Top 7 Results Recap

It's time for the dreaded Wednesday results show. One of these contestants is going home, and I'm nervous that it could be Brooke. I'm trying to relax and tell myself that it's not the end of the world if she goes home, but the idea of a Top 6 without a single contestant I love is kind of depressing considering how much time I spent looking forward to this season. Oh well. I can always join the Vote For the Worst movement if all else fails.

Argh! Ryan has to throw in another reference to Michael Johns' "shocking" elimination last week! Enough already!

Our group number for this week is "One Sweet Day". It starts out with an off-key Jason, leads into an off-key Kristy and then the rest join in. At the end they're all randomly singing and belting in what my mother describes as a "cacophony". This was a weird group number.

Time to find out the results! Jason Castro is up first. Ryan tells him to stand to his left. Oh, they're doing this again, huh? Next is David Cook. He talks about stuff going on in his life, apparently going out of his way not to mention his brother. Good for you, David. He's on Ryan's right? I assumed the three guys would be the Top 3! Oh well. I guess Ryan's right is the safe group. Now it's Carly Smithson. She confronts Simon about his being hard on her, but Simon replies that he believes Carly could be great, and he's trying to give her a push to get there. Next is Kristy Lee Cook. She calls Simon a "butt" and is then sent to the right.

After the break we get a Ford commercial, this time featuring Queen's "I Want to Break Free". In this video the Idols are portrayed as office drones with marionette strings on their arms. I have a feeling some of these people will end up working office jobs someday. This commercial wasn't that great.

We then go straight into a performance from Elliott Yamin, who's singing "Free". Another song with "free" in the title, huh? I hope it means we're finally free of Carly tonight. I own Elliott's album, but I've never particularly liked this song. Is this his latest single or something? I hope the public likes it more than I did. He pulls a David Cook and holds up a message on his hand at the end of the song. It says "We miss you Mom". They talk about the recent death of his mother, and Elliott says he knows she's watching him. Call me a sentimental sap, but I'm actually touched by this moment.

Back to the results. Syesha Mercado is sent over to Jason and Carly. Brooke White, who seems to be stifling some anger tonight, is sent over to David and Kristy. Should I be excited? Brooke's with the apparent safe group!

Oh boy. More dumb viewer questions. There's nothing much to talk about here, except that the man who owns Kristy's horse doesn't want to sell it back to her. Awwww. All those people voted her into the Top 12 for nothing. She'll be gone next week.

Mariah Carey performs. I don't care.

It's finally time to finish up the results. David Archuleta comes onstage, and he's declared safe. We all knew he would be. We know how the rest of this works. Mini-Carmen now has to join the safe group. But wait! Ryan throws a monkey wrench into my plans for relaxing and enjoying Brooke's safety. He has Syesha and David C. switch groups! Holy cow! That was brilliant, Nigel! Now it's obvious that Carly is in the safe group! Crap! Who's voting for that goblin? David A. pulls a Melinda Doolittle by sitting on the ground and refusing to join a group. Eventually it comes out that Jason, David C. and Carly are the safe group, leaving Brooke, Syesha and Kristy as the Bottom 3.

At this point I'm just going to assume that Brooke's going home. While I got a break last week with Michael, I've lost too many of my favorites this year to expect any of them to stay. This has been the worst season ever. The first person back to safety is Syesha. Argh! That's the fourth time she's survived the Bottom 3. Stop voting for her, America! They chat with the judges about if America got this Bottom 2 right. Oh, for crying out loud. Just tell Brooke she's going home and get it over with! Kristy always survives the Bottom 2 and DialIdol has her as safe! I'll be shocked right now if Kristy goes home. The person who's staying is...Brooke???? Yes! How can it be? My favorite beat out The Indestructible Mannequin! I told myself all night that I wouldn't get too emotional about the results, but I can't help myself. I still wanted Carly gone more than I wanted Kristy gone, but truthfully, I'll take anyone but Brooke going home at this point.

Kristy starts her off-key sing-out sitting on the judges' table in front of Simon, and she changes the lyrics to add a reference to trying to get a good comment from him. Kristy's personality is really hard to pinpoint, since everything she does is so robotic. Is she a sly, witty charmer or a vapid Barbie doll? I have no idea, but I do know that we won't be hearing from her again until the finale. Hopefully Brooke will pick up the blonde vote.

Power Rankings

6. Brooke White - I'm keeping Brooke here because the person at the bottom of my power rankings never goes home the next week. As the only contestant left that I love, I need to keep her in it. In all honesty though, I do think the next person going home is a girl, and with Andrew Lloyd Webber week coming up her voice is the least suited for Broadway.

5. Syesha Mercado - Once again, she'll likely stick around because she's getting the black vote. Has a contestant ever gotten this far with virtually no fanbase?

4. Jason Castro - He seems to be liked by the judges and fans, but I don't think they like him enough to get him into the Top 3.

3. Carly Smithson - For some reason she gets votes. I can't explain it, but she keeps pulling through. I'm going to hate it when she's the last girl standing.

2. David Archuleta - He's good and he's popular, but he seems to be riding his fanbase rather than overwhelming public support. When it comes down to the final two he may not have the votes.

1. David Cook - I have him back at number one. I don't want him to win, but everywhere I go it seems that people love him. Unfortunately, I think he may be our next American Idol.

Next week the Idols are going Broadway, as Andrew Lloyd Webber will be mentoring them on his songs. I guess doing Broadway songs is a substitute for Standards week, just like it was in Season 4. The only Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals I'm familiar with are The Phantom of the Opera and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, so once again I probably won't feel any connection with the material being sung.

I don't like these restrictive themes where they can only do the mentor's songs. I'd have preferred a general Country Music week rather than a week of Dolly Parton's songs. I hardly knew any of them. This week was another example. I'm not a Mariah Carey fan, so none of the songs meant anything to me. Oh well. I do like Neil Diamond, so I'm looking forward to his week as mentor. That could be a good one for Brooke, so I hope she holds on long enough to be a part of it.