Canada’s Got Talent, episode 9: teen boy squad and the return of Canada’s Susan Boyle

Last night marked the beginning of the Canada’s Got Talent semi-finals, and with only 36 contestants vying for two available spots per episode (one picked by home viewers and one picked by the judges), the competition is getting tight. It was another fast-paced episode, so there was no time for judge dancing (shucks), but some other things we’ve come to expect from the judges are on display: Martin Short creeps on one of the contestants (fellow judge Measha Brueggergosman said they’d been calling her “Mrs. Short” all evening); Brueggergosman wears interesting outfits (at one point, she was sporting hipster glasses and a giant afro, and later she was wrapped up in a pink silk kimono-style dress); host Dina Pugliese tries to be fun and spontaneous (our favourite moment comes when she has an eight-year-old sit on her lap who simply answers “yep” to all of her questions); and judge Stephan Moccio sports tiny indoor scarves.

Freshh is a dance troupe that says they’re “more than a crew, [they’re] a family.” Beyond their touching story (one of the boys was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and told he’d likely live to be only eight years old, but he’s now 17 and loving life), this all-boys dance squad has the tightest, most bombastic act we’ve seen in a while (the troupe hasn’t been featured on the show until this episode). Even the often dour Moccio agrees, and he lets the boys know he thinks they could go all the way.

Julie Lafontaine was one of our top picks from the Montreal round, and she impresses us and the judges once again—the mom who chose raising four children over having a great opera career (Brueggergosman says, “We missed you in this profession”) sings a beautiful aria in an elegant ball gown and sparkly accessories. The judges shower Lafontaine with praise, but give her a reality TV check: group acts have more friends and family to vote for them, while poor Lafontaine has only her own circle. We’re guessing the judges will make her their pick.

We’re probably just too old to “get it,” but we don’t really understand the point of H.I.X. from Montreal. In a bizarre sketch, the guys travel back in time to 1980, 1990 and 2000, and then come back to 2012. One member of the trio bounces around the stage doing awesome backflips while another makes strange noises with a machine attached to a tube attached to his mouth. A weird and interesting act to be sure, but probably not one that would win a national talent contest.

Pulp City Inn is probably wasting its time in this competition—the lead singer is dreamy in a non-threatening way, and their angsty music is the kind of stuff MuchMusic executives hear their kids love. These guys should be on a Big Shiny Tunes compilation album, not wasting their time performing in a national competition that lets an audience decide their fate. We see PCI going beyond CGT.