Ramiele hangs up her cowgirl boots

Although Ramiele Malubay's departure last night was the right decision, it was still sad to see her go. Ramiele sang a teary-eyed "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" as Carly Smithson, Brooke White, Kristy Lee Cook and Syesha Mercado rallied behind her, and went out strong.

The thing about Season 7 is there is no remaining contestant can be categorically described as "awful," something that has never happened in seasons past. Everyone has had at least just as many great nights as they have had off nights, and the judges' comments on the whole have skewed more positive.

Last night, audiences were treated to performances by The Clark Brothers and Dolly Parton, both of whom managed to get a rise out of the studio audience. Parton's graciousness was unmatched, and her performance coupled with the "Idol Gives Back" preview video caused Brooke to start crying right before she was told she was in the bottom 3. Her status as the third-lowest vote-getter was not as big of a surprise as many thought, because Brooke kind of blended in with the others and was perceived as being "boring."

Kristy Lee probably did not deserve her spot in the bottom 3 this week, but since everyone is really just that good, it does not make a huge difference one way or another. Odds are she or Jason Castro will be out next week.

The show was kicked off by a giant group performance of "9 to 5," including a venture to the judges' table and dancing in the audience. But the highlight of the night was probably when Simon "apologized" to four different directions of the studio, making up for all of the ones he owed different people like Carly, and he called her "cute." Very un-Simon-like.

Ryan took not-so-interesting 'Idol Live' phone calls, which were even more useless than last week. The most exciting question was probably to David Cook and Michael Johns about which song they would like to sing on the tour together, and Michael said "Islands In the Stream," which got lots of laughs.

Next week will be interesting, because there will be three doses of Idol, which will be enough to tire anyone out (inspirational songs or not).