Social Service

Top Chef - Season 2, Episode 5

Previously on Top Chef: Zzzzzzz. Twelve lemon-suckers still remain. Who will be eliminated tonight?

Cellblock. Chefs are rehashing the shit that went down in last week's challenge. Marcel is a bit upset that his team finally scored a win, but the thrill of victory has been ruined by all the in-fighting. Yeah, that would suck. Betty reiterates that she is not a cheater, and that she has to approach the next task with focus. I don't know, I can't really focus on anything but the way she's gripping her toothbrush. It's not a chin-up bar, Betty. Josie wasn't happy to hear that people were sacrificing each other at the Judges' Table. She says that she and Marisa have become friends, and are really the only people who trust each other. That was the most naked foreshadowing I've ever seen on a reality show, ever. Actual sirens would have been more subtle. Josie eats a plum with consternation.

Quickfire Challenge. The chefs walk into the Kitchen, and are met by Padma and this week's guest judge, Michelle Bernstein. Michelle reminds me of a celebrity, and I can't place who, which will be getting on my nerves for the rest of the hour. Michelle runs a restaurant in Miami and consults for a restaurant in Los Angeles. Carlos recognizes her, being from Florida himself. It's tough to respect Floridians after any election, but Michelle appears competent (read: doesn't radiate insecurity by feeling the need to bolster her ego by bragging about herself for the entire episode) to me. Padma tells the chefs that the theme of the week is "leftovers". Their challenge is to create a dish using at least one of the ingredients set out on a nearby table. And those ingredients are awful. I'm sorry, I mean those ingredients are offal. Anyone who uses the word "offal" is contractually obliged to make that pun. Some of the ingredients we see are lamb kidneys, beef hearts, fish heads, pig blood, and veal tails. Michelle says that she uses these ingredients on a regular basis, but making them appealing can be difficult (especially since some of them require long cooking times). The chefs will be given two hours to cook. Immunity for the winner, as always.

Go! Sam feels confident in the "flavor profiles" he can create from these ingredients. Mia heads straight for the pig trotters (feet), but knows that she may have some trouble with the time limit. Betty interviews that Marcel went for the pig blood, and says that he kind of looks like a vampire. The editors indulge her with a thunder noise and flashing Marcel in negative on the screen. Marcel doesn't look a thing like a vampire! He's more of a werewolf. Talk to Malan if you want a vampire. Cliff says you've got to go with what you know. What Cliff knows is oxtail. Elia works with sweetbread. Carlos and Josie bemoan the time limit. Michael interviews that he'll be upset if he loses the Quickfire. Baby steps, Michael. Perhaps your first goal should be not making the guest judge hate your guts in three microseconds. Cooking montage. Betty seeks garlic. Maybe she's trying to keep Marcel away. Ba-dum-bump! Ilan thinks people may have tried to do too much in such a short period. Mia is proud of her dish. Time runs out, and everyone throws their utensils down and sticks their hands in the air. Nobody waves them like they just don't care.

Michelle goes down the line. Frank has made a veal sweetbread and arugula tart, with a soup called "cream of catfish head". I'm sure we'll see that on the grocery store shelves any day now. Actually, it looks really good. Michelle enjoys the soup. Marisa has made pasta (pappardelle, specifically), with Greek-style beef cheek bolognese. Wait, how can something be "bolognese" and be Greek-style? Isn't that an Italian sauce? Nevermind, I'm sure I have no idea what I'm talking about. Michelle likes it. Elia has made seared kidneys with sweetbreads, and fingerling potatoes. Michelle asks if she soaked the kidneys. Elia did not. Thud of Doom. Sam has made sweetbread and scallion beignets, seasoned with Chinese five spice. There's a sweet soy broth on the side. Dear Top Chef producers -- Please learn how to use an ampersand. Love, Limecrete. Sam's dish looks and sounds terrific. Michelle appears to enjoy it. Marcel has made veal sweetbread schnitzel, with a pig blood/kidney sauce, and has used it to top some pasta with pistou. I have to say that everyone's dishes so far have looked really tasty. I'm impressed. And hungry.

