The strange, coordinated dance move with the backup singers, though. That one he should have thought about cutting.

Also:
Why did Ben neglect to ever mention that he knew Sayid when he was a kid and hey, oh yeah, GOT KILLED BY HIM? I'm trying to remember when Ben and Sayid first met—was there any kind of flash of recognition? Does anyone remember? Why does Ben not hold more bitterness towards Sayid? …Or was that the point of the…

Rifts! Rifts in the time-space continuum!
Wait a second, wait a damn second. What?? Does that mean that Ben will cease to exist in the future? What happened to we-can't-change-the-past?

Mentors!! Woo!
So apparently Smokey Robinson is more of a Barry-Manilow-style mentor than a Randy-Travis one. Which is always good, he actually helped the contestants arrange their songs and things. Speaking of, is it just me, or did Danny totally blow off Mr. Robinson's advice about leaving in that last part of the…

Simon and Paula
Those two act like a couple who have just gotten together but are keeping it a secret still.

Well, I meant "fire of a thousand suns", but I'm kind of like my mistake and don't really want to correct it.

Isn't Brad Paisley the "funny one"? I have a limited experience of country music mostly due to the fact that I hate it with a fire of a thousand sounds, but I had a friend who used to force me to listen to country while I was in his car (he was not my favorite friend), and I seem to remember a few rustically quippy…

Simon is definitely winning the Simon/Ryan bicker-battle this year. He's somewhat stopped going down to Ryan's level and mudwrestling with him (whoa. Strange mental image) and stuck to his scathing Britishy condescension , against which there is no defense. Like when Ryan threw that water balloon at him tonight (???)…

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, but I own a copy of Carrie Underwood's version of "Praying For Time" that she sang at Idol Gives Back last year. I've always liked the lyrics, but I never thought of that song as tame in any way until Carrie tore into it last year. What was aloof and prickly when George Michael…

Here was something very frustrating to me: when Randy made the NIN comment, I laughed out loud at it, because it was the most glaring example of his 1999 Timewarp of Cool that we've ever seen.

Yeah, he was kinda useless as a mentor, wasn't he? Kinda more a cheerleader than anything, except for that gloriously awkward Adam footage.

I thought it was cool to hear a tidbit about the backstage song choice, too. I'd always kind of imagined that the producers announced the theme for that week, yelled "Go!" and then the first person to race across the room to choose their song got first pick. Oh well. I guess there goes my iron-cage-wrestling-match…

I've listened to it twice already. It's like sweet, cooling aloe vera on the my metaphorically sunburned ears.

Danny is quite the panderer, isn't he? I mean, I like his voice a lot, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone go after his key demographics with such ferocity. Dead wife story? Check. Jesus song? Shirt with a giant cross on it? Check. Teary-eyed performance of "Hero"? I mean, good God, man.

Also: that jacket that Adam was wearing tonight? I own that jacket.

I don't care if you had fun
Why do the contestants always say this after they get criticism? I don't care. I care about if I had fun.

HATED it
I am not a country fan, but "Jolene" is probably in my top 20 or so favorite songs of all time. I adore that song, it's been done twice on "Idol" and wrecked twice. There is such a simplicity and desperation to the song, and Alexis's oversinging was just horrendous. That's not a song to rock out to, dear.…

Why??
Why, American Idol stylists? Why do you think that jackets = fashion??

That's it, I'm getting a restraining order against Adam's eyes
Ahhhh, who am I kidding? I love him.

The other day, I was watching an episode of the Tyra show (yes! Yes I was) about child beauty pageants, and Tyra had some mothers of contestants on who she clearly wanted to admit they were terrible mothers trying to ruin their children's lives. Unfortunately for her, the women were actually very pleasant,…