So it turns out that guys can sing songs, too. After the early weeks of "American Idol," I'd almost forgotten.
In the first two weeks of live shows, we saw 22 performances by guys. Exactly two of them (one by Casey James, the other by Michael Lynche) were memorable. The rest seemed to aspire to adequacy.
At first, tonight's show seemed like more of the same. Lee Dewyze and Alex Lambert were OK, nothing more.
But then Tim Urban pulled out "Hallelujah," the Leonard Cohen song via Jeff Buckley. He triumphed with it -- just as Jason Castro did a couple years ago.
Andrew Garcia stumbled on a Christina Aguilera song. (Hey, it doesn't work for him to sing "that doesn't mean I'll give it away." Guys, alas, are all about giving it away.) But the rest was uphill.
James did "You'll Think of Me" in a way that was almost better than Keith Urban's version. Aaron Kelly kind of slurred the early lyrics, but then nailed the emotion and power of "I'm Already There." Todrick Hall turned "Somebody to Love" into a 90-second epic; we finally got a reminder of the years when guys (Bo Bice, Taylor Hicks, Adam Lambert) knew how to perform.
And all of that was just a warm-up for Michael Lynche's powerhouse finale. This guy can sing and he's a performer. He's what Ruben Studdard should have become.
On Thursday, I'll bet that Dewyze and Garcia will be ousted, alongside Paige Miles and Katie Stevens. That gives us the final 12 and a surprise: It turns out that both halves -- the six women and the six men -- have people who can sing.