‘Dancing with the Stars 23’ review: James Hinchcliffe, Calvin Johnson narrow the gap

Given that we’re a little bit late on this particular “Dancing with the Stars” review, we’re for the time being offered up what is a trimmed-down version on what was a rather energetic, entertaining two hours.

Below, take a look at our quick-takes on some of the routines.

Laurie Hernandez and Val Chmerkovskiy, quickstep – To be fair, this is a hard dance and one that has doomed many a Star in the past. Laurie was fine, but she didn’t do anything that stood out. Score: 34.

James Hinchcliffe and Sharna Burgess, jitterbug – Was this the best version of this dance in the history of the show? It may be, and we say that knowing that we don’t actually see this particular dance all that much. Score: 36.

Calvin Johnson and Lindsay Arnold, jive – He was every bit as good as James this week, and showed a tremendous about of performance ability without compromising some of the fun, which we’ve come to love from him over the course of the past several weeks. Score: 36.

Ryan Lochte and Cheryl Burke, rumba – We get that Ryan isn’t the best dancer, but there wasn’t any passion to this at all. After watching this, it felt all the clearer that it was time for him to swim out of the competition. Score: 28.

Marilu Henner and Derek Hough, Charleston – It wasn’t terrible. Yet, at the same time we’ve got elevated expectations for Marilu and Derek given their history, and especially with this dance. Disappointing. Score: 29.

Terra Jole and Sasha Farber, foxtrot – This was a nice return to form for her after showing a few struggles during her routine last time. While not perfect, it showed that her last performance was an aberration. Score: 34.

Jana Kramer and Gleb Savchenko, samba – We know that they weren’t going to remain top-tier performers forever. For the time being, we’re mostly just glad that they remained as strong as they did coming out of their last dance. Score: 34.

Maureen McCormick and Artem Chigvintsev – There’s no sense of pouring salt in the wound here: She’s out of the competition.

For more on Maureen’s exit, head over to this link. (Photo: ABC.)