Night 2 was a big improvement over the premiere, with Dallas offering up several potential contenders. There were still a couple instances of harassing the mentally ill, but all in all it was a fairly upbeat, feel-good evening.

The good: Alaina Whitaker, a less-pretty Carrie Underwood clone, might even be a better singer than her famous counterpart, as she demonstrated on Faith Hill's "Stronger." Brandon Green is a weirdo who peels off his fingernails and then saves them in a plastic baggy, but he won me over by picking Hall & Oates' "Rich Girl" and I really dug his tone. I don't think he's long for the competition, but I was impressed. Kady Malloy, 18, does spot-on imitations of Cunderwood and Britney (why would anyone imitate Britney's "singing"?). She's obscenely affected, but when she sings in a more "natural" voice Simon says she's the best he's heard all competition. He may be right, but she'll have a lot of work to do. Dork-ass Kyle Ensley, 21, totally threw me. They did this whole mock-presidential thing (he's also a political hopeful) and I expected him to suck, but he's got a great little theater voice, as evidenced by his glee club-ish take on "Somebody to Love." The next Gayken or Chicken Little? Drew Poppdreiter possibly literally fell off the turnip truck on the way to the audition. This young farmer is so hayseed, and so hot, and so very, very sheltered. He has a nice Randy Travis-esque voice, but will need to young it up considerably to advance. And tragic Kayla Hatfield was in a horrific car accident a few years ago that scarred half of her face and left her blind in one eye, but also so full of life that she's infectious, like a deranged little Minnie Pearl. She gets through on Janis Joplin's "Take Another Little Piece of My Heart," and Kayla will be quickly dismissed once we get to Hollywood, but right now I kind of love her.

The not as good as they think: At 24 Jessica Brown has had two babies and conquered a meth addiction, and she has officially already accomplished more in her life than I ever will. But she's not a natural singer, and she works way too hard to get through "I'll Stand By You," not even counting the few bum notes. She gets through, but I'm not sure she should have. And Nina Shaw, also 24, is gorgeous and should walk herself over to Tyra's house. But alas, she's not that great of a singer, as she underwhelms on Whitney's "Run to You." A better job on a jazzy second song gets her through, but just barely.

The bad: Kyle Raddick describes himself as a hardcore rocker, but is actually the male Avril Lavigne (we'll call him "Mavril," TM Bob). He's that hokey faux-punk thing, sporting the deepest tan I've seen since George Hamilton, eyeliner - excuse me, per him, "guyliner" - and a poster made by the kids he councils. He is also clearly gay, and might want to come to terms with that before auditioning on any more reality shows. He hilariously sings the so very hardcore "Never Again" by Kelly Clarkson. Doug Davidson is like a lower functioning Dwight Schrute, or one of Bill Murray's kids from "Rushmore." He is not all there, and after shouting through "Living on a Prayer" and staggering creepily around the audition room and making noises previously unknown to man, he had to be forcibly ejected. There are people who come on this show knowing they're full of shit and just desperate to get on TV. Doug is not one of those people. I think he seriously thought he had a chance, and I feel gross that we had to watch him be humiliated just because he didn't know any better.

The awesome: I was fully prepared to dismiss Rinaldo Lapara, 44, whom the show had been previewing all week, decked out in his shiny silver/white wool pimp suit. But then he came in, and totally won my heart. Rinaldo thinks that Simon was sent from Heaven (I don't necessarily disagree) and Rinaldo has come up with his own composition to sing, called "We're Brothers Forever." And gosh darn it if it isn't the catchiest little ditty I've heard all week. Rinaldo is so passionate, so devoid of cynicism, that as he belted out his little song you couldn't help but fall in love with him a little. Even though he was wearing a winged white feathered pimp hat. After a few rounds, the judges and Ryan even joined in the chorus, and Paula, in her best moment possibly ever, launched into an interpretive dance, and then broke it down into full 90's boogie. It was a surprisingly uplifting way to end the episode, and a welcome respite to the craptacular episode the night before.