It's the final debate of the American Idol season: Crystal Bowersox vs. Lee Dewyze.  In our epic podcast, Abbey Simmons and I judge the final and declare complete and total victory for Crystal, who gave a vocal smackdown to Lee in every round last night.  However, does it actually matter?  Despite the fact that Crystal was objectively better than Lee, one of us still thinks Lee Dewyze will be the winner.

Read Abbey's Full Recap of the Finale>>

Listen to our full podcast or continue below for the highlights.



- Round one was the closest, with Crystal winning by a dread despite the fact that neither of the finalists sang a song from Abbey's Top 25 performances of the year.

See the 25 Best Performances of the Year>>

- In round two, I felt like Lee's "Everybody Hurts" left me stuck in tragic while Crystal's "Black Velvet" was the best performance of the night and year.  However, we also point out Crystal's inability to sing and walk down stairs.

- In round three, Lee gave his worst performance of the night and, according to Abbey, Crystal gave her best performance of the year, an emotional tour-de-force on par with "People Get Ready."  However, we both agree that Crystal's song is not radio-friendly at all while "Beautiful Day" is.

- In the end, despite predicting Lee yesterday, I changed my mind based on the night and decided that Crystal Bowersox will win.  While Abbey was on the fence, when I forced her to predict a winner, she chose Lee, based largely on one Twitter user who claims she voted for Lee 700 times in the first hour.

See Simon Cowell's Best Moments>>

- Most importantly, we think the most exciting part of the finale will be the send-off for Simon Cowell in his final show as a judge.


(Image courtesy of FOX)