Cliff has prepared sauteed sweetbreads (it must be easy to work with those -- it's by far the most popular choice), shallots, olives, and braised oxtail, and put it all together in a sandwich. I've never had oxtail. I'd be curious to try it. Michelle really enjoys the oxtail, saying she cooks it every day. Er...really? Branch out, Michelle. Michael has made veal tail and tongue stew, and plopped a sunny side up egg on some toast right in the middle of it. I'm trying to decide if that sounds stupid and gross because it's from Michael, or if it sounds stupid and gross because it's actually stupid and gross. I'm not really sure, but suffice it to say that it doesn't look too tempting. Michelle likes the flavor of the stew. Mia has "gone back to her roots" by making braised pig's feet with sauteed arugula and homemade cornbread. Mmmm...homemade cornbread. Michelle asks her if she didn't have enough time to cook the meat, and Mia responds that she thinks she "accomplished her goal". I guess "Fuck you, Michelle" would have been inappropriate. Josie has made braised oxtail with carrot broth, potato puree, and tripe cracklings. It looks kind of icky. She admits that she didn't have enough time to prepare the oxtail the way it should have been done.

Betty has combined fish heads and beef cheeks in a broth, and used it to top some black pepper fettuccini. Sounds great, although I don't know what beef cheeks taste like. Michelle likes the lemon zest that Betty has used. Carlos has made sauteed sweetbreads with a cilantro lime sauce, and almond/ginger rice. Mmmm. Why do I torture myself by writing these entries before dinner? It only leads to heartbreak. Ilan has crusted some sweetbreads with almonds, and made fingerling potatoes, topping the whole thing with scallions. I have no idea what went into the sweetbreads of course, but that sounds a bit simplistic. Especially for him. Nevermind, I'm talking out of my ass again. Michelle enjoys the champagne vinegar accent. Ilan is confident.

Michelle says that the chefs impressed her overall, and that the dishes were tasty and innovative. She delivers the bad news first. The worst dishes were the ones that she found most difficult to eat. Josie's oxtail was unchewable. Elia's kidneys tasted like...kidneys. Are you feeling okay, Michelle? She thinks the kidneys weren't cleaned properly, and that Elia should have made some sort of sauce. Elia says in an interview that she cooks things to bring out the natural flavor; she doesn't hide things with sauces. A well-made sauce can be my favorite thing in the world, but I'm with Elia on this one. I can't stand it when people are all "I ordered a sardine sandwich, but it was sooooooooooo fishy!". Um, ya think? Now, the good news. Cliff's oxtail was cooked beautifully. Sam was creative. Ilan's flavors were great. The winner of the Quickfire is... Sam, for pure innovation. The other chefs applaud. Sam's excited about the dish, excited that Michelle was excited, and excited about immunity. Excited, excited, excited. Padma tells everyone that they'll find out what the Elimination Challenge entails the next day, when they meet her at a restaurant.

Commercials. I would totally drink that wine and sing its praises all day long, if the company would be willing to fly me out to that Italian vineyard for a few days.

Elimination Challenge. The chefs are met by the judges at a restaurant called Social in Hollywood, where Michelle is a consulting chef. Padma outlines the challenge. Today, Jennifer Coolidge will be hosting a lunch for sixty of her "closest" friends. Yay, I love Jennifer Coolidge! The challenge is to plan and cook the six-course lunch. Michael recognizes Jennifer as Stifler's Mom. I can't tell you how utterly shocked I am that the first film reference Michael (who's pushing thirty) can pull out is a movie targeted to horny teenagers. Padma stresses that Jennifer is a guest; not a judge. She tries to weakly tie the challenge to the "leftovers" theme by saying that the chefs will only be able to use food and supplies found in the restaurant's kitchen, which will turn out to be better stocked than a grocery store. Cliff worries about wandering into a kitchen he's never seen and pulling out a six-course menu. Ptom tries for a dramatic pause in telling the chefs that they'll be working in pairs, but winds up sounding stilted. I'll bet he resents having to do all this bullshit reality show patter. The chefs get to select their own partners. Huh, weird. There must have been some frantic challenge shifting, because there's not supposed to be an even number of chefs right now. Anyway... Go!

