The dancing all season was phenomenal not just from M&M, but also from Meryl's ice dancing partner Charlie White, Disney star and boy bander James Maslow, and paralympian Amy Purdy (reason alone to make it an extraordinary season) to name a few. Of course in my completely biased opinion Meryl and Maks were by far the best, from their romantic Foxtrot, to their sexy Tango, to their breathtaking Rumba, and don't even get me started on their altogether amazing Contemporary freestyle from the finale; but what fascinated and left me utterly enraptured was the ever-growing and evolving chemistry between the two.
As Carrie Ann said there was an undefinable magic to their partnership, whether friendship or the stirrings of love (yes, please!), which proved to be like catnip for romantic saps like myself. From week to week it seemed Meryl enchanted Maks, mellowing his at times fiery temper and bringing out an endearing vulnerability that gave fans a real life tale of Beauty and the Beast. Man, oh man, it was like watching one of my romance novels play out on national TV and each week I waited with bated breath for Monday evening's to not only see them dance, but more importantly to see the behind the scenes rehearsal packages that gave us just a few more glimpses of the budding relationship and the sweet vibe between the two.
Now that the season is over, my only saving grace from serious M&M withdrawal has been YouTube and OnDemand which the week after the finale was running a continuous loop of those final dances and the tantalizing last moments when we watched Meryl and Maks finally hold that gaudy mirrorball trophy over their victorious heads, and we fans with a small tear in our eye were left to wonder what now.
Of course the cynics will say it was all manufactured for great television, others that it was just a warm friendship, but me, well I'm holding out hope that we were just lucky and privileged enough to see true love at work (a rare sight in the best of circumstances, the equivalent of a unicorn sighting on reality TV) and that we'll get a real happily ever after that shows love's redeeming and life-affirming power.
