Helio quicksteps his way to a perfect score

Second time’s the charm
Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough weren’t going to repeat their past missteps. Julianne took Helio through a video of the last dance and pointed out the problems, before bringing in a “pit team” of ballroom heavyweights, including the recently booted Tony Dovolani, to show him how it’s done.

Usually, those rehearsal montages just seem like set-up filler, but something must have clicked for the Indy champ. In their first dance, the paso doble, Helio worked the cape like a pro and his footwork was markedly better than it’s been in three weeks. He even took on the matador character without making the scary faces he’s assumed in past acting attempts. Progress!

The audience loved it; the judges loved it; and with 27 points, no one could have expected things were going to get so much better. But they did.

Jumping from the stage step (Cam style!) in a bright yellow zoot suit, Helio launched into a flawless quickstep. He and Julianne worked in perfect time and gave not only their best performance but possibly the best of the show so far.

After the prolonged cheering and standing ovation, the judges continued clapping as though they were as stunned as the crowd. “I thought you looked like a big dancing banana,” Len quipped. “It was fantastic.” And if they had any doubt of that, their first perfect 30 of the season should put it to rest.

They can’t all be 30s
The only other perfect scoring couple in the game, with two 30s under their belts for past performances, Mel and Maks took the stage next. The passionate and aggressive tango they performed harked back to last week’s paso. Once again in all black, they even rehashed a couple of their own steps. The dance was great, but it felt redundant.

Without the eerily similar feel, they might have managed 10s instead of nines for the routine. But there was still time to see some 10s for their mambo. They received two of them, in fact, and a nine for the surprisingly standard interpretation. That’s standard in a good way.

The classic, hip thrusting fun and fast mambo was no frills, strictly ballroom material. If Carrie Ann didn’t dish that nine, M&M would’ve tied Helio and Julianne for night. But Carrie Ann did point out one thing that speaks volumes to Mel’s success so far. “Maks looks like he’s having a great time with you.” The usually grumpy pro does seem positively pleased with his partner — a big change from seasons past.

Going into Tuesday night’s results show, Jennie and Cameron are both red zone possibilities, but they aren’t the ones that need to worry the most. As host Tom Bergeron put it when he announced the standings, “Languishing at the bottom are Marie and Jonathan.” The fan base loves Marie, but even if she sticks around one more week, it’s clear the competition is beyond her now.

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Ree Hines is a regular contributor to msnbc.com.

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