'American Idol' Season 11, Episode 12 Recap - Find Out Which 14 Made It Through

With the field cut down considerably, there's one more item of business in Las Vegas: the Final Judgements. Sounds biblical, doesn't it? Is there going to be fire and brimstone? Oooh I hope there's fire and brimstone!

Of course there isn't, but there is the most dramatic set you've ever seen: a round platform, surrounded by water, surrounded by another platform, and I think surrounded by more water. Depending on the performance, different colored lights will be used, dry ice smoke will cover the floor, and the water will bubble like it's either a giant jacuzzi or filled with alka-seltzer. DRAMATIC alka-seltzer.

One by one the contestants perform, but we usually see more of their previous performances than their current one, getting only a small clip. More time is spent with the judges doing their various emotional yo-yo tricks to get the contestants to think that they're going home, when they're actually not. Fun.

Anyhoo, let's make this simple. Here's who made it through:

Reed Grimm - Absolutely no surprise here. This dude is electric, although the little we've seen of him behind the scenes is starting to make me really not like him. He strikes me as the type of guy who has never not gotten what he wanted. Either that or he's just impossibly positive, which is also annoying. But dang, can he perform. He did the drum thing again. Let's hope that becomes his calling card.

Creighton Fraker - Creighton was another sure thing, funny singing faces and all. Look forward to a clip package during the live shows about "Fraker's Faces." It'll happen. Calling it.

Joshua Ledet - This is good to see, as Joshua didn't get much love in the audition rounds but really stepped up during Hollywood Week to get some more screen time.

Phillip Phillips - Duh. The judges were crazy about Phillip from the beginning, and so were the people at home. We'll see how he plays out in the live rounds, though... I have a feeling that voters might get bored of him.

Colton Dixon - Colton and his ridiculous hair made it through, despite having failed to make it past Hollywood Week last year. His sister, bless her, is still hanging around and supporting him even though she got eliminated already.

Heejun Han - YES! You can be damn sure that if the judges had eliminated Heejun, I would have started a riot. He performed in typical Heejun form, singing with grace and poise and then awkwardly calling JLo beautiful and hitting himself in the teeth with the microphone. I love this guy.

Erika van Pelt - The wedding singer made it through as well, and she has proven herself to be pretty versatile. Provided the voters don't get bored of her, look for her to do well with theme weeks because of that versatility.

Jen Hirsh - Jen has emerged as one of the stronger girls, at least in terms of vocal creativity. Her voice has a nice tone and everything, but the really great thing about her is her ability to improvise... although tonight she took it a little too far, methinks.

Haley Johnsen - Maybe it's just because she's yet another blonde amid a sea of blondes, but I swear I have never seen this woman before. Nonetheless, she looks to have improved greatly and earned more screen time, so good for her I suppose. She just must not do a lot of crying or other dramatic stuff, I guess.

Elise Testone - A little more recognizable was Elise, who has a nice soulful tone that will undoubtedly be sh*t on once she gets to the live rounds, but she at least made it there.

Chelsea Sorrell - One of few country singers featured today, Chelsea nonetheless impressed with her performance, which we saw barely any of. So... I guess she was good?

Baylie Brown - Baylie is the other country singer of the day, and though this performance wasn't quite up to the level of her previous ones, she made it through anyway.

Jessica Sanchez - What surprised me about Jessica is that I don't remember seeing her audition in the San Diego episode, even though the clip they showed us today was AWESOME. Way to bury the lead, guys. Anyway, she has gotten a little more screen time since the group challenge, so she's through.

Brielle Von Hugel - Maybe it's unfair to hate Brielle because of her awful mother, but I don't care. I hate her because of her awful mother. Also, she seems kinda snooty. She sings well enough, but I'm not terribly impressed. And so, I say decidedly, "meh."

The ones who got cut were, for the most part, those who didn't get much screen time anyway. Blaire Sieber, Naomi Gillies, Neco Starr, Clayton Farhat, River St. James and Caleb Johnson all went away, and if you recognize any of them by name then I'm very impressed by you. Bravo.

However, we also saw Lauren Gray go, who really wowed the judges in St. Louis but apparently couldn't stand the test of time here. But the very best part of this episode, aside from Heejun going through, was the fact that Richie the Cowboy went home. Finally! Eat it, jerk! Nobody messes with Heejun!

Adam Brock was left on the hotseat as a cliffhanger after breaking into tears before the result was even read to him (at least he had that hanky), so we'll discover his fate next week.