‘Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars’ review: Perfection for Sabrina Bryan, Apolo Ohno

“Dancing with the Stars” did not take a night off thanks to Hurricane Sandy, and while all of the rain was pouring through the eastern United States, the show aired what was in many ways a tribute to what was going on in the south … at least via country music. There were cowboy boots, tractors, and also stunning representation of what some of people think that the south is like. In addition to that, there were also a few standouts here and there.

Gilles Marini and Peta Murgatroyd – Who doesn’t want to see Gilles in a sheer top? This was a strange routine to be sure, and it almost felt a bit underwhelming considering the great things that Gilles has done as of late. The judges liked it, but for this stage of the competition, they did not necessarily love it. Score: 27.5, overall 84 out 90

Sabrina Bryan and Louis van Amstel – In two seasons on the show, this is the best dance Sabrina has done as she did it in tribute to an ex-boyfriend who was a drug addict. You could not just feel the emotion within the dance, but also the choreography from Louis that was the best he has evern done on this show. Score: 30, overall 88.5

Kelly Monaco and Val Chmerkovskiy – In keeping the country music theme, these two had to literally dance a tango to “Good Girl” by Carrie Underwood … and it worked! The one thing we’re curious about is that kiss between her and Val at the end, since it almost looked like it wasn’t meant to be as dramatic as it was. Score: 27, overall 78.5

Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani – Speaking about great performances, this was clearly one of the best that we have seen all season long. She still has a neck problem, but you really could not tell during most of this Viennese waltz that shows that she and Tony really are hoping to make it all the way to the end. Score: 29.5, overall 86

Shawn Johnson and Derek Hough – Oh, Shawn, why must you make Len Goodman so angry? Once again, she and Derek had some controversy choreography, and a song in “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” that she never would have done years ago. It’s always fun to see disagreement among the judges: while Len gave her an 8.5, Bruno went for the “10!” Score: 28, overall 84.5

Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy – Now, we turn to what was a pretty romantic rumba from two people who have some of the best chemistry out of anyone in the competition. Was this dance perfect? Far from it, but there was still plenty of solid technique in here that led to some decent scores. Score: 27.5, overall 80

Apolo Anton Ohno and Karina Smirnoff – Another perfect score! These two fought extensively last week, but then got it together for a romantic dance that showed off a great deal of growth between the two of them. This is really what we have been waiting to see from Apolog all season. Score: 30, overall 86.5

Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke – In giving the last performance of the night, Emmitt gave what was actually a surprisingly sloppy foxtrot, and the best thing in it was his solo. Luckily, he performed strongly enough across the board to make up for it last week: Score: 26.5, overall 82.5

Who was your favorite from the show this week?