Top Chef - Season 4, Episode 13
Boo! From the moment this episode started, I had a sinking feeling that something bad was coming, and that instinct was unfortunately proven right.
The final four meet in Puerto Rico. Lisa's gotten most of her hair chopped off, and the resulting effect is less than successful. The chefs dive right into the Quickfire, which involves making two preparations of fried plantains. Antonia and Richard are the bottom two, which leaves Lisa and Stephanie in the top. Stephanie breaks with tradition by actually winning for once, so that's nice.
After a pointless segment in which the chefs just kind of hang out for the afternoon, Padma explains that for the Elimination Challenge, each chef must break down an entire pig, and make two dishes from different parts of it. To help the chefs out, the last four eliminated contestants are brought back as sous chefs, and Stephanie's Quickfire advantage is to assign who gets whom. She is not Spike, so she actually tries to pair people that will work well together, if possible. She takes Dale, and puts Nikki with Antonia, Spike with Richard, and Andrew with Lisa. All of the pairings work out as harmoniously as can be expected, though Andrew is still not happy with Lisa for selling him out to the judges.
Dale accidentally leaves some of Stephanie's pork sitting out all night, and when it's discovered, she's a lot calmer and nicer about it than she could have been, so good on her for that. She recovers well, and throws together a pig skin salad that is quite popular with the judges. She and Richard take the top two spots, with Richard winning the challenge and a car to go with it. Schmancy! Lisa and Antonia sink to the bottom, and Lisa's odd ability to jinx the person she goes to losers' table with continues unabated, as Antonia is sent home. Sniff. Stephanie and Richard don't have a moment to get over the shock before Lisa jumps down their throats for not being thrilled for her, which is of course two seconds before she turns around and whines to us that this isn't a popularity contest. Sure it isn't, sweetie. You sailed into the final three with that awesome cooking prowess; not because you're a total trainwreck.
2 comments:
When she started complaining that they were making her feel like they thought the wrong person went home, I actually shouted at the television, "That's because the wrong person went home, you bitch!"
Could they not have given us a talented and not utterly ridiculous top three? Would it really have been so bad to have three deserving and non-painful-to-watch people to root for? Gah.
If Lisa wins, I may have to boycott next season. Three assholes in a row winning will just about do it for me.
I had just resigned myself to the fact that neither Spike nor Lisa were going to be in the Top Three, so it didn't matter...much...that Spike went home before her. But this. Holy cow. (or should that be "pig"?) I guess Antonia not boiling her beans long enough is a bigger crime than being an unpleasant blame-the-world B who will never EVER be a successful chef. At some point, the ability to be a leader/team player has to factor into it. Last season, Hung may have been the most technically talented, but I shudder to think what it's like in his kitchen. Lisa would be even worse.
Must say, though...Dale works pretty well with people he respects (like Stephanie). I actually *believed* that meat was left out by accident!
Post a Comment