In what will go down as one of the most emotional moments in Idol history, Casey Abrams joined the likes of Matt Giraud and “Big Mike” Lynch when the judges saved the ousted contestant from elimination. The audience went wild, Casey literally went wild –falling all over the stage in disbelief and muttering profanity— and the judges seemed completely assured of their decision.

It was an intensely real and touching moment, one that, it should be noted, was handled with grace by Ryan and the judges.

The money question: Did Casey deserve to be saved?

His near-elimination wasn’t quite as shocking as Chris Daughtry’s exit in Season 5, but it was premature enough to warrant giving the soulful singer another shot at the crown. And here’s the thing — moreso than the two previously saved contestants, Casey has an actual shot at winning this competition (see: “Georgia On My Mind”). In essence, the “judges’ save” was designed precisely for situations like this.

That’s not to say Casey’s performance on Tuesday night’s (finally awesome) Motown-themed episode was anywhere near spectacular. As Jennifer alluded to on the results show, his rendition of “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” was laced with “antics” — a few too many aggressive growls and odd facial expressions. Had he scrubbed it down a bit, it might have become apparent how well the Marvin Gaye tune fits the natural groove of his voice.

Thia Megia and Stefano Langone, who fittingly rounded out the bottom three, similarly gave lackluster performances, the former for lack of emotional energy on the overdone “(Love is Like a) Heatwave,” and the latter for lack of emotional connection on “Hello.” They’d both do well to listen to Jennifer’s excellent advice to Stefano: “You have to sit there and look at every lyric, and think to yourself ‘Who am I singing this to? What am I singing about? Do I feel this?’ If not, throw it away. Next song! You have to connect to it emotionally.”

Only two other contestants would have looked at home on the stools of doom last night. Paul McDonald gave a sleepy albeit charming performance of “Tracks of My Tears” and Haley Reinhart— oh, Haley! — once again sounded affected on her oversung cover of “You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me.” Her tendency to infuse every performance with sensuality, vocally and visually, actually made sense given her song choice, but it still didn’t work for me.

Luckily, the other six contestants delivered solid performances that showed confidence, thoughtfulness and that fiery “in it to win it” drive that Randy is so fond of referencing.

Naima Adedapo – “Dancing in the Street”

Props to Naima for taking constructive criticism and finding a song that marries her penchant for high-energy performances with the need to showcase her vocals on the show. Her energetic cover of “Dancing in the Street” wasn’t particularly innovative, but it was entirely authentic and a heck of a lot of fun to watch, African dancing and all.

Lauren Alaina – “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”

Over the past few weeks, Lauren’s hasn’t quite shown the confidence in her artistry that elevates young contestants on the show from “how cute!” to “oh, snap.” On Tuesday night, though, all bets were off when she kicked off the slow-burning opening verse with her spot-on, signature country-meets-soul style – and a knowing look in her eyes. The rest of the performance (save the awesome ending riffs) could have used an arrangement or melody shake-up, but it was nonetheless solid.

Pia Toscano – “All in Love is Fair”

Like the judges, I’ll be interested to see how Pia tackles an upbeat number – but her pitch-perfect rendition of the Stevie Wonder ballad was gorgeous enough to make me momentarily forget that she’s now sung three ballads in a row. The heartening thing about Pia is that, even though she has diva-sized chops, there’s a refreshingly raw sincerity to every one of her performances.

Scotty McCreery – “For Once in My Life”

Look, I’ve been hard on Scotty since the start of the competition, mostly because he often sounds more like a Josh Turner carbon copy than an artist with his own individuality. Not so on Tuesday night, as he took the typically effervescent pop tune, “For Once in My Life,” stripped it down to a harmonica-accompanied, shuffling arrangement, and made it sound fresh and relevant enough to be a — dare I say it — country hit.

James Durbin – “Living for the City”

Taylor Hicks danced his ass off when he covered the song back in Season 5, but James gave him a run for his money on Tuesday with an endearing “back-step” and an engaging performance that showcased his ability to effortlessly throw energy and conviction into his performances. I’ve pinpointed his pitch problems in the past, but this performance had nary a bum note.

Jacob Lusk – “You’re All I Need to Get By”

Jacob skillfully wove in slow, luscious build-ups to the song’s spirited chorus, allowing his glory notes to shine and demonstrating the careful restraint we’ve been waiting for from the massive singer. He brought just the right amount of swagger to his performance – his best yet.

Quote of the Week

“You don’t look a day over fabulous”

-Steven Tyler (to Haley), whose worth as a judge is solely tied to producing quotes of the week.

Get more of Tara Seetharam's pop culture musings on her website www.taraseetharam.com and follow her on Twitter @TaraAshley.