S13.E08: The Battles Premiere, Part 2

[Star Aristille]

From TV Guide:

Joe Jonas, Billy Ray Cyrus, Kelly Rowland, and Rascal Flatts continue to help the coaches prepare their artists for the Battle rounds.  Adam's vocalists tackle a current chart-topper.  Two of Jennifer's artists perform a Whitney Houston song.  Blake's artists take on a '90s alt-rock hit.

This is a one-hour episode, so three Battles will be shown, and three others will be montaged.

[Star Aristille]

Leaked Battle for tonight:

Mitchell wins this one for me.  Hands down.  Dennis is good, but not great.  I definitely think that Blake should keep Mitchell.

Enjoy.

[Jabu]

Current team rosters/cheat sheets:

Team Adam
Adam Pearce (defeated Whitney Fenimore)
Hannah Mrozak (defeated Brandon Showell)
Dylan Gerard (defeated Dave Crosby)*
Dennis Drummond (stolen from Team Blake)

(Still Waiting)
Anthony Alexander
Emily Luther
Brandon Brown
Jon Mero
Michael Kight
Gary Carpentier

Team Miley
Moriah Formica (defeated Shilo Gold)
Brooke Simpson (defeated Sophia Bollman)
Chloe Kohanski (defeated Ilianna Viramontes)*
Whitney Fenimore (stolen from Team Adam)

(Still Waiting)
Janice Freeman
Ashland Craft
Addison Agen
Karli Webster
Katrina Rose
Megan Rose

Team Jennifer
Lucas Holliday (defeated Meagan McNeal)
Chris Weaver (defeated Kathrina Feigh)
Davon Fleming (defeated Maharasyi)
Noah Mac (stolen from Team Blake)

(Still Waiting)
Shi'Ann Jones
Alexandra Joyce
Eric Lyn
Stephan Marcellus
Ignatious Carmouche
Jeremiah Miller

Team Blake
Keisha Renee (defeated Noah Mac)
Esera Tuaolo (defeated Rebecca Brunner)*
Mitchell Lee (defeated Dennis Drummond)
Kathrina Feigh (stolen from Team Jennifer)

(Still Waiting)
Red Marlow
Adam Cunningham
Anna Catherine DeHart
Natalie Stovall
Ryan Scripps
Kristi Hoopes

Names in bold indicate an artist who has either newly won his or her Battle and stayed on his or her team, or been newly stolen by another coach.  An asterisk indicates that this artist's Battle was montaged.

[Star Aristille]

Another good night tonight.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that these were all fresh, new song choices that haven't been seen on the show before.  Good for the coaches for finding new, interesting songs if that's the case.

Anyway, the matchups:

Davon vs. Maharasyi: So just on the basis of Davon having a Whitney moment with Jennifer and Maharasyi doing a Chaka Khan song for her Blind (as she was a mentor of sorts for Whitney), Jennifer gives them a Whitney song, despite it not being fit for Davon's voice, and they do . . . actually pretty well with it.  It wasn't perfect, but they both delivered a very good performance.  They sounded excellent both individually and together.  But I have to agree with Jennifer's choice.  Maharasyi stepped up her since her Blind, but Davon totally crushed her, no doubt about it.  Wasn't surprised she wasn't stolen, either, since neither Adam nor Miley turned for during the Blinds, and Blake already has his stolen Asian girl in Kathrina.

Brandon S. vs. Hannah: God, Hannah has so much potential.  She is just a hairbreadth away from being totally, truly outstanding.  And she's very, very pretty, to boot.  Brandon S. is . . . not pretty at all, and I can't see how his fiancée fell for him.  That said, Hannah was far and away the superior performer on that song.  But I will say that neither let their runs go out of control, and both kept their vocals steady and strong, so I did end up not hating the Battle, at least.  "Cold Water" wasn't the best song choice, but it was decent.  Adam chose right by advancing Hannah, and I was okay with no one stealing Brandon S.

Dennis vs. Mitchell: Anyone else think of the comic character of the same name when you look at both of their names?  No?  Just I?  Well . . . okay, then.  Anyway, as I posted when I linked the Battle, this wasn't even a close one for me.  Mitchell has a strong, solid voice, and he really, truly kicked ass in this Battle.  Dennis wasn't terrible by any means, but he did mumble at times, which probably hurt him.  Blake chose right by keeping Mitchell.  While I'm happy enough for Dennis that he gets a second chance, I think Adam really only stole him for fodder for one of the Chosen Ones on his team to crush in the Knockouts.  Time will tell.

