If an American Idol episode airs...

...and I don't recap it...and nobody NOTICES or CARES that I didn't recap it...did it actually happen?

Sorry...real life intervened today and I wasn't able to put together my Idol recap from last night. Tell the truth...did any of you even notice?

Super short version: pretty much everything was boring until Lee sang "Hallelujah" and created one of the EXTREMELY rare moments that I will remember from this season. Yes, he was helped tremendously by the arrangement and production values (seriously....back up choir, angelic lighting, smoke machine, AND the split screen treatment? You think Simon knows who he wants to win this thing?). But I think that early in the season, he would have been swallowed whole by that arrangement, but he has truly improved every single week in my opinion, and was able to more than hold his own.

Another commentary on this season: Last night there were 47 million votes cast. Last year's vote count on Top 3 night? 88 MILLION. So apparently I'm not the only one losing interest.

The biggest problem has been the lack of breathtaking, memorable, showstopping numbers that make you say, "I am going to rewind and watch that again RIGHT NOW." Last season, we had at least one of those almost every week...this season, I think there have been, at MOST, six:

- Siobhan, "Think"
- Siobhan, "Paint it Black"
- Lee, "The Boxer"
- Crystal, "Me and Bobby McGee"
- Lee/Crystal, "Falling Slowly"
- Lee, "Hallelujah"

Am I missing any?

Anyway...one more to go. I promise not to blow off the finale.