'Idol' victory won't be a piece of cake

The contestants may 'hang together' now as they celebrate Jason's birthday, but it looks like a tough fight ahead.

A hall of mirrors. The battle of all against all. Like wrestling in quicksand. This is how "American Idol" punditry will no doubt describe the impossible task of making sense of this season; even trying to grope for the shape of the contest is infuriatingly slippery.

After last week, we seemed to have a clear top tier (David Archuleta, Carly Smithson), a clear middle tier (David Cook, Jason Castro, Brooke White, Chikezie) and a clearly doomed group (Michael Johns, Kristy Lee Cook, Ramiele Maluby, Syesha Mercado).

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