American Idol: With time running out, did the judges use their save?
On Wednesday, Nicki Minaj told the remaining five girls that they all have super powers. But when they started the show off on Thursday with a medley of Donna Summer hits, it was as if the producers were intent on proving the opposite. Not to mention the dated music, American Idol sabotaged the contestants by making them prance around on stage to a weakly choreographed routine and to make matters worse, every girl was assigned a male dancer whose dance prowess only further highlighted the fact that dancing is not one of the superpowers Nicki was referring to. On their Ford Fiesta Mission they went on a scavenger hunt, demonstrating that acting is also missing from their arsenal of superpowers.
For the last few weeks, Idol has had their past winners and runner-ups making the rounds during the results shows. On Thursday, both Clay Aiken and Fantasia Barrino returned to the stage. Unlike some of the past homecomings, Mr. Aiken didn't talk so much about his personal successes post-Idol, instead, he focused on the good he's been able to do from the platform that Idol provided him with. In addition to starting the National Inclusion Project, Clay also became an ambassador for Unicef, traveling to Somalia, Afghanistan, and Uganda to witness the educational programs in place. While his performance of "Bridge Over Troubled Water," was pleasant it was not quite as moving as his charitable efforts. Maybe Idol could hire Clay to help infuse some of that philanthropy back into the show?
Then for some reason, Latoya London, one of the so called "Three Divas" from Season Three, returned to discuss how the other two divas of her season, Fantasia and Jennifer Hudson, went on to enjoy great success while she went back to Oakland to start all over again. Obviously, Latoya really needed some exposure; otherwise why would anyone subject themselves to that kind of embarrassment? She then had the distinct honor of helping Ryan Seacrest to introduce Fantasia who came on to sing her new song, "Lose To Win." It seems like Latoya may still be waiting for the "winning" part.
Of course, of all the homecomings we've seen this season, the best took place tonight when Paula Abdul made a surprise cameo to tell Candice Glover how much she enjoyed her performance of, "Straight Up." Ryan then convinced Paula to reclaim her seat on the panel and to see her seated on her past throne was nostalgic. Even with her zaniness, Paula comprised 33% of a panel what once made Idol truly special, along with Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell. Despite the musical chairs since then, Idol has been unable to recapture the magic of the original panel.
After our walk down memory lane, it was time for the results. On Wednesday, this article insinuated that predicting the bottom two was as easy as pie; clearly it would be Janelle Arthur and Amber Holcomb. Unfortunately, after the results, I now have some egg on my face. Clearly, the judges' 'Amber Propaganda' (which has a great ring to it if you happen to be from the Boston area) infected the fertile minds of the viewers and convinced them that she deserved safety more than Kree Harrison. Unbelievable.
Thankfully, despite their momentary befuddlement, the viewers had enough clarity to put Janelle in the bottom. After performing her aptly selected song, "Keep Me Hanging On," for the judges' save, the panel could not come to consensus and bid Janelle goodbye.
This is the point where things start to get more complicated; three out of the four remaining girls have exceptional talent and while Kree should not be in the bottom next week, since she'll likely pick up all of Janelle's voters, there's still a chance that America could be persuaded to believe the judges' hype about Amber and send Candice or Angie Miller to the bottom. But, let's not think like that. Let us all think happy thoughts and imagine the remaining four weeks going in this order: Goodbye Amber, Goodbye Angie and ultimately Goodbye Kree, making Candice Glover the winner of Season 13.
