Random Thoughts While Waiting for the American Idol Contestants to Start Singing:

-I think it's clear that Quentin Tarantino has more of a sense of humor about himself than pretty much anyone else in Hollywood. Who else of his stature would pump the pointer on the show open like that?

-When Ryan Seacrest hesitated with an adjective to describe Paula Abdul I don't think there was a person in the house, watching at home, or suddenly having an unexplained notion pop into their head that didn't think to themselves, "Stoned."

-So tonight their big plan to not run over is to keep the best judge, the reason everybody tunes in every week, Simon Cowell, from actually judging half the contestants. This was their idea? Not, oh, I don't know, spending six minutes at the beginning of the show introducing and re-introducing the contestants and judges? These people are really allowed to produce the most profitable show on television?

-Okay, so maybe it was only four minutes of Idol introduction, but after the Quentin Tarantino retrospective (this is a pop music show right?) we're seven minutes into the episode without any hint of singing. At least we're cutting out Simon for this!

-Though it was cool to see those behind the scenes shots of QT on the movie with the title that isn't quite fit for Idol's tweeny and elderly audience. It's "Inglorious Basterds" (sic) in case you were wondering.

And now, on with the show!

Allison Iraheta Sang "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing"

Quentin said: She's going to do a great job.
Randy said: Nothing
Kara said: Nothing
Paula said: You are one remarkable and talented young lady.
Simon said: You are the girl's only hope left in this competition. I've never heard a girl sing that song so well

The Verdict:

Real quick before we discuss the performance, Quentin Tarantino looked like an even creepier version of Crispin Glover during the rehearsal piece. If that's even possible.

So Allison doesn't exactly do much with the lower register - I actually thought she was hoarse while she was trying to sing the delicate potion of the tune. This is not a great song choice. It was very mundane throughout and even when she rocked a few high notes it was all just kind of blah. She did what she could with it at points, but she never really seemed to sink her vocal chords into it the way she has with other tunes. It all fell a bit flat.

Grade: C-

Prediction: The judges' praise was outrageously good. I still think the performance was kind of forgettable coming out of the first slot

Anoop Desai Sang "Everything I Do I Do It For You"

Quentin said: Growled and punched at many points. Creepy stuff
Randy said: You have found your zone. You are rocking the house.
Kara said: One of your best vocals.
Paula said: Nothing.
Simon said: Nothing. ($40 Million well spent) Though he did shrug his shoulders to express his displeasure at being unable to speak.

The Verdict:

Anoop's voice has never really sounded this pure and smooth. It's like he got a new vocal chord surgically implanted since last week that turned him into a truly professional R&B balladeer. He's wise to ignore Quentin's advice to rough it up. When your voice is coming across that clearly and resonating the emotion of the song with such passion why would you mess with it?

Grade: A-

Prediction: It's rare to hear the crowd actually cheer during the song, but the screams of joy came through with every note Anoop hit so well. Hard to see him going out after that master class

Adam Lambert Sang "Born to be Wild"

Quentin said: He's the real deal.
Randy said: Nothing.
Kara said: Nothing.
Paula said: You dare to dance in the path of greatness. (Let's start a competition in the comments to explain what exactly that means. Winner gets some of whatever Paula took before the show.)
Simon said: One side will love it. Others will despise it. Great vocal, looked like the Rocky Horror Show. (I think Simon's been reading this column)

The Verdict:

Oh my God. This is nothing more than drag show cabaret with an incredibly good singer at the helm. It's like some ghastly dinner theater show playing to 50-year-old couples in pantsuits and sports jackets paired with jeans who drink wine and get up to awkwardly dance as they attempt to recapture their youth.

Adam is starting to remind me of Mozart as depicted in "Amadeus". Why would somebody with such insane talent choose to squander it on these hokey performances and novelty tunes?

Still. His voice. It's unreal.

Grade: Performance/Song Choice: F Vocal: A+

Prediction: Okay, so Anoop got screams during his performance. Adam got screams during the rehearsal video! He's very very safe.

Matt Giraud Sang "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?"

Quentin said: He did a really good job with it.
Randy said: Tried to do too much. Fell down too much.
Kara said: You took away the core melody by trying to add R&B.
Paula said: Nothing.
Simon said: Nothing. Why not pair each judge with Simon - like the all-time second judge. The producers do know he's thinking of leaving the show right?

The Verdict:

This performance is a bit bizarre. He talked in the video about how he wanted to bring some emotion to the piece, and that really shows. He's trying. He's not really bringing the emotion, but he's trying to make it look like it's there. It's awkward, and the arrangement combining some sort of Calypso beat with classical is just strange.

