The two of them come out and meet onstage, the last pairing of the night. "The grand finale," CeCe says. Simon asks them how they picked the song. Dead silence, until CeCe spins a lie about how Paige saw it on the list and pointed it out. Paige pulls an Obama and lets this obvious falsehood stand. Simon asks Paige why she should win, and Paige says she doesn't fit anywhere other than the spotlight. CeCe coldly watches Paige's tears and then grits, "I want to succeed as badly as I want to breathe." Well, thanks for not making it hyperbolic. CeCe also makes her voice shake as though she's experiencing human emotion, but her dry, cold, staring eyes suggest otherwise. Anyway. The song begins and Paige is not pulling it off at all. Her unfamiliarity with the song is telling on her. And then CeCe comes in and totally big-leagues Paige with her superior knowledge of the song and a long run of notes at the end. As they leave the stage, Simon comments on how exhausted they both looked. Paige is tearful backstage, repeating that this wasn't the song she would have chosen, "but that's the competition." CeCe just looks are her like, "Why aren't you dead yet?" Britney says she liked Paige, but CeCe tells the camera that if it's only going to be one of them, it has to be her. "She messed up. I didn't. That's great." And CeCe looks ready to devour anyone who disagrees with that. And whatever tonight's previews may have implied, we'll find out who makes it to the next round... next week. Oh, come on.

M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, follow him on Twitter, or just e-mail him at m.giant[at]gmail.com.

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