So we've got three spots in the Top 12 left (or DO we?), and eight potential candidates to take ‘em. Going into Thursday night I strongly disagreed with several of the judges' eight picks, but things certainly didn't play out how I expected. Here's how it all went down:

Jesse Langseth "Tell Me Somethin' Good" by Rufus. Jesse started out with pitch problems, but her larger issue was that - despite what Kara said after the fact - she simply does not possess the swagger it takes to pull off this song. It was pitchy, it was a little screechy, it was ultimately boring. It certainly wasn't a performance that would nab someone a spot in the Top 12.

Matt Giraud "Who's Loving You" by the Jackson 5. I had serious issues with Matt getting this second, third, fourth chance, especially after his truly terrible Colplay cover in semi-finals. But to his credit, and the judges', this was so much better than his previous outings. I still think he's a blatant rip-off of Justin Timberlake, and he cannot hold a note for more than two seconds to save his life.

Megan Corkrey "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" by KT Tunstall. Ugh, god. Her voice is so fake sounding, and she looked so uncomfortable on the stage. It was just a karaoke performance, that's all I saw. And someone set Megan's make-up gun to "whore." Simon always talks about "cabaret," but what's more cabaret than Megan Corkrey? Simon calls her current, and says she's not karaoke - UGH. Simon is almost always on, but what about this girl blinds him? She's not a very good singer!

Von Smith "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word" by Elton John. Holy cats, the beginning was terrible. He looked and sounded completely terrified. And then, once he got to the big notes, he immediately got all screamy. This kid makes the craziest faces when he sings. For Von, "eliminated" may actually be the hardest word.

Jasmine Murray "Reflection" by Xtina. Another person who I didn't think deserved another shot, and again she did much better tonight than she has in the past. But Jasmine's problem is that she has a natural tendency to go flat, and her voice is EXTREMELY nasal. When she's not pushing so hard she can sound quite pretty, but 90 percent of the song was forced. Still, probably her best performance of the competition.

Ricky Braddy "Superstition" by Steview Wonder. How many times have we seen this song on this show? It was pretty cheesy, but I think that's precisely what Ricky was going for, because I suspect that's what he assumed the judges want when they say "personality." I mean, look at how they fawned over Nick/Normund -- they love cheesy. Ricky did all the goofy "personality" stuff: the white-boy bounce, the googly eyes to the camera, and he still found a way to show off his vocals in a song that really isn't that range-y. But the judges really dinged him for the song choice.

Tatiana Del Toro "Saving All My Love For You" by Whitney Houston. It's the same song she sung in semis, yes? Or earlier in the competition? Trouble is, Tatiana was nowhere as good as she was during the semifinals. I will say this for the girl: she is great on the big, soaring notes. But she was flat on a lot of the lower stuff. I also think she may believe she actually IS Whitney, which would explain a lot of Whitney's past 10 years, actually. The judges humored her for a bit, but ripped into her for singing the same song over and over (remember that in a minute), and Tatiana herself may have been drunk. She definitely created an accent out of thin air. Oh, this girl...

Anoop Desai "My Perogative" by Bobby Brown. Didn't he also do this song before? His worst performance yet. It was entertaining, but it wasn't well sung. It was really karaoke in the beginning, and he didn't even sing the chorus of his 90-second song? Methinks the press might have gotten to Anoop's head a bit. The judges certainly have bought into it, since they offer him no criticism whatsoever for the performance, even saying that the vocal wasn't great. I also love how they gave him a free pass on the repeated song, when they crucified Tatiana for doing the exact same thing. I like Anoop, but this was really unfair.

Based strictly on performances tonight I would have given it to Matt, Ricky and Jasmine, which I did NOT see coming.

But what actually happened? Jasmine's in. Ricky's out. Megan is in (totally undeserved). Tatiana is out, and of course she had to become a drama black hole. Jesse's out. Von is out. Matt is in. And Anoop is...IN. A last-minute reveal gave us a Top 13. Too many games, "Idol." Too many games. I only hope this means they're planning a double elimination, and not adding a week on to the damned competition.

So four people who performed fairly poorly either in semis or during the actual Wild Card round somehow made it into the finals. Ain't that a kicker?

Now that the Top 13 is fully formed, some predictions:

-Kris Allen: An enigma. We've seen so little of him, I can't even guess at this point how he'll do.

-Megan Corkrey: Out by Week 3. The judges love her, but America has proved time and again that it's ambivalent about Megan. She reminds me of that bird girl from the spelling bee a few years ago.

-Anoop Desai: Will probably hang in for a couple weeks, if he keeps down the road he's going. But if instead he actually focuses on his voice and less on the BS playah stuff he's pulling, he could make Top 6.

-Matt Giraud: We've already had a Justin Timberfake on this show (Chris from S6), and he was way hotter than Matt. But what might keep him in the competition is his piano skillz.

-Danny Gokey: A few weeks ago I had picked him to go all the way, but he's already getting a fairly significant backlash going. That set in way earlier than I expected.

-Alexis Grace: I feel like I haven't seen her in a month, but she's got some heat and a good voice. I'll be surprised if she doesn't make it until at least the middle of the pack.

-Allison Iraheta: Sorry, but she's out in the first three weeks. She's got a lot of power, but she's very green. I just don't think she'll be able to hack it.

-Adam Lambert: Difficult to tell. I like him less every time I see him, but his semi performance seemed wildly popular. I wouldn't be surprised if he's Top 6.

-Scott MacIntyre: I believe he'll have access to his piano again, and with that in the mix, Scott is a serious threat. But he does need to work on his vocals. He's only going to get "inspiration" votes for so long.

-Jasmine Murray: Out in the first three weeks. She just doesn't have the chops, I'm sorry.

-Jorge Nunez: Tough call. Jorge has the voice, but does he have the buzz? Many terrific talents have gone out early because they lacked the "it" factor.

-Lil Rounds: Barring a terrible mistake, Lil should make Top 6. Especially since there are so few women this year.

-Michael Sarver: I certainly hope Michael's been practicing since his semi week, because if the vocals don't pick up remarkably over the next couple weeks we're looking at S3 Matt all over again. Being America's cuddle bear can only take you so far.

If I had to pick a winner right now I'd say, oh, Danny or Scott. But as Thursday night proved, anything can happen...