The chefs look around wildly. Everyone pretty much just winds up with whoever's standing next to them. For Betty, that happens to be Mia. Marisa wonders why those two paired up, given what Mia said about Betty last week. She extrapolates this out to Mia being phony (or at least that this is a "statement" about her "character"). I wasn't thrilled with Mia last week either, but she doesn't appear to be conniving to me. This isn't shifty. She was mad at Betty. Now she's not. Even if they're not BFF, it's better to hook up with someone who's been winning consistently than to get stuck with someone sucky like... Well, like Marisa. Cliff and Sam easily gravitate to one another. Frank turns and asks Marcel to partner up, and Marcel interviews that it's like being asked to go "on prom" with someone you're not interested in, but accepting because you're worried about the alternative. Ouch. I wonder why the chefs don't like Marcel's personality. He's clearly so sweet. Besides, didn't Frank lead Marcel's team to the win last week? Why the sudden bile? Michael and Ilan wind up together. Ilan interviews that they get along very well, and he's excited to work with Michael. At last, someone who understands that a camera is pointed at him, and if he says "Yeah, it kinda sucks to be saddled with that anchor," it's going to haunt him later. Or they really get along. Whatever. Josie and Marisa have naturally paired up, which leaves Carlos and Elia.

Now that the pairs are chosen, one member from each of them has to come forward and draw a knife from the block to determine which course they'll be preparing. Draw, draw, draw, draw, draw, draw. The order turns out to be Frank/Marcel on the first course, Cliff/Sam on the second, Michael/Ilan on the third, Mia/Betty on the fourth, Josie/Marisa on the fifth, and Elia/Carlos on the sixth. Michelle has one more surprise. Frank throws his hand up in the air, like, "Why not? You've only thrown about four curveballs at us in thirty seconds. Douchebags!". That's my interpretation, anyway. Michelle tells the chefs that the winner of the challenge will get to go work with her at a food festival in Miami. Marcel says that it's a great opportunity to get one's name out there and do some networking. That's some savvy business sense from the guy who seems to be making it a goal to be irritatingly condescending and snotty on a popular television show. Wouldn't you want to work with him? Three hours to cook, and twenty minutes to get the food plated. If the chefs run over the time limit, they won't be allowed to serve the food. Ptom himself will be overseeing the work in the kitchen, to make sure everyone's abiding by the rules this week.

The chefs hurry into the kitchen. Betty wants to gather everyone to talk about what courses they're doing, but nobody listens to her. Mia snottily interviews that chefs wouldn't gather, and just headed for the walk-in refrigerator. Yeah, what assholes. Imagine them actually wanting to see what food they'll have access to before planning their menus. The nerve! Everyone surveys the food and starts grabbing things. There's plenty of meat to choose from. And seafood. And produce. And that's just the fridge. Ilan interviews that this isn't really "leftovers". Yeah, no kidding. Just a tenuous link to the week's theme would be great, producers (although maybe it's due to challenge-shuffling). Betty takes some puff pastry, saying that she and Mia discussed making a Napoleon. Now that it's actually reasonable to gather and discuss the menu as a whole, nobody bothers. Twits.