Montages:

I'm a bit shocked that Dave got montaged, especially after his Blind with his cute little daughter trended so much.  That should've gotten him a ticket to being shown.  I am even more shocked that he got the ax over Dylan, who doesn't strike me as very original.  Truly, Dave doesn't, either, but at least he had his daughter as a hook and a possible vote-getter for Adam.  Very shocked at Adam dumping him.  And Esera being a two-chair-turn with a great backstory of being yet another gay NFL player who came out, and up against Rebecca, a one-chair-turn with no real interesting story, to boot?  Of course Blake was keeping the former.  Finally, Chloe was a three-chair-turn and a rocker girl with a very deep, rich, unique-sounding voice, while Ilianna was a two-chair-turn with a fairly standard indie-pop sound to her voice.  No question Miley would've stayed loyal to the one with the more unique voice and sound, as well as the one who turned more chairs.

Hmm. . . . Having ended week one of the Battles, I'm actually impressed at the balance the show has been keeping up.  Each team has had three Battles, and each coach has used one steal.  Completely equal going into next week.  Good form, editors.

Hoping the montaged Battles go up soon.  If not this week, then after the remaining montages next week.  But aside from that gripe, good episode with more good Battles.

Edited October 18, 2017 by Star Aristille

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Still, watching via YouTube so consider me bigly surprised when I came here to find the Dennis got the steal. Of the three battles fully shown, he would've been a distant third in my potential steal rankings. I just do not like his voice very much. It's like some of the words go all Kermit the Frog and they get lost about three quarters the way up his throat. Mitchell is literally Adam Duritz's exact voice injected with like 15% more contemporary country sensibilities. Mitchell is also the quintessential, pleasant to listen to/look at guy for the Voice.

If I knew going into the night that there was for sure only one person getting stolen, I would've actually given that steal to Brandon. I thought there were parts of that song where he outshone Hannah (although I'd agree she probably won the battle by the narrowest of margins. And I also don't think Adam wants to be trotting out an all male line up for KOs and Lives to counter Team Miley's all female empowerment team).

Davon over Maharasyi wasn't that much of a surprise, although i do sort of wonder if Jennifer takes both him and Chris W. to the lives....will they run the risk of vote splitting to some degree. I'd actually like to see Davon do more rock moving forward. Bust out some Cult of Personality or something like that. He's got the voice and the stage presence where he could really make that work and carve out something of a lane to himself. Maharasyi was solid, I thought she harmonized quite well with Davon and did well with the tricky fast rhythms that particular song has to offer. Had she been paired up with someone else on Team Jennifer I think she might've moved on. Too bad, I've studied Southeast Asia academically for the last decade (I'm in Bangkok, Thailand as we speak) and it was nice to have some representation that wasn't Filipino (nothing wrong with Filipinos mind you) in a reality tv competition.

Chloe and Esera winning their battles in the montage, zero surprises. Dylan over the YouTube guy Dave (who I really enjoyed his blind audition) was something of a surprise. I have almost zero memory of Dylan's blind audition, so that's probably another reason why I'm surprised.

[Star Aristille]

13 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Dylan over the YouTube guy Dave (who I really enjoyed his blind audition) was something of a surprise. I have almost zero memory of Dylan's blind audition, so that's probably another reason why I'm surprised.

To refresh your memory, Dylan was the one Jennifer coached on the spot back in the second Blind episode, showed instant improvement from that moment . . . and then still picked Adam.

In any case, I rewatched the promos, and they only showed six Battles, so maybe there'll only be six shown Battles and the remaining montages will just be held over till the second Tuesday episode.  They seemed to be:

Anthony Alexander vs. Michael Kight (Team Adam)
Brandon Brown vs. Jon Mero (Team Adam)
Addison Agen vs. Karli Webster (Team Miley)
Janice Freeman vs. Katrina Rose (Team Miley)
Shi'Ann Jones vs. Stephan Marcellus (Team Jennifer)
Anna Catherine DeHart vs. Kristi Hoopes (Team Blake)

Interesting that this means we might finally get a chance to actually see and hear Anna Catherine if these are truly the six Battles we're getting next Monday.

Edited October 18, 2017 by Star Aristille

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Same with Katrina Rose, we only got about 2 seconds of her initial audition as well...

I'm immediately looking at the Brandon/Jon and Addison/Karli battle losers as having serious steal potential.

[bluepiano]

I'm wondering why Carson didn't say (or they edited out) "judges, remember,, Maharasyi is available for a steal." Given that the song was chosen for Devon to shine, I thought she did a great job. Obviously whoever was paired against Devon was toast, as he's one of the favorites, and a special favorite of JHud. But to me she deserved a steal. She's a really good singer and a beautiful woman, which as we know doesn't hurt on this show, despite it being called "The Voice." Is there any kind of Wild Card this season where she might be brought back?

