In the final leg of a fierce competition and superb season, all three Dancing with the Stars finalists brought their A-game.

We hope you’ve been following our DWTS coverage this past week, with in-depth analysis of each finalist and our predictions for the end result.

– Finalist analysis: Riker Lynch
– Finalist analysis: Noah Galloway
– Finalist analysis: Rumer Willis

After last week, the finale seemed to still be basking in the warm and fuzzy feelings pervading the show. The judges were happier than we’ve ever seen them. Tonight was only an hour long, featuring two rounds of dance and not much else. In the first round, the stars chose a favorite dance they wanted to redo in the hopes of upping their scores. Interestingly, all the stars chose a number from the first half of the competition, and all three succeeded in increasing their scores. This was followed by the eagerly awaited freestyle round, which makes or breaks dancers’ odds of victory, and saw perfect forties all around.

It’s an interesting finale, because none of the pros have won before. Sharna and Allison are participating in their first final, while Val is on his fourth and really desperate to win. So, for the last time, let’s welcome our stars!

First Place (tie), 80 points: Rumer and Val. Rumer decided to return to her very first dance, the foxtrot that put her to the map. Len said, back then, that this could be Val’s season… and nothing’s changed. The technique in this number was flawless, but as Erin said, the best part was Rumer and Val’s radiant smiles. They have come a long way since starting this competition, and evidently feel much more comfortable on the dance floor and dancing with each other. The smiles were contagious, as even Bruce Willis showed some emotion. Rumer also evoked out emotions with her speech to Val: “I’m so grateful for you. I’ve been so scared, my whole life, to try anything, to fail, and you didn’t really ever let me. I’ve never really had anybody who’s believed in me like that.” Now Bruno has crowned Rumer dancing royalty, and we agree.

It would appear the show has also crowned Rumer, since she was awarded the coveted last spot in the running order. So the night closed out with Rumer’s freestyle. The freestyle represented a breakthrough for Val more than for Rumer. Val is aware that he has been at bat and failed with the freestyle three times in the past (with Kelly Monaco, Zendaya, and last season with Janel Parrish). As he said, the freestyles are meant to be larger than life, which is not his thing. Val does not do huge production numbers like the other pros, his wheelhouse is classic ballroom dances. So, having learned from his defeat at the hands of Derek’s stripped down freestyle in season 16, Val went back to basics.

With the gimmick of dancing to a cover of “Toxic” with Rumer singing and Val playing violin, Rumer and Val performed an exquisite blend of Argentine tango and contemporary, accompanied by no more than dramatic lighting. Bruno called it a thing of “luscious beauty and bewitching intensity.” It was the only freestyle to forego extra dancers, a choice praised by Len. This was all very savvy on Val’s part, because as the regular dances on DWTS have grown ever more extravagant, less has become more. Viewers are so used to everything-but-the-kitchen-sink in dances – extra dancers, crazy sets, etc. – that it is now noteworthy when a dance just consists of a couple dancing. Val and Rumer have done all they can, and we fully expect them to hoist the Mirrorball Trophy at the end of the season.

First Place (tie), 80 points: Riker and Allison. Riker returned, as we all wanted to, to Week 5’s crazy Pirates of the Caribbean paso doble. By far their best dance all season, a perfect blend of concept and content. Riker just comes alive as Jack Sparrow, and this number is a top-notch paso doble in terms of all the dance moves in there. Just as much fun the second time around, Riker got his two missing tens from Julianne and “Len-the-Ten Goodman” for a perfect score, and a rare standing ovation from Len.

Riker’s freestyle was the kind of overstuffed extravagance that once would have wowed, but now is more of the same, just amplified. Sure, the dancing was good, consisting of an mix of several styles. And the dance was fun, once it got going. But in the grand scheme of things, between Noah’s tug on the heartstrings and Rumer’s beautiful dancing, this dance just does not stand out. Riker will likely be the runner up, unless Noah’s fans rally, but we deem it unlikely for him to win.

Last Place, 76 points: Noah and Sharna. Noah returned to his Week 3 Argentine tango. If one were to look back, the Argentine tango is the “favorite dance” far more than any other, because they are always exciting. In season 10, all three finalists performed the Argentine tango for the round. Noah seemed much more comfortable this time around (as he said, since he’s already had a tooth knocked out, what is there to worry about?). Unfortunately, he wobbled on some of the lifts – the judges attributed it to nerves, we attribute it to having one leg to balance on – and got all eights. While that’s an improvement over the thirty he originally received, getting eights in the finals is never a good sign… in fact, these were the only non-tens given tonight. That said, this dance is a joy to watch, featuring some extraordinary lifts that seem to defy gravity.

For the freestyle, Sharna wanted him to show vulnerability; focusing on how Noah felt when he first lost his limbs. Danced to a mashup of “Titanium” and “Fix You,” the number was exquisite. Sharna’s choreography, which we can’t praise enough for the entire season, was glorious here – physically representing all the people who helped Noah with the use of backup dancers, and finally ending with Noah in a spotlight. Their freestyle was pretty much a contemporary, but a superb one at that. The judges all stood for Noah, and awarded him a perfect score. And to finish off the emotional wallop, Noah raced to embrace his mother as the show cut to commercial. Erin finally hit upon the secret of Noah’s success: he does better with his shirt off. Noah concurred: “I pull it together when I take it off.”

At this point, the trophy is Rumer’s to lose. Riker’s pirate paso did him more favors than the freestyle, which was matched by Noah finding ever new ways to bring tears to viewers’ eyes. Our final predictions are for Rumer to win, Riker to get second, and Noah to come in third. But whichever way the finale shakes out, they are all winners for having made the finals in such a tight race.

So, which freestyle was your favorite? How have you enjoyed this season relative to the others? And who do you think will win season 20?