helio and julianne

down to this... well, kind of. In an overly complicated bit of percentages and math, the champion will actually be decided Tuesday, with the scores and votes from Monday being added to the Tuesday performance. We'll argue about that on Wednesday though.

Monday brought us the final three, each offering two dances. The first, judge's choice, where each couple would have to do a new routine in a style chosen by the judges. And then, the one everyone has been waiting for. The freestyle, where the rules get tossed out and we are all assured that we won't have to hear Carrie Ann prattle on about lifts. Despite the shouting and protests about who should, or shouldn't be in the final, it has shaped up to be a very close race. More on all of the performances and we'll break out the calculator to see where everybody stands, after the break.

Gallery: Dancing With The Stars: The Finals

Melanie Brown and Maksim Chmerkovskiy (Cha Cha) - Historically, I've always thought it was best not to go first on DWTS. It just seems that more often than not, the couple out first catches more flack than they deserve. Luckily for Mel & Maks, finals night was one of the exceptions. Before they could get things started with their cha cha, we got the obligatory training tape. In the video we saw Mel bringing in some of her dancers from the Spice Girls tour to help with the freestyle. As we would see throughout the night, all of the couples had grand plans for the freestyle.

Then it was time to get to the dancing with the judge's choice cha cha. That was a great pick for Mel. It plays right into her personality and dance abilities. She kicked off the dance by running over to her husband, before being drug back onto the floor by Maks. I worried that the opening was a little long, as Len has complained about that before, but once things were underway, it really took off. Mel has such amazing confidence now. There are no more nerves and she really looks like she is having fun. That, more than anything, was what struck me about their performance. How after ten weeks, she really has embraced the competition. The performance as a whole stopped short of being one of the amazing finale numbers that we have seen in the past, but was well done and probably the best of the judge's choice round.

Len congratulated Mel on making the final and said it was very deserved after seeing their performance. He called it great. Bruno said he couldn't believe what an accomplished dancer Mel has become. Carrie thought it was good, praising the footwork and hip-action, but added that she was expecting more excitement. Short of pyrotechnics, I'm not sure what would have done that for her. That seemed like struggling to find something to complain about. Score: 28 (9,9,10)

Marie Osmond and Jonathan Roberts (Samba) - As their segment kicked off, Tom made a note of pointing out that Marie made it to the finals without ever having topped the leader board. Going to the training video, Jonathan brought out the crash pad. Clearly he had some big ideas for the freestyle performance. In a gag, they took out a cherry picker in order to spy on Helio and Julianne.

The judges chose the Samba, which isn't exactly playing to Marie's dancing strength, but she does have the personality that can sell anything. That's key, because as we have seen all season, what she lacks in pure dance ability she makes up for with a great acting performance. You could tell she was having fun, and it was a well danced number. But, as we have said again and again these last few weeks, Marie is just a step below her competitors when it comes to the dancing.

Bruno said he was going to tell her the truth. He said that she always gives 110% and never fails to entertain, but the samba is tricky, and this wasn't her best dance. Carrie Ann agreed that it was very entertaining, but added that Marie's limited range of motion showed itself. Len also agreed that it had technical limitations, but for entertainment value, Marie is second to none. Score: 24 (8,8,8) While 8's are always surprising on finals night, that was a fair score.

Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough (Jive) - Like Jonathan, Julianne was quick to bring out the mats. She also made sure to point out how difficult it is for Helio being the only man left in the competition, having to perform the lifts of the freestyle. For the judge's choice, they were given the jive. I liked that choice for Helio, even though their first attempt was looked at as something of a failure.

It was a nice improvement. Their sock-hop inspired jive was all kinds of fun. The Helio charisma was as evident as ever. Julianne did a great job with the choreography as well. It was a very fun performance and managed to work in a lot of great steps to showcase Helio. The crowd absolutely loved it. The judges, not so much.

Carrie Ann agreed with the audience calling it really exciting and fun, but... she added that there was a problem with the footwork. Len didn't even couch his complaints, going right to hammering Helio for his technical difficulties. I find it interesting how he was basically telling Helio the same thing he told Marie, but did it in such a different tone. Bruno said Helio had boundless energy and everybody loves him, but also called attention to the footwork. Score 25 (8,8,9)

Melanie Brown and Maksim Chmerkovskiy (Freestyle) - Like most fans, I have really been looking forward to the freestyle round. And of all of them, this was the one I wanted to see. Unfortunately, my hopes for something special were dashed, as this was kind of disappointing. They kicked things off with some interesting chair work and then went into the main part of their performance. I have to say, it was kind of slow to start. There was far too much of Mel watching Maks dance. Things picked up somewhat when they got to the lifts. Their second one was really impressive, and probably the best lift of the night. Overall though, it came off as a little disjointed, and lacking content. I found myself waiting for it to really get going, and before it did, it was over. I expected a lot more from these two. I can't help but wonder if this wasn't a case of the lack of rehearsal time that we have heard rumblings of before.

Carrie Ann said that this was the freestyle round, which is her favorite. She added that she thought Mel was better than that routine. And then was booed by Baby Spice. Len liked the lifts and the bit with the chair, but thought it lacked flow. Bruno also called the lifts spectacular. Score: 27(9,9,9) After the drubbing from the judges, Mel was a little surprised that they were that good, and so was I.

Marie Osmond and Jonathan Roberts (Freestyle) - Marie had hinted earlier that her freestyle would have something to do with her career as a doll designer. I thought it was actually a good idea, at first. Jonathan winding her up was cute, and her stiff doll movements were fun in that Marie way. The problem was that it went on a lot longer than it should have. They did manage some impressive lifts of their own, but Marie's stiff doll act got old quickly. Had they opened with that, and transitioned into a normal dance, with their freestyle content it would have worked much better.

Len said that what happened here has happened to him in the past. It sounded like a good idea, but it didn't work. Marie interrupted him. Bruno called it the loopiest thing he has ever seen, like a cross between Baby Jane and the Bride of Chucky. Carrie Ann praised Marie for taking a risk, however she agreed that it was a bad choice. Score: 22(8,7,7)

Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough (Freestyle) - With the first two freestyle performances somewhat disappointing, the door was open for Helio and Julianne. And they drove right through with the best performance of the night. The racing suits to open with were a nice touch, and they echoed back to it with their fantastic finishing move where Helio flipped Julianne so she landed in the back seat and they finished driving away. That was what made their performance, it was actually a thought out and put together routine.

Bruno called Helio Mr. Irresistible and praised his work on the difficult lifts. Carrie Ann thought it was fantastic saying that Helio has technique and the entertainment factor. She did ding him on coming out of one of the lifts, which was a fair point. Len simply said that it was the best freestyle of the night, by miles. Score 29 (9,10,10)

Overall, I'd have to say that this wasn't one of the better finals nights the show has had. It lacked the big performances where you are blown away by what you have just seen. I was happy to see that reflected in the judge's scores.

So, where does that leave us? Well, after getting out the calculator and doing a bit of figuring, I think it's still up in the air. The way it sits, Mel has 35.4% of the judges vote, Helio has 34.8%, and Marie has 29.7%. That means that Marie is going to need to get 5.1% more of the fan vote than Helio, or 5.7% more than Mel. Given what we have seen over the past few weeks, I think that's entirely possible. We really could see any combination of the couples in the big dance off tomorrow.