'Idol' Banter: Emotional rescue

“Idol” watchers, it’s time to talk about our feelings. I don’t mean your fanatical devotion to David Cook or my nervous hopes for moody Carly Smithson. It’s time to consider one of the key decisions every aspiring Idol must make as the competition narrows: which emotional state to call his or her own and cultivate.

Last night, the most memorable contestants -- Syesha Mercado, Michael Johns (whew!), David Cook and, heaven help us, his evil cousin Kristy Lee -- made emotional choices as they repped for the years of their births. They planted a flag in the region of the heart where they’ll be hanging out in the coming weeks.

Syesha committed to the sob in her voice, casting her lot with heartbreak. Michael returned to the macho (if, thank you, Freddie Mercury, slightly androgynous) sexuality that got him on the show. D. Cook kept us feeling sinister, reinterpreting yet another R&B hit in the minor key of grunge. And, K.L. Cook, like a Barbie-fied refugee from Robert Altman’s great country music satire “Nashville,” called on patriotism, a fervor that’s worked in America since the days of “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

Unlike the other contestants, all competent but personally lost, this quartet has recognized that “Idol” ponies should not try too many tricks. Versatility may be a value the judges tediously uphold, but what people really want from their favorites is connection: that first-date feeling of getting to know someone really cool, gazing into his eyes, discovering what’s under her skin.

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