We were down to the Top 18 dancers, and none of us have yet to vote. God, I hate that. The show clearly does too, since Cat made a crack at the World Series, which is currently keeping the show down to one episode per week. (As an aside, since when does baseball go into November? Is that normal?) Opening solos: Mollee appeared to be wearing some kind of turban. Karen's breasts were sparkling. Noelle is apparently no longer dying or whatever. Once again Nigel had the empty Paula Abdul chair. He's trying so hard. I wonder if he realizes that America is totally over Paula Abdul at this point? On to good news: both Billy Bell and Brandon Dumlao will be eligible to compete next season. They both got screwed, so good for them.

Noelle & Russell pulled a hip-hop routine by new choreographer Jamal Sims, who created a lover's spat done as a tennis match, set to "Move Shake Drop Remix." Noelle was weak. Russell, of course, hit it out of the park; this is his style, or close to it. But I found Noelle's moves to be sloppy and lacking pop. I hated the tennis rackets; they were distracting me from the dancing, and also got in the way of the story the routine was supposed to be telling. There were a couple cool passes toward the end, but the routine to me just felt sloppy. Adam started right off with more praise for the choreographers - note that he always does this. It suggests to me that he doesn't feel comfortable actually critiquing the dancing that much. He said that he felt the routine was overwhelming Noelle and Russell, and I agree with that. Mary told Russell that he has a natural light within him (are we sure Paula Abdul didn't show up tonight?), and she gave credit to Noelle for not being weak due to her previous injury. That's not fair to the other dancers, to grade her on a curve. Nigel said the routine was too fast for the dancers to really get a hold of it. True. And Nigel specifically singled out Noelle for her crappy tricks, and said that she might be in trouble tonight.

Ashleigh & Jakob got Viennese waltz by Tony & Melanie. The piece was supposed to be the first dance at their wedding reception, and set to "At Last" by Etta James. I used to love that song, but I'm kind of over it at this point. So overplayed. They started off with a sweet kiss, and then went into a lovely spin. Ashleigh was doing a good job acting the piece, and Jakob was dancing it beautifully, if a bit too mincingly. It seemed like one of the fastest Viennese waltzes I've ever seen on this show. Jakob's jumps really are amazing, while Ashleigh still needs to work on her extensions. There was a very impressive series of lifts toward the end, but I kept waiting for the rise and fall. I mean, that's what Viennese waltz IS, right? Adam loved the dancing, but felt that the routine was too crammed with lifts, and not enough use of the stage. I agree.

Bianca & Victor pulled a Broadway routine to music from "The Color Purple" by Tyce DiOrio. I had a whole bunch of notes on this but my Word crashed and I lost them all. I'll tell you what I remember: the piece was a mess. At first I didn't feel like the two of them were dancing together at all; they could have been doing two separate numbers on the stage and I wouldn't have been surprised. There was no chemistry. The point was for them to be moved by the holy spirit, and they weren't into it at all; neither of them were in character, and while Victor at least danced it fairly well, I thought Bianca looked lost on the stage. The judges basically all said that while it was danced mostly competently (I would disagree) and that the choreography was good (I strongly disagree; this was one of Tyce's weakest in a long time), but they totally missed the point of the piece, which was to really take it to another performance level.

Mollee & Nathan got Bollywood by Nakul Dev Mahajan, about a prince going to war, and his princess who is not happy about it. The piece began with Nathan backlit in front of a huge sun, swirling a sun. Mollee spun around him, as he did a point spin. It was a much slower Bollywood number than we're used to on this show. I thought Nathan danced the shit out of it. If Mollee was supposed to be a pissed-off princess, that didn't come through at all. She was actually mostly forgettable. The two of them kept grabbing their costumes, making me feel like they were about to trip. Adam said that he felt Mollee was coming into her own, and "embraced her stillness." If you mean that she didn't do much for a good chunk of the routine, yes. That is true. She was also not a total spazz, so I guess that's an improvement. Congrats! Mary thought it looked like a Hollywood movie, and referenced the high water mark set by Joshua and Katee a couple years ago. This was different, although not bad. The choreography was definitely very cool and I thought it was worlds better than their disco last week.

Channing & Phillip got a samba by Tony & Melanie set to "Marcatu Funk" by the Samba Squad. Channing looked uncomfortable in her outfit. The lift move in the beginning was so clunky and awkward. Channing did better with her hip work than I was figuring, since she doesn't cut the most graceful of figures. THE LIFTS WERE SO BAD! And there were so many of them. I suspect that Phillip simply doesn't have the upper body strength to lift her. Adam said he could see the two of them struggling. He enjoyed Channing's stride work, although called her out for her breaking of character with "oops" faces throughout. Yeah, totally. Mary said they failed to show the "party" element of the style. She also said that Phillip's footwork was sloppy, and mentioned how labored the tricks were. It's crazy how weak Phillip has turned out to be. I thought he'd be a real contender, and he's been a mess thus far. Nigel also called out his stiffness and lack of grace.

