DWTS Finale: I'm Worried

Let me start this all by saying that I've never been a fan of the freestyle dance. Given total creative freedom and no clear cut guidelines, this performance rests mostly on the couple's ability to predict and live up to the judges' and audience's expectations of this expression of the celebrity's personality, as we have all determined it to be, based mostly on what we have seen on the show. So, it really comes down to how well they perform, based on what we think they're like.

That being said, Dmitry really dropped the ball this week. Not only does Hairspray not fit Mya at all (and you could tell, based on her initial reaction to Dmitry's idea), but it didn't do much to show Mya's biggest strength, namely that she's by far the best dancer of the three. Seriously, Dmitry, how could you not listen to your partner in a performance that's meant to best reveal her artistic expression? And how could you even think Hairspray would be a good idea? Nothing about the story of the lead is anything like Mya.

And everyone knew that the freestyle would be the dance Donny was probably going to get a perfect on; since this is what he's been doing successfully for his beloved fans (who vote for this show in large numbers) for several decades now.

As for Kelly, well... it's Kelly. She lasted into the finals through her popularity while more talented dancers kept losing. Her use of the song, "I Will Survive" for the freestyle seemed almost rudely ironic, as she again expressed that she has "survived" when, talent-wise, she already should have gone home. She didn't look good this week, despite all her confidence that she had a legitimate chance at winning the competition. And her freestyle was something of a nightmare, as she and partner Louis screwed up a lift and then ended horribly. The judges' scores of three 8's was entirely too generous, in my opinion.

The addition of the Mega-Mix in this season's finale was a good change, I thought. However, part of what makes it great is to separate the couples from best dancer to the worst, which would have been more important last year, when all three finalists were nearly perfect at the end. This year, there was Mya the dancer and Donny the performer with the large fanbase, and then there's Kelly. Keep in mind, I do think Donny did a great job with the Mega-Mix, and I'm sure it was a very close call as to who would take first, him or Mya. It probably came down to nothing more than Donny's poor posture at some points.

Going into the finals, I had the thought that Mya would need to be near perfect to beat Donny and his voters, or even to outlast Kelly's fans, some of whom have really turned on Mya. Apparently, since Mya had so much dancing ability coming into the competition, some people don't see that as being fair when compared to someone like Kelly who has none. That only helps Kelly's beloved underdog status, and makes her fans really hate Mya, who has done nothing but be the great dancer that she is.

The point difference between Mya and Kelly is significant, but is it enough? For that matter, will her slight point lead over Donny and her possible higher score tomorrow be enough to beat out his fans?

I am genuinely concerned that this could all come down to Dmitry's poor decision to ignore his partner's thoughts when it came to their freestyle performance.