Dazzlin' Dancin' and Daddy Issues

One show from the finale and it's almost impossible to guess which star won't make it into the finals tonight. Conventional wisdom would dictate Marie--with the lowest total score of and the "least best" dancer of the lot--would take her final bow tonight. But remember that voters kicked off the BEST dancer, Sabrina Bryan, WEEKS ago--so there's no telling what will happen tonight.

Marie danced a redux of her 40s inspired Quickstep with another 40s inspired Quickstep--but instead of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy it was Astaire and Rogers. Very cute and very classic and it impressed the judges enough to earn her an almost perfect score of 29 (Bruno, roundly booed by the audience, was the spoiler!). Later, her Mambo was described as "madcap" and I have to agree. Seems Ms. Osmond took cute and ratcheted it up to "cartoon" with that one. She got 27 points for her performance giving her a total of 56 for the night.

Jennie landed smack in the middle of the pack dancing a Tango in which she looked more pissed than fierce and which earned her 28 points. That was followed by an impressive Cha-cha which landed her a perfect score of 30--bringing her total to 58. Mel B. was technically proficient as always and earned two perfect scores for her Waltz and Paso Doble. She can do no wrong in the judges eyes--they gushed after each of her performances. Although admittedly she is a great dancer, there's something about her I don't care for. I wonder how the rest of America feels...

The other perfect couple last night were Helio and Julianne with their classy and smooth Fox Trot followed by an energetic Cha-cha. Helio would be my pick to win the entire competition--but it's difficult to predict who will stay or go at this point. Marie's got a pretty loyal fanbase and her siblings' support was more heartening than seeing the Spice Girls rallying around Mel B. But then again, Mel B. has a secret weapon in partner Maksim which I'm sure brings a lot of votes in. Jennie's "I have no self-confidence" is beginning to wear thin--I think she'd do better infusing some of her bitchy Kelly ala 90210 into her dancing. Helio is the only guy left--and he's a little cutie to boot. Should be interesting to see who makes it tonight...

I had high expectations for last week's episode of Heroes. I thought it might be up to the standards of the "Five Years Later" episode from last season. I was a bit disappointed. It was a good, solid show--but not a stellar one. Last night's episode, however, can be summed up in two words--FREAKING AWESOME! At one point, Angela Petrelli being questioned by Matt Parkman tells him to "Get over your Daddy Issues." That pretty much sums up the theme for last night's installment. Matt's issues with his father, Hiro dealing with the death of Kaito, Claire and Mr. Bennet, and Bob--who turns out to be the father of Elle.

Matt is refining his mind reading abilities into mind CONTROLLING ability. First he makes Molly eat her cereal, then he gets his boss to allow him to continue the Nakamura homicide investigation and finally, he extracts the truth about the people pictured in the photo from Angela. We learn that there's yet another member of The Company out there--and her name is Victoria Pratt. Wonder what her ability is? For that matter--what's Angela's power? Or Kaito's?

Speaking of Kaito--Hiro goes back in time to save him from being murdered. His father tells him that it is his destiny and that while "We have the powers of gods, that does not mean we can play God." Hiro stubbornly refuses to go along with allowing Kaito to die and teleports him back in time to the day of his mother's funeral. He meets up with little Hiro there and realizes that his father is right--he cannot play God. He teleports back to the day of Kaito's death and freezes time so that he can identify his father's killer. He is shocked to learn that it's Kensei Takezo. Of course, Hiro doesn't know what Angela told Matt about Kensei--aka Adam. Apparently when your cells continually regenerate you become immortal. And your blood can be the salvation of the human race.

Which is why Mohinder and Bob want to get Claire so badly. Bob wants to shoot Bennet and take Claire, but Mohinder opts for a more reasonable approach. Meanwhile, the Bennets are packing up to leave--but Claire being a rebellious teenager says she's not going. She tells West that she's staying because of him, but West is suspicious that Claire is part of some kind of plot to re-abduct him. Bennet, too anxiously to wait for Mohinder to call back with West's location, decides to track the flyboy down himself, but (in one of the show's best moments) is nailed by West as he walks out the door. The flyboy takes him up into the sky--and threatens to drop him if he doesn't tell him the truth about Claire. Bennet tells him that Claire never told him anything about West--that she was protecting him. West brings him back down to the ground and Bennet tells him he has to convince Claire to leave town.

Right then, Mohinder calls with the alleged whereabouts of West--but Bennet is WITH West and knows Mohinder is lying. He meets Mohinder who tries to convince him to hand over Claire and Bennet of course refuses. Elle is about to unleash a lightning bolt on Bennet--but is tackled by West who flies in to save the day. When Bennet returns home,he finds his wife tied up and Claire taken by Bob. But he has a plan--West brings the unconscious Elle into the house. In another great moment, a bound Elle regains consciousness to find her feet in a tub of water. When she starts to unleash her electrical powers, she ends up frying herself. So twisted and sick. I loved it! Bennet also tells her that her Daddy Bob allowed The Company to experiment on her and says, "That's why I never let The Company anywhere near Claire. I didn't want her to become you!" Ouch--almost as painful as an electric shock!

Bennet arranges for a hostage exchange with Bob--but before handing Claire over, Bob extracts a pint of Claire's blood. After the exchange, Bennet tells West to fly Claire out of danger. The viciously vindicative Elle strikes them down with a lightning bolt mid-air--but Claire cushions the fall when they land and they are both unharmed. Bennet shoots at Elle and then goes to kill Bob. But Mohinder shoots him in the eye--and he ends up on the ground looking like Isaac's prophetic painting. Claire and West fly away and tell Claire's mom the news. But the kicker? Claire's blood infusing into Bennet's body--his blown out eye regenerates and he regains consciousness at The Company's "facility."

Awesome. Freaking AWESOME!