Karen & Kevin got hip-hop by Tabitha and Napoleon set to "Ice Cream Paint Job" by Dorrough. It was set in a car garage. Karen was saying that she needed to play catch up, but boy, you didn't see it. I thought she danced this better than she did her own style last week. She rode Kevin like a motorcycle at one point; that was very cool. There were times when Karen got a little nasty, frankly, with the grinding hips, but I won't complain. But Kevin was indeed invisible again, which he bitched about in his pre-show clip. You want people to notice you? Dance better than your partner, or at least up to her level. The routine ended with her throwing him off the stage, which I think is kind of an apt metaphor for their entire dance partnership. Adam thought Karen killed it, and exhibited more confidence than Kevin. Yep. Karen remained on the Hot Tamale Train a second week in a row - this week I agree. Mary put Kevin on the train too, but I think that was strictly a make-nice on her part. Nigel called her a true performer. I just thought she was hot. I finally "got" Karen tonight.

Kathryn & Legacy got Stacey Tookey's contemporary routine about a woman wrestling with fear, with Legacy embodying fear. Sounded an awful lot like the Kupono/Kayla addiction number from last season. Set to "2 Steps Away" by Patti LaBelle. I liked the idea, but I didn't necessarily see the story she was trying to tell; it just looked like a regular contemporary routine, albeit one that was danced beautifully, with some very cool moves. I think part of the problem was that while Kathryn danced it quite well, she did not do a good job acting the piece. Legacy actually did a stronger job in that aspect, and I thought he did a commendable job with the steps too. Adam thought it was very powerful, and was impressed by Legacy, who he said was "transformed." He also pointed out that this is a couple that really makes both of its halves stronger, and I agree. Mary said she can't recall any other dancer on this show growing as fast as Legacy has. She may be right on that count. She also said that Kathryn is really emerging from the pack, and that's true too. I discounted her completely at the Top 20, but she's put in two solid weeks, which is more than just about any other dancer in the competition.

Pauline & Peter, our new couple, got a piece by Wade Robson inspired by Van Gogh's "Starry Nite," but an alternate version of the painting, in which people were in the piece at first, then erased, and now they're coming back to haunt the painter. You can always count on Wade for something out there. Set to "Little Green Bag" by George Baker Selection. The stage was turned into a 3D version of the painting, with the painting itself on the background, moving and re-shuffling itself. I thought Peter danced Pauline off the fucking stage. It was a funky routine, and I liked the movements a lot: lots of hopping, wriggling. It reminded me a bit of the art thief piece from a few season back. Toward the end they reached up and snatched down a couple of the star swirls, then hid behind the trees. Peter was really puckish. Adam was impressed by how much the two of them committed to the piece, especially Peter. Mary liked it, but feared that the piece wouldn't be appreciated by the viewers. Well, the viewers aren't making the decisions right now, are they? Nigel liked it, but felt that Peter needs to work on opening his shoulders, which were quite tight. Re: Pauline, he thought she danced to her full potential for the first time. Interesting, I thought she was worse than last week.

Ellenore & Ryan got Argentine tango by Miriam & Leonardo. It was a technically demanding routine. The two of them looked incredible. Ellenore worried about the lifts, but hello, you're dancing with The Hulk. I loved Ellenore's extensions. Her skirt got caught on one of her shoes about halfway through, but to her credit, she just kept on dancing; that's a pro, ladies and gentlemen. The lifts were beautiful, and Ryan did a magnificent job partnering her. The judges were really impressed with Ellenore's ability to soldier on, and liked the "laser-like connection" between the two of them, and Ellenore's calmness. Nigel said he didn't know if there's another couple on the show that could do the routine any better than they had done it. I think they're maybe the strongest all-around couple we have this year. But we'll see how Ryan handles hip-hop.

Then the judges went back to deliberate, and called the following three couples: Noelle& Russell, Bianca &Victor, Channing & Phillip. Russell was spared, and so was Channing. That left Noelle, Victor, Phillip, and Bianca to dance for their lives. Of the four, Noelle and Phillip are the most expendable. Noelle was up first, and surprised me with her solo, which was much more expressive and interesting than I was expecting, even if it lacked a bit of polish. Victor's solo was good, although it's hard for me to judge, since he was wearing very tight, skimpy clothes, and I found myself distracted. However, he does not dance masculine at all, which is a noted issue for Nigel. Bianca picked "Tootsie Roll" as her accompaniment , and endeared herself to me, even if her tap solo didn't necessarily blow me away. Phillip's tap solo seemed as labored as his routine earlier; I don't think he had anything prepared, just lots of spins.

Eliminations: Nigel said that both girls did not live up to potential in their duets, but Noelle danced for her life, for real, and that saved her, which meant Bianca was going home. Wow, I suspected she'd be Top 10 easily - she's one of our "characters" this season. You could tell she was pissed, and I felt like Cat kind of hurried her through her goodbye so she didn't say anything negative. For the boys, Phillip got the quick axe, and it was deserved. His dismissal was quite perfunctory. That means we went from three tappers to one in a single episode. Yikes. After Nigel lowered the boom Npoor Phillip revealed that his dad died like 10 days ago, and the funeral was last week - ouch. That's a lot to take in.

Next week: We apparently get to vote. FINALLY.