Country week is often the worst Idol theme night, because belting black ladies and barn-burning rocker grrls and fey dancepixie gays have a hard time twanging. This year's version went... actually, kinda OK.

The Good
 Allison continues, in my mind, to dominate. Worried that her belting might not fit well with fiddles and country zithers, I braced myself for an awkward performance. But it was great! Growly and just backwoods enough. Of course the judges' praise was only mild, as they apparently really don't want her to win this thing. Dear, sweet Krissy Allen chucked his guitar and sang straight from his gooey, married heart. And it was lovely. The kid's learning how to market his sex appeal. Which is good for his chances on the show, but bad for his chances as a human being. Paula gummi-gushed and Kara looked at him slyly and Simon said "Yeah... it was good, you prat," giving him a so-help-you-if-you-steal-my-groupies glare. Matt Giraud, who seems to have a wretched personality, did pretty well and Simon, blessedly, said that he'd outsung the wicked Gokey that evening. Which was satisfying.

The Bad
 Scott had no place in this competition weeks ago, and last night he continued to hammer home that sad point. I don't really even remember what he did. Simon meekly defended him, and the whole judges' panel turned into a sad discussion about Ray Charles and other blind piano players. Matt the Roughneck mumbled lazily through some tune or other, limply grabbing audience members' hands as if he were already a weary multiplatinum star finishing out the last leg of yet another interminable tour. Except he's not. He's in the final 11 of American Idol. Wake up, son! Lil Rounds was, as expected, completely unsuited for the theme. She sang something about Independence Day that included a chilling lyric about the guilty getting punished or something. For once, the judges didn't cream all over themselves for Lil. So, that was fair. And Gokey. Oh Danny Gokey. Doing a warbly, bad buildup to a song just so you can yell and growl the second half chorus part while doing your lame bop-dancing is bad enough. Doing that while performing that horrifying, let-me-hope-the-magic-man-knows-how-to-drive song "Jesus Take the Wheel" is unforgivable. But, as always, the judges slobbered and lapped it up and he got that same, wretched, self-satisfied smirk on his face. And the audience whooped. I don't understand you, America!

The Otherworldly
 What, exactly, happened during Adam Lambert's preening, weirdo, "#1 Crush"-esque performance of "Ring of Fire"? I'm pretty sure dogs started howling and an alien spacecraft that was avoiding Earth detected the strange signal and decided to take the exit and go investigate this curious keening and be-spangled moaning. I guess you gotta respect someone for taking a risk or whatever, but it had no framework, it had no point of reference. It had no genre, which is Idol's chief currency. And that mold ain't gonna get broke 8 seasons in, Lambs. Plus it was arrogant, with all the leers and squinting and the way he voice-humped the word "desire..." Stop trying to make Idol sexy in that way! It's never gonna be sexy in that way! You're not even sexy in that way!

Prediction
 Adieu, Scott, methinks. Anoop was buoyed by a decent performance, and Megan Joy (she got rid of Corkrey, as I suspected she would) looked pretty. So. Yeah. Toodles, Mr. Mellow.