Simon goes for the kill on Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame night

On a night that celebrated the progression of rock 'n roll throughout the United States' history, the Idol stage was filled with tears, laughs, and an assortment of great and terrible vocal performances. To say the stakes were high was an understatement, as Ryan opened the show by saying three of the four remaining finalists had received the highest number of votes in the past few weeks. Although he did not say who had not received the coveted prize, it can be deducted that Jason Castro is the only one who has not, because he has not delivered a show-stopper in the past few weeks.

Ryan also made clear to the judges that they would be able to comment after each performance, which earned collective "thank you"s from all three of them. Great, there goes any hopes of this episode being more exciting than last week. But it was still able to deliver, especially one certain finalist, and it is fair to say Simon was more than happy to play the role of executioner.

David Cook kicked off the night with his take on Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf." Although he could have picked a handful of more deserving songs of the 500 they were allotted to choose from, David managed to do a good job. His raspy tone really shone through and he looked like he was having fun walking around the stage. Randy was hard to please, has he said he was underwhelmed with the song choice and thought it was "just ok." Paula said something about having a big appetite, and Simon agreed with Randy, thinking it was copycatish. Good to see Paula has been rewired by Nigel & Co. and seems to be back on track.

For his second song, David took on The Who's "Baba O'Riley," in which he pretty much stayed true to the original arrangement. He showed major control by starting the song out in an almost innocent style, and built into a rocked out performance going into the chorus. Although he still was not all the way there, Randy said it was the David Cook he's grown to love, while Paula said she wanted "more, more, more, more, more, more David Cook." Simon's comment was simple and got his message across fairly strongly: "Welcome back David Cook."

Syesha Mercado followed up David C. with Ike and Tina Turner's "Proud Mary," and her performance channeled the choreography of Tina herself. Her vocals took a back seat once she began dancing, but her performing skills once again legitimized the notion that she will be a star on Broadway. The judges were split, as Randy liked how Syesha has come alive in the past few weeks and Paula called her a star, but Simon put a damper on everything when he said it was "shrieky" and "a bad impression of Tina Turner." He made things even worse when he followed up Syesha' comment that she had fun with by saying "well I didn't."

On her second song, Syesha gave a boring yet vocally solid performance of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come." Although she looked beautiful, the fact that she just stood in the same spot throughout the whole performance took away from it. Randy was extra harsh in his critique, saying he didn't love the arrangement and thought she pushed out for things that did not fit, and he was disconnected. Upon receiving Paula's standing ovation and comment that she "had come," Syesha could not hold back the tears, and Simon's agreement with Paula set off the waterworks, making Randy out to be the bad guy. Syesha explained that while researching the song and its circumstances, she felt like she had changed, and could not stop crying while reading about the civil rights movement.

And then, it was Jason's turn. The calm before the storm was shown in his pre-performance package, when he said he picked "I Shot the Sheriff" by Bob Marley, and added a "go figure" accompanied with goofy eyes. That should have been a warning sign, but no one expected what came next. Jason pulled off one of the weakest, worst, most karaoke performances ever on the show, and the worst one this far into the competition (John Steven's "Crocodile Rock" was worse, but it happened earlier of course). Randy was mild with his critique, calling it a "really karaoke Bob Marley" and saying he didn't get it and Paula was once again as negative as possible by saying she was not crazy about the performance or song but she thought he did a really good job connecting with the audience.

But it was Simon who dropped the MOAB, as he told Jason to "stand back" before continuing his critique. "That was atrocious," he said, continuing to compare it to a "first round audition massacre" and that he did not know what he was thinking. Jason answered Simon's rhetorical question with the biggest proverbial middle finger he could come up with: "I was thinking Bob Marley!" he chuckled. Simon was not amused, and continued the onslaught, saying the only similarity to Marley was his hair and advised him not to sing a Marley song for his next one. And that, my friends, is what we call a performance.

Although Jason did not offer another performance as awesomely bad as his first, he did complete his objective by forgetting a line of lyrics on Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man," though he did sound much better this time around. Randy said he was not in the zone tonight, and asked him how he thought he did, to which Jason responded with "I lost some words in there" with a chuckle. Paula said the performance "is what it is" and Simon opted to be nice and blunt this time by saying "Jason, I'd pack your suitcase."

But David Archuleta was able to save the night, as he was overall the best. On "Stand By Me," David sang the classic faithfully by sticking to the original arrangement and was vocally terrific. Randy continued his overexaggerated praise, calling the performance "mad hot," while Paula called him "seasoned" and Simon said it was the best performance of the night so far, while continuing to pile it on Jason by saying David could have "whistled the song and it still would have been better than the last one." David's reaction to Ryan's question of why he looks like he is going to pass out every time he waits for the judges' comments was that "their faces scare me!" Who can blame him?

In round two, David stepped up his game even more on Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender," which featured a creepy zoom-happy camera guy who did not want to take the camera off David's face. Randy again called his vocals "hot," which by the way is becoming his word of the season, while Paula blabbed her usual praise. Simon clearly decided on the winner of the night, saying David "crushed the competition."

Ryan closed out the show by reminding voters that Tamyra Gray and Chris Daughtry came in fourth, by which he meant: "David & David fans - vote or else!" And it looks like they did just that. Jason will be going home without a doubt, as it would be unjust for him to carry on with the show against his wishes. His fans must have taken the hint after last night, as there was no better way to say he wanted off than how he acted. Jason is a great person, but his time on the show has finally come to an end, and he and his fans should be happy with how far he made it.

Predictions:
Bottom 2: Syesha, Jason
Eliminated: Jason