Rock Star: Supernova -- Elimination Show Week 9

After the best Performance Episode of the season, the performances on tonight's Rock Star: Supernova Elimination Episode had to be great, right? Wrong. And Ryan was finally given a reason for his perpetual frown.

Brooke Burke introduced clips from last night's show, including footage filmed at the house afterward. The contestants toasted each other's performances and talked about the fact that, despite such a good night, half of them would still end up in the Bottom Three.

Back in the theater, Dave asked Storm why she's disappointed that she hasn't been in the Bottom Three yet. She said she's eager to rock any chance she gets.

Then, Dave asked Magni about the InTouch photoshoot earlier in the week, and Magni said he hated it. As Dave told Magni how photoshoots are part of the business, Magni interrupted repeatedly. Finally, Dave said this was his show and joked, "When I said I didn't have any influence over the votes, I lied, you son of a bitch!" Magni waved and said, "Good-bye," to the crowd.

Supernova then debuted another new song, this time with Lukas at the helm.

Lukas - "It's On" by Supernova
This was by far the best song that they've presented thus far, and by that I mean that it was the least bad. Lukas did a great job, even if I couldn't make out a single word he sang. More than Toby or Dilana, Lukas had enough swagger to seem like a part of the band, and not like someone trying out for the gig. And he fits right in with fellow shrimps Gilby and Jason.

As this weeks encore approached, Gilby spilled the beans on next week's clinic: he's going to help each of the remaining contestants write a new Supernova song. Then he asked Toby to perform an encore of "Rebel Yell."

Toby - "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol
Toby changed up his performance by jumping on the contestants mini-stage before following Tommy's advice to Magni from the performance show: heading to the back of the theater to hang out with those fans. Toby rocked there for a while before hopping on and off of Supernova's stage. He sounded about the same as he did in his original performance, which was good.

Brooke announced the early Bottom Three results from last night: Ryan, Storm, and Lukas. Toby and Dilana also spent time in the Bottom Three during the course of voting. Apparently, Magni's international appeal for votes worked, as he was the only one left sitting. Brooke pointed out that this was the first time in Rock Star history that it's been clear who received the most votes.

Forgetting simple mathematics and the basic premise of the show, Dave said that no one should've been in the bottom after the quality of last night's performances. Brooke countered by announcing this week's Bottom Three.

Ryan - "Baba O'Reilly" by The Who
"I'm here to blow your minds right now," Ryan announced as he took the stage. And then he did, but not in a good way. He went berserk, screaming and spraying champagne onto the crowd before Toby stole the bottle. Ryan wasted a bunch of time climbing a stack of amps, only to jump off of them, screaming as though he were falling off a cliff. He unintelligibly and tunelessly screamed the lyrics throughout his fit of insanity.

If you like Ryan, this was hilariously great. If not, then this was unbearable. Supernova was not impressed.

Storm - "Helter Skelter" by The Beatles
She cheered when her name was announced, joyously hugging Brooke. Storm followed Ryan's lead, screaming the entire song instead of singing it. She tried to start a mosh pit in the audience before climbing onto Supernova's stage and sitting on Tommy's lap. That one act was more likely to save her than her performance, which was just as bad as Ryan's.

Dilana - "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads
The crowd booed as she took the stage, some booing Dilana herself, but most booing the fact that she was in the bottom three. Tommy said he couldn't understand what happened to put her there. Dilana said it was because she'd screwed up, and then dedicated her song to herself. She started the song a capella, which worked out brilliantly. But she threw in some bizarre little vocalizations after each chorus and rearranged the middle of the song. As a whole, it was a mess, and Jason, Tommy, and Gilby looked confused.

Zayra may be off the show, but it seemed like she was back in spirit tonight. Three heretofore solid performers all stunk on the same night--an elimination night, no less. The performances were bad enough to make Supernova's song sound awesome by comparison.

Gilby told Ryan he was great and has really grown as a performer, warned Storm that she hasn't grown enough, and told Dilana that her performance came out of left field. His compliment to Ryan was a dead giveaway that Ryan was doomed.

Tommy told Ryan that he's come farther than any other contestant in nine weeks, but that he was out anyway. The crowd booed loud and long, and Storm looked positively pissed. Dave said that he's a fan of Ryan's and that he's sorry to see Ryan go.

Ryan thanked Dave for his support, and then became the bitterman that we know and love. He told Supernova that they could've made twenty years of great music together, and that the next place they'll see him is on the Billboard charts as a solo artist.

Tommy was stone faced after getting booed by the crowd and spanked by Ryan. Each week, Tommy's made it clear that he hates being the one to drop the axe, but you have to wonder if the crowd reaction made him doubt Supernova's decision to boot Ryan.

Or maybe he was just fighting the urge to beat Ryan's head like a crash cymbal.