"American Idol" Season 10, Episode 17: When 13 Becomes 12

"American Idol" Season 10, Episode 17: When 13 Becomes 12

Television Review

By our guest blogger, Catherine Fuentes

My predictions for the bottom three were two-thirds right: I should’ve known that Stefano is too attractive to be in the bottom three so soon. I clearly forgot the voting demographic of "American Idol."

I guess Ryan Seacrest got used to having two hours to eliminate contestants, rather than one hour, and he only brought up less than half of the contestants before announcing that Karen, Haley and Ashthon were in the bottom three. It made the whole night seem a little rushed and anti-climactic.

While I didn’t have Karen in my guess of the bottom three, I didn’t find her inclusion to be particularly surprising. She didn’t give as impressive or as memorable a performance as she could have, and it was very apparent that she was having a rough night.

Ashthon got the bad news, and after her swan song, which was an improvement on Tuesday’s weak performance, Jennifer Lopez called upon her other career as an actress to deliver the bad news. Why was a deliberation even necessary? The judges save should never be used in week one, especially for a contestant who had already been saved by the judges.

It all makes me wish that someone more deserving of the Top 13, someone like Robbie Rosen, had gotten saved last week over Ashthon. I really don’t think Robbie would’ve been sent home tonight.

In an actually surprising turn of events, Lauren Alaina broke down into tears when acknowledging her performance from Tuesday was not good. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Lauren! And shame on you, Ryan, for allowing a perfectly talented and young girl reduce herself to tears due to your shameless prodding. It’s true: her performance on Tuesday wasn’t her best, but it still was easily in the top half of performances that night.

Other news to keep an eye on: Casey Abrams is back in the hospital. As soon as the Top 24 was announced two weeks ago he was hospitalized, and unfortunately, he’s returned. I really hope nothing is serious, and that he makes a speedy recovery. I don’t want to imagine this competition without Casey Abrams.