'The X Factor' Season 1, Episode 17 Recap - 'The Top 9 Perform'

It's Thanksgiving week, so the theme of the evening is, naturally, giving thanks. That means that the remaining nine performers have chosen (or been assigned) songs that express their thanks for someone in their life who is important to them.

It's a pretty open theme, but at least that means there won't be any cheating, a la "Rock Week."

So, the episode opens with all of the contestants in a slo-mo montage, with voice-overs saying whom they are thankful for this week. For Chris, it's the man who got him sober. For most of the rest of the contestants, it's their family members. Melanie thanks God (doesn't he get enough of that?) and for Astro it's his fans.

Drew thanks her best friend "Shel-Shel," whom she says she loves "plus 120." I can't tell if that's adorable or annoying. Let's go with a little of both.

"Now we get to see who they really are," says Simon. Really? Because I think we saw that last week when Astro got in your face about how dumb this show can be, and you chewed him out.

Steve tells us that this week will deliver a double elimination, then says "I know" as if we all simultaneously said "NO WAY STEVE, NO WAY!" Which I'm pretty sure we didn't. He also tells us to use the hashtag #ohsnap on Twitter, which seems like a sneaky way to attribute any tweets already out there with that kinda generic hashtag to the show. They should tell everyone to use the hashtag #FF on Fridays to tweet about the show. Marketing!

Rachel is up first, and we get her full backstory for the first time, which includes having been born to a crack-addicted mother and suffered abuse as a baby before being adopted into her family. That's a pretty big story to have held back this long... you have to assume that the family didn't want to put that out there. My guess is that the producers finally convinced them that a story like that will help her win in order to get it out of them.

Of course, Rachel might not need the help: she belts her way through "I Believe" by Yolanda Adams, and it's a very strong performance. There are some tough key changes in there and a pretty big range, and while she's not perfect, she did a great job with it.

Not only that, but when Rachel gets her comments from the judges, she's humble and grateful. Of course, her comments are almost always positive, so it can't be hard.

Marcus is up next, and he's giving thanks for his mother, who raised him and his sister alone in DC, which can be pretty rough. She walked in the snow and worked to send Marcus to a private school. As Marcus begins, she appears to be getting the vapors in the audience.

So, Marcus sings "Mama" by Boyz II Men, one of the many artists that worked with LA Reid in the past. It's not the best choice for Marcus, as he's best when he's dancing and being energetic on stage, but he still puts a lot of feeling into the performance. However, he has trouble hitting the high notes and his voice cracks a bit.

He gives his mother a tearful hug, which wins Nicole over completely. Paula loves it too, but Simon starts off his comments with "I'm gonna be honest," which immediately gets the audience booing. However, he continues on to say that he thinks Marcus pulled himself back into the competition tonight.

So here's why Melanie's decision to thank God wasn't a great idea: Marcus and Rachel had personal connections with loved ones, which is relatable to everyone. That's universal. But Melanie alienates herself from anyone who isn't particularly religious with this choice... it makes her seem unappreciative of her family, friends and fans in a way.

Her song choice is R Kelly's "The World's Greatest," which is a song that I like better when I imagine that it's just R Kelly singing about how great he is. Melanie does a fine job vocally as always, but things only get really interesting afterwards when she starts expressing how grateful she is to be here, and speaking in her Virgin Islands accent. It's a nice moment, actually, you get the sense that this is someone who has had to hide who she was.

More of this, Melanie. That's what'll give you a chance. However, try to avoid having Nicole blow things out of proportion by saying "you are so brave!" Listen, she's just talking in her accent. She didn't fight in a war or anything. Let's not ruin it, Nicole.

So here's my question: will Melanie start talking in her Caribbean accent from now on? Please say yes. That would be a hilarious switch.

Chris is up next and giving thanks to Tim, his counselor from rehab, who looks like a guy who builds computers at home and is also a big fan of Indiana Jones. Chris relates the story of his car crash, which was a result of his meth use. We also meet his brothers, who could not possibly look more different.

Chris starts off with "Let It Be" by the Beatles, then transitions into his original audition song, "Young Homie." That's a great move on the part of Chris and LA, pulling that out on this week, following that story from Chris' personal life. It doesn't much matter that Chris, when compared vocally to the likes of Josh or Melanie, is not so strong. People are going to love him anyway.

Lakoda Rayne is up next, and hopefully they can tell us a little more about who they're thankful for instead of just "the people who made us who we are." Sure enough, they each get to sit down and talk about their loved ones. While three of the girls thank their parents and grandparents, though, Paige thanks her boyfriend and his douchebag knit cap. They'll be broken up in a month.

The girls do "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift, starting off in some tacky vine swings upstage. They're all lovely girls, but good lord are they boring on stage. There's not enough going on vocally to make them unique, and their stage presence is mostly just awkward.

Yet for some reason, the judges all loved it, including Simon, who calls it their "best performance to date." Are they trying to push them through to keep a group in the competition? I swear there's some fixing going on here. These girls just aren't that good. If I go missing soon, you'll know why. It's because I know too much.

LeRoy , who seriously doesn't look much older now than he does in the old pictures they're showing of him, is thankful for his mother tonight, who passed away fairly recently. His song choice is "Arms of the Angel," which also made a prominent appearance on "The Voice" earlier this year, as sung by the eventual winner Javier Colon.

It's a heartfelt performance, and while Paula says as much, LA says it wasn't LeRoy's best. Simon is actually on Paula's side with this one, saying that he feels he got to know LeRoy better this week.

Astro is up next, and his mom, stepdad and little sister jump to his defense about his outburst last week. He seems genuinely apologetic, and starts off his Jay-Z "Show Me What You Got" cover with "I'm 15, 15 is the new 25." The rest of his rap is about his gratitude for his fans, his regrets about last week, and a plea for support.

Following the song, he gives yet another apology (but sneakily, again, more about crying than about giving attitude). Paula asks if she can be an Astronaut, and Simon says he'll be the first to send her out to space. Simon adds that he thinks "the music business needs unpredictability."

Okay, so Drew is dedicating her song to her friend Shelby. Impress us, Drew. Why does she deserve it more than your parents? Apparently they've been friends a long time. I dunno. I guess when you're 14, you tend to be on better terms with your friends than your parents.

Drew is performing on what looks like a set piece from "Game of Thrones" and singing "Skyscraper" by Demi Lovato. I've never heard the original, so I'm not sure if this is a Drew-ified version or not. But the good thing about it is that there's a point where she actually goes uptempo a bit and gives us something different.

LA says he doesn't think Drew should be singing songs from "a 40 year old artist," clearly not knowing that this is a Demi Lovato song. He's digging for criticisms here, and both Paula and Simon get on his case for it. The bickering ends with Paula saying "enough, enough!" and Steve throwing in "Thanksgiving." What?

Josh is giving thanks to his daughter Rowan, whom Josh had when he was just 17. Apparently things didn't go so well with Rowan's mother, and that affected Josh pretty heavily. His song choice, then, is a heartfelt piano version of "Wild Horses," which works pretty well for Josh. The staging is nice, too, with Josh alone on stage with the piano, and a circle of spotlights around him in columns. Very nice.

The judges all love it, and Simon even gives Nicole some props for putting it together. Nicole is in tears as she tells Josh that his music "can change the world." For those who are curious, those letters that Josh is signing spell out "Vote Josh."

So, tomorrow will see a double elimination. I tried to make a prediction last week, but was wrong on both counts with the shocking outcome. I'm not even going to try to guess what the voting will do this week. Has Astro saved himself? Have people finally gotten bored with LeRoy? Is Lakoda Rayne being protected?