Last week, the women got the hour to themselves to show their stuff. This week, one girl leaves and the men have some time to show their stuff. The opening number is Greased Lightning with all the Danny hopefuls with full on pompadours. I’ll say this, only Derek actually looks the part.
We get the manufactured portion of the show where we find out that the guys all dislike each other.
The gimmick this week is that each guy had to work on something for the last two weeks to address his shortcomings. Austin had to go to comedy school to learn how to be funny. Austin does Beach Boy’s Fun Fun Fun with three of the girls dressed up like dancing hookers. Points there. I actually liked this performance. It was choreographed well and he sounded good.
Derek has the look. This is what he’s got going for him still. He’s the only guy of the three remaining that I actually buy as an Italian Greaser. His thing to work on was singing. Good thing they moved him into the final 12 when singing isn’t his strong suit. Well played. He’s singing Bryan Adams’s Heaven. This is an odd choice and painfully out of tune. Frankly, I could sing this song as well as he’s singing it and not in the sarcastic “I can pitch as well is this major league ballplayer” but in the “I can really sing as well as this guy’s singing right now” way. The vocals were really bad, but he’s the only guy that looks the part. Irony, thy name is reality television.
Speaking of guys who don’t like Italian Greasers, skinny Jewish kid Max Crumm is next. His thing to work on this week was, go figure, his look. He’s in the gym learning to box. He’s doing Hard To Handle from the Black Crowes. Best performance of the night thus far. He’s certainly got the attitude down but not the look. Fortunately, one of those can be worked on. Let me preface this by saying: I like Max. But, I don’t see him as Danny Zucco. I could buy him as Mark from Rent. I can buy him as one of the guys in Spring Awakening. But a tough guy? I just don’t see it.
Finally we have Chad, who had to work on his acting, so he went to see an acting coach to help him get his point across to people in the back row of a theater. He’s singing Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now. He was supposed to work on projecting, but he’s instead really just sort of shouting his song and he’s going in and out of tune. He second in the looks department. Chad and Derek are really just filler between Max and Austin.
Now, to take care of old business, we find out what the girls go through in a week between the shows. File this under filler until we find out which two girls are in the bottom two. The bottom two are Kathleen and Allie which is unsurprising based on last week’s performances. If the judges save Kathleen for a third week straight I will be shocked. America’s least favorite was Allie, which also shocks me. The sing-off is to It’s Raining On Prom Night. I still hate this mechanic. It’s not growing on me. What is the point of people voting for their favorites when the judges just choose who they want to go through?
The panel (Kathleen and Jim) chose to save Allie, eliminating Kathleen. David said he chose to save Kathleen, which baffles me because she’s totally wrong for the role and the other girls are really just filler until Ashley is declared the winner.
I expect that Chad and Derek will be in the bottom two next week and, since the judges still seem to be obsessed with Chad, Derek will be heading home. Thus leaving them with no one who looks the part.
