IDOL - Soul Patrol it is...

Well, as we waded around in 2 hours of stalling to get to probably the most anti-climatic conclusion in Idol history...it just served as a reminder that everything happened exactly as it should have this season on American Idol. Kat was the star of the show even though she didn't win, and after hearing about her other offers already coming in, winning might have just held her back...When coming up with medleys for the girls, you know the producers were cursing Randy, Paula and Simon for even putting Melissa in the top 24...mediocrity at its best...and making me sit through Ace, Bucky, and Kevin again was just mean. And did anyone notice that during the judges montage, they had to do a lot of editing to make Simon look stupid, but Randy and Paula pretty much took care of it on their own? Yeah...

As we started off, I liked Carrie Underwood's part in this shindig, not overpowering, but not underplayed, and she is awesome. Comparing Carrie to Kat though, I do think Kat is better. You can tell that Carrie is more polished...she's been singing for a living for a year since her win, but Kat has way more potential. The opening number was mildly enjoyable, mostly because it was Carrie/Kat/Taylor-centric and the other 10 idols may as well have been wearing choir robes for the role they played.

So obviously, of the duets, Kat and Meatloaf was my fav, followed by Chris/Live, Taylor/Toni Braxton, Paris/Al Jarreau, and Elliot/Mary J. Blige. Paris was a little dull, and Elliot basically just stood there while Mary J. Blige sang, but the real toss up was Chris and Taylor. Taylor would have been better if Toni's mike was working (was that the issue?) because I love Taylor's rendition of 'In The Ghetto', but Chris ending up winning, why? Because no matter how much I kept thinking "man Chris, get your own style", I was also thinking "alright if you're gonna try and be someone else it might as well be him" because DAMN that Ed Kowalczyk is hot. Sorry, I'm just a girl. with eyes.

So yeah, I got about five seconds into "Puck 'n' Pickler" before I started fast forwarding this shameless stall tactic so I have no comment. Same goes for the the "Golden Idol Awards"...I'm sorry...I just can't do it. Its embarrassing, and I don't do embarrassing well. Do not waste my time with this crap. I'm more than a little annoyed...can you tell?

Speaking of embarrassing...If you know me at all you know I have this thing were I get really embarrassed really easily for people who do stupid crap on TV...even if they're not real. And when they are real...well...its bad. I bring this up because, well, I had one of these episodes during the guy's medley. Holy crap it was bad...like Summer's head was buried in a pillow bad. Poor Taylor and his harmonica were carrying it and I actually felt bad for them. Of course Elliot was back with his Eminem style, but why was he squinting? Is that a new 8 Mile move I don't know about?

I'm gonna skip right over the frightening Clay impersonator (and you already know how I feel about the awards) and go straight the the real Clay...now to be real honest...the guy creeps me out. I don't like him and I voted for Ruben...there I said it. However, regardless of my personal opinions, there is no denying that the boy can sing...seriously. Watch carefully Kat...its your runner-up future personified. Ruben who?

So if my reaction to the guy's medley was as bad as it gets...the girls was just the opposite. I LOVED it. Katharine carried it beautifully (as she did the entire night) and Mandisa, Paris, and Lisa were on point as well. I just about lost it when Kat started singing "Natural Woman" and suddenly wondered why she hadn't done that this season. I have this overwhelming need to hear her do that song solo now. That being said...that Kat/Paris/Lisa trio gave me chills. I guess it was a no-brainer to end with Mandisa doing "I'm Every Woman" since they knew how it would go...I wonder if Randy thought it was anti-climatic.

I have an enormous amount of respect for Burt Bacharach, I think that comes from my dad, but the first two bars of this medley just gave Kat one more chance to outshine Taylor, something I felt she did the whole night. I feel like if they had a voting night and just told Kat it was an exhibition or something, thats all she'd need to win. She does so much better when the pressure's off. Thank goodness for her she can have a career without competing on American Idol.

Blowing right past brokeback cowboys or whatever, we come to Kat and Taylor's last performance, which I thoroughly enjoyed, being the Dirty Dancing fan that I am, but...can you guess what I'm gonna say? That's right! Kat was better. That dress was over the top, but she was fantastic. Overall, it was a fabulous duet, but there were subtle parts throughout where she had to match him to save his ass, which takes serious skill, although its not surprising thinking back to the impromptu duet she did with Andrea Bocelli. Its the difference between her training and Taylor's...not training. I'm so eloquent, right?

As this season and finale comes to a conclusion I can't help but wonder...they just had stars like Mary J. Blige, Meatloaf, Burt Bacharach and Prince (PRINCE for gosh sakes) on the stage, and stars like Ben Stiller, David Hasslehoff, and Heather Locklear in the audience. Carrie Underwood is winning CMA's and Kelly Clarkson is winning Grammys and....they are STILL presenting this show like some bad afterschool special concert with badly written songs and waving hands and lighters. Come on people...rise above it. If I was Kelly Clarkson I wouldn't want anything to do with you either.

Well, this was definitely a monster of an entry, so thanks to anyone that read it...but I thought, why not, its the last one for a long time. See ya next year!