Narrowing It Down to the Sweet 16
All right, I'll admit it: I'm disappointed. In fact, I'm seriously bummed. I know that
Alexandréa didn't have the best performance last night, but did she deserve to go? Not even close. I don't think that her "If You Leave Me Now" was bad at all - in fact, I thought it was a far bit better than several of the other girls' efforts - and when she sang it again tonight, I was reminded of just how gifted she is.
Did anyone else notice
David Archuleta weeping during Alexandréa's swan song, and then sharing that touching moment with her when she finished singing? Could there have been some little sparks flying there, perhaps? Or were they just really good friends? [Update: These two have been friends since competing against each other on
Star Search years ago.] Regardless, it was sweet. Alexandréa showed poise and good humor in her departure, even though it was clear how disappointed she was. I sincerely hope that she keeps singing, because I'd love to see how she develops as an artist.
As for the second girl sent packing, it came down to
Kady (who sang truly
terribly last night) and
Alaina (who sang OK last night, and proved that she has a lot of potential). So of course, which one was eliminated? Alaina. Basically, I feel like we lost two of the better, more original girls tonight. Kady and Alaina looked about equally shocked at the results, and Alaina burst into tears, poor thing. I was glad for her, though, that she was able to pull it together to sing one last time.
On to the boys: The first elimination of the night was, like last week, no surprise. Thank goodness that was the end of
Jason. Honestly, he seems like a nice guy, but I'm relieved that's the last time we'll have to hear him sing. For the final elimination,
Ryan made
Luke and
Robbie come out to the middle of the stage, then proceeded to torture them with a mangled attempt at delivering the bad news. It was Robbie's turn to go, which was fine with me, and I'm hoping that Luke will be one of the next in line.
Basically, I think America got it right with the guys and horribly, horribly wrong with the girls. As Simon said to Ryan in the beginning of the episode, after being called out on his weird hand-to-the-head move of recent weeks: "There is a gesture I could give you, but I won't."
The group song to start the show off wasn't quite as bad as last week's, though it also wasn't actually
enjoyable. And
Amanda, wearing hair extensions and given a chance to redeem herself from last night, sounded completely out of place, and what's more, she looks defeated by the whole thing, like she can't wait to be done with the
American Idol experience. Ryan's "very important
Idol news" was that on March 11, the top 12 will perform from the Lennon-McCartney song book, which I'm kind of excited and kind of worried about (I'm anticipating hearing some of my all-time faves being butchered). And on April 9, Idol Gives Back returns, with another star-studded lineup including Brad Pitt and Miley Cyrus.
One last thought about tonight's eliminations: With two of the more genuinely gifted girls now gone from the pack, there's even less competition between them and the guys. Which is sort of a shame.
TVGuide.com Power Rankings poll:
Vote for your favorite of the remaining guys.
TVGuide.com Power Rankings poll:
Vote for your favorite of the remaining girls.
What do you think? Did the right four get eliminated? And whose neck will be on the chopping block next?
Check out all of Simon's best lines of the season in our
Simon Says... the Most Quotable Things! blog.
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