Elliott goes home, Taylor and Kat move on

Poor Elliott. Any other season, I think he'd have won this thing. He goes home with a 100,000 vote deficit out of over 50 million votes cast.

I didn't get to see the performance show due to being on the road, but thanks to the expanded results show tonight, I got to see at least some of the work done last night. In my opinion, the voters got it right, even down to the closeness of the results.

The performances this week, from what I've seen, were less uptight than previous weeks. I wonder if the three have finally learned to relax and be comfortable on stage? Singing live is the hardest part of being a singer, and if you can master it, the world is your oyster. The improvement this week tells me that all three of these idols have great potential as professionals.

Taylor: Three home runs on his songs. Joe Cocker meets Michael McDonald. Tonight's CD song, "Takin' It To The Streets" is one that I've been waiting for him to sing all season. My opinion of Taylor's gamesmanship went up this week. He knows what he sings best and has been saving it for the finals. It's his to lose, now that Elliott is gone. Taylor made it seem effortless this week, and that's the first time I've been able to say that all season.

Kat: Got a boost from the songs that were chosen for her. The one she chose for herself was the weakest, so she hasn't learned a lot from the experience. I loved her rendition of "Think" tonight.

Elliott: He goes home having maxed out his "Idol-tude". He did the most on this show even though his potential wasn't as high as the others from the very beginning. He won over a lot of people with his courage and hard work that might never have liked him otherwise. Kudos to him for doing that. I loved his song tonight as well, and his swan song from last night at the end of the show was great as well. Put him in a tour with Clay Aiken and they'd sell out stadiums anywhere in the world. You listening, Clay?

Finals - Taylor vs Kat:
I have to go with Taylor here. He wins the crowd over much better than Kat does, picks better songs, and makes better decisions. Notice how he sang his song with his arms around Kat and Elliott tonight? That scores points with the viewers. No sweat for Kat, though. Second place generally gets a better deal from the record producers since the "prize" for winning Idol is non-negotiable.

Can't wait for next week!