In DWTS week 8, the couples paid homage to “dynamic duos” in hopes of topping the leaderboard and earning immunity from both the Dance-Off and the elimination.

In the end, the couple landing in seventh place and bidding tearful farewells was… Michael and Emma! They received the lowest score (25) for the third time in four weeks, and the jig was up. However, they went out with a bang! I want to know whose bright idea it was to have Michael and Emma do a foxtrot as Tarzan and Jane – all of those things are completely incongruous, but they somehow made it work and made it absolutely adorable. It was a very sweet and demure foxtrot, set to “You’ll Be In My Heart,” and I enjoyed it immensely, even if Michael’s footwork was practically nonexistent. On the upside, Michael was on the music most of the time. Michael really tried week after week, and always made me smile with his dances. I will miss Michael pointing out things like, “Tarzan is the only man I know who wears less clothes than Val.”

Michael also lost the dance-off against Tommy, where the two competed in the rhumba. Tommy waddled about as usual and let Peta make pretty shapes. Michael attempted a fairly ambitious rhumba with lots of content, which had terrible technique, but at least he tried. The judges chose Tommy for reasons unknown, but the whole “3 points totally matter!” thing is a lie anyway, so who cares?

Michael did not quite match the heights his pal Bill Engvall achieved with Emma a year ago, but there is no doubt he did far better than anyone thought. Michael and Emma both tearfully said they’ve been changed for the better by their partnership. (“Because I knew you, I have been chaaaanged for good.”) I was interested to see how much the partnership meant to Emma. Usually when the pros get a partner like Michael, who is written off as a lost cause, they are content to have fun for a few weeks and leave it at that. But Emma was always very invested in Michael and frequently got emotional, and that was curious, but lovely to see.

Now, in a very confusing order, let’s welcome our stars!

First Place, 40 points + immunity: Janel and Val. I personally roll my eyes whenever people say Romeo and Juliet is one of the greatest love stories ever. However, Janel and Val performed a beautiful and intensely romantic contemporary dance. No wonder it was good, since they pretty much do contemporary ever week. Despite being far from the best dance of the night, Janel got a perfect score and won immunity. Since Len is back now, this counts as the first real perfect score of the season; it went to Janel and Val just like the first non-Len 40 did.

Second Place, 41 points (38 + 3): Alfonso and Witney. Why watch Gotham on Monday nights when you have Batman and Robin on DWTS? Though this was a missed cross-promotional opportunity, they could have done Thor/Loki or Bucky/Captain America. The rehearsal segment was gold, beginning with Alfonso and Witney running around as superheroes helping people. Then Alfonso hilariously got stuck on the zipline in dress rehearsal. But when it came time to dance live, everything went off without a hitch, and Alfonso delivered a good cha-cha. Alfonso faced off against Lea in a jive dance-off; Lea had the better technique but fumbled a few times, so Alfonso was chosen as the victor.

Third Place, 40 points (37 + 3): Bethany and Derek. They delivered an incredibly sharp and very fun salsa themed around “I Love Lucy.” Needless to say, they dived into the theme with gusto – accents, sets, and even black-and-white dreams. I thought this should have gotten a perfect score, though Carrie Ann allegedly found a mistake (or just wanted to give Janel the immunity). Bethany faced off against Sadie in a cha-cha dance-off, since the two couples are BFFs. Sadie’s cha-cha was very sloppy, but at least she tried. Bethany was mostly contained in Derek’s arms and rehashed a lot of their salsa. The judges were tied in deciding the victor, and Len was declared the tiebreaker; he’d chosen Bethany. Mark was NOT happy.

Fourth Place, 38 points: Sadie and Mark. This couple leaves me so conflicted. On the one hand, both of them are absolutely intolerable in their rehearsal packages – Sadie cannot deal with the abject horror of a naked male torso on a dance show, while Mark defiantly asserts that Len hates creativity because he won’t reward Mark’s flagrant disregard for the rules. On the other hand, their Adam-and-Eve routine was magnificent – certainly one of the best routines of the season, it was an epic production that would feel at home on Broadway. This absolutely should have received a perfect 40, maybe if Mark stopped antagonizing the judges and throwing tantrums, it would’ve.

Fifth Place, 32 points: Lea and Artem. There was nothing wrong with this number per se; in fact, from a technical standpoint it was excellent. But it was just a tad dull – honoring Bonnie and Clyde is a routine that asks to be a little wild and a little bonkers, whereas this number just featured Lea and Artem dancing pleasantly side by side. It opened the show, and was promptly forgotten by nine o’clock. Of course, none of this is Lea’s fault, but maybe the couple should have focused more on choreography and less on acting lessons for Artem. I worry for Lea come elimination time; this week was not kind to her. However, it’s clear that Artem is savvy with strategies for this show, I’d be curious to see how he handles himself in the coming weeks.

Last Place, 29 points (26 + 3): Tommy and Peta. Johnny Cash is rolling over in his grave after this couple paid homage to him and June Carter. Tommy was again in Not Necessarily the Bottom Two this week, but survived again. The fact that he is still here is appalling, but if he outlasts any of the other five worthy contenders next week, it will be absolutely criminal.

Which dynamic duo was your favorite? What other dynamic duos do you think could be fun as a dance theme? And what do you think of the clean-shaven Val?