When I heard Janel Parrish and Val Chmerkovskiy were doing a Romeo and Juliet number on Dancing With the Stars, I was nervous. The way to pay tribute to a romantic couple is not to pick a pair of teenagers who foolishly killed themselves and got no happy ending. But the way Janel and Val executed the number erased any doubt from my mind. The contemporary piece may have been set to a song from the 1996 movie adaptation, but it couldn't be further from the story you all know. There was no tragic death scene at the end. Rather, like Val said, it was "more about the theme of love and how two people come together to celebrate each other."
The pair really did look splendid in the romantic piece and even won over notoriously tough judges Len Goodman and Julianne Hough. All four judges awarded the couple a perfect score, and laid the flattery on thick. Bruno Tonioli called it "gorgeous and glorious in every possible way," and Carrie Ann Inaba said it was "the epitome of what dance is about." Hough said what we were all thinking and pointed out that it felt like Janel and Val were the only two people in the room when they were dancing. "That was for you two, and it was so beautiful," she gushed.
I know Janel is capable of sass and Val has raw sexual power, but seeing them give grace and beauty a shot was spectacular. Their perfect score also guaranteed them the special immunity card for the week which means they won't go home and are definitely around for next Monday. That just gives them one more chance to continue to excel. Janel and Val, dating or not, are improving their chemistry and their technique each week. If they keep bringing it to the stage like they did on Monday, they have a real shot at winning that Mirror Ball at the end.
Image: Val Chmerkovskiy/Instagram
