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by Sheila Franklin Published: September 29, 2006
Since it is down to only Lucy, Alphonso, and Hal, they each get to sing twice. I guess Wayne have to be content to play host and wear shirts and ties that don’t match and grovel at the feet of some really great “Soulsters,” instead of singing with them. Lucy Lawless and Bonnie Tyler Although I really dig the song “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, Lucy is not of the caliber of Bonnie and doesn’t impress me with her rendition. She has adopted Bonnie’s gravelly tones and it’s not very becoming. Bonnie, by the way, got them following an operation when they removed some nodules from her vocal chords. Marie and Little Richard mark her improvement and while there has been some, leave it to David to mention he digs her “growl.” And while we are on the subject of Bonnie Tyler, I thought I would toss in a tidbit about her rather than give you half a page of updated updates of previous shows. It seems that recently some Belgian passengers flying on Air France have filed a lawsuit against the company because Bonnie was kind enough to sing “Total Eclipse” to the co-pilot who was retiring. I believe their complaint was that they were "traumatized by the experience and had feared for their safety during the celebration." Ok, I have digressed enough. Back to the matters at hand. Alphonso Ribeiro and Jon Secada Alphonso’s excuse of the week is that he is unfamiliar with his singing partner’s material and only has 2 days to learn it. Hey Alph, go out and buy a CD. To be fair here, as he and Jon perform “Angel”, we can tell that he does have a voice. His ego seems to have come down a bit from previous weeks, but maybe I spoke too soon. When Marie tells him he isn’t convincing enough in his interpretation, he promptly jumps off the stage and starts pawing her. She obviously likes the attention and says she is a “chocolate” girl. David does the “my world/your world” routine again, but thinks Alphonso is the one to beat. Hal Sparks and Sebastian Bach Hal is paired with another screeching heavy metalist, Sebastian Bach, and they perform “18 and Life”. Here is yet another example of the inconsistencies of this show. For the last couple of weeks Hal has been paired with heavy rockers and has been the only contestant allowed to play an instrument. It might be that he is the only one who can, yet this series is about voices, is it not? Lucy Lawless and Smokey Robinson The finalists are allowed to pick their own choice for a final duet, but only from those who have previously been on the show (pick Wayne!). Lucy picks Smokey because she wants to move beyond the “awestruck” stage. Her rendition of “Fly Me to The Moon” is flat, flat, flat. They do look like the prom King and Queen, however. LR asks “Why do you wanna go up there when you can play down here?” Alphonso Ribeiro and Gladys Knight During the performance of “Nothing Takes the Place of You” we are finally allowed to see the “Carlton Dance”, although it was much cuter on Fresh Prince. Marie likes his chemistry this time and picks him as the winner. David agrees and I must admit that of the three finalists, Alphonse clearly has the best voice. One never knows for sure about Little Richard. He is a benevolent judge. Hal Sparks and Dennis DeYoung Odd that Hal picked Dennis over Dee Snyder to bring back. I thought he wanted to be a rock ‘n roller. Still, when he and Dennis croon “Lady” to their own ladies, it makes for an enjoyable closing number. I think Hal wants to join David Foster’s “world.” Marie says he “went out with a bang”, which is what he wanted, after all. Final Thoughts: Duets never quite got its stuff together. Was it a talent or popularity contest? Why did Hal only sing a couple of select genres when some of the others, like Cheech and Jai, at least tried others? And why did Jay get eliminated when clearly his voice was more on key than Lucy’s? (Never mind, we know the answer to that one.) And if this show was about giving to charity, why didn’t they mention what the charities were? Did they think that would bias the outcome? And finally, will the pre-selection by David and Marie of the winner affect the finale's outcome? For the answer to this and other puzzling questions, be sure to catch Cowell’s next show, American Idol Jr. Inventor Duets. Best Little Richardism: (referring to Hal’s performance with Sebastian) “My Granmama didn’t holler that loud when she was callin’ for the cows to come in.” Previous Episode Recaps: Week 4 | Week 4 Results Week 3 | Week 3 Results Week 2 | Week 2 Results Week 1 |
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