Marcel and Frank decide to do a duo of salmon for the first course. Frank starts scaling some humongous fish. Entire fish! Sorry, I still can't get over the whole "leftovers" thing. Marcel interviews that Frank's filleting skills are not very impressive. Frank interviews that he's scaled more fish than all of the other chefs put together. Ptom furrows his brow. Cliff says that he and Sam are making scallops and foie gras. Sam interviews that they're both workhorses, and Cliff isn't worried that Sam's immunity will have an adverse effect on his cooking. Michael and Ilan are working on a seafood paella. I love paella so very much. Ilan outlines how they'll be working around the normal way of preparing paella, which requires a special kind of dish. Ilan kindly interviews that Michael came up with as many ideas as he did, and that his cooking has been more refined and elegant since the competition started. Yes, "refined" and "elegant" was exactly how I was going to describe his chocolate shitbombs last week. Not to beat up on Michael more than necessary, but come on. We've seen his ideas. We've seen Ilan's. Who do you think came up with a way to make a layered paella with such an innovative technique? Michael can't even put together a serviceable steak sandwich. Also, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that in this interview, Ilan is wearing a mint green bandana over his hair, and his hood is pulled up. He looks like he's auditioning for Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

Mia and Betty are making the Napoleon with pan-seared duck. They're using fairly simple seasonings, but it sounds good. Michael interviews that Mia and Betty are starting to cook their duck really early, and that duck is traditionally served rare. If the duck sits and has to be reheated later, it won't turn out right. Josie and Marisa work on a palate-cleansing trio. It includes an apple-fennel salad, sauteed pineapple, and a fruit salad. That doesn't strike me as very creative or impressive. Cliff interviews that a traditional fifth course is a protein, so Josie and Marisa's food is unsuitable. Carlos and Elia are going to make a dessert trio, which includes chilled pomegranate juice which will be drunk (Or is it drank? I'm going to consult the grammar book. -- No, it's "drunk") as a shot. Ptom interviews that he doesn't really understand some of the courses, and that he doesn't think they've spoken to each other about how the courses are going to work together. He doesn't understand why the puff pastry is necessary for Betty and Mia's dish, and thinks the teams doing trios will have a difficult time plating.

Marcel and Frank disagree about the flavor of the sauce that should go on their salmon. They decide to each make samples of sauce, and call Cliff over to judge which one's better. Sounds fair. He picks Marcel's, and Marcel goes the extra mile to really rub it in Frank's face, though he tries to be nonchalant about it. Marisa discovers that Elia is making something similar to something she and Josie are doing. Marisa and Josie were going to make a cucumber/prickly pear shot, accented with basil, but Elia's pomegranate shot also incorporates basil. I should give Marisa a point here for not unfairly jumping down Carlos or Elia's throat about this, as she is no doubt tempted to do. She and Josie change their approach somewhat by turning the shot into coconut/lime/prickly pear, and serving it in a spoon instead of a glass. Cooking montage. Marisa interviews that everyone was busy, but there was a definite lack of all-around cohesiveness. Yep, looks that way.

Guests start to arrive. Jennifer Coolidge awesomes her way in. Marcel interviews that as time wound down, everyone started running around chaotically, but praises himself for his regimented service. I like to remind myself that no matter how annoying Marcel has been so far (and it's been considerable), he hasn't even approached the level of smarm Stephen was able to work up last season. That makes me cheerful for some reason. Jennifer comes in and thanks the chefs for preparing lunch. She goes back out to the dining room, and she, the other guests, and the judges get seated. Cooking time runs out.

Commercials. Women dance around in their underwear. Eh, they're no dodgeball players, but they're certainly graceful.

The guests have some drinks. Looks like there will be an additional judge; Joseph Ojeda, the executive chef of Social. Marisa recaps the challenge. Ptom stands around looking sour. Marcel plates up the duo of salmon and beets, and sends the waiters out. He interviews that he and Frank are "setting the pace" for the rest of the menu, whatever that means. It's not like he consulted anybody else on their food. Ptom eats his share in the kitchen. Heh. Marcel and Frank come out to explain their dish a bit more fully. There is salmon tartare with avocado and red onions, and a salmon mousse with chives, all of which is served with red and gold beets. I go back and forth on beets. Sometimes they're really good, and sometimes I can't stand them. Jennifer appears to enjoy it. Michelle has some gripe about the texture. Cliff and Sam plate up. After it's been served, Sam explains that on one side of the plate are some seared diver scallops, and on the other is seared foie gras, with a fig gastrique. Cliff and Sam are both confident, and the diners really like it. Ilan and Michael plate up their seafood paella, which is topped with softshell crab, and OH MY GOD. LIMECRETE WANT. Other chefs help plate it up, which was nice of them. Michael interviews that he didn't do so well at introducing the dish last week. They make the wise choice to have Ilan talk about it. The paella includes lobster, and there is baked risotto to approximate a paella's crust. Mmmm. Gail enjoys it. Michelle thinks that there is too much saffron. Pfft. Saffron is like peanut butter. There's no such thing as too much. Joseph likes that the texture of the crab matches the texture of the risotto. Jennifer is impressed by everything she's seen so far.

