So the top three – Casey, Crystal and Lee – had their final showdown tonight and I must say that I was generally unimpressed.  Let’s start with my Cool, Texas boy Casey (grrrrrr!).  The first song he chose was “Okay, It’s Alright With Me” with his acoustical guitar.  Well Casey honey, it’s not okay or alright with ME that you chose this song!  Yes we know – you liked it, it was your genre and it was cool, but all it did was demonstrate how you have totally given up… thrown in the towel altogether! You know you are not going to win, so you quit competing tonight and just got on stage to jam with the band one last time.  Your hair was down (meeeeeeeow!) so you looked so pretty, and you did sound great, but there was absolutely NO “wow” factor to that song.  More like a “so what?” factor honestly.  And then there was the judges’ pick – “Daughters” by Mayer.  Blech!  Again, he looked great and sounded good, but that is such a DUD of a song… and if you ask me, the judges set him up for failure with that (and I think he felt that way too).  And then, they had the nerve to tell him how underwhelming the performance was… well what did you expect with such a lame song, which by the way YOU picked!  I think they threw him under the bus this week, for what I feel was a very contrived show – they did not want him to win, therefore, they made sure he wouldn’t by forcing him to do a John Mayer song as his “swan song.”  Overall, I agree that Casey was weak and “limp” this week (although that leaves me with a very unattractive visual of him) and is certainly headed home... which is fine with me… come on home to your cougar fan base baby… we love ya in Texas!  But of course, by far, the biggest disappointment to me personally was the fact that the only homecoming footage they aired was of Casey at the AT&T store – WTF?  I guess sponsorship is more important than airing footage from the Wildflower Festival where we proudly displayed our awesome signs!  Oh well – I will know where to go next year for sure!

 Moving on to Crystal – Crystal chose “Come Into My Window” by Melissa Etheridge.  Not a huge Etheridge fan myself but it was an okay song for her to sing I think.  I was put off by Crystal this week though because it looked like she had kind of returned to her singin’-in-the-subway roots… her hair was more hideous than usual with the faux wings in the front and rats nest in the back, and what she was wearing was not particularly tasteful for what is supposed to be such an important night.  I was not really feeling Crystal on this song, and the next one did not prove to be much better for me.  “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney, chosen by Ellen – just a little bizarre-o for me.  That was written as a love song from Paul to the love of his life and then wife Linda, and just did not translate as a girl’s song (in my humble opinion).  Crystal on the stage with no instrument singing “maybe I’m a man” was just weird – I mean, maybe you are, or maybe that’s what Ellen would like to think, but eeeeew!  It just did not work for me “dawg” and again, I think this was a contrived ploy to set Lee up for total success!

 And finally Lee – the overwhelmingly popular, charming underdog of this season’s competition chose “Simple Man” as his first song, which quite frankly, I wish Casey had chosen instead because he could have done a much better job with it and it applies more to Casey’s life than Lee’s.  Moving on…   He did look really great last night as he came on stage with his acoustical guitar, beaming with self confidence, but almost to the point of appearing just a wee bit smug (total turn off).  I was not familiar with this song, but I enjoyed his performance nonetheless, and honestly believe after the judges’ extremely complimentary compliments, they are setting him up to win.  I like him and he’s good, but he is not really THAT good!  (And if you have not yet read my discussion article entitled “A Different Perspective”, written by my good friend Carole and all about Lee, I encourage you to do so.)  And then it was time for the judges’ pick, coincidentally positioned to close the show – you know, to allow him to go out in a blaze of glory!  “Hallelujah” has been done and done and done on this show, and while no one will ever top Jason Castro’s version, Lee did have his “moment” with this song.  He always has a little bit of a “deer in the headlights” expression, but it was overshadowed tonight by the awesome back up choir that came on stage (another unfair advantage if you ask me).  He looked and sounded great on this song, which was the last impression for viewers for last night, and which I am sure earned him numerous votes.  Please do not misinterpret what I am saying here — I like Lee and thought he did a great job last night, but it is quite apparent to me that the judges, with their glowing reviews and particular praise of him, are making sure that he is in the finals next week and will likely win the whole deal this year.  And quite frankly, I don’t care for that approach – I know we don’t want to end up with another Taylor Hicks kind of year, but let the fans speak please and quit making this show so predictable or you may very well lose your number one fan… ME!

With all that said, my prediction for tonight is that Casey is going home (as if that is shocking news or something), and I sure hope he sings “Jealous Guy” as he leaves!  More reviews to follow…