Hopefully, there were some acts in here that stood out enough for you to be more than thrilled with the end results.

We’ll be updating the list tonight throughout, and by the time it ends, we will have our complete take on everyone in order from worst to first.

12. Mara Justine – We almost want to give Mara a little bit of forgiveness tonight, given that she was screwed over by not just going first, but bad audio problems. Maybe she gets a sympathy vote, but we doubt it will be enough.

11. Christian Stoinev – This was another decent showing by Christian, but the problem for him is that we’ve seen this from him at this point. Also, his dog was basically an afterthought to this one.

10. Emil & Dariel – This is a case of mostly being just good, but not necessarily good enough. These guys have accomplished a lot for their age, they still has a ways to go before they would be “million-dollar act” territory.

9. David & Leeman – In all honesty, these two guys are incredibly great at what they do. The larger question in the context of this show, though, is whether or not what they do is necessarily good enough compared to the other magic asks. They just aren’t as flashy as the other performers.

8. Quintavious Johnson – Quintavious will probably go through to the next round, but we still don’t quite know if there is anything that stood out about tonight’s performance in particular beyond the vocals. Are biggest problem is song choice. There’s nothing artistic coming from them, and there are all songs we’ve heard other people do before, equally well.

7. Emily West – We thought Emily’s last two performances in the live rounds were even better than this one, though that is not meant to be a significant slam against this one. She is still a lovely singer, but it’s hard to see everything she can do when performing a slow ballad every week.

6. Blue Journey – We thought the judges were too harsh on them tonight, and Howie Mandel’s inquiry for more dancers was beyond ridiculous. What more do you want from these two? We liked that this one wasn’t as solemn and serious as the past performances.

5. Miguel Dakota – We give him credit for the effort, and for clearing a Rolling Stones song on live TV. It wasn’t a perfect vocal, but it at least felt like something with energy and passion behind it rather than a typical cover.

4. Mike Super – The difference between Mike and David & Leeman tonight was that Mike was a little more mystical, and a little better of a traditional magician in that way. He’s not as funny, but he makes up for it with some really crazy ideas like this one with Nick Cannon and the money machine.

3. Mat Franco – Meanwhile, Mat is just so polished. What makes him so different than every other magic act is that he does the slide-of-hand better than any other one, and he combines his real magic skill with showmanship.

2. AcroArmy – Let’s talk a little about momentum here. Could this be the first group like this to win the show? Weeks ago, we completely wrote them off as contenders, but they’ve got this strange momentum now. They’ve improved every time, and they’ve managed to find a way to be artistic, and add just enough tricks to their set to be different.

1. Sons of Serendip – We don’t think the lead singer here gets enough credit for being as amazing as he is. The guy nails notes better than most singers in the competition! Add to that the artistic arrangements, and these guys are something special beyond words. One of the best this season.

Who was your favorite tonight? Share in the comments below right now, and head over here if you do want to get some other great TV scoop right now on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: NBC