'Dancing with the Stars': The Final Four

Behold! The semi-finals of Dancing with the Stars! Not only do we get two dances from each couple (ones that they pick), we also get to see Len tell them what they're doing wrong. Bring the noise!

Spoilers below...

1. Marie Osmond & Jonathan Dance: Quickstep
Song: "Good Morning" from Singing in the Rain - Kudos to the vocalist for doing a good job on this one.
Marie knows this week is do or die so not only is Jonathan really emphasizing technique this week, they're putting in the most tricks Marie's ever done. Marie looks great in her flowing blue frock. She does great personality-wise and it's a solid dance. I liked the choreography a lot. You have to hand it to her, she's really stepping it up when she needs to.
Best Judge Line: Not really a great line, but positive comments all around.
Score: 29 (10-10-9 - and boos to Bruno)

2. Mel B. & Maksim
Dance: Viennese Waltz
Song: "Somebody To Love" by Queen. Uh...yeah.
Mel's still running about doing Spice Reunion stuff, not to mention taking care of the family so during one of the rehearsals, the girls from the group pop up to visit and give a few supportive words. I know they're cheesy and blah blah blah, but I have to be honest...I'm really glad they're back. They amused me. Spice World is much funnier than people say it is. But I digress. Mel chose this dance to do because she thought she could do it better. And man, did she evver. There was this part in the middle where she did these crazy split-walks - like four in a row. It was darn impressive. Her lines definitely improved from from the first time she did it.
Best Judge Line: "I've never seen a sexy Viennese Waltz before," says Bruno.
Score: 30 - and well deserved I think.

3. Jennie Garth & Derek
Dance: Tango
Song: I've never heard the song before, but I assume it's called "We Don't Fight Fair," possibly by Fall-Out Boy.
After last week's harsh judge comments, Jennie felt a little down so she took her kids to Disneyland and set up a surprise performance in front of Cinderella's Castle with Mickey Mouse. And meeting the fans and hearing all their kind words afterwards totally lifted her spirits. But will they help her dancing? It did, mostly. She had a much stronger, consistant energy. Despite the decidely un-Tango song, Derek delivered some excellent choreography and Jennie hit all the moves. She seemed a lot more focused and balanced this week. Overall she did a solid job.
Best Judge Line: Bruno called her the "Red Menace," in a much more complimentary way than it sounds.
Score: 28 (9-10-9)

4. Helio Castroneves & Julianne
Dance: Foxtrot
Song: "Ain't That A Kick in the Head" by Dean Martin
To show his appreciation to Julianne, Helio got her a room full of balloons and some flowers. He also got her a meeting with Rascal Flatts, a group she likes very much. During rehearal, Julianne kicks the choreography up a notch and, as his the last guy standing, Helio understands the need to come out and dazzle. And, despite a few bobbles on his part, they did. He's lines and carriage seemed even stronger than last week and Julianne, as always, turned out a great number.He also seemed more relaxed and therefore more charismatic.
Best Judge Line: Bruno said, "If you don't make the final, I'm going to eat my book."
Score: 30 - after being so stingy last week, the judges sure are flying loose with the 30's.

Before the Latin dance segment, they show the "Len's Masterclass" segment. Len's targeting Marie's hips...thank goodness. After 5 minutes, she's already improved ten-fold. For Helio, Len is giving him pointers on his footwork. Len is helping Jennie with her arms because she sometimes overextends them (and he gives her a little help with cheekiness). By the way, Jennie's reactions to Len during her lesson are adorable. She is super-cute. Last but not least, Mel needs to improve on her sharpness and learn not to look down, as she has a tendency to do that.

5. Marie & Jonathan
Dance: Mambo
Song: It's a familiar song, but I have no idea what the name of it is. And it was appropriate. Shocking!
It was a great number and there were a lot of great tricks in there (this thing where she slides on her back down his back to his thigh and then gets pulled back up). It was incredibly fun - Marie had this Ann Miller meets Lucille Ball meets Ethel Merman kind of vibe to her, completely over the top but effective. She's still not quite there in terms of technique, but the entertainment factor helps make up for it. 
Best Judge Line: "My favorite hot cougar is back," exclaims Carrie Ann.
Score: 27 (all 9's)

6. Mel & Maks
Dance: Paso Doble
Song: "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones. For a Paso Doble. I don't know if I have the energy to be outwardly irritated anymore.
They start out with Mel on the floor with a whip, that Maks uses to drag her across the floor. Now that's an entrance. She then throws the whip around, which was impressive as well. I, like the judges, had some reservations about them doing the Paso Doble so soon after getting a perfect score for it, but they did really well. And her sharpness was better and she maybe only looked down once or twice. I liked the other Paso better, though.
Best Judge Line: Len wins by sort of singing, "You can whip me if I misbehave."
Score: 30 - the perfect score train keeps on rollin'.

7. Jennie & Derek
Dance: Cha Cha
Song: "Mustang Sally" by Wilson Pickett. Strangely, it works.
Jennie is the Queen of the Second Dance. Every week she comes back stronger the second time. She had more personality than I've seen in any of the other Latin dances and her hip action was much improved. The choreography was, once again, great and she really worked it. And she did a fantastic series of spins at the end.
Best Judge Line: Carrie Ann said, "All I can say is...Work. It. Out." With snaps for emphasis.
Score: Holy crap she got a 30! Good for her.

8. Helio & Julianne
Dance: Cha Cha
Song: "Love Rollercoaster" the Red Hot Chilli Pepper version. This oddly works, too.
It had an stangely frenetic quality to it at first, but it really locked in about 20-seconds into it. Julianne packed a lot of content in this number. Okay, my only problem with Helio is that he's regressed a bit - when he's having fun, or at least pretending to, he opens his mouth a lot like a Muppet. Now, I love Muppets but it doesn't work on a real person doing Latin dances. If it was Kermit the Frog out there, it wouldn't be issue.
Best Judge Line: Len says they were the stand-out couple for him tonight.
Score: Yet another 30.

Who's Out: This is really hard but, I'm going to have to go with Marie again. Jennie's only been held back by herself and after tonight's breakthrough she deserves one more week to really shine.

On a side note, there was a luke-warm smattering of applause when it was announced Avril Lavigne was going to be on tomorrow's Results Show. I wonder if she's going to look as bored as she did on SNL months ago? And Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance, will be performing. Ten bucks says he wears a vest with no shirt and a headband.

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