He comes alive a bit in the bridge, but this all seems like too many things happening at the same time, making the whole performance somewhat stagnant and confusing.

Grade: C+

Prediction: Somebody's on shaky ground. The judges really obliterated him, giving Matt the first bad reviews of the night. And he hasn't been immune to the bottom three thus far.

Danny Gokey Sang "Endless Love"

Quentin said: Something about eyes and fingers. Who knows?
Randy said: Nothing.
Kara said: Nothing.
Paula said: A beautiful rendition.
Simon said: I can't fault the way you sang the song, but I'm disappointed at the traditional version.

The Verdict:

This starts as a very nicely stripped-down version of this song that shows a bit more vulnerability to Danny's gritty power. It should have stayed like that as it actually begins to suffer as the song grows. Just an acoustic guitar would have been perfect - the harp is distracting both musically and visually.

Once again, Danny sings his pants off with what starts as his own version of the song but devolves into simply being karaoke. I'm starting to doubt his chances to win this competition when he's really doing nothing different each week. Show some range, man!

Grade: B-

Prediction: It doesn't seem like he'll be in any danger for the next few weeks unless his voice cracks or he forgets the words.

Kris Allen Sang "Falling Slowly"

Quentin said: Fell most in line with the spirit of the night.
Randy said: Never quite caught on for me.
Kara said: It was your best moment.
Paula said: Nothing.
Simon said: Nothing - and they still had to rush.

The Verdict:

Finally. Somebody chooses something other than a lame-o movie standard. No matter what happens, I already like the choice!

This song is so impossibly gorgeous that it's just impossible to ruin. Kris puts his own touch on it by turning it from a street busker plea of passion into an elegant pop ballad. He struggles with the delicate points at the beginning but when the full orchestra kicks in so does his voice, turning in a vocal that almost makes him seem like a rock star.

Grade: A-

Prediction: He's in no danger whatsoever. The crowd seemed ready to turn Randy into nothing more than a puddle of blood with glasses when he dared say the performance wasn't brilliant.

Lil Rounds Sang "The Rose"

Quentin said: Don't bait and switch. Stick to what you want to do and it should be awesome.
Randy said: Nothing.
Kara said: Nothing.
Paula said: Paula literally said absolutely nothing. She talked about the song's lyric and what it meant to the contestants. She didn't critique the performance in any way whatsoever. Yet we have to listen to her four times and Simon has to keep his masterful thoughts to himself thrice. Why?
Simon said: The song was too soft and too middle-of-the-road. Had some nice moments, but you're not the artist I believe we met a few months ago.

The Verdict:

It seems the obscene amount of lipstick Rounds has applied is preventing her from enunciating words at the beginning - it sounded like a toothless geriatric on Novocain. Then she moves to her typical belting register for the second portion of the song. This was much better - more in her wheelhouse and she brings it down nicely for a classy ending.

Typical Rounds performance - shaky beginning, got better when she belted, but still seems like something you could see at any church, dinner theater or karaoke bar on a good night.

Grade: C+

Prediction: This could be it for Lil. It never helps a contestant when they thrash out at Simon and she ripped off one of the all-timers. Nothing like saying you put your own spin on a song that sounded exactly like the original.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Only two bad reviews from the judges on what turned out to be a pretty impressive performance night. Most of the song choices, however, are still very disappointing. It's like nobody on this show has knowledge of music beyond the Now! Series. Just an endless procession of songs we never want to hear again. At least nobody did "My Heart Will Go On".

As for the idea to go with two judges for each contestant, I'll never advocate anybody's being fired, especially in this economy, but whoever made that decision should be sent over to toil on "So You Think You Can Dance?" for the rest of their careers. The only reason a lot of people watch this show is to see what Simon will say, and three separate times we had no idea. Yet we got to hear what a movie director thought of everybody. It's insane.

Now for the predictions. As stated before, only two bad reviews: Matt and Lil. Both have been in the bottom three, both will likely be there again tomorrow night. Joining them will probably be Allison if for no other reason than that she went first. The judges loved her, but it's hard to overcome the leadoff spot.

Ultimately, it will come down to Matt and Lil. Lil was lucky enough to go last and her little tantrum may actually help her in this instance: She'll be more memorable. That may be enough to sneak her by Matt who performed in the middle of the show and probably has everybody in the country trying to remember what he even sang the night before. So Matt will be voted out by America, but I think it's finally time for that judge's save. We can't have the most talented performer in the competition go out as a result of one bad song choice, can we?

Story by Andrew Payne

Starpulse contributing writer