Bogus Gold

David Cook got the random challenge of going first. When you see who got the coveted Pimp Spot closing, you'll have a pretty good idea how the producers want this David v. David thing to come out in the end. His first song was "Hungry Like the Wolf," by Duran Duran. This happens to be my favorite song from the band that got the most chicks in the 80's. I was looking forward to seeing how David Cook reinterpreted it. Unfortunately, he didn't. He just sort of covered it. It wasn't bad. It wasn't exciting either. The song was still good and his voice was alright singing it. But I expected more. His second choice was even more ambitious, going with the Rock Anthem "Baba O'Reilly," by The Who. This one he changed up in interesting fashion only to be stifled by the teeny 90 second performance window. It was just starting to get really interesting when the time ran out. This was an album rock, rather than a radio pop, classic. And there simply wasn't enough time to do it properly. Still... he left me very much wishing I could have heard the full version, which is an excellent sign. The judges were all down on his first performance, but all up on his second one, only in extremely vague ways.

Sayesha Mercado had the next spot. I'm a little surprised but not shocked that she, of all the girls, is the last remaining. I mean... I picked her going into the final 24 as my personal favorite. But she got totally lost in the middle there for a while with her decision to go all Whitney Houston. Only at the very end has she broken out and made a stab at the originality I'd hoped for. And tonight's song choices for her once again showed more commitment to that. But the performances? Well... She performed "Proud Mary," doing the Ike and Tina Turner arrangement (though it would have been nice for something on the show to acknowledge John Fogerty as the actual author of the song). It was a bold idea. It stretched her in new directions that might have blown new doors open for her if she succeeded. Sadly, she fell way short. Her voice was too pretty and delicate to deliver the raw power of a Tina Turner, and was left sounding too thin against a powerful backing arrangement no matter how seductively she bumped and grinded across the stage. It wasn't a bad performance, but it definitely fell short of the mark. Her second performance, however, was worse. Going with Sam Cook's "A Change Is Gonna Come," she fell right back into pretty diva mode, which makes her very forgettable. She sang it well again. She did not measure up to the power again. She definitely did not come close to conveying the emotion she kept telling us afterward struck her so deeply. Worse, she compared her attempt to win American Idol to the Civil Rights struggle (Cook's inspiration for the song) in gaudily direct terms. Hey, I don't think Sayesha meant anything disrespectful by it, but wow did it come over like it was. You want an irony of the success of the civil rights movement? Here's Sayesha, an up an coming black singer, and what she most lacked in delivering this song was the soul. Just not something in her repertoire. She's been raised on musical theater and Whitney Houston, not gospel choir.

Jason Castro filled the third spot of the night. And... wow. If ever there was a contestant who looked less prepared to have made it this far on Idol, I can't recall him. Please remember, I like Jason. I find him original and refreshing in ways a wunderkind like David A. can't touch when he's on his game. His performances of "Halleluia," and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" rank among the season's very best, and in my opinion beat anything "Archie" has done to date. That said... yikes! Not a good night for Jason. His first song choice, "I Shot the Sheriff," by Bob Marley, was almost like a joke about his famous dreadlocks. Is this song ever a good choice to cover? It is SO stylized and SUCH a reggae anthem, you need to be damn bold to even try (Eric Clapton did it, but his nickname at the time was "God" just to give a little measuring stick). Jason made no serious attempt at that in this arrangement. I mean... he tried to have fun with it. It wasn't abysmal. It was also clearly not good enough for a final four performances. Randy and Simon looked almost angry about it. So much so Ryan Seacrest even asked them about it. I think i can explain... A guy capable of the best we'd seen of Jason so far should have learned not to do THAT at this stage. It's not a lack of talent, but a lack of focus that was the problem. And the next song he performed, "Mr. Tambourine Man," by Bob Dylan did nothing to change the impression. This was one he could have knocked out of the park. Unlike the last one, the song choice was not the problem here. The fact that he sang it too fast, forgot the lyrics very obviously early on, and made no effort at originality was. I hate to say it, but I have a hard time seeing Jason surviving based on this week's offering.

