I still believe Derek is one of the most talented on the show. Followed closely by Tristan and Tony. He is excellent at highlighting what his partner's strengths are. For someone like Shawn, obviously the flips, splits and stuff is what she knows. I do recall him trying to get her to "feel" the dances more but she just couldn't seem to get into it. Every dance her face looked the same, like a super duper cute chipmunk smiling like crazy. But again, Derek has to work with what he has which is why I'm guessing he broke the rules to some extent. I don't agree with it at all but I think like others have already said here, they were hoping the fans would pull through and enjoy the entertainment vs. the technicality of the dance. Having said all that, I want Derek as my pro on the show, he'd be my first choice! My last choice would be Mark and his spastic facial expressions.
Ha, I did enjoy during the DanceCenter segment, when they were talking about Mark they said "Of course, he always knows his job is to make his partner look good" and then they showed about 5 clips of him thumping his chest and running around with his arms triumphantly in the air.
I also liked that they made fun of "the most shocking elimination ever!"