Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

So, two are in it to win it, and one is just along for the ride. If Sweet Casey James doesn't go home tomorrow night . . . well, it will be all kinds of wrong, that's all.

Casey opens the show with a song that Randy and I don't know, "OK It's All Right With Me," a dull number that Casey sings very mediocre-ly. (Is that a word?)

I hate when the Idolettes sing songs I don't know. Yeah, I rolled my eyes when Paula chose the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" for Bo Bice, but then I sat back with great interest to see what this talented young man would do with a song that every one of us knows by heart.

Think about David Cook's reconstruction of "Billie Jean" and "Hello," or what Adam Lambert did to anything he touched. For me, a particular joy of this show is hearing an Idolette take a song I know well and mix it up.

("Mix it up" being key here.)

Crystal goes on to semi-prove my point by singing a great and familiar song, "Come to My Window," except she doesn't mix it up at all — and I'm not sure that this song called for a harmonica. She sounds fine, but she really brought nothing new to it. (Well, except a harmonica.) Still, it is a great song, and it's fun to hear her sing it. If I were grading the evening, Casey would have a C so far, and I'd give Crystal a B.

Lee has chosen Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man," and again, I don't know this song, but it's a nice fit for him. He sounds good. An A- performance.

Kara seems to be auditioning for Simon's chair; she has so far used the phrase "having a moment," and now she tells Lee that Round 1 goes to him, a pronouncement usually made by Simon (and no less irritating when made by Kara). Simon, as per usual, has no visible reaction to this. Has he been fully present once this season?

Round 2! Kara and Randy teamed up to choose a song for Casey (which I found odd; Ellen's the newest judge, why didn't she have to share her choice with someone?), and they chose John Mayer's "Daughters," a song I truly loathe, which makes it not unlike every other song by John Mayer, all of which sound the same to me. Loathsome human, boring-as-snot singer. While I like Casey's voice a squillion times better than Mr. Mayer's, there's just not much to this. And with this B- performance, Casey has pretty much purchased his ticket home. (Which I have to believe was his intention — we have seen him be so much better than this.)

Ellen has chosen "Maybe I'm Amazed" for Crystal, a choice that surprised both me and Simon, but I have to say: I LOVE what Crystal did with this. She didn't change the song too much (literally — singing about how she's a man looking for a woman, which I found a tad distracting), but she did things that were unusual for her, singing outside her usual range, putting down her guitar, and using the whole stage. Actually, I found her choreography somewhat awkward ("Okay, I'll walk over here now"), but again — I applaud her for challenging herself, and I thought she sounded great. A solid A.

Lee will be singing "Hallelujah," chosen by Simon, and again I'm surprised — didn't Jason Castro give us the definitive version just two seasons ago? And Little Timmy sang it just a matter of weeks ago! But Lee does a lovely job of it, despite a corny arrangement (that choir! Too much). His nice scratchy voice was a great fit with the tortured lyrics, giving it a different kind of power than Jason's version. I give him an A as well.

So there you have it. The Idolettes' GPAs for the evening are as follows: Casey: C+, Crystal: B++, Lee: A-.

It wasn't a painful hour by any means, but am I wrong to hope that a Top Three performance would inspire more glowing praise than "not painful"? I think not.

Lady Chardonnay, prepared for the white-hot excitement of a Crystal-Lee finale (yawn) and out!