David Archuleta got to close the show (of course). I might as well just come out and admit it... I'm over his charm and raw talent. It's there. It's amazing. But I'm ready to see him develop it into something more. And week after week he's not doing it. And week after week the judges praise him to the skies anyway. If he doesn't learn to interpret song lyrics better his future lies in forgettable bubble-gum pop records for teenaged girls a la David Cassidy. I can see why the show's producers are okay with that... they'll make a zillion bucks off him. But can we stop pretending shallow, uninterpretive performances which he delivers almost identically one after another are all "amazing"? If you're an American Idol judge you obviously can't, so I'm asking the rest of you. David Archuleta is a kid with amazing raw talent. He is not yet a great singer. He's a very stylized, pageanty, saccharine singer who is utterly lost when he tries to sing anything other than the one single style he does over and over. That being said... He sang "Stand by Me," and "Love Me Tender," by Ben E. King and Elvis Presly respectively. He sounded fine. He also sounded just the same in both songs. After watching him all season on Idol, I now know before he does it exactly where he's going to put his vocal twills. I know how many notes will be in them. I know when he'll squint. I know when he'll raise his arm. It's like he's run by some freaking computer program written by Clive Davis and Nigel Lythgoe to maximize profits on Idol winners with minimum unpredictability. I'm totally over the act to the extent I'm almost beginning to feel sorry for the kid... because the talent is real. It's just being so TOTALLY molded into a salable package it's like he's another product placement rather than a contestant at this point. If he came out in the finals with an acoustic guitar, dismissed the band, and ripped out a version of the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated," I would vote for him until my phone's battery died. Short of that I'm scared to enable this pre-packaged sing-bot.

Okay, so let's clear the wreckage of the week and get to the predictions. Ryan Seacrest reminded us that the final four was the week we lost Tamyra Gray (Season One, and no big deal as her later career showed) and Chris Daughtry (Season Five, and clearly the truly big star of the season as his later career showed). So really this is a mixed message. What is he saying? If you don't vote for your favorite, he (or she) could end up like Daughtry? That's not so scary. Or like Tamyra? That's a little worse, though hardly tragic.

Fact is, for a performer like David Cook, winning this contest may hold him back more than it would help him, provided there is this alternative "Daughtry" path to post-Idol success. Still... this is a reality show, right? We want our own favorites to win, and make the rationalizations like that only after they lose. So let's do the predicting now and leave the rest until we need it.

I think Jason is doomed this week. I know almost everyone else will be predicting the same, so it's not terribly original. But I have a hard time constructing a likely scenario out of it. If it's not him, it will be Sayesha, who was not nearly as good as the judges praised this week. But seriously, she already had a wee advantage as the last girl standing. But after Jason's glaringly weak performances tonight I don't see him pulling through. Though, per the warning, we could always have a REAL shocker and lose one of the Davids. If it's Archie, I think the judges and producers will all cry.

UPPDATE: THE RESULTS

I admit it. The final four jinx had me a little worried tonight. I looked at that Final Four and kept imagining losing David Cook. Wow, would that have sucked. And just because we weren't losing him didn't mean the wicked sense of humor of the Idol producers wouldn't tease us into thinking we might be until the very end of the show.

But... very quickly we learned that the two Davids were safe and had to wait until the very end to see whether it would be Jason or Sayesha joining them in the final three.

In the meantime, Maroon 5 and Bo Bice performed.

Bo was looking and sounding pretty good. Bo is one of my all time favorite Idol contestants. His performance of the Allman Brothers' "Whipping Post" is one of my all time Idol highlights. That said, he hasn't had the amazing success of some other former Idols. Southern Rock isn't the sales machine it was in the 70s. Still, I personally enjoyed hearing him again.

Then we were off to the elimination and, after one of the longest dramatic pauses in Ryan Seacrest's impressive catalog of tension inducing pausery, we learned...

...

...

That Sayesha Mercado made it to the final three and, as widely expected, Jason Castro was going home. Probably the most honest contestant standing he admitted his inexperience was starting to show and he was having trouble mastering so many new songs so quickly.

He had quite a ride for someone with so little experience to make it so far. He's got great potential and a considerable fanbase now. Good luck to him.

So next week we're on the the amazing Final Three extravaganza. Three contestants remaining. Three songs apiece. Lots of cheesy footage of their triumphal returns to their respective home towns.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE:

A bout of insomnia has inspired me to put together a "Season Seven Highlights" post, with links to what I believe are all the season's best performances. Look for that within a day or two.