Clever Title Here

I have been trying for about 5 minutes now to come up with the perfect title to describe tonight's AI finale. Here are some of the rejects:
Lakers vs. Celtics
Best Finale Ever
Was Cook Trying to Lose?
Archie and Jughead

Now that I look at them, maybe I should've just gone with one, they're all pretty good. If there was a blog title-ing reality competition, I'd probably come in 23rd.
Why do I have this obsessive need to explain my lack of clever title? WHY? WHY? WHY? Done.

Now, as for tonight's finale: Was Cook trying to lose? Because he LOST. Archie wiped the floor with him. But I'm getting ahead of myself; let's go round by round...Oh, but before we get to that, one more gripe about Cook tonight -- he seems to have changed this week. All of a sudden, he's playing this role of seasoned pro competing against the new kid on the block. Reality check, Cook, you are not being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. YOU are on the same freaking show as Archuleta! Thanks for letting me get that out. What were we talking about?

Round 1: Archuleta (how have I been spelling this wrong for so many weeks?)
Cook: Did I ever mention that I love U2? This was such a good song choice for Cook. And he really was great on it. But (and you are going to hear a lot of this throughout the post) his predictable runs were so...predictable! Ugh. I just wanted to be surprised with his arrangement. It was totally a finale-worthy performance, though! And his best one of the night.
Archie: Whoa. Was that amazing? I was not thrilled to hear Archie was singing an Elton John song, but he made that simply incredible. The arrangement was unique, yet true to the original, and that last note was perfection. Stunning. And he continues to be so genuine.

Round 2: Archuleta
Before I continue here, I need to say that this amateur song-writing competition might seem like a good idea on paper, but it is really awful. The songs just plain suck. AI needs to commission Diane Warren to write a finale song. Did I digress again? Sorry.
Cook: Was that the best song he could find? It was. not. great. He did a decent job with it, but it was really not a good choice for him.
Archie: Again, this was not a great song, but he certainly made the more clever song choice. It was very AI-esque, which counts for something. And he was in very good voice for the performance -- really strong despite the cruddy material.

Round 3: Archuleta
Cook: I turned to Stanton right when Cook finished singing and said, "I wish he'd sung 'Hello' again." And guess what? About 30 seconds later, Simon said the same thing! I'm becoming creepy good at judging AI. I really do wish he'd chosen a song from earlier in the season. It made me darn mad when he made that trite little remark about progressing -- give me a break -- if you're ever a huge star, people are gonnawannahear your greatest hits! But let's talk about the song he sang. It was a very predictable arrangement again. And those runs were, once again, SO predictable! I had a hard time getting excited about this performance. I felt like he was going through the motions. And when he cried at the end and bit his knuckle? Am I being critical here? I didn't believe a second of it. And I really do like this guy. Really, I do!
Archie: You know I loved this song when he did it the first time. This time? Divine. I am seriously gushing over Archie tonight. You know I don't do that every week, but man, he seriously kicked boo-tay tonight. He was incredible. His voice was so pure, his arrangements were so original, he was so good. Really. Really. Good. Every once in a while he'd move into a run that seemed headed for predictable-ville (yes, I see the irony of my using that word so predictably) and then Bam! he'd surprise me with something unusual and amazing! Really, this kid could do no wrong tonight.

Final Thoughts: What a great finale. I'm really glad it was a Lakers-Celtics match up. They both completely and utterly deserved to be here tonight. If Cook had been in the finale of Seasons 3, 4, 5, or 6, I'd probably call him the winner (okay, not against Carrie Underwood, but all the others -- yes). He's an outstanding talent. And he'll probably go further than Archie in the real world. One thought I had tonight, though, is that his alterna-emo sound seems like it's sort of on the way out the door. I hope he's not too close to the tail end of the era. He deserves to do well post-Idol.
Archie has definitely been the most consistent of all the contestants maybe EVER on AI. I haven't always loved his style, but there is no denying this kid has some God-given talent. He was absolutely on-point tonight, too. Perfection. So, tonight was a very satisfying finale. Season 2 has always been my Golden Season -- the Ruben-Clay finale was fun, well-matched, and suspenseful right up to the opening of the envelope. There hasn't been a season like that again until now. Tonight was awesome. And tomorrow will be so much fun. I do think Archuleta will win, but I will be in suspense right up until Seacrest opens that envelope.

Speaking of Seacrest, I just realized he hasn't said "Seacrest Out" this season. I don't miss it.

Tell me what you thought!