Top 4 Results Recap

Tonight the general consensus is that Jason Castro is going home. He's struggled for three straight weeks and the judges were brutal on him last night. DialIdol has him going home, and he's said publicly that he's ready to leave the competition. I think tonight we say goodbye to the dreadlocked goofball.

Ryan tells us the Top 3 were all within a million votes of each other. Considering how close Syesha and the Davids were on DialIdol it only gives us more reason to expect a "Buh-bye, Jason!"

The group number is Steely Dan's "Reelin' in the Years". With only four people it's more apparent how cheesy the choreography is. There's actually a guitar solo in the middle, which I'm not sure has ever been done with a group number on this show. My mother, who earlier dissed the group numbers, enjoys this one, though she doesn't like the abrupt ending. I have to agree. It's a good group sing in a season that's had a lot of bad ones.

Ryan tells us that they're going to fill the couches with the Top 3. Since there aren't any stools, I guess we're to assume that they're not doing the Bottom 2 tonight. The first Idol to face the music is David Archuleta. Well, there aren't any stools to send him to, so obviously he's going to be on the couches! And he is! Ryan tries to introduce a clip of some of the past Idols' trips home from the Top 3, but they have video problems and we end up never seeing it.

We get to see a video of the Top 4's trip to Las Vegas to watch Cirque du Soleil perform "Love", featuring the songs of The Beatles. There are Beatles songs in the background of the entire segment. It looks like a cool show. They get to meet the cast of the show at the end. It's nice of the Idols to recognize the less famous. The two Davids get the most face time during the segment, since we're obviously supposed to connect with them more than the other two.

David Cook is next to learn his fate. Again, if there are no stools to send him to, we know he's going to be safe, and he is. That leaves us with Syesha Mercado and Jason Castro. Ryan acts as if he's about to deliver the verdict, but Jason interrupts to say "You're going to tell us now?" Of course he isn't. There's still half an hour left in the episode! It's time for a break! Like last week Syesha has to sweat it out, but they never actually say she's in the Bottom 2. Still, we knew that Syesha and Jason were the only ones with any chance of leaving tonight, so it figures that it's down to the two of them.

The Ford commercial is set to Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire", and it features the Idols as matadors teasing a Ford car instead of a bull. It's kind of funny. It reminds me of a scene from the "Monkees" episode Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth. The "Papa Gene's Blues" romp gets interrupted so Mike can face the task of milking a cow with the drama of a bull fight. Remember that one? It was great! No, you probably don't. Yes, I'm still a nerd. Anyway, fun Ford commercial. I'm sure that if David Cook becomes a big rock star he'll have a good laugh when he looks back on this one.

More viewer questions. More me not caring.

Maroon 5 performs their new single "If I Never See Your Face Again". I'm not a huge Maroon 5 fan, but their songs are pretty catchy, so I'll keep the tape rolling on this performance in case I want to watch it again sometime. This song isn't bad. As I listen to Adam Levine I can't help but realize that he'd probably never make it as a contestant on "Idol". His voice works with his band, but his singing style is too quirky for him to be a solo act on a show like this one. Still, he's made it big, and he's here to dispense advice to the hopefuls on the couch. He tells them they should be ready to work, and that they'll end up being jaded after a while. He says they'll hate it but they'll love it. I can imagine.

Bo Bice is also here to perform. He's doing a song called "Witness" from his latest album See the Light. I actually think this song rocks. Few people seem to realize what an impact this guy had on "American Idol". He paved the way for a lot of the rockers we've seen in the last few years. If it hadn't been for him we may not have David Cook right now. Hmmm, now that I think about it, darn you, Bice! Naw, I'm kidding. I don't have much of a problem with David Cook anymore, and Bo Bice is the real deal. Still, it's hard to imagine a world where he beat out Carrie Underwood for the title given the difference in their successes.

Now it's time to get Jason's elimination out of the way. Ryan chats with Jason and Syesha. Jason says he feels that his inexperience is showing, and notes that someone said he "shot the tambourine man" last night. Syesha talks about how emotional she was last night and how today in 2008 we could have the first black or woman president. You think the oh-so-diverse Democratic Party is getting enough hype these days? Ryan finally reads the results, and, coming as a shock to absolutely no one, Syesha is in the Top 3. Like I said in my last post, I never would've predicted it a month ago. When she goes home next week she'll be able to look back on one of the most unlikely runs in the history of this show.

Jason's exit video is basically a montage of all his awkward cluelessness, and it's pretty funny. They have a clip of him singing Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" with Renaldo Lapuz at the auditions. I guess we'll never see what Jason did for his audition that got him through to Hollywood. I read that the reason he was never shown until the Top 24 was because of song clearance issues, so I assume that's why his audition remains unseen. I guess when the judges pimp you a lot and you have a hairstyle that makes you stand out you can still go far on this show without much early screen time.

As Jason straps on his guitar for his sing-out Ryan tells him he looks relieved. Jason says that he kind of is, because he'd probably have a hard time memorizing three songs for next week. His sing-out of "I Shot the Sheriff" is much worse than the original performance, but I don't care because this guy may have had one of the funniest eliminations ever. I'm already looking forward to the exit interviews.

I don't expect anything out of the ordinary to happen for the last two weeks. Next week Syesha will likely be eliminated, and Cook will likely beat Archuleta in the all-David finale the week after that. America will finally have the rocker Idol they've been waiting for, and next year the show can focus on finding people with interesting, unique styles, not finding the next Daughtry to atone for Taylor Hicks' supposedly "wrong" victory. At least, I can always hope.