Performance Show:
I got there slightly early, and for once, it was a good thing that I did, because the crowd was very celeb and pseudo-celeb heavy that night. Among the many Canadian notaries in the crowd were Pinball Clemens, Amy Sky and Marc Jordan, and just about everyone who has ever appeared on any sort of CTV news or talk show. I will also mention that Ben and Mila Mulroney were in attendance, and they get their own line just so I can say how much I hate them and never want to see them again. Now, what do these boring celebs have to do with anything? Well, I failed to mention that among these has-been types, KURT BROWNING!!, his lovely wife, ballerina Sonia Rodriguez, and Brian Orser were also in the crowd. I swear to God, Kurt Browning is the only celeb in the world that can seriously reduce me to incoherent fangirliness when I actually go up and talk to him. I climbed over three rows of seats to get to him and when I finally did, what did I manage to say? "OMGZ U R LYK THE GREATEST SKATER OF ALL TIME 4EVA AND EVA!!!1!" Then I gushed over Sonia and told her she was as lovely as her dancing. Yes, I used that exact phrase, because I'm pathetic like that. And that's not the end of it! Sasha Trudeau was also in the audience! I love Trudeaus. My personal preference is Justin Trudeau (since he is a drama teacher and therefore we are soulmates for life) but Sasha will do in a pinch. I spoke to him coherently and commended him on his fabulous documentary and exposé work.
I spoke to a few of Kalan's cousins before the show. The guy was about my age and the two girls seemed a bit younger. They were cute, very excited about the whole thing. Aww.
The actual show was fairly uneventful. Zack gets super-props for being the only judge with the nerve to publicly call out Jacob on his emo stupidity (see: the whole fiasco over Jacob's journal entry on the Hedley website prior to the Top 3 show), but then he loses at least half those points for contradicting himself. You can't say "Winning this thing is important!" in one breath and then call it "this silly show" the next. Also, there is no way in hell Sass wasn't at least tipsy, if not fully drunk, on Wednesday.
I will say that Kalan's performance of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was very different live than it came off on TV. If anyone ever doubted that this child wants to win this, that performance should've erased all doubts. It was technically imperfect - yes, he was slightly off key, yes, there was definitely one hell of a broken glory note in the middle of it, but damn, it didn't matter. This was a hell bent for glory performance, one of those charged with electricity stage moments that can never be replicated and can never be fully sensed through a TV screen. It was... I don't know how to describe it. It was "I'm going right to the edge, and I'm going to hang on by the tips of my fingernails and hope to God I don't fall off." That, folks, was called singing to win.
And as annoying as they are, God bless the judges for choosing the second song for him. I never would've thought of it in a million years, but it was perfect. Ingenious, even, making the child sing a song that's basically about The Little Prince when he is The Little Prince. He came out on stage quite early and looked nervous as death and chewed on his lip all through the fluff of the judges blathering about why they chose the song. The second he sang the words "very far... very far..." I got literal chills. And those eyes. *dramagrrl promptly falls over and dies* Yes, it was rather musical theatre, but it was freaking stunning nonetheless. When Farley said, "I'm so proud of you, kid", I wanted to leap up and yell out my agreement. It's cheesy, I know, but I am proud of the boy.
Jacob and his banana-eating? I have to say I found it slightly amusing, mostly because he kept shoving it in Kalan's face to offer him some, and Kalan kept shaking his head, and I was thinking, "You should have some, child, bananas are full of potassium and you need to eat." Theresa had no such hesitation and bit off a big chunk the second time Jacob shoved it in her face. Hee. Oh, and Kalan was so totally dancing to the theme music at the end. Cuuuuuuuuute!
Results Show:
They didn't film a teaser this week, but they did bring out the Top Three to wave at the crowd instead. Kalan seems to have a new thing to do when he feels awkward, and it's called Hug Theresa. After he waved awkwardly to the screaming crowd, he proceeded to sling his arm around Theresa, squeeze her, grin, wave awkwardly with his free arm, and then hug her with that arm as well. CUTE.
And really, the entire show was all about Kalaresa. There was, like, Jacob......... and then there was KalanandTheresa. I can totally see how the little 14-year-olds who don't understand the concept of male-female close platonic relationships are totally convinced that Kalaresa are an item, because honestly, it's gotten to the point where these two might've done an AdamandKirk and dropped out if the other was booted. Honestly.
When the group number was over the cameras were off, Jacob hugged Theresa, then Kalan hugged Theresa (AGAIN!)... and then I waited for Jacob and Kalan to hug each other, except they didn't. Heh.
Ben and Jacob are totally in love. They can't stop touching each other. Every time the three Idols were on stage and then the cameras focused on something else, Jacob would, like, jump on Ben, or Ben would bug Jacob, or something. It was slightly creepy and amusing at the same time.
Watching the Idols watch their own visits home was super entertaining. All three of them were stuck on stage during the showing of Jacob and Kalan's visits, and when Theresa went to hang over the piano (shoved over onto stage left after Audrey's performance), Kalan promptly followed her. And hugged her. AGAIN. Methinks someone was a little afraid of losing his "big sister" yesterday and thought actually physically holding onto her would save her.
When they showed Kalan's visit home, the child just turned red and started blushing up a storm. It was the cutest thing ever. At one point, he literally doubled over and turned his back to the screen and Theresa and Ben both had to force him to turn around, which he did after blushing even more fiercely. When they showed the fangirls screaming for Kalan, Jacob mimicked them and made a very exaggerated screaming fangirl face at Kalan, which got a laugh from the crowd and made Kalan turn his back to the screen and bite his lip and have to be forced back again. Freaking adorable, man.
Stools of Doom! Kalan immediately started chewing his lip off and held Theresa's arm in a death grip. Theresa actually pulled tissue out of her pocket in case she started crying. Jacob looked shockingly muted. Kalaresa did their resings and then resumed holding onto each other for dear life. Oh, and Kalan was totally singing along with Theresa during part of her song. When Jacob climbed up on his stool to start his re-sing, Kalan looked at him like he was an alien lifeform and then laughed. I don't like Jacob at all, and I will not miss him, but I will give him this - if you're going to be an obnoxious attentionwhore, that re-sing was the way to do it. Go all out or don't do it at all - that's why I gave him props for "Space Oddity" and will give him props for this. If he had done it like that on Wednesday, he would've saved his own ass, so I'm rather glad he didn't.
I'm not generally a conspiracy theorist, but... I felt like when they came back from the last commercial break, everyone knew Jacob was a goner. Ben barely even glanced at the card, and Jacob just looked muted and resigned the whole night (except during that cracked-out performance). Kalaresa got immediately teary, but c'mon, dude, if it had been one of them, they would've been bawling. There would have been rivers of tears and suicide pacts and hour-long hugs. Theresa is going to flood the stage with tears when Kalan wins on finale night.
I don't know how much of the post-show hugging the cameras caught as I haven't had time to check my tape, but Jacob hugged Theresa first, then Kalan, then Theresa again, then Kalan again... then Tammy (a.k.a. the girlfriend) made her way on stage and they hugged for a good several minutes and, as soon as producers and other people blocked them from view of da chirrun in the crowd, they sucked face for awhile, too. Heh!