We begin this episode with Ryan kissing both Paula and Simon on the top of the head. I’m wondering if he was dared to do that. So my EPG is telling me that Andrew Lloyd Webber is performing tonight. I see now that he’s at the piano. That’s a good thing. The group sing to start the show is ‘All I Ask Of You.’ It’s a duet, but we’ve got 3 guys & 3 girls, so it’s close enough, I guess. They forgo almost all choreography, but you can tell Andrew Lloyd Webber insisted on some kind of harmony. It’s pretty boring, and ALW is still pretty freaky looking.
After the really long recap, we get Andrew Lloyd Webber on stage for an ‘interview.’ We’re trying to make American Idol a bit cerebral with this. I’m enjoying it more than I thought. Ryan brings up the Brooke forgetting lyrics again. ALW felt bad for her since apparently she was good in dress rehearsal. Then we get stupid and ask ALW to come up with a song title for Simon & Paula’s relationship.
This week’s commercial is set to ‘Tainted Love’ and features David Archuleta drawing a comic book. This is just making me miss Danny Noriega. Kathy notes that they’re blending Tainted Love with A-ha’s Take On Me video. Then we get treated to a message from George W and Laura Bush. I’ll leave that alone.
This week we’ve got the bottom 2 instead of the bottom 3. First up the Davids Cook & Archuleta are brought out. And the squealing commences. David Archuleta looks more & more sick to his stomach. Simon gets caught eating while doing the show. David Cook admits he did the song as it was written to be a surprise. David Archuleta can barely get a word out. This isn’t a surprise — they’re both safe.
We then get a package of Idol Alums who have made it to Broadway. Diana DeGarmo was in Hairspray, Fantasia and Lakisha were in The Color Purple. Tamyra Gray is in Rent. Clay Aiken is in Spamalot. Tamyra and Clay get interviews. The others do not. Lakisha is in the audience.
Then Ryan introduces Leona Lewis, who apparently Simon discovered. I was wondering who was going to perform tonight. I had my hopes up that it was Madonna. No luck on that. American Idol producers must’ve upped their insurance this week by adding fire columns to her performance. They are placed far away from flammable objects.
And after that performance, we’re back to elimination time. Ryan wants Syesha Mercado & Brooke White on the stage. Ryan does the usual blah, blah, blah recapping their performances that were already recapped earlier in the episode. Brooke ends up safe, and no one’s more surprised than her. Syesha is sent to the Stool of Shame while Brooke is on the safe sofa.
Carly Smithson and Jason Castro are finally led out to learn their fates. Jason rings the train whistle when he’s reminded that Randy called the performance a train wreck. Jason also admits that he doesn’t want to sing right now. Jason is safe. Wow, that’s a bit of a shocker. I didn’t think Carly would be in the bottom two. Both girls get to sing their songs, which isn’t a bad thing since both of them were good last night. Carly gets through her song and remembers all the words this time. Syesha is still not in roller skates. Apparently Carly and Ryan are engrossed in a conversation on the side of the stage. Syesha doesn’t care, she’s too busy singing behind the judges.
After the nationwide vote… we need to kill some time, so Ryan asks the judges to recap what they think of the final 2 again. At least we didn’t have phone calls this episode. And Carly is going home. That sucks. It’s not like she could’ve been better last night. Oh well, hopefully she’ll have a record deal. Simon apologizes for complimenting her last night.
Next week is Neil Diamond. Someone needs to do ‘Love On The Rocks’ and some of the songs he wrote for The Monkees, maybe Syesha. Jason needs to do ‘Little Bit Me, Little Bit You’ but he’ll probably do UB40’s ‘Red, Red Wine’ instead. It’s still appropriate. Brooke will probably do ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.’ Then David Cook can Nickelback up ‘Song Sung Blue.’ He’ll probably do ‘Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon’ though. If David Archuleta did that song, it would just be creepy. And awesome.