'The Voice' recap: Big talents in the Battles, Round 2, Part 2

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In “How I Met Your Mother,” Ted Mosby (played by Josh Radnor and voiced by Bob Saget) sits down with his teenage kids to regale them with a tale of a time long before he was a parent, recounting the events that led to him meeting their mother. From MacLaren’s Pub to a certain wedding that happens in Farhampton, the stories recounted in the series give the kids (and the viewers) a non-chronological glimpse into the relationship haps and mishaps of Mosby and his friends Marshall (Jason Segel), Lily (Alyson Hannigan), Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin (Cobie Smulders). In November 2013, CBS ordered the pilot of a female-centric spinoff titled “How I Met Your Dad,” with Greta Gerwig cast as the central character. (Gary Friedman, Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

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The show: Sometimes people need to take a break from all their worries. People like Norm (George Wendt), Cliff (John Ratzenberger) and Fraiser (Kelsey Grammer) get away by going to a place where everybody knows their names - Cheers. Set in Boston, the show’s eponymous bar is owned by Sam Malone (Ted Danson).

The spinoffs: “Frasier” follows Cheers’ resident psychiatrist and radio host Dr. Frasier Crane after he moves back to his hometown Seattle and reunites with his father Martin (John Mahoney) and brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce). Cheers waitress Carla’s (Rhea Perlman) ex-husband Nick Tortelli (Dan Hedaya) marries Loretta (Jean Kasem) in an episode of “Cheers,” and the two star in “The Tortellis,” the first “Cheers” spinoff that aired in 1987. (Mark J. Terrill, Reed Saxon / Associated Press)

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The show: Friends, pals, confidants and family are some of the words that can describe the relationships between Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), Rose Nylund (Betty White), Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan) and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty), who prove there is still a lot of life left to live after 50. They share a house, and often some late-night cheesecake, in “The Golden Girls.”

The spinoff: The Girls’ neighbor is Harry Weston (Richard Mulligan), and in “Empty Nest,” two of his adult daughters move home to live with him after his wife’s passing. “The Golden Palace,” another spinoff series, follows Sophia, Blanche and Rose after they move out of their shared home and invest in a hotel. (Steve Fontanini / Los Angeles Times / NBC)

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The show: Secrets are deadly. Spencer Hastings (Troian Bellisario), Hanna Marin (Ashley Benson), Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell) and Aria Montgomery (Lucy Hale) learn this when they start receiving threatening messages from “A.” The secrets “A” knows lead the girls to suspect their anonymous antagonist is Alison DiLaurentis (Sasha Pieterse), their former ring leader who has disappeared, until her body is discovered and the threats continue.

The spinoff: In “Ravenswood” Caleb Rivers (Tyler Blackburn) discovers a tombstone bearing his name, survives a car crash and starts seeing the ghost of Miranda Collins (Nicole Gale Anderson), who was not as lucky. Together they work to uncover the mysteries of the town’s deadly curse. Caleb is Hanna’s boyfriend. (Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times / Bob D’Amico/ABC Family)

By Amy Reiter

April 2, 2014 9:29 AM PT

On Night 2 of the Battles, Round 2 on “The Voice,” we saw more singers facing off, moving on, going home and getting stolen. It was battle business as usual, if by “usual” you mean extraordinary singers setting the stage on fire with their passion and pure talent.

Does anyone else think Sisaundra Lewis has a good shot at winning this whole thing -- and making a point about maturity, motherhood and second chances? Her coach, Blake Shelton, clearly does. “You’re changing this show,” he told the 44-year-old former vocal director for Celine Dion, perhaps alluding to the way the show, like the music industry in general, has tended to favor younger singers, though it has no official age limit. “You’re that good.”

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Team Blake
Biff Gore vs. Sisaundra Lewis
Shelton paired up Lewis, whom he’d gushed about during the first battle rounds, and Gore, whom he’d stolen from Team Usher, noting that he had only one “R&B soul powerhouse spot” available on his team. They chose to sing James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World” – and Usher wasn’t the only one to get goosebumps from Gore’s grit and whole-body delivery and Lewis’ amazing, clear notes. All four coaches stood to applaud. “As a man, that’s a woman,” Usher said of Lewis, expressing special admiration for the high note she sang at the end. Still, because Gore had been on his team, he gave him the match. Shakira called Gore’s voice “timeless” and his stage moves “real and authentic”; she told Lewis her register was “sick, sick, sick.” “I’m 80% sure you’re not from the planet Earth,” Levine told Lewis “lovingly.” He praised both singers’ commitment and said the way they performed -- with feeling -- was “all we ever try to teach anybody on this show.” Shelton ultimately picked Lewis, saying he couldn’t “miss out on the opportunity to work with a one-in-a-trillion vocalist” like her.
Winner: Sisaundra Lewis.
Steal? No, alas. Levine explained that he’d already filled the soul-singer spot on his team with Delvin Choice.

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Team Shakira
Ddendyl vs. Deja Hall
Shakira teamed soft-voiced young vocalists Ddendyl and Deja Hall, who elected to sing “Say Something,” which A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera had premiered on the show last season. Levine said he couldn’t imagine “two more different” singing styles and expressed admiration for Ddendyl’s ability to stay on key without vibrato and Hall’s vocal “maturity” and “richness.” Shelton called Ddendyl’s style “artistic” and Hall’s “innocent” and “honest,” but remained agnostic about a winner. Usher said he’d probably pick Hall, if only because he felt there was “so much yet to be discovered” in her voice. Shakira told Ddendyl she had “probably the most unique voice that there is here in ‘The Voice’ right now,” and praised Hall’s voice as “earthly,” “heavenly” and “authentic.” Based on the “progress” and “tangible changes” Hall had made -- and her curiosity to see where she’d go from there -- Shakira chose her as the winner.
Winner: Deja Hall. “Deja is like a sponge,” Shakira said. “I want to invest a lot of my efforts in seeing her bloom as an artist.”
Steal? No.

Then, after a fast-forward battle in which Team Shakira’s Emily B. and Kristen Merlin faced off and Merlin won, sending Emily B. home, we got the final battle of the evening.

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Team Usher
Morgan Wallen vs. Stevie Jo
Usher paired two young male singers, Wallen and Stevie Jo, apparently pals, in hope that each would push each other to excel and that the one who was not chosen would be stolen. The contestants agreed to sing One Direction’s “Story of My Life,” and while past performances may have suggested that Stevie Jo would have the battle in the bag, Wallen’s voice had a surprising, appealing litheness and texture. Shakira told Wallen she hadn’t realized he had “that raspy tone in your voice and those falsettos,” though she also complimented Stevie Jo on his “runs and trails.” Levine prompted the vocalists to fist bump by declaring, “That was a song that was originally sung by boys sung by a couple of men up there on that stage.” Shelton said he was “impressed” by Wallen’s progress, but gave the match to Stevie Jo, citing his technique and consistency. Usher told Wallen his growth showed him “that you’re a student and that you understand you have to do the work, and you did,” but then picked Stevie Jo as the winner, saying he had a “soulful essence” and the ability to “come out of left field” and “shock” him with his talent.
Winner: Stevie Jo. Usher explained that he didn’t think Wallen had yet “unlocked his full potential.”
Steal? Yes! Levine waved Wallen over and then pushed his button with the singer in close range. The coach said his new team member had a “rare soulfulness” that he suspected even Wallen himself wasn’t aware of.

What did you think of the battles?

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