This was supposed to be the best season of "American Idol" ever, but it's ended up like a lot of other ones, with several bewildering weeks concluding with a predictable endgame. Does anyone really expect Syesha Mercado to unseat either David and nudge her way into the finals? Of course not, and that's why reviewing the performances from Tuesday's show feels a little pointless. It was a strange evening, with illogical picks from the judges, producers, and contestants themselves, and no real breakout moments. Conspiracy theorists might note that the judges were unusually hard on Syesha, giving her way less credit than she deserved for her bold "Fever." But the bored-seeming judges were harsh on the Davids as well, rightfully dissing Cook's lame personal song choice and Archuleta's lack of hip-hop soul cred. Oddly, but in keeping with the season's criticism theme of "song choice, song choice, song choice," the panel let both David A. and Syesha have it on that topic despite neither having anything to do with the choices of the songs in question.

David Archuleta David's first song was a Billy Joel tune selected for him by Paula, and that was probably his best of the night -- Joel's style has a natural theatricality to it that serves the Archuleta persona well. As for the romantic bits, David still has a credibility problem there, as his other Tuesday night tunes further illustrated. I don't know whether it was David himself or his handlers who picked the R&B-flavored "With You" for his second song, but it certainly seemed like a bit of repositioning meant to solidify Little David's questionable mainstream commercial potential. It was kind of an odd fit, since the rapid delivery didn't flatter the young singer's style at all and it seemed like he garbled a few of the lyrics in the second verse. For his third number the producers saddled David with a tacky, vaguely Christian love ballad by Dan Fogelberg and this is where the pressure of having to learn three songs in less than a week really showed, as David seemed exhausted and detached. He had more mistakes after singing the first two songs pretty solidly and for the first time on the night he sounded truly dreary -- I couldn't wait for "Longer" to end, even in its 90-second arrangement. 8/8/7

Syesha Mercado Randy Jackson gave Syesha Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" to perform first, an obvious choice perhaps but one Mercado seemed overjoyed about. She sang the song beautifully, showing continued improvement as she as all season long. I am more familiar with the original version of this song than many that are aired out on "Idol" and I thought that for a recent hit Syesha did an all right job of making some adjustments to make the song her own. She overdid things a bit at the end, but all in all I thought she was the winner of the first round, so to speak. Her second piece, "Fever," was a bit of a gamble, and one I really enjoyed. She did a very sexy kind of juke-joint throwback and it was definitely the most entertaining performance of the night if not the most technical. I don't think it does nearly enough to slow down the roaring Double-David bandwagons but she's going out on her own idiosyncratic note, and I think that's cool. Of all the faces in the "Idol" cast this year I underestimated Syesha the most, and I hope she does well in the future. Her last song, "Hit Me Up," really does give the conspiracy people some ammunition, since it would be hard to think of something less in Mercado's mode. Like David earlier, the fast lyrics kept her from showing off her instrument and there wasn't much melody to work with. She had trouble getting on the right rhythm for the fast verses at the start of the song and never really recovered. You deserved better, Syesha. 9/8/7

David Cook Simon Cowell inexplicably gave David a Roberta Flack tune, which Cook did the best he could with -- it was hokey and his singing during the buildup parts was shaky, but he made up a lot of ground at the end when the arrangement got more into his comfort zone. His karaoke version of the lame Switchfoot song "Dare You to Move," the choice of which Cook defended in utterly incoherent fashion immediately performance, was less forgivable. Is Cook to be held responsible for the fact that the popular hard rock music of his adolescence and early adulthood was deeply crappy? Yes he is, there was nothing preventing him from going back and listening to better hard rock. The producers saddled David last with Diane Warren's dire "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," and David sang it the "right" way, I suppose, but it's still not something I ever want to hear or think about again. Simon awarded David C. the night but I would have to give my vote to Syesha -- yes, that's right, now that you're doomed, I'm finally recognizing your talent. 8/7/8

Picks: I guess it has to be Syesha Mercado, right? That's what all the signs point to, although not the quality of their performances the other night. Ha! Like that's ever mattered on "American Idol." The four-sided die votes for David Archuleta. Polyhedral dice, you so crazy.