American Idol: Episode 29 of Season Nine--The Results

American Idol: Episode 29 of Season Nine

And Then There Were...Still Nine?

By our guest blogger, Catherine Fuentes

Yes, America, on Wednesday’s result show, the "American Idol" judges exercised their one-time only save and saved the unlikely singing-for-his-life-this-early-in-the-contest contestant, Michael Lynche.

That’s right. Big Mike Lynche. The incredibly soulful and talented Big Mike Lynch. The guy who missed the birth of his firstborn daughter to dominate Hollywood week. The guy who brought Kara DioGuardi to tears during his rendition of Maxwell’s “A Woman’s Worth,” the song which he chose to perform tonight, and did so better than his original version. That was the guy who received the least number of votes. Does anyone else see a problem with this?

Joining him in the bottom three were Andrew Garcia and David Archuleta 2.0, Aaron Kelly. (To confuse the at-home viewers, the real David Archuleta performed his beautiful version of “Imagine.” Note that he and Aaron were not seen on camera at the same time). Even more shocking than this Bottom Three grouping was that Tim Urban was nowhere in it.

The three females were the first to be delivered the great news that they were safe, and then Ryan Seacrest, in a new attempt to be as awkward and abrasive as possible, split the guys into two groups of three, which I had deemed: The Attractive Ones (Casey, Lee and Tim) and The Ones In Trouble, who ultimately were.

This means that next week, all nine contestants sing again, but two go home. Will a double elimination mean that Tim Urban finally gets voted off?

Ryan Seacrest teased this episode as shocking, but I wasn’t expecting the outcome of Michael Lynche being at the very bottom. Although his version of “Eleanor Rigby” was sort of a mess on a second listen, it wasn’t the worst. But I think by now we realize that the worst (Tim) never falls.

While it was still technically early in the competition, one of the judges’ favorites – and one of the most vocally talented and charismatic contestants – was about to be sent home. It was a no brainer that the judges would save him. The other bit of news I learned about this save--the judges had until the Top 5 to use it. Why not use it now?

This means that moving forward, all remaining nine, but particularly the “elite” contestants, really can’t slip up. Big Mike was about to be eliminated because he had a rare shaky performance, and because he totally messed up the arrangement of a Beatles classic. He proved once and for all just how critical song choices and good band arrangements are when singing songs. All season long, the contestants have been ailing for both of these reasons, and they can’t any longer. Their “Oh, I had an off week” free pass is completely gone. Not a single contestant can rest on their past successes (Andrew Garcia, I’m looking at you). They have to bring it every single week moving forward. Every week, we all should be thinking, “That performance was his or her best performance yet.” There needs to be steady improvement and weekly excellence.

Next week "Idol" alum Adam Lambert mentors the nine in a do-or-die week. The theme has not yet been revealed, but judging by the mentor, I’m expecting something on the theatrical and dramatic side. Adam Lambert gave his most memorable performance last year, “Mad World,” to the Film Songs theme, so unless the Producers conjure up something new, that’s my guess as to next week’s theme.