"You have to feel like you can make a fool of yourself," Robert tells Nellie, "that's the whole thing." It really is. You have to tell everyone your deepest insecurities and secrets and then have them exposed on TV, and you have to tell Cory Monteith about the death of your sister because it will make you almost as good an actor as him. That's the whole thing.

Lily had trouble with the lip-sync, Charlie doesn't follow direction and had no idea it was dangerous or disrespectful. In fact, "the word dangerous had not crossed [his] mind" when he was taking a cane from a blind guy and pushing him. What a card. That's our Charlie. Ali was not vulnerable or raw enough, Mario was a bit flat and completely in denial. He rebuked Nikki's suggestions three times, which is enough to put him in the bottom three for me. Charlie, Mario, and Lily will perform for Ryan Murphy this week and justice is served.

Nikki tells Lily she'll be performing "Mercy" by Duffy, and Lily is not pleased. Mario will perform "Over the Rainbow," and he tells Nikki coldly that he is "thankful for that option." Charlie celebrates a little too much about singing "Fix You" by Coldplay. May the worst attitude go home. Or send them all home and bring back Dani. I will not shed a tear in the name of vulnerability.

Is that a military jacket on a hatless Ryan Murphy? Some re-purposed Marine Dress Blues for no reason at all other than mercilessly judging these youths? I like his style. Lily is up first for her technical problems with the lip-sync. If you're going to be on this show, you need to lip-sync. Her vocal performance of "Mercy" is good, but I don't care for her. Ryan tells her it was fun, but he's worried about her because the show is about underdogs and she is not an underdog. She argues with Ryan, again, and cries because she wanted a ballad. Ryan applauds her tears, and Zach hugs himself in delight.