American Idol recap: Who are the two?

*Note: the "American Idol" recaps are a series of blog posts from "Morning Express with Robin Meade" Technical Director, Keri. Keri knows what every button on that giant panel (above) in the control room does, and she presses most of them while putting "Morning Express" on your TV every day. Keri is also a long-time Idol fan and provides the Morning Express writers and producers (who typically go to bed way too early to watch "Idol" live) with a recap. We get a kick out of Keri's "take" on the show, and thought you might as well. The opinions below are Keri's alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of "Morning Express with Robin Meade" or HLN. Here are her impressions of last night:

Results night! The Top 3 become 2. “Sometimes it’s good to go home… but not tonight,” the opening montage reminds us.  Gee Idol, thanks for stating the obvious.

No "Top 3" group performance this week.  Instead, we got a lengthy chat with them about their perspective at this point in the competition.  As my eyelids got heavy and my mind wandered, I astonishingly found myself wistful for the gooey cheese of the fondue pots that are the group performances.  How is that possible?  Stop the talking, and get to the hometown visits…

HOMETOWN VISITS:
TEXAS THINKS “CASEY IS HOT:” Casey headed to the hospital where he recovered from an accident 6 years ago and thanks them for saving his life. He sings for Texas, but strangely, we don’t hear a single note. There are tons of screaming girls holding “Casey is hot!” signs. He autographs a puppy. There is a horse with “Hi Simon” in tape on its butt. Ha ha! Casey’s response to it all? With a little A.I. sign covering his mouth, “Holy bleep!”

“MAMA SOX ROCKS” TOLEDO: Crystal headed to Toledo where she got a key to the city on what became Crystal Bowersox Day. There are tons of fans with “Mama Sox Rocks Toledo” signs.  She pops her head out of the limo’s sunroof like she’s playing Wac-A-Mole to tease them.  She autographs “Mama Sox” on some dude’s chest, and the guy plans to turn it into a tattoo! Performing at “Bowerstock” (Girl has the coolest name ever!), she sings an original song, “Holy Toledo.” Excited to finally have some of her original music heard, Crystal explains, through tears, that the song has become an anthem for an area hit with tough times.  She is happy to give them hope and something to look forward to, “That’s what this is all about, man.”

CHICAGO “BeLEEves IN LEE:” “One minute you’re mixing paint… and the next minute, you’re here,” Lee explains on the local news. He throws out the first pitch at a Cubs game and is overwhelmed at seeing his name on the Wrigley Field sign. He heads to his elementary school where there are scores of squealing girls and one little boy with his finger in his ears.  They all have “BeLEEves in Lee” signs.  Then he stops for a visit at his old paint store where he breaks down in tears. At a racetrack, he sings “The Boxer.” During the song, he breaks down in tears again. His parents follow suit. And then I join in too. I literally had to pause my DVR to get a tissue. As he leaves an event, he assures his screaming fans, “I’m going to try and win the thing, alright?”

THE RESULTS:
No dragging it out with theatrics since they spent too much time on the hometown visits, and we all know who is going home anyway. After over 47 million votes (Wow! Up 10 million from last week. Though still a far cry from the 88 million of last season’s Top 3), Lee is the first person headed to the finale.  Crystal is joining him. She’s not sure she heard it correctly and asks, “I’m safe?” Dear Crystal, would we have it any other way? All is right in the Idol universe.; She runs up to Lee and, literally, jumps on him (though not as gracefully as those springy gazelles that Ellen’s been talking about). Aww.

Casey managed to make it all the way to the Top 3. And as he said in the chat at the top of the show, it is like winning 10 million or 100 million in the lottery, “It can’t be bad.” He sings himself out with this week’s judges’ choice, “Daughters.” Looking distracted and without the comfort of his guitar, he walked into the audience and picked up a little girl, who I’m hoping is related to him since she was sitting with his family. He sings the second half of the song seated behind the judges with the little girl on his lap. She looked just as distracted as him. Like they were both thinking what I was thinking… Can we get this over with already?

Afterwards, we got one more look at Casey’s Idol journey. And yes, we got one more look at him taking his shirt off too. Now his journey is complete. Goldie Locks and his little lamb head home.

Despite the over-pimping from the judges this season that tends to backfire, we got our inevitable Top 2 after all.  Crystal and Lee are headed to the finale. But after the hometown visits finally left me feeling somewhat emotionally vested in these two, I’m actually kind of looking forward to it… a little. I’m not expecting anything as immensely entertaining as last season’s epic Adam/Kris/Queen collaboration, or the colossal Adam/KISS extravaganza, or even the exceptional Allison/Cindi Lauper duet (I mean, come on! Can it get better than that?), but it might be special in its own way. Here’s hoping…

*Casey's Idol journey is over... but Keri's recap isn't! Twitter's golden boy Justin Bieber and Travis Garland (who?) performed last night too:

GUEST PERFORMANCES:
TRAVIS GARLAND: Who is this guy, and how did he get on the Idol stage in front of 20 million viewers? He doesn’t even have his own listing in Wikipedia. Apparently Perez Hilton, who is in the Idol audience, discovered him online and thinks he’s better than Justin Timberlake. Hmm… a lot of silence from the audience at that comment. Wearing a leather vest that looked 3 sizes too big, Travis Garland performed “Believe.” It never really went anywhere and petered out at the end, but maybe he was just too tired and sweaty from the strange disjointed choreography and running up the Idol staircase. I did like the 3 guys playing the steel drums though… very cool.

JUSTIN BIEBER: Cue the screaming girls because Justin Bieber is on the Idol stage.  He sings “U Smile” and “Baby” with his very own drum solo at the end. I don’t have an opinion, as I am not 12 years old.

*P.S. – if you are new to Morning Express, hello! Please visit us on our main showpage CNN.com/Robin and get to know anchor Robin Meade, meteorologist Bob Van Dillen, business correspondent Jennifer Westhoven, sports anchor Rafer Weigel and news correspondent Richard Lui. Get your "news in the fast lane" on Morning Express with Robin Meade weekdays from 6 to 10 Eastern time on HLN!

*P.P.S. – follow HLN on Twitter @HLNTV and we'll update you as soon as Keri's next American Idol recap is up... you'll also get breaking news, and opportunities to share "your views" on the day's issues.

Posted by: Morning Express Technical Director Keri
Filed under: Adam Lambert • Allison Iraheta • American Idol • Casey James • Cindi Lauper • Crystal Bowersox • Ellen Degeneres • Extras • Justin Bieber • Justin Timberlake • Kara Dioguardi • KISS • Kris Allen • Lee DeWyze • Perez Hilton • Queen • Randy Jackson • Ryan Seacrest • Simon Cowell • Travis Garland