Betty and Mia get ready to plate. Frank helps slice the duck. It looks plenty pink to me. Mia interviews that Betty wanted to go for a visual effect by stacking the duck on top of the puff pastry. Mia herself isn't so fond of this idea, saying she's more concerned with flavor, and that having a big wad of puff pastry on the plate might clash with the sweet potatoes they're serving along with it. She says that being on a team means compromise, and allows the plates to go out as Betty wishes. Sam interviews that the dish wasn't "on-point", because of the odd presence of the puff pastry, and that it was "almost embarrassing" to have the plates go out. Dude, it's puff pastry. They're not serving maggot-ridden sheep intestine. Some perspective, please. Someone (male) yells at the waiters to GO-GO-GO-GO! Fuck off, male voice. These people don't work for you. Being rude to them is like being rude to another contestant's mother. Oh, wait. I guess that means you can win. Scream away. Betty presents the dish. Loudly. Mia is proud of the duck. Gail says that she thought it was veal at first glance, because properly-cooked duck should be more pink than this. Huh, guess I was wrong. The other judges echo Mia's feeling about the puff pastry being distracting.

Marisa and Josie plate, and have difficulty, as Ptom predicted. Frank interviews that their course was confusing, and that the pink shot tasted like shit. Gail is similarly confused. Josie presents the course as an "awakening" trio. Gail still doesn't understand the point of the dish. Michelle asks if she'd send it back. Gail says no, but wouldn't ever order it, because she doesn't get what it's going for. I like how Gail is able to criticize food without being a gratuitous bitch for effect. That puts her head and shoulders above another judge, who shall remain nameless, except to say that it rhymes with Ptom. Joseph doesn't understand why they picked the ingredients they did, what with all that was available to them. Some random guest says something pedantic about how his palate wasn't cleansed. Carlos and Elia plate the dessert. If nothing else, the purple flowers they've put on it sure are pretty. Betty and Ilan appear to give some assistance, but Elia interviews that she doesn't like a lot people helping all at once, because it freaks her out. She and Carlos have some problems getting all the components plated. A few minutes after the dessert trio is served, one of the servers comes back with a plate that has two shots in it instead of the ice cream that was supposed to go. By now, plating time has run out, and they're not allowed to send it back out. Carlos accepts responsibility for the mistake. He's worried that Elia might be eliminated along with him for something that wasn't her fault. That's kind of him. We finally hear everything that's in the trio: the pomegranate shot, some phyllo dough with marscapone cream, and apple (or pineapple) sorbet with candied pistachio nuts on top. Oooh, that sorbet sounds good. The judges don't like the shot.

All of the chefs emerge to applause. Jennifer thanks the restaurant and the chefs. She says that the building they're standing in used to be a pool hall, and she was the cappuccino girl. She got daily complaints on not providing enough foam, so she can't be an authority on their dishes. Hehehehe! She wishes them luck. Betty found the challenge rewarding. Ilan is very proud of everything the chefs have done. Back in the kitchen, they toast themselves with some wine, and Marcel offers good wishes to whoever gets to go to Miami. Aw. Warm fuzzies from Marcel! Mark your calendars.

Commercials. Bravo would like to know which chef is the most annoying: Betty, Elia, Marcel, or Frank. I would really love to know why Elia is on that list, and Michael isn't. What has Elia ever done except disdain American cheese? Shut up, Bravo.

