Tonight’s episode felt a lot more enjoyable than last night’s, probably because it was half as long and we knew that we were finally in the home stretch of the audition process. But the episode just felt much more lighthearted as well, with the decisions not necessarily so preordained.
I did predict last night that Adam Brock would make it through to the Top 24, blubbering aside, so all you suckas who doubted better pay up. “It’s how I know that God blessed me,” Adam said of his singing. Paging Danny Gokey?
Jeremy Rosado, who sang with a bunch of the younger performers, also made it through. I haven’t paid too much attention to him thus far, but I liked that he’s been rooting for his fellow contestants all along and that he pinched his own cheek in disbelief after the judges gave him the good news.
Another no-surprise was Shannon Magrane. I can’t tell if I like or hate the way she acts like she’s trying to get a Baptist church riled up when she sings. Leave it to the Idol producers not to leave an inappropriate remark unexamined: Seacrest confirmed with her father that he was okay with Tyler saying Shannon was “hot, humid, and happening.” Steven later asked, “Does your daddy still hate me?”
I was not surprised to find out that Scott Dangerfield did not make the final cut. Apparently he made it far last year in addition to this year and yet barely made it on air up until this point? So no, since the producers never bothered to make sure we’d heard of him, I didn’t think he’d make the Top 24. I would most like to know where in 2012 a boy gets a sweater like the one he was wearing.
Some others who did make it who we’ve actually heard of included: Hallie Day, Aaron Marcellus, Deande Brackensick, and Skylar Lane (who has a cute, spunky personality).
I had kind of figured that Jermaine Jones, Richie Law’s partner in bass, would make it through, since the show loves a gigantic teddy bear to force Ryan to stand next to. I especially thought Jermaine would sob in relief after he made it through, since he sobbed with trepidation (and probably exhaustion) before getting the news, but it was not to be, so he sobbed in sadness. It was probably because he was wearing a crucifix as a necklace and Jesus hates him for that. For some reason, the part that most stood out to me about this scene was Jermaine’s mother comforting him next to a bunch of boots drying on a rack. “Sweet, gentle giant,” is how Ryan Seacrest referred to Jermaine shortly before shooting him in the head.
Finally, three skinny cute girls were up for the last female spot, and Holly Cavanaugh got it, leaving Shelby Tweten and Ariel Sprague (whom I had liked earlier) in her dust. There was a lot more crying shown tonight from the disappointed, probably since there was less to cram in than in last night’s episode. Normally, I am stone-hearted about such things, but these kids really had been dragged all over the place with these auditions, so I feel for them, coming so far but missing the brass ring.
If you check my Twitter feed you’ll see that I have it on record as predicting that the producers would let both David Leathers and Eben Franckewitz both through so there’d be a top 13 instead of top 12 boys. That didn’t quite happen: Eben made it to the next round, but not David. I have to hand it to David, whom I didn’t care for earlier on in the season. He took the news like a pro.
So then we met our happy, dancing top 24, and I was proven wrong.
OR WAS I?
Next week, we see the boys sing on Tuesday, then the girls on Wednesday, then a decision on Thursday. BUT WAIT. The judges felt compelled to reinstate one of the boys, and next week we'll find out if it's going to be Jermaine, David, Richie, or Johnny Keyser. So if David does make it, I am a genius, and you all owe me even more money.
But seriously, I’m so over this arbitrary setting of Top Whatever contestant numbers and then breaking it. What’s the point? Anyway, who would you want to see squeak back in? I was surprised when Johnny got let go, but it seems unfair to everyone else who made it to Vegas that he’d make it before before the other three. I would love to hate Richie on the show, but again, he’s too much like Scotty. David is too much like Eben. So I’m going to go with Jermaine and his rabbit.
Stray observations:
- For some reason it really bothered me that Steven Tyler didn’t take off his socks before he jumped in the pool.
- Will I ever be able to hear “This Woman’s Work” and not cry a tiny bit? (I even cried when they played it on Always Sunny.)