Dancing With the Stars Season 23 Week 5 Review

It's the "Most Memorable Year of of Life" night on Dancing With the Stars. So get your Kleenex out and get ready to ugly-cry, because you're going to. Let's get to business.


Marilu Henner & Derek Hough's Viennese Waltz

This one even got me teary eyed. You could tell how painful it was to talk about her mother. It was really touching. Now onto the dance. This was just spectacular. This was BY FAR her best dance, and I'm so glad that it was tonight. She was so graceful (and not stiff) tonight, and it was such an improvement over last week.
My Score: 10

Laurie Hernandez & Val Chmerkovskiy's Paso Doble

After watching the package, I think we can all agree that Laurie is a fighter. She always gets back up when knocked down. Now to the dance. I think it's pretty obvious that this was not Laurie's best dance. She messed up a few times. And I agree with Carrie Ann. The beginning felt unnecessary.
BTW, the Paso is evil.
My Score: 8

James Hinchcliffe & Sharna Burgess's 

James is inspiring. He went from near-death to the Ballroom in such a short period of time. He essentially died, but he's alive and dancing. He did really great tonight. It was so close to perfect that I contemplated giving him a 10, but I decided on a 9, ultimately.
My Score: 9

Terra Jole & Sasha Farber's Contemporary

This was such a tearjerker. Terra's story was so sad and so moving. When she talked about her father's death, you could almost feel her pain. Now onto the dance. Terra did a great job tonight. This may have been her best dance.
My Score: 9
Calvin Johnson & Lindsay Arnold's Jazz

Obviously Calvin's story wasn't a tearjerker like some other's, but it was really great to see him talking about breaking Jerry Rice's record, which made Jerry Rice's appearance at the end of the dance even better. This was really a fun dance, and I think it's one of his best. I think he'll be around for a few more weeks, at the very least.
My Score: 8

Jana Kramer & Gleb Savchenko's Contemporary

Jana started her video talking about her newborn daughter. And then she tells us about being abused, and things get real. This was clearly difficult for her to talk about, and it took courage. Now onto the dance. This was really great. I think that this was her best dance. She was so graceful and elegant, it was just so nice.
My Score: 9

Ryan Lochte & Cheryl Burke's Contemporary

It was really nice to see Ryan get emotional about Rio, because it really shows that he truly is sorry for what he did, and that he regrets it. Moving on to the dance, I think he did pretty good job. This was his best dance yet.
My Score: 8

Maureen McCormick & Artem Chigvintsev's Foxtrot

It's really nice to see that Maureen has been able to turn her life around after hitting rock-bottom. It's great that her husband was able to help her recover. That said, let's talk about the dance. It's kinda hard to believe that this is the same Maureen from week 1. She's improved so much since her first dance. I'm really hoping that she can stick around this week and continue to improve over the coming weeks.
My Score: 8

Amber Rose & Maks Chmerkovskiy's Samba

Amber talks about the birth of her child in the package. She's been doing better lately, so I'm not surprised that this was her best dance so far. She was actually pretty good this week.
My Score: 8
                              
WORST OF THE NIGHT: Amber Rose
(DIS)HONORABLE MENTION: Ryan Lochte

DANCER OF THE NIGHT: Marilu Henner
HONORABLE MENTION: James Hinchcliffe
                              
My Rankings:
1- Marilu Henner
2- James Hinchcliffe
3- Terra and Sasha
4- Jana Kramer
5- Maureen McCormick
6- Laurie Hernandez
7- Calvin Johnson
8- Ryan Lochte
9- Amber Rose
                              
This was a great show. Even though everyone did good, there were clear winners and losers tonight, unfortunately. Elimination time is going to be very tough. 
Grade: A
Score: 9.5