Judges' Table. It's being held at Social tonight. Joseph isn't present, so I guess he was just a pseudo-judge. Loser! The judges talk about the wide array of ingredients that the chefs had access to, which allows me to get one final jab in about how this challenge could not be an iota less about "leftovers". The judges seem really offended that the chefs didn't use their freedom to select better ingredients. I wish I knew how much time they had to plan the menu before they had to start cooking. If it was just a few minutes, then the judges really have no business grousing about this. Ptom gets the sense that nobody's really trying to win; they're just trying not to lose. I think he may be right, although he probably fostered that attitude himself by relentlessly haranguing those who stand out. He goes on to point out that the menu was not cohesive as a whole. Michelle says there were some lovely things, but some others shocked her to the point of anger.

Gail, usually the first to try and find something positive to say, points out that Ilan and Michael's paella was good. Michelle agrees, though she must again harp on the "overuse" of saffron. I get the feeling that Michelle is one of those people who isn't happy unless she has something to complain about. Oh, wait. She has nothing but nice things to say about Cliff and Sam's dish. Nevermind, then. I seem to be talking out of my ass a lot tonight. It's because I want some of that paella, and it seems unlikely I'll be able to reach through the screen and get some. These are settled upon as the top two dishes, and the four chefs are brought out. They're congratulated, which earns some wan smiles. Maybe that's why Betty wins so much. She's the only chef to show any emotion when she wins.

Sam and Cliff are told that their scallops were very well done. Ptom wishes the scallops and foie gras could have been merged into a single dish instead of being kept separate. Michael and Ilan are asked about the paella. Michael initially spotted the crab and risotto. Ilan works in a Spanish restaurant, so he's familiar with the flavors that go into a paella, such as saffron. I steel myself for another onslaught about the saffron. Ptom begins to oblige, and Gail cuts him off with some compliments about how the crab was cooked perfectly. I'm loving Gail these days. Michelle loved the matching consistencies of the crab and risotto. Michael and Ilan are chosen as the winning pair. They slap hands. Michael is asked how it feels to be at the winners' table for once. The answer? Good. Michelle is asked to choose between Michael and Ilan as the individual winner, and since it couldn't be more obvious whose ideas guided this dish, Ilan triumphs. He's very excited. He's also very shiny. Padma excuses the winners, and asks them to send out Betty, Mia, Josie, Marisa, Carlos, and Elia. Jeez, why not just say "Send everyone else out except Frank and Marcel"? I'm not sure you can say teams are "at the bottom", when said teams make up half your contestant pool.

Gong noise. The losing teams emerge. Ptom asks Betty and Mia if they were happy with the dish. Mia is nothing if not direct, and says that she was so proud of her dish that she went into the walk-in and cried. Ptom asks what would be taken off the dish if they could choose one thing. They know the answer he's looking for, and offer up the puff pastry. Ptom says that apart from being superfluous, the pastry wasn't cooked enough, while the duck was overcooked. So taken together, the dish was perfect! Just kidding. These seem like fairly minor complaints, but Ptom is making the dish sound inedible. Marisa and Josie are asked whose idea the coconut/prickly pear shot was. Josie says it was "our" idea, neither accepting blame nor placing it. Michelle asks if the finished shot reminded them of anything. Again, very leading, and again, Josie knows exactly what the judges want to hear. Yes, it's Pepto Bismol, which I swear gets compared to every single pink food on television. Gail asks if they felt the three components of their dish went together. Marisa makes some sort of argument about how there was citrus in everything, and Josie admits the fennel salad was waterlogged. There's some blah about goat cheese mixed with pineapple (which sounds gross -- I like both of those things, but I don't think I'd like them together) before they're asked what their overall goal was. Josie says it was to cleanse the palate, which Ptom interprets as an admission to his earlier charge that people are just trying to get by instead of win.

