With this year's extra strong field of contestants, it's getting harder and harder to find things to criticize. That's why, I think, Simon was nit-picking, grasping at straws during  last night's second Beatlesfest, to keep the "controversy" level up and to try to thin the herd.

A perfect example - knocking sweet Brooke White for wearing a yellow dress as she sang "Here Comes The Sun" and judging her performance "horrible." Okay, so she doesn't move it so well, but the singing was definitely  full-bodied.

Similarly, Simon went after Carly Smithson for the too obvious (?) visual connect between her black hair and "Blackbird" declaring "I don't think that was a smart thing to do." Huh? It was maybe the best performance of the night. And gave her the chance to talk about how she's felt "broken down" by the music industry (the "take your broken wing" line) and  again learned how to "fly."  Do we smell a hint of setup here between the performer and the TV judge, to create some dramatic exciitment and sympathy for the "ringer"?

And what the hell was Simon thinking, critiquing the ""Achy Breaky Heart" quality  of Chikezie's "I've Just Seen a Face"?  Has Mr. Cowell never heard the Beatles' original, which was very much  country inspired (in a Marty Robbins vein)? Like he did the previous week, I'm thinking the Chikster's performance mix of new soul (first part) and then country finish was a very good way to take the  song somewhere new, then bring it home.  And it really showed his vocal range.

Not that I think Simon (or Paula, or Randy) were totally off base last night. Amanda Overmyer's one trick pony act - this time putting her gruff, note eliminating Southern soul twist on "Back In the USSR"  -  is getting repetitive. When will the viewers figure out the woman has a limited  range?  But you gotta hand it to Amanda for rationalizing that she's only got a minute and a half to show what she'll be like in club performances. She's already planning ahead.

David Archuleta's "The Long and Winding Road" was  deservedly praised - though I don't think I'd go so far as to call it (as did S) a "master class." The kid was in his comfort zone, and his huge  fan base was probably in ecstasy. Still, the performance would have been more edgy and nteresting without the same sappy string arrangment which Phil Spector laid on the Beatles' original version after the fact.

The other dream boy of the younger set, dreadlocked  Jason Castro, had a horrendous time with "Michelle." Randy wavered - "good choice . . don't know I really got it."  Paula sensed his "disconnect" - especially to the French lyrics.  And Simon said only his visual "charm" (oh so young and sheepishly smiling, "Grease" era John Travolta-like) was saving the guy. Do tell. 

In fact, I would have voted Jason  off the show after last night's shaky showing. That ain't gonna happen, however. Bottom crawler Kristy Lee Cook - another cute yet awkward performer -  is most likely to take the  stroll down memory lane tonight. Her "Hey You've Got To Hide That Love Away" was decent, though she kept cutting out the highest "hide" note. But Kristy really, um, blew it in her unintentionally salty parry with the judges after the performance, when she declared "I can blow you out of your socks and you know it." I think that expression goes "knock your socks off," dear.  Middle America was not pleased.