'The X Factor' Season 1, Episode 21 Recap - 'The Top 5 Perform'

The first post-Drew episode starts with a dramatic recap of the elimination, told only through still images, as if the whole thing was too emotionally scarring for anyone to see again in its entirety.

The intro claims "NOW IT'S WAR," and the contestants all stand outside with no makeup on and tell us, for the billionth time, that they want to win. Really? Do they want to win a $5 million prize? I wasn't sure what their motivation for being here was.

Apparently tonight's theme, at least for the first song, is to do a big performance/dance number. Sounds like they're pretty much handing this thing to Marcus, then, eh?

Melanie starts off, and is doing... Adele? That doesn't sound like a... oh, wait. They put an awful dance beat behind her otherwise perfectly constructed song. Now it makes sense. Well, it was mercifully short. Actually, surprisingly short. That may have been 30 seconds long. And, of course, Melanie was great, even though singing Adele is practically suicide, since you're not going to top her.

The judges all love it, and Simon thinks she would "have a hit record with that version." I don't think that would be legal, Simon.

Looks like they're getting Marcus' performance number out of the way early, doing a Shaka Khan number. It's over practically as soon as it starts. These things are extremely short. The judges all love it, and Simon holds Marcus in suspense a bit before telling him that it was a really good performance. Looks like it's not "WAR" after all.

Rachel is up next, and Simon winkingly notes that this is Rachel's "own choice of song, no chair." Her choice is "Nothing On You" by B.O.B., which to her credit is much better listening than the original version. LA asks about her lack of lyrical change from "beautiful girls," to which Rachel responds that she was "singing to Paula and Nicole." Politicking! Clever.

At some point during the comments, Simon makes a snarky comment and Nicole loudly tries to sing a lick from "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," which gets talked over and falls totally flat. Hilarious.

That leads her into enthusiastically introducing Josh, and I have to wonder if Nicole is going to lose this thing for her contestant. People have to hate her, right? Will they take it out on Josh as a result?

Anyway, he sings "We Found Love" by Rihanna, which was sung on the show by Rihanna herself just a couple of weeks ago. They certainly don't seem to mind recycling songs on here. Surprisingly, this song kinda works. Kinda. That's probably just because Josh is great.

LA and Simon thought it was a pretty bad song for him, and Simon talks about the "ridiculous dance routine" behind him. Isn't the point to do a dance song? Are we still pretending that these performances actually do anything to convince voters one way or another?

Chris Rene is up next performing the second Rihanna song IN A ROW, as he does his version of "Live Your Life." The song is kind of a mess and it sounds like Chris is actually falling behind on the beat, but hey, at least he has a cool treadmill on stage.

The judges all love it, and Simon notes that he thinks that Chris is a good overall package as a recording artist. In other words, he's not the best singer, but DOLLAR SIGNS Y'ALL.

Back from break, another in a long series of delightfully honest and awkward moments with Steve Jones, as he tells us that there was a "communication problem" with the Pepsi Challenge, which was supposed to have the contestants singing songs chosen by the voting audience. At this, the crowd begins booing, and Steve somewhat resembles a first-time stand-up coming having beer bottles thrown at him. "Go easy," he says, and then offers this olive branch: instead, the singers have chosen their own songs this week. Everybody satisfied? Did anyone actually care in the first place? Okay, moving on.

Apparently the singers found out about this last night and had to prepare a song in one day. Couldn't they have just made up which song won the Pepsi challenge? How would we have known? Anyway, the clip package looks pretty legit, so maybe it's true...although it looks like the contestants had chosed a safety song anyway.

Melanie is up first doing a Whitney song, "When You Believe." It's Melanie singing Whitney Houston, so it's pretty good. Afterward, she asks if she can say something, and tells us about how she chose it because she has to believe in herself. But I'm not really listening, because I keep trying to tell if she's putting on that accent or not. Is the American accent slipping in? I think maybe it is? Clearly, she bores me otherwise, is what I'm trying to say here.

Back from break, Steve reads some tweets. Entertainment.

Marcus is up to sing his second song, "A Song For You" by Ray Charles. Damn, it's actually pretty good. Goes to show you that when you pick a song by an actual songwriter, you sound good. The judges loved it, but Simon says he wasn't wowed by it.

Rachel chooses "Music and Me," just to continue the trend of Michael Jackson being all over Fox over the last week. Everyone loves it, and Rachel cutes her way through the comments. There's also a mention of the fact that Hollywood (read: Disney) is courting Rachel. I feel like that might get her eliminated, if the audience knows she has a contingency plan. We'll see if she sings for survival tomorrow.

Josh is up next, singing "Something" by The Beatles. It's Josh, so it's great. LA says it was "a little karaoke," but I'm not sure I agree. Nicole calls him "the male Adele" and says that he has "Kracjik magic," which she just came up with, just now you guys!

Looks like Chris is up next, and he's going to do an original song. Finally! They're letting this guy do something other than a cover. Here's your chance to impress, buddy. If anything, he has Stevie Wonder's blessing.

It's much different from "Young Homie," as it's just Chris on a chair with an acoustic guitar, crooning out a song that I assume is titled "Where Do We Go From Here." It's not the most original number, but it's a nice song nonetheless. Personally, I think he should do this every week, especially if this show is really about finding "the complete package."

The judges love it. They haven't been so helpful today, have they?

Once again, I can't even begin to guess who's going home. Chris seems to be immune to elimination, and this might have been one of his best weeks. So by this show's track record, he might go home tomorrow.

Could it be Melanie? Her voice is great, but she's not much for personality. Will Rachel's outside success turn the audience against her? Or will the likely young-skewing audience finally lose interest in Josh? Is he infallible?

Again, I'm not going to pretend to know. Because I think I'm 0 for however-many-weeks-it's-been in guessing.