The theme was Grand Ole Opry, which is just a fancy way of saying "country night." Funny thing is, very few of the performances ended up sounding even remotely like country music. I think in a weird way that's a testament to the contestants, who managed to put their own spins on some very recognizable songs. Overall I was impressed again by the group - I really do think this is overall one of the strongest group of finalists we've ever had on this show - and there weren't any truly horrific performances. Randy Travis - who it must be said is looking rough, although he still possesses a great head of hair - was the "mentor" for the week, which was essentially pointless but for his hilariously awkward segment with Adam.

Michael Sarver "Ain't Goin' Down Til the Sun Comes Up" by Garth Brooks. Randy spent most of his interview worrying that Michael would forget the lyrics. How could I tell if he left out words? I couldn't understand any of them. He sounded winded throughout the performance, and it all came out a mumbled mess. It was a bad song choice in that there's very little actual singing in this song - it's like the country version of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" or REM's "It's the End of the World as We Know It," just rapid-fire words in pretty much a monotone. He ended up outsung by his back-up singers. The judges kept talking about how much fun he was having, but I didn't see that. It looked to me like he was rushing to catch up the whole time. And Michael's constant pandering to the "country folks," and his sass talk to Simon, really grated. He can go home whenever at this point, the crush is officially over.

Allison Iraheta "Blame It On Your Heart" by Patty Loveless. I figured Allison would be totally screwed by country week, but she picked a song that worked really well with her growly rock sound and had fun with it. I would even say that I preferred her version to the original. She also showed that she's more than just her caterwauling, cranked-to-11 sound. She sang well (even if it was too low in parts), and really impressed me. Good on her. She's proving that she's a lot more diverse than I figured.

Kris Allen "To Make You Feel My Love" by Garth Brooks. Oh, hello there, Idol moment. A beautiful, restrained, totally gorgeous vocal, aside from the biffed last note. It showed real confidence to come out and do that with almost no instrumentation. I couldn't hear Garth Brooks in the song at all, and I mean that as a compliment. People keep commenting on his goofy singing faces, but truly, his are no worse than Lambert's or Gokey's or anyone else's. And I also think it trivializes his abilities to put his success solely on the giddy teen girl voting bloc. The guy is legitimately talented, and I can see him breaking out of the pack in the next few weeks.

Lil Rounds "Independence Day" by Martina McBride. I was petrified for Lil, because this just totally is not her type of music. She even admitted that the only country songs she's ever heard were in movies. I think she did a serviceable job, but that's it. Her milky voice didn't really fit, but she was good on the power notes, and I think she mostly pulled it off. Not a great performance, but certainly not terrible, and I hope she gets enough votes to skate through. I keep pulling for her despite two underwhelming weeks. Maybe I'm dumb.

Adam Lambert "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash. I am not an Adam fan, but I have to admit, that was really great. Almost a perfect vocal. His falsetto sounded particularly good this week - it usually sets my teeth on edge. Kara said he did country music, which he didn't. He did a Middle Eastern version of a country song. And that's fine. I will say that his purring and the sexy hips made me think the ring of fire he was singing about might be an after-effect from a particularly memorable Saturday night at The Bachelor Forum. Interesting that Simon thought it was indulgent, when he loved last week's number, which I thought was insanely indulgent.

Scott MacIntyre "Wild Angels" by Martina McBride. They're working with Scott on his hair. I'm glad to see that. The performance, however, was pretty dull. He was really nasal for some reason. It was sung competently, but it's just not a particularly good song, I don't think. At least his version wasn't. He really likes these woo-woo spiritual lite numbers, and the judges called him on basically recycling the same lame material week after week. I agree completely. We've seen no progression or differentiation from Scott whatsoever, and he's in real danger of becoming predictable. And boring.

Alexis Grace "Jolene" by Dolly Parton. I'm so familiar with the Dolly version that it's hard to embrace anything else, but I think this was good - better toward the end. She certainly put real emotion into it. There were parts that were a little shrilly, and some lines where I could not understand what she was saying. The outfit was dowdy too. I agree with Paula that having her do another power song would have been boring, and give Alexis credit for showing her soft side. I didn't think she sounded like Dolly at all, Simon.

Danny Gokey "Jesus Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood. Oh, Danny Gokey. Voluminous white jackets are not your friend. This song always makes me giggle. It's just so...pandering. And of course Gokey would pick it. As soon as they said he was doing Cunderwood it was a foregone conclusion in my mind. The guy can sing, and he's got soul, but he was not doing well the higher notes - it's written for a woman, after all - and it was extremely shouty in the chorus. His weakest performance by a mile. And yet the judges referred to it as "brilliant." How can you call any performance of "Jesus Take the Wheel" brilliant? Somebody needs to take the wheel of this show, I swear to...well, you know.

Anoop Desai "You Were Always On My Mind" by Willie Nelson. Thank you, Anoop, for focusing on your singing again and leaving the cornball fratboy-baiting antics at home. It wasn't the best vocal of the night, but it's the best he's sounded in weeks, and he really seemed to connect with the song. I'm glad he's back, because I was ready to write him off.

Megan Corkrey is now apparently going by Megan Joy? Whatever; everything this girl does annoys the living shit out of me. "Walkin' After Midnight" by Patsy Cline. It was probably her best vocal yet, but I still don't get her whole shtick. It's so overly affected and awkward, and I really do feel like it's all an act. There's certainly absolutely nothing current about this girl. The gown was something Cher would have worn back in her variety show days. The high notes were pretty rough. Apparently she has the flu? And was in the hospital? Funny that she turned in her best showing when she's supposedly just getting over being seriously waylaid.

Matt Giraud "So Small" by Carrie Underwood. I couldn't understand a word he was saying until he hit the chorus. His vocal sounded strained and the grittiness in the verse did nothing for the song. If this wasn't a classic case of waiting for the chorus, I don't know what was. But even worse than that, he was off pitch at least slightly for the last quarter of the song. It must have sounded dramatically different in the studio, because the judges fell all over themselves telling him how amazing it was. Paula even called it "authentic," which is SO FUNNY because there is NOTHING authentic about Matt Giraud. Simon thought he outsung Gokey - no (although neither of them were particularly good last night). Randy called it his favorite performance of the night. Better than Anoop? Better than Kris? Better even than Allison? Crazy. Pills. Then the judges threw around the Michael Buble comparison, and Randy mentioned Timberlake as a way of demonstrating how varied Matt is. No, Randy. It just goes to show how many different people he can barely passably ape. Fail, judges. Total fail.

Recap: Sarver was pretty bad. I hope Allison's safe, but I worry about the size of her fan base. Kris was the best of the night. Lil was disappointing for a second straight week. I ended up loving Adam (who saw that coming?). Scott was forgettable with a lame song. Alexis was decent, but forgettable. Gokey looked terrible and sounded the worst he has all competition, but is still safe. Anoop got back on track. Megan should be in the bottom, but America is stupid and cannot think for itself. Matt was ridiculously overpraised for a decent vocal.

My bet: Bottom 3 includes Alexis, possibly Allison, possibly Lil, possibly Scott, possibly Sarver. I think Alexis and Allison are probably in the most danger based strictly on lack of buzz. If we were going on singing only, it would be Sarver, Megan, and I hate to say it, but Lil, with Megan or Sarver getting the cut. But I think we all know that's not going to happen.