Top 3 Results Recap

Here we are at the Top 3 Results show. One person leaves the competition and the other two get record deals. Ryan tells us that to come so close to the finale has historically been devastating. That's a bit of an exaggeration, as making it to the finale hasn't guaranteed success either. They have to create drama though.

The group sing is McFadden and Whitehead's "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now", which was Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard's duet in the Season 2 finale. You just can't recreate the magic of the days before contestants and viewers became jaded. David Cook has to be embarrassed to be doing this cheesy choreography. The look on Syesha's face throughout the episode so far makes me think she knows she's a goner.

The Ford commercial is shown fairly early, and the song is Los Lonely Boys' "Heaven". The Top 3 go to a fortune-telling machine. Instead of telling any of them "Forget it, kid!" it shows fame and fortune to be in all their futures. Uh-huh. I have no doubt that Syesha's going to accumulate tons of platinum records.

Fantasia performs. As she's my least favorite winner, I pause the tape. After watching the performance I don't regret that decision.

Now we get the videos of their trips home. First is David Archuleta, who's going back to his hometown of Murray, Utah. We get to see the little guy do his tour of morning talk shows, radio shows, malls and Jazz games. He even gets to be mobbed by a bunch of cheerleaders. That's one of those moments all us dorky guys dreamed of in high school and he actually got it. Lucky dog. Hey, the background song is "One Big Holiday" by My Morning Jacket! Cool choice. The memory of seeing those guys perform this song on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" and Conan getting excited and yelling "I cannot wait to buy this CD!" after the performance has always stuck with me. David gets emotional and starts crying at one point in the video, and I don't blame him. Even though I don't want him to win I can't help but be happy for the guy, as this whole experience clearly means a lot to him.

After the video of his trip home is over we get to see a video of David's "Idol" journey. Interesting. This is the type of video they show when someone gets eliminated. Now we'll get to see what we would've seen had Mini-Carmen been eliminated, which he won't be, since his quest for the "Idol" title will end in the finale.

Now it's Syesha Mercado's turn. She's going back to her hometown of Sarasota, Florida. Instead of My Morning Jacket she gets Diana Ross' "I'm Coming Out" as her background song. Supposedly there wasn't a huge turnout for Syesha in her hometown, and judging by the video I sort of get that impression too. It's mostly the same type of stuff as in David's video. She does her trademark "O lo!" thing when riding in a helicopter. She hangs out with her family. I guess the lack of support for her means that there isn't a ton of stuff to show us.

After her hometown video they show her journey video, which will save them the trouble of showing it later. It has Fantasia's "I Believe" as the background song rather than that "Here comes the rest of our lives" song that was in David's. Is she going to be like Phil Stacey last year, who was the only person to get a different song than the rest for his exit video?

Finally it's David Cook's turn. Before they show the video we get to meet the younger brother who got him to audition. The trip back to David's hometown of Blue Springs, Missouri has Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" in the background. Hey, that was his audition song! We get to see David doing weather for his local morning show, thanking the school teacher who inspired him to go into music, throwing out the first pitch at a Royals game and being overcome with emotion when stepping onstage to play for a crowd of people. We get a little bit of Aerosmith's "Dream On" in the background later in the video.

For David's journey video the song is Daughtry's "What About Now". I guess Syesha isn't this year's Phil Stacey after all.

Finally it's time for the results. Ryan tells us that America has decided that the finale will be between...David Archuleta...pause for all the applause...and David Cook. Syesha is eliminated, which comes as a shock to no one. It was more shocking that she made it this far. I was thinking (and hoping) we'd be Syesha-free a long time ago, but somehow she defied the odds. When people look back on where the contestants finished this season it'll appear that Syesha was extremely popular when in reality she was totally forgettable. Archuleta cries as Syesha sings "If I Ain't Got You" one more time. Cook watches stone-faced.

Next week will be the finale everyone was expecting. I don't think there's any way David Cook will lose, but you can never be too sure on this show.