Shock and Awww...

Kristi Lee Cook raises the flag on Idol.

After spending the entire season in the Bottom 2, it seemed like just a matter of time until Kristi Lee Cook would be eliminated. Coasting on her all American blond looks while delivering one stupifying performance after another, I thought her luck tonight might finally fold. But then Kristi pulled out the most canny song selection in American Idol history, performing Lee Greenwood's patriotic "God Bless The USA" with flags waving on the video screens and everything. Lee Cook gave it a good performance, for her the best she's ever done. Now there's no way she's going home this week, only if she wrecked the song to the point of mockery would that happen. No, to vote off a cute blond girl singing for her country during wartime would just be un-American. I don't see anything wrong with patriotic displays when a person really feels the need to show their love for our country, but this...this was cunning. Impressive. Most Impressive.

Meanwhile on Idol, the other Cook reworked the Gloved One's "Billie Jean" into a stunning Nick Cave type of rock ballad. David Cook continues to show real artistry and is quickly becoming the one to beat. Shyesha Mercado continued her roll with a well arranged rendition of "If I Was Your Woman". Michael Johns made a significant impact with "We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions", but I didn't get it. I just thought he was doing Queen: the musical and was not impressed.

Everyone else was either OK or less including former front runner David Archuleta who oddly chose John Farnham's "You're The Voice". "You're The Voice" was one of those songs that was a monster hit in every industrialized country but here and as a general rule it takes Celine Dion to make one of those songs sell (see "The Power Of Love" and "If You Asked Me To" for reference). Chakezie went back to his R&B loverman persona, Brooke White started off strong at the piano but then faded halfway through, Ramiele Mulabuy alternated between smooth and screechy. Jason Castro shows taste in his song selection with Sting's "Fragile" but was so forgettable that this is actually the last sentence written for this post.

Poor Carly Smithson seems the most likely to go now, at one point she seemed like she could take it all. But she's losing steam and fading fast without a niche market to carry her (The bar drinking Tats audience just isn't big enough). While Simon slammed Smithson for being tense, I liked the edgy desperation and thought it added to her performance of "Total Eclipse Of The Heart". It wasn't a great performance, but I thought it was pretty good. Tomorrow night's the results, other than the Cooks there is potential for anyone to be eliminated. Wow, if that's not a safe comment I don't know what is.