Idol Thoughts

Yep, I watch, but only after they get down into the Final Twelve. No interest in watching the train wreck auditioners during the circus part of the season, life too short. What I found interesting about tonight's final competition episode is that this is the first year that I really felt the two contestants were evenly matched, both entertaining, neither making me cringe or wonder what all the suspense is about.

If judged by the amount of excitement he stirred over the course of the season, Adam Lambert should surely win. And there's the sexual orientation angle, would be great to keep breaking down barriers on that front. Of the three songs he performed tonight I think he hit it out of the park with Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come," chill-worthy stuff, especially if you believe, as I do, that gay rights are the last frontier for full civil rights in America.

On the flip side, I felt that Adam's theatricality may work against him. You'd never see his competitor, Kris Allen, in a Broadway show, but that's actually right in Adam's comfort zone, what he was trained for, albeit with a rather classic rock and roll edge. On the traditionally awful coronation power ballad written specifically for the winner, I felt he was by-the-numbers, going for the audience pumping high notes with his great gift, but not creating something original or moving out of it, relying instead on theatricality, albeit turned down a notch from the opening "Mad World" fog and trenchcoat number (like straight out of a Dracula musical). I also think the premature Entertainment Weekly cover (with a surprisingly thin story) may have been the kiss of death, much like Super Bowl teams consider it a jinx to make the cover of Sports Illustrated the week before the big game.

Which brings us to Kris Allen. Low-key and crafty in a manner reminiscent of last season's winner, David Cook -- in fact, some of those superficial similarities to Cook are reason the producers might be so seemingly in favor of Lambert -- he managed to grow in stature over the final weeks. His choice of the award-winning but still somewhat obscure number from Once for movie night showed very cool and impressive taste, and his adaptation of songs like Kanye West's "Heartless" to his acoustic rock style has been continually pleasing. While he may not be the high-volume excitement machine that is Adam Lambert, his voice and style wear exceedingly well.

Kris got props from the judges for his first round "Ain't No Sunshine" pick and performance, was treated more indifferently for the producer's choice in round two, "What's Going On," but I think he actually won the coronation song round by underplaying the power ballad cliches that Adam simply bit the bullet and dived right into. I didn't believe Adam but, oddly (considering the general awfulness of the song) I believed Kris. It didn't even sound like the same song. It didn't even sound like an awful Idol coronation song.

So on the basis of the season, I'd give it to Adam. On the basis of the evening, I'd give it the Kris. Neither one did anything as bold as David Cook's smart against-the-grain gamble last season when he chose to perform a song he had not done before on the show, rather than the traditional reprise, for which Simon thought him the loser and the next night ate his words.

Within the limitations of the show -- hey, I find it hard to imagine you're ever going to get a truly transgressive, transformative artist this way, so sorry -- this was the best two finalists yet, and no matter the winner, they'll do just fine after the dust clears.

As for all four judges, I'm not so sure.