By M. Giant
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Tuesday
Ryan is the one chosen to return for an encore, and I'm pretty sure that's him behind all that eyeliner singing "Back Of Your Car." He also wins a product-placed car and cell phone, as well as a chance to plug his new album on national TV. After a quick recap of each final four member's arc over the season, Toby takes the stage for Radiohead's "Karma Police" and a repeat of his original, "Throwing It Away." Magni joins him for some wacky onstage hijinx, but even more surprising is the fact that Toby remains onstage throughout both songs. Lukas sings "Fix You" by Coldplay and a solo acoustic reprise of "Head Spin." Dilana does "Roxanne" better than Chris ever will in his entire life, even if he has the other three Supernovices singing backup like she does. Then she shows that she's pretty much recovered from her injury by singing "Super Soul" from all over the place. Magni's third trip to the stage tonight finds him singing Deep Purple's "Hush" and his own "When The Time Comes," the latter of which leaves Tommy cold. A few minutes into the last voting window, the Supernovices are ranked thusly: Dilana, Toby, Lukas and Magni. Looks like she's back, and not a moment too soon.
Wednesday
We don't waste much time finding out who was in the bottom two during last night's voting. Magni, Toby and Lukas have to stand, but the first to sing for survival is Magni, who rekindles his "Fire" and gets to try out the fancy set background they have for the finale. Then Lukas gets to sit down, and Toby phones in "White Wedding." Yet it's Magni who's eliminated , to nobody's surprise. The final three try to sell themselves to the judges: Lukas ("I'm ready to lead you"), Dilana ("I'm the one") and Toby ("I'm the tallest") all make convincing arguments, but you know we're going to hear them sing one more time (but not before Lukas's "Head Spin" gets edited into a Survivor promo, hmmmm). Lukas sings "Bittersweet Symphony" again, Dilana repeats "Zombie," and Toby brings back "Somebody Told Me." And then the Rand Wagon grinds to a halt, leaving Dilana and Lukas to wait through one last commercial break before the guys announce their winner: Lukas. Dave and Gilby promise to help Dilana put out her own record, and the poor girl seems to believe them. Then it's time for Lukas to sing a couple of celebratory songs with the band: "Be Yourself (and Five Other Clichés)," which Toby sang before, and "It's All Love," the one Magni sang last week. Magni even returns to play rhythm guitar on the last song. Can't get rid of that guy. And the best news of all doesn't even get mentioned on the show: our guys lost their lawsuit, and thus the right to call themselves Supernova. Congratulations on your new lead singer, "band." Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Tuesday
Brooke welcomes us to the first night of the two-night finale, giving a shout-out to the final four: Magni, Toby, Dilana, and Lukas. By this time tomorrow, one of them will be the frontman ("or woman," Brooke condescends) of Supernova. Brooke introduces those guys, too, as well as Dave Navarro. And the thing to do is to get the season's big consolation prize out of the way. As you recall, we've been asked to vote for one of the eliminated Supernovices to return for an encore tonight. I haven't voted, and you probably haven't voted, but apparently someone did. And so, from the Nut Gallery, Dilana gets to introduce the return of Ryan Star. The paramedics backstage prepare for the worst.
Ryan takes the stage with a black Les Paul over his shoulder. Perhaps in the past couple of weeks he's had time to consider how churlish his farewell sounded, so he seems eager to mend some fences now. He immediately thanks Supernova for the "opportunity of a lifetime," saying he can't wait for their record. He also thanks the remaining Supernovices, saying, "May the best man -- or woman -- win." Condescending ass. He also thanks the fans for getting him there tonight, and leads the House Band into his original song, "The Back Of Your Car." It sounds as good as last time, and I find the performance a lot more enjoyable now that he's not desperately trying to stay in the competition. He can just relax and be himself. He keeps his guitar on the whole time, as opposed to flinging it across the stage. He doesn't climb or jump off of anything, or even start the song on the chorus for no reason. It makes him a lot less exhausting to watch. I could do without all the eyeliner he's rocking, though.
Once Ryan's done, Brooke comes out and asks him about his new album, which of course is called Dark Horse. He thanks Dave for that, and claims it's already available on the Rock Star website. I'll take his word for it. Brooke announces that in addition to winning the encore, Ryan's also getting a couple of other prizes. One of them is the product-placed car practically parked in the middle of the audience, and the other is a product-placed cell phone. Because I haven't sat through enough commercials for both of those goddamn things already this summer. Brooke cuts Ryan loose to go check out his new car. I hope they don't give him the keys until the people clear out of there, though. I can just see him in the driver's seat, looking at all the Supernova/Dilana/Lukas/Magni/Toby fans pressed against his windshield, and deciding to go "Dark Horse" in a totally new and tragic way.