DWTS - "That's not the bed we rehearsed on!"

So it's really here, huh? The final three couples are duking it out for the championship, and I have to say we truly did wind up with the three best couples from the entire season. Some contestants went way too early, some outstayed their welcome. But over the course of the show these are the three who were definitely the best.

Costume Parade! Maks loves long samba skirts, doesn't he? Because once again Erin has long feathery things snaking down her legs. Then again, she's a tall girl so the longer skirts don't dwarf her so I think it's actually a neat call. Anna is wearing a classier version of Brooke's piano keyboard dress from several weeks back. And Nicole is wearing lingerie. No, seriously. I worked at Victoria's Secret back in college and I swear I saw that. In the whore section.

First we have Erin and Maks doing the samba. Ooooh, I forgot about when the judges visit each contestant to give pointers. I love this part. So we see Bruno sashay into Erin's rehearsal to help her with the samba. He gives her some great pointers about one move, and as she executes he fills his sassy quota by screaming, "Look at that ass! Look at that ass!" to encourage her. So, the samba... Erin's playing the "I'm most improved" angle and it's fitting because she really has gotten over much of her gawkiness. She's still not as graceful as her body type should allow, but they're both having a lot of fun and her legwork is awesome. With the exception of one part where I guess she's supposed to shimmy but looks more like she's about to lay an egg, I loved this dance. They get 10s from Carrie Ann and Len, but when Bruno follows with a 9 you can tell they're disappointed. Not in a "we were robbed" kind of way - more like a "oh man, so close to a perfect score!" way, which is much preferred. The highlight of this whole segment, though, is how the cameraman completely omits Brooke from the shot as she goes through her "vote now" spiel. All we see is Erin goofing around and Max stripping. Awesome.

Next up are Evan and Anna with the Viennese waltz. Okay, this is interesting because Len comes in and tells him how to connect with his partner - instead of doing a step and then another, treat the interval between steps as a "moment" with her. Great advice - but then they do their waltz to Piano Man. A song about a bunch of people getting drunk in a bar. Really, what moment can you have with this? The big connection with this song is when you're with a bunch of people late in the evening and you're too soused to dance so you just sway back and forth and hoist your Solo cup and sing the lyrics. Or you're at a Billy Joel concert and he does his thing where he stops playing in the last chorus and just listens to the audience sing the refrain in perfect tune. It's a thing of beauty, that moment... but not something you can really capture in a waltz. And that's exactly what happens - the dance is well done and technically beautiful, but I can't connect it with the song at all. He gets a 10, 9 and 9 and people are disappointed, but I think that's right.

And now Nicole and Derek do their rumba. Not surprising that Carrie Ann is her mentor, and not just because she's the last judge left. CA has propped Nicole all season and I'm surprised she didn't walk into the room with a bouquet of roses and a diamond ring. She suggests that Nicole lets go and loses herself in the dance (my interpretation: stop freaking out about camera angles and being an artist and just enjoy dancing already). Their rumba... dang. Seriously beautiful. I enjoyed that tremendously. But yes, there's a lift. And Derek can say all he want that the music was over, but it clearly wasn't - and they were totally in character of the dance during that lift. Nice try, but no. It's a lift. And a deduction. Two nines and a 10 from Bruno.

So now we have the freelance round. Erin and Maks have fueled curiosity about their freestyle ever since Maks wrote on his blog that theirs won't be fast but not slow either. It's to "Alone" and right away we see a couch and a bed. This should be fun. Hmmm... I give them a LOT of credit for doing something very different, and it starts out kind of hot and fairly emotional. But it goes into something kind of frantic, with Maks flinging Erin around and a lot of spinning. If that's what Maks calls "the story of our relationship" then I just don't want to know. They do one awesome lift that the crowd loves and Erin emotes really, really well. But it was too hectic for most of this. Two nines and an eight (that was a bit low), so 55 for the night.

Evan and Anna are disagreeing and I don't like it. They're both trying to be very respectful, but Anna is crying and I don't like that. They wind up doing "Footloose" and I'm back in 7th grade waiting at the Commack Multiplex bouncing off the "luxurious reclining seats" (the place was brand new and one of the first big theaters around). Oh yeah, the dance... it's lots of fun, but a little crazy in a scarecrow on speed kind of way. But if he tamed it more, it wouldn't have had a wow factor - it would have just been technically sound but kind of dull (think Mya's freestyle last season). They get straight eights - ouch! Not good for such a tight competition. They end at 52 for the night.

Finally Nicole and Derek complete the night with their freestyle. They start in sparkly business suits dancing to Elvis, and I love it. And I hate that I love it, because someone with Nicole's level of experience doesn't belong in this show at all. But they're awesome. I LOVE how they didn't do an actual ballroom dance but still incorporated some ballroom steps in the routine. I can even suspend my disdain for her when they flub a lift at the end, and I'm actually disappointed for them. They earn straight nines, tying them with Erin and Maks (!) for the lead.

Interesting how we had not one 10 in the freestyle round - has that ever happened? No foregone conclusion tonight. It's anyone's mirrorball!