19 hours ago, Star Aristille said:

Dennis vs. Mitchell: Anyone else think of the comic character of the same name when you look at both of their names?  No?  Just I?  Well . . . okay, then.  Anyway, as I posted when I linked the Battle, this wasn't even a close one for me.  Mitchell has a strong, solid voice, and he really, truly kicked ass in this Battle.  Dennis wasn't terrible by any means, but he did mumble at times, which probably hurt him.  Blake chose right by keeping Mitchell.  While I'm happy enough for Dennis that he gets a second chance, I think Adam really only stole him for fodder for one of the Chosen Ones on his team to crush in the Knockouts.  Time will tell.

Not before, but now I get it. Dennis the Menace and Mr. Mitchell. Obscure but nice reference. During that whole battle I knew that Mitchell was getting picked and that Dennis would be stolen by Adam. He always like the dudes who play electric guitar. But I think you're right that he probably will not be around too long. Mitchell is one of the more polished singers on the show this year, but my nit-pick is that he was smiling too much during that song.

I was bummed that they montaged the duet on the Jackson Browne song "Doctor, My Eyes," because it's a favorite song of mine and might have been the only one I knew (or at least knew well) the whole night. Was that David vs. Dylan? It flew by so fast I couldn't tell.

Edited October 18, 2017 by bluepiano

[Star Aristille]

9 hours ago, bluepiano said:

I'm wondering why Carson didn't say (or they edited out) "judges, remember,, Maharasyi is available for a steal." Given that the song was chosen for Devon to shine, I thought she did a great job. Obviously whoever was paired against Devon was toast, as he's one of the favorites, and a special favorite of JHud. But to me she deserved a steal. She's a really good singer and a beautiful woman, which as we know doesn't hurt on this show, despite it being called "The Voice." Is there any kind of Wild Card this season where she might be brought back?

According to Maharasyi herself, the steals were gone by then.  That's why Carson didn't say it.  The Battles are aired out of order.

As for the second part, yes.  They're happening again.  Even though most of the audience hates the Comeback twist, NBC continues to be douches who do what they want, not what the viewers want.

9 hours ago, bluepiano said:

I was bummed that they montaged the duet on the Jackson Browne song "Doctor, My Eyes," because it's a favorite song of mine and might have been the only one I knew (or at least knew well) the whole night. Was that David vs. Dylan? It flew by so fast I couldn't tell.

Yes.  That was Dave Crosby vs. Dylan Gerard.  Dylan won, and Dave was eliminated with no steal.

20 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Same with Katrina Rose, we only got about 2 seconds of her initial audition as well...

I'm immediately looking at the Brandon/Jon and Addison/Karli battle losers as having serious steal potential.

Ah, right, right.  I forgot about Katrina.

And yes, I can see the steals happening, too, since both members of each pairing are good.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Star Aristille

[Star Aristille]

2 hours ago, bluepiano said:

Not before, but now I get it. Dennis the Menace and Mr. Mitchell. Obscure but nice reference.

That's the gist of it, but I meant Dennis's full name, Dennis Mitchell.  Still, that also works.

[bluepiano]

I just slapped my forehead. I was thinking that Mr. Mitchell was the surly neighbor who Dennis tormented. Now I remember that was Mr. Wilson, and Mitchell was Dennis' last name.

1 hour ago, Star Aristille said:

According to Maharasyi herself, she said that the steals were gone by then.  That's why Carson didn't say it.  The Battles are aired out of order.

Thanks, that explains it. But what a drag for her to be up against Devon, a sure finalist, when there are no steals left. I wonder how the order is determined, because obviously the earlier your battle the better chance you have of being stolen. Same thing with the order of appearance in the Blinds, with people in the first couple of shows getting three or four chair turns who might not get any if they were on the last show. 

Edited October 18, 2017 by bluepiano

[MillionReasons]

For me the most disappointing aspect of last night's installment was that Esera was montaged.  As Star Aristille posted, he has a great backstory.  I'm strongly supporting him.  And, his song choice for the blinds didn't hurt either.  From what I understand the duet last night was "This I Promise You" by N'Sync.  I listened to it on genius and it didn't resonate with me.

Maharasyi's yellow top (or dress) was gorgeous.

Next week I am most looking forward to the other contestant's who interest me the most: Jon and Janice.

[viajero]

For me the biggest disappointment was that they didn't show the Chloe vs. Ilianna battle.  Chole was one of my favorites coming out of the blind auditions and Ilianna showed potential.  Plus, the small clip they showed of their battle sounded much more interesting than the other two montaged battles.

Overall, while all three battles they did show were fine, I didn't think any of them matched up to the better battles from Monday night.  I also didn't think any of the losers deserved a steal. 

While Mitchell probably had the best vocal performance of the evening, there is something off putting about him.  It's almost like he's too polished to the point where he comes across as inauthentic.  Though Hannah's performance was much more uneven and Davon didn't quite match his blind audition, I find their voices to be a lot more interesting. 

[Court]

I wish they wouldn't montage the Battles. Let me see them and less of Miley's reactions during the Battle.