Grease: You're The One That I Want - Aired March 11

It's getting close to the end. This is the final week where the panel gets to save anyone, then we'll be to our final six and it's all up to the audience.
The musical number to start the night was "Grease" itself and it wasn't bad. Luckily these are just an opportunity for the group to perform together and we're not judging them on it.
We're also finding ourself back to having a guest panelist, and to grace us with his knowledge and experience was Rob Marshall, director of the screen version of "Chicago" (a fine movie) and brother of panelist Kathleen.
Before finding out who's in the bottom two, there was a quick video recap of the previous week, and strangely enough, all the Dannys want to win. Now we can breathe easy. I hate when you get a group of competitors all vying to lose.
Except for a dramatic pause, there weren't any games played this week. Austin and Chad were called out, and they were the bottom two. My first thought was "Derek's cracking voice just might win now!" My second was, this isn't good for Chad as he's been in the bottom more than Austin, who has never been there. But on the other hand, that could well be why they haven't let Austin go either, so we'll have to wait and see.
There is a theme for the songs again. The Sandys are all going to be showing their emotional sides, whereas the Dannys will all be doing Elvis. Nice, and very appropriate. The remaining women are all strong, so it would be strange to see any of them really falter. However, the men are still quite iffy, and if anyone is going to bring out the Danny Zuko in any of them, it's the King.
Allie - Oooh! "Natural Woman"! Great song if sung well. She did a very nice job on it, but not fantastic. As good as her voice is, it's probably the weakest of the three remaining women. She went for it though, and that helped a lot.
Derek - Singing "Devil in Disguise", this was the first time I could really see this John Stamos lookalike as Danny. It suited his voice, and I thought this was his strongest performance to date.
Something special the contestants got after each pairing was a video of friends and families, showing the people supporting them. It was kinda nice, and maybe just the shot in the arm each person needed to give them a little extra boost. Better than the anabolic steroids all of them are all taking.
Kidding.
Kathleen thought Allie sang better than she has been, and Derek showed confidence and charm. Rob said they were both fantastic, but now it's about being in character. Jim and David weren't allowed to say anything! I guess there was too much being squeezed into this hour.
Laura - "Don't Leave Me This Way". Laura wasn't my favourite going in, but she's been giving us one great performance after another, and this was yet another best of the night. If she doesn't win the role, it's not going to be her singing that cost her.
Max - I don't know. He sang "Suspicious Minds" and it just left me flat. He can do so much better than this, but on the other hand, he can do so much worse too.
Jim said he was virtually speechless, and it was a good thing he had that "virtually" qualifier, 'cause he kept on a-talkin'. What it all boiled down to is that neither of them were who most people would picture as Danny and Sandy in the beginning, but talent wins out. Rob thought he was looking at the next Sandy and Danny. David and Kathleen weren't allowed to say anything!
Everyone not in the bottom two then gave a performance of "All That Jazz" in honour of Rob Marshall, and sadly it just showed how superior the potential Sandys are to the potential Dannys. The women sizzled in this song, the men were somewhat lukewarm.
Now it was down to Austin and Chad and the Sing Off. Neither liked being in the bottom two, but dadgummit, they were going to fight!
But before singing for their lives, it was time for that weekly kick in the face. Austin, it turned out, had the lowest audience votes. I have to wonder about the wisdom of telling them this before the song.
The song was "Rock And Roll Party Queen", and Austin kicked Chad's butt. Chad wasn't strong in his performance at all, letting Austin's voice completely overwhelm him.
Kathleen got to give the good news/bad news this week, and they had decided to save Austin as he was seen as the better triple threat (singing, dancing, acting).
I don't mention the hosts very often as there is rarely much to say about them, but Denise Van Outen managed to out-annoy Billy Bush as she badgered Chad into saying which of the remaining men he'd pick to win, and so to shut her up he said Max.
Ashley - Our Meg Ryan lookalike sang "Keep Me Hanging On", and she did a strong job. My biggest criticism would be that it just wasn't bluesy enough, but she did give it a lot of emotion and she got much better in the middle of the song. The end part was only as good as the beginning.
If you're familiar with the song, you'll know there are parts where it goes "Whoa whoa whoa!" The first time she did this, it was a little lacklustre. The second time, right at the end, was much, much better. Basically the whole thing was inconsistent, but never bad.
Austin - He did a nice job singing "Can't Help Falling In Love", but I thought he did it a little too Broadway. We're supposed to be hearing Elvis, and he's performing Phantom.
David say they were both great. Ashley has a great voice, and was showing real passion, real emotion, and real acting. He sees her in the final two. He thought it was great to see emotion from Austin, and complimented his lovely baritone voice. He likes how professional he is, but wants to see him use more emotion and to let more of himself show through.
Rob thought both were so talented. He'd like to see them go on stage and show only Sandy, only Danny. Basically he just contradicted what David said what he'd like to see. Rob would have been interested to see them perform these songs as Sandy and Danny. Kathleen and Jim weren't allowed to say anything!
The favourites this week were Austin and Laura for Jim and David, and Max and Laura for Kathleen. Rob wimped out and said they were all fantastic.
Chad got to sing his goodbye song, "Sandy" as is the custom for the guys. He did an okay job, but nothing to make us wish he was still in the competition. His "Oh, Sandy!" at the end had to have been the lamest one yet, and it came out almost happy. No, it has to be full of longing! Yeah, it was okay that he left.
Now we're down to six, and there are no more Sing Offs and nobody can be saved by the panel. Next week, the bottom vote receivers are going home.