The Best American Idol Recap EVER!!!

The performance show on Tuesday wasn't too exciting, to be honest. The boxing theme ("The Battle of the Davids") did absolutely nothing for me; it was stupid and overplayed. I hated it. Each guy sang three times: Archuleta sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" (chosen by Clive Owen), "In This Moment" (The Idol Songwriter song), and "Imagine," his first big hit on the show; Cook sang "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (chosen by Clive Owen), "Dream Big" (Songwriter song), and "The World I Know." Both were good but Simon stated that the first two round went to Archuleta and after the final round he scored a "knockout." Also in the show was a performance by Ruben Studdard. Lame.

With that out of the way, it's on to the season finale!!! What a show it was... Packed with awesome performances, winners of years' past, and all kinds of celebrities. Here's the set list:

The Top 12 performed together with the new cast from So You Think You Can Dance? to The Temptations' "Get Ready." What a great idea to combine these two casts and give a little promo for SYTYCD, which premiered on Thursday night.

The Davids paired up and did a great duet of the song "Hero." They genuinely sounded really good together.

Next up was Syesha and guest performer Seal. They sang Seal's new single "Waiting For You," and it was an awesome performance. She'll definitely get a record deal out of this.

Jason Castro came out and did a beautiful rendition of "Hallelujah," during which he didn't look completely stoned.

The top 6 girls hit the stage next, performing a medley of Donna Summer songs. Then, out of nowhere, Donna Summer (looking like a hot tranny mess) joined them onstage and she and Syesha went back and forth for a while which was pretty OK. Amanda Overmeyer proved that she really had no place in the competition, while Carly and Ramiele reminded us how America can make really bad decisions.

Giving Carly some more stage time, she did a duet with Michael Johns, singing "The Letter." They totally rocked.

Next came the top 6 guys singing a few hits from and with Bryan Adams. All of the guys looked so cute together on stage (especially David Hernandez--yum) in their tuxedos... They sounded fine.

David Cook hit the stage with ZZ Top, one of my dad's favorite bands. Those guys are great--their beards are insane and it was funny seeing super-trendy Cook rocking "Sharp Dressed Man" with them.

I'm a little surprised she got to sing, but Brooke White performed "Teach Your Children" with Graham Nash of CSNY. It was touching (I guess), but a little lackluster.

I still don't know why some people (Perez, etc.) are so obsessed with them... The Jonas Brothers were next singing their hit(?) "S.O.S." I prefer the Rihanna song of the same name.

David Archuleta teamed up with OneRepublic for an awesome version of "Apologize." The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Archuleta was on a piano, too.

Then it was time for past winners to hit the stage: Jordin Sparks was first, looking rather awkward in a hideous gold dress, singing "One Step At A Time." There's no doubt that the girl can sing.

Looking totally hot in a white jacket/dress thing, Carrie Underwood came on stage next to sing her hit "Last Name." It was totally fierce. In her intro, Seacrest mentioned that she won her second CMA last weekend--go Carrie!

The final planned performance of the night was the Top 12 together with George Michael. It was--how do I put it--different. I mean, yeah, he's a big star, and it was a good idea to have them all come together on stage one last time, but George Michael ended up singing by himself for a good five minutes (of pure torture). Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but I just feel like he got way too much stage time.

All in all, there wasn't a bad performance the entire night. Totally entertaining. After all of that, it was time to announce the winner... I can't believe there were 97.5 MILLION votes. That proves that Idol still has so much power in the world of pop culture; I don't see the show ending any time soon. It's also surprising to me that the split was 56% to 44%... So yeah, David Cook won. Before Seacrest announced it, I was totally thinking I'd be fine either way, but when it happened, I was a little shocked and, let's be honest, pissed. Oh well.

The finale show also gave some camera time to other celebs. In the audience were Blake Lewis, Teri Hatcher, Melinda Doolittle, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ashley Tisdale, and many others. I wish I had been there!

What a season it has been... Definitely no lack of controversy (finalists with records, gay strippers, Danny Noriega, etc.), personalities, or performances. Can't wait 'till January when it all starts again!

Oh, here is EW.com's in-depth (but not quite comprehensive) recap of the season finale. And check out a photo recap here!