It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN!

Do do do dooooo! Do do do do doooo! I can't believe we finally made it. At the beginning of the season, it felt like we'd never get here, for real. The top 24 was ROUGH. And also, I said I hoped Lee would be out the first week because his name was annoying to type. Sorry buddy!

Obligatory opening montage with Lee and Crystal's audition videos, talking about being the next American Idol. Blah blah blah, it all comes down to THIS, yadda yadda. I think it's cute how Ryan's always like "My name is Ryan Seacrest"--way to keep it real, Ry.

Simon's busted out the blazer, as he is wont to do on finale night and IGFB night. Weird entrance from the audience for Lee and Crystal, I think there was a technical difficulty there. Three rounds tonight--contestant's choice (favorite of the season), Simon Fuller's choice, and the cornation song. Barftastic. Crystal won the coin toss and picked to go second, so after the break, we get Leeeeeeeee!!

Interview with Lee's cute parents. LOL and baseball card pictures. I love his parents. I think they just seem so normal and cool. His choice for tonight is "The Boxer", from effing Inspirational songs week. It's kind of hard to critique stuff they've already done. Lee looks smokin' tonight. I loved this when he did it in inspiration week, and it's good tonight, but isn't really WOW. It's kind of a sleepy song. Hopefully he rocks out with whatever Fuller chose, because you know the cornation is gonna be lame.

Interview with Crystal's sweet dad. Really awkward pics of past Crystal, LOL. Tonight she picked to redo"Me and Bobby McGee" from Billboard 100 week. I don't remember this performance, sadly. Sorry CBow! Same with Crystal here...she sounds awesome, but I don't really know if this song is killer. This is probably gonna be the theme all night though, because both these contestants are that "coffee house" grungy kind of sound. There's no Glambert here with platform boots and spiky costumes to blow the roof off the joint.

After the break, we've got Lee doing Simon Fuller's choice. What happened to old Clive Davis? He hasn't been around since two years ago, when he made one of the Davids sing "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" for the fourth year in a row. GOD, Clive.

Anyway, "Everybody Hurts" for Lee...seriously? This reminds me of that ep of the Office when Dwight was mad that Michael liked Ryan better, so he sat in his car and listened to this. I love Lee so bad, but I am not feeling this. He actually went kind of flat in the middle there, ouch. Lee totally got the shaft from Simon Fuller. BOOOOO. I disagree with Simon that this was a brilliant song choice. I'm sorry, but I think this song is so whiny. REM fans, go ahead and bash me.

Fuller chose "Black Velvet" for Crystal. I mean, could these picks get any more trite? Simon Fuller sucks. I mean, Crystal will probably work the hell out of this song, but it's just so....blech. She starts out Lambert-style on the stairs all lit up in red. I like this better than her first song, but this song...God. Simon tells her she nailed it, which is technically true. She brought it this round fo sho. I just wish they had picked something less lame for her to nail. That probably makes no sense.

Coronation round. I wonder if they are singing the same one this year? Some years I think it's the same and other years it's different. OK, I'm lost. So he's not singing some lame song that someone wrote? He'll release U2's "Beautiful Day"? Idol's changin' it up! He sounds pretty great, finally, but I'm still all confuzzled about the change in plans LOL. He finished strong at least, that was really awesome. I still love you Lee!

So WTF is Crystal going to sing then? This show has turned me upside down! She's doing "Up the the Mountain." I don't know this song. I Googled it, apparently Susan Boyle has covered it, as has KClarkson. Crystal is working it. The song sounds awesome, and she's really into it. Her voice is so super great, guys. I mean, based on tonight, she totally deserves to win. I enjoy both of them, and I do love Lee, but I think Crystal may have edged him tonight.

We end tonight with a "tribute" to this season sung by Will Young, who won something British. Oh okay, his song was the goodbye song every Wednesday, got it. LOL. I think it's called "Leave Right Now." Hey, the top 12 is back on stage! Sup guys?

Tomorrow is going to be really interesting! And this is my last blog posting, I just realized! We're going to shut 'er down after this season, because let's face it, it's gonna suck when Simon's gone. Tomorrow night we have our YOOOOGE finale, and Bren will take you through the results! It's been a pleasure blogging for all of you--Lindsay OUT.