Elia and Carlos are asked who made the juice. Carlos steps up for that. He's asked where he found the pomegranate, and he says they came from a jar in the pantry. The judges say that it tasted like the fruit had sat out for a day or two too long. Well, that's the restaurant's fault; not Carlos'. I guess an argument could be made that he should have tasted the fruit before using it, although maybe he did and didn't find fault with it. Ptom asks why they made a trio. Carlos says that with a six-course lunch, they wanted to present something that would intrigue, but not overwhelm the diners. Ptom, trying to gather more evidence for his "These People Just Don't Want It Enough" case, persists by asking why they wouldn't concentrate on making one good thing instead of three sort-of good things. Carlos says that he felt that all three of their components were good until the plating error occurred. Gail says that the three desserts they made had no connection, and that there has to be a common thread. Elia seems willing to accept that, which Ptom pounces on as flip-flopping on their part. Follow his insane logic: Carlos feels that all three desserts were good. Gail says that they didn't connect to one another. Elia admits as much. Therefore, the team as a whole is indecisive. Carlos' opinion of the flavors is a completely separate issue from the desserts matching each other, Ptom. Carlos having an opinion on Issue A doesn't preclude Elia from having another on Issue B, Ptom. He gets in one final ridiculous, moralizing speech about fixing problems, and blah blah blah. Jesus fucking Christ. This man isn't fit to judge a watermelon seed spitting contest. The chefs are dismissed.

Deliberations. Everything tonight comes down to "poor choices". Mia wasn't happy with the puff pastry, but allowed it to go out. I'm not even going to get into how the judges are ignoring the fact that Mia had to balance her food preferences with the ability to function within a team or we'll be here all night. Carlos and Elia were happy with their desserts, but should have focused on one thing. Gail is pissed that Marisa and Josie didn't cook anything. I thought they sauteed the pineapple? Well, that's still pretty minimal, I guess. The entire thing was unfocused. Ptom is mad that they wouldn't sell each other out. That's not what he says, but it's what he means. The judges reach a decision.

Commercials. I wish they'd stop advertising The Office as nothing more than some grand romance.

Elimination. Padma reminds the losing chefs that they were the bottom three teams for this challenge. I think they've got it, Padma. Ptom says that the challenge boils down to choices. Mia and Betty shouldn't have chosen presentation over flavor. Fair enough. Carlos and Elia should have been more focused. Also fair enough. Josie and Marisa had three hours to prepare the dish, and didn't cook anything. I guess the implication is that if they weren't going to cook, then the raw ingredients should have been that much more impressive. Padma delivers the bad news. Marisa... And Josie... Please pack your knives and go. Mia's jaw drops, although this isn't particularly shocking. Josie tells the judges that it's been a pleasure, and that they'll be seeing her around, and that she made some mistakes, and jeez. Save it for the final interview, lady. Marisa says that the experience has been challenging and educational. Mia is crying for some reason. The chefs are dismissed. They go back and tell the others about the double elimination. Nobody seems surprised. Elia says that Josie had such drive that seeing her eliminated actually made her cry.

In her final interview, Josie emphasizes that this was her first time on the chopping block, and can't believe that they would send someone with so much talent home. She makes a dismissive face at the camera. I'll get to that in a second. Marisa says that it's been tough, but great. Given the opportunity, she'd do it all again, but with a few different choices. I actively like her in this final bit. Way to pull out some respect at the last minute, Marisa. Josie is still mad that someone with her burning talent would be sent home for one mistake. She said she had a lot of confidence going into the competition, because AGAIN, she's so damn talented. Oh, shut the fuck up, lady. First of all, anyone who refers to her own talent three times in thirty seconds isn't radiating confidence; she's radiating naked insecurity. But what really burns me up is an attitude I've seen in a lot of competitions lately. "How can they send me home? All I did was fuck up!" Well...exactly. I'm perfectly willing to believe that Josie is a good cook. But she screwed up the Quickfire, and then turned around and screwed up the Elimination Challenge. Guess what happens when you don't perform well in a competition? You lose. That's kind of the point.

Overall Grade: C+