Idol Picks Its Top 2!

After playing songs of their choice as well as songs picked by the judges, Idol‘s top 3 — Lee DeWyze, Crystal Bowersox and Casey James — faced the final elimination before next week’s season 9 finale.

...and Kara DioGuardi was right! (based on a recent interview where she predicted the final two.)

Crystal and Lee will face off in the finale — and Casey is out.

As Wednesday’s results hour ended, Lee was the first singer declared by Ryan to be safe. Then, without trying to tease out any suspense from the moment, Ryan said Crystal would be with him. “I’m safe?” she asked, incredulous, before running over and hugging Lee.

So it’ll be Lee or Crystal, and definitely not Casey, the guy who combined a cowboy lankiness and a cheerful, surfer-dude unflappability.

It probably wouldn’t have mattered if he’d been informed that he’d be the first living person to record a duet with the ghost of Elvis or that he’d be spending the rest of the year recording backup tracks for Kris Allen in a studio on a prison ship. He would have nodded and smiled.

This has, in fact, been the season of laid-back Idol.

At the start of the show the three of them sat there, looking astoundingly cool under the circumstances, and resolutely unwilling (or unable) to put on a dog-and-pony act of burbling excitement as Ryan tried to probe their emotions.

It was good, though, to know that Crystal’s diabetes has been getting better treatment than ever, being on the show. And the footage of their home visits was very touching: They were all humbled by their success and the kind wishes of the fans.

There were two guest performers who were much closer to the Idol type. Travis Garland is a choreographed, shiny pop package. If this were Glee, he would have been revealed to be the lost descendent of Judy! Justin Bieber sang, too — a very slick talent projecting outward from somewhere inside what looks like a natural American teenager.

Watch next Tuesday and Wednesday night for the two part finale of American Idol 9 on FOX. Plus, Simon Cowell will be leaving next week. Let's see what that Idol producers have in store for his send-off.