About last night: Tarantino's advice fails to spice

Self-professed Idol fan Quentin Tarantino came into his role as mentor to the Top 7 finalists with less pizazz than he did back in 2004 when he served as guest judge for the third season's movie night. He seemed more relaxed and understanding of the finalists' strengths and weaknesses this time around (see his "I didn't care" comment to Diana DeGarmo for reference). That said, last night was a real letdown in terms of performance quality, as Tarantino's advice really did not seem to matter in the end.

Although Allison kicked off the night with Aerosmith's venerable "Don't Want to Miss a Thing," it paled in comparison to David Cook's rendition last season. She had some impressive moments and definitely was spot on with her high notes, but the arrangement was not unique and overall was lackluster. The two judges that were allowed to comment (oh yea, another brilliant idea from Ken Warwick & Co. since Idol did not run over last night...oh wait, it did), Paula and Simon, seemed pretty pleased with Allison's job, but the comments were more overarching and centered around Allison compared to Lil than they were about her actual singing, but what else is new.

Last night was not a lot of things, but Adam's performance of "Born to Be Wild" was certainly accurate to its title. Since he is the strongest performer on the show this season, it was not unbelievable that he delivered on expectations with the Steppenwolf mainstay. But the vocals were sort of out of control in some spots, but again, that is not something that is to be unexpected. What was a little surprising was how Simon said it was "vocally incredible." That term is pretty powerful, and that was not one of Adam's better vocal jobs for sure. And of course, Paula was her usual fangirl self with Adam and her "path of greatness" drool was the icing on the cake.

Someone who was weaker than he has been lately was Matt. He picked a great song in Bryan Adam's "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman," but there were pitch problems galore as Randy so wisely pointed out. His piano playing was as good as usual but his vocals were inconsistent. Kara actually stated it well when she said if Matt wanted to change up the melody as much as he did it needed to be close to perfect. And it wasn't. Matt will be in serious hot water tonight based on the performance.

Like Matt, Danny had a rough night compared to what he is usually capable of. In addition to some off notes and pitch issues, Danny's lack of glasses took away part of his persona. Aside from that, Simon was right about him not stepping out of the box and coming off as boring compared to Cook's ultra-changed up rendition of Lionel Richie's "Hello" last season. Maybe it would not have been as believable had Danny gone and done a 180 with the song, but it at least would have become a bit more interesting. Definitely one of his weakest offerings to date, but he should steer clear from any trouble tonight.

Anoop on the other hand did a pretty solid job on Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You." He slowed it down yet kept it sounding fresh and current, which is not usually an easy task for him. Randy and Kara each loved it, so that's got to count for something, right?

The best performance of the night was without a doubt Kris' take on "Falling Slowly" from the film Once. All the elements that combine for a great end result were present, including vocal control and correct usage of the falsetto. It may be true that he didn't end up going with the guitar as Tarantino originally suggested, but that actually ended up being the right decision because his vocals would have played second fiddle to his instrumentation. Randy's downer critique was unexpected because it really is hard to find something as wrong as he did with the performance. Kara might have overreached when she said it was his best to date, but she was closer than the truth than Randy.

But all was pretty much forgotten by the time Lil took the stage, as she delivered a wreck of a rendition of Bette Middler's "The Rose." Lil was under immense pressure after weeks of critical comments from the judges regarding her inability to pick the right song and make it her own. Last night was no different, as Simon truly lashed into her by saying she was not the same singer they met weeks ago, which prompted Lil to go on the defense as she tried to justify her infusion of R&B and gospel sound into such a soft song. Had Lil not gone last, she would most likely be going home tonight. But she got the pimp spot, thus she is going nowhere.

The prognosis of last night's performance offerings may not be good, but that does not mean all of the remaining finalists are not good. All of them are great in their own right, but there are still weaknesses to each of them. This is something people should take into account before they go ahead and declare the winner.