Analysis: Mini-surprise livens up Top 10 results

In a night filled of fake-outs, big surprises and not so big surprises, Idol hit a high mark with last night's results show. Yes, it felt extremely rushed and a few things could have been cut out to ease the pace (*cough*SmokeyandJossStone'sduet*cough*), but all in all it was the best results show of the season.

Breezing through Ryan's witty tease with Kara over her botched "six words" critique of Adam and his lame attempt to rekindle Paula's crayons (or crowns, according to Ryan) joke on Simon, which resulted in Simon saying they "got a room" after the show, we got to see just how well the Top 10 sounds when its group performance is pre-taped (even though we already know how it sounds when the track is pre-recorded). Bravo to whoever thought of that quick fix to the lip-synching scandal.

The performance could have been done without actually, but it was not the lowest point of last night. That came when the second guest performance set took the stage in Joss Stone and Motown week's mentor, Smokey Robinson. Although Smokey proved to be a wise pick in coaching the finalists, his creepy singfest with the much younger Joss was boring with a capital B, not to mention their vocals did not mesh well together whatsoever.

But second season winner Ruben Studdard sounded awesome on his new single "Together," as the slimmed down (and newly-married, as Ryan pointed out) velvet teddy bear reminded the audience why he won his season despite being far from where he began success-wise at the moment. What was particularly bothersome was how Ruben was hurried off the stage, only having time for a quick exchange with Ryan before he got down to the night's results.

As for the results, the announcement that Matt was in the bottom three was certainly not expected, as the studio erupted with audience members voicing their dissent. Even Matt himself seemed a little surprised, and understandably so. But this just goes to show that either performing first or having the producers play games for ratings can be a round trip ticket to the B3, depending on which explanation you prefer to subscribe to. Either way, there was no way Matt had the third-lowest votes of the night. No way.

Michael and Scott were both expected to be in the B3, and that is exactly where they wound up. But Randy's suggestion that Matt did not belong with the both of them was a sign of what was next to come, as Ryan told Scott that he would be back next week to perform (but hey, at least Randy didn't get Matt's name wrong). Again, the thunderous outcry from the audience members was a sign that people were genuinely shocked that Matt could be in the Bottom 2.

Then came yet another guest performer in Stevie Wonder, who tore up the house but could have done without the tired shout outs to President Obama and American Idol. Still, he was able to get the entire Top 10 (including Michael and Matt) on its feet dancing along, with Kris even enthusiastically mouthing the words and Lil bowing down to him in an "I am not worthy" motion. One thing he was not able to accomplish, however, was getting Simon on his feet. That is something that man will probably never do on this show.

But when it came time for the results, no one was surprised. Michael, who many pegged as being a "WTF?" pick for the Top 13 in the first place, showed that he can bow out with grace and poise, smiling all the while. When he sang "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" one last time for the judges to allegedly discuss whether or not to use their tool on him, it was apparent that not everyone was digging the idea of having a pow wow. Paula was up dancing the night away, clapping along and only briefly nodded her head when Kara tried to get a word in. The others barely spoke at all, and when it came time for them to give their verdict, spokesman Sir Cowell claimed they had not reached a consensus, instead asking Paula "yes or no?"

But in the end, of course the judges did not waste their immunity on the oil rigger, as his name is not Adam, Danny or Lil. The fact that Michael was able to depart with his spirits high speaks volumes.

As for IDOL LIVE's predictions, I am now 0-4 with my original predictions because I had Jorge going home originally. I was actually right on with my pre-results show predix, though, as I correctly guessed Michael would be striking out even though I had Megan in the Bottom 3 rather than Matt and Scott in the Bottom 2 rather than Matt. That makes me 1-4 in that predicting category.

Next Tuesday, either rock songs or selections from the iTunes Top 100 chart will be performed on the Idol stage if rumblings are to be believed.