Tatiana's Last Stand!

I can’t say that I was terribly surprised by last night’s results show of American Idol. We all knew Lil Rounds would sail on through to the next round, and after the rapturous (and undeserved) reception Scott received, he was a sure lock too. I’m still peeved about this — just because the guy is blind doesn’t mean he should get a free pass. Anyone who heard Scott’s reprisal of “Mandolin Rain” last night would never believe he was heading to the top twelve. It sounded, to put it lightly, janky. I know, I know — the singers don’t try so hard on the results show, but seriously, it was baaaaad.
Nevertheless, after Lil and Scott, the only question mark was the third spot — would it be Felicia? Jorge? Ju’Not? Maybe Kristen? Odds were on Jorge, especially after he all but wept on stage and gushed in Spanish. Sure enough, America chose him to go to the finals, and he again burst at the seams with unbridled emotion. It was annoying. I’m still not quite sure why when Jorge bawls, it’s considered endearing, but when Tatiana sheds her tears, people write her off. I guess maybe Jorge has more sincerity, but Tatiana has more comic potential, people! Just take a look at last night’s show when she was picked (YES!) for the Wild Card round. The girl could barely speak. At one point I thought she was going to fall to the floor. It was fantastic. We must send her through. We must!

Ah, but we can’t. It’s the judges who will do the deed tonight. Tatiana will have to absolutely blow them away because we know Randy, Simon, Paula, and Kara have some favorites already. Tatiana will have to go up against the likes of Ricky Braddy, Megan Joy Corkrey, Anoop Desai, Matt Giraud, Jesse Langseth, Jasmine Murray, and Von Smith. Right off the bat, I have a few issues with the list. I’m not totally convinced that Von and Megan should be on the Wild Card show, especially when standouts like Kristen McNamara and Felicia Barton were left on the bench. Heck, I’d even take Ju’Not Joyner over Von. I mean, Megan is an okay pick — I liked her performance last week — but I’m not sure she’ll have the chops to really go very far.
Jesse Langseth was also a strange choice for me. Again, I liked her performance, but she’s totally insufferable, and she doesn’t seem to have the pipes of Felicia or Kristen. I am okay with Jasmine Murray though because like the judges say, she is commercial, and I’m all in favor of finding pop stars as it is my genre of choice. She probably will fall on her face again though; so I don’t have high hopes. Also, she reminds me a little of Paris Bennett, who became so obnoxiously cute by the end of her run that we all forgot that she actually had a great voice.
As for Ricky Braddy, Matt Giraud, and Anoop Desai, I’m super happy they’re getting a second chance. I’m particularly happy about Matt Giraud because he seemed to have so much potential but totally squandered it all on that strange Coldplay cover. Maybe he’ll rise again. Sadly though, even if he did a great job, I already have my three picked out, and he’s not in it. That’s right, my dream team would be Tatiana, Ricky, and Anoop. Make it happen, judges. Atone for your Michael Sarver / Scott McIntyre sins!!!
What did you think about last night’s results? Happy with the Wild Card bunch? Who do you want the judges to pick?