Greetings!
My sincere apologies for the site suddenly going dark. A combination of travel, sickness, and Serious Life Business all sprang up at the same time, and as always, blogging is the first thing to go when free time evaporates.
I have still been watching and enjoying this season, and am bummed that all this had to flare up just in time for Marcel to get eliminated. I would have enjoyed recapping that.
Thanks for all the comments and emails! Things are settling down now, and while I probably won't be able to fire up the blog again anytime soon, feel free to use this post as an open thread to post comments about the All-Star season. I'm always interested in others' opinions; can I really be the only one out there pulling for Antonia?
11 comments:
Good to hear from you! Hope the illness part wasn't too horrible (we had a nasty strain of the flu going around here, and my SO took 2 days off work, which he almost never does; I was sick for over a week).
I have to admit that as much as Marcel can be a supercilious dick, I thought that his team kinda screwed him over by not even being willing to listen to him, so I was actually not all that pleased with the circumstances of his elimination. But, eh, not really a heartbreak either.
I'm actually rooting for Carla, scatterbrained though she can be. When she's able to focus, she does really well. Antonia's good and I wouldn't mind seeing her in the finale but she's not my first pick.
I actually was really surprised Angelo got the axe before the finale, but looking at his exit interview, I guess he was just exhausted (I mean, he looked and sounded horrible). I've gone back and forth on whether or not I like him but ultimately I think, a few quirks aside, he seems kinda cool and has interesting ideas, so that was a little sad.
I am also rooting for Antonia! She doesn't come off as in love with her own innovativeness as some of the other chefs, but she really is creative and seems to be making consistently great food. And she's funny. And she's like, a decent person!
Jeez, last night went and made Mike Isabella seem all human and shit. I'm not sure how to deal with that.
Blais is looking more and more like JF Sebastian from Blade Runner every day, I swear. But he really needs to get over himself. That was almost some DaleTS4 level of "all she did was make bacon" going on there.
Also, interesting decision they went with. I'm guessing Finale Part 1 will eliminate two, but we'll see.
Even tools can have a soft side! And yeah, the Blais thing is depressing. You could almost chart on a line graph how much he's plummeting in my viewing party's estimation.
I liked the decision they made tonight. Call me a wimp, but I would have been mildly upset to see someone really cook their heart out on a dish that represents their entire existence and history and be told "Well, that sucked. See ya!" It's fine if they cut two next week (or even cut someone after the Quickfire), but they handled it well tonight, no matter how contrived it was.
I echo the sentiment, glad to hear you are alive, Limecrete! Miss reading the recaps but can completely understand things getting overwhelming.
I feel the same way about Blais. He seems very strangely cocky for someone who hasn't been winning consistently throughout the season. He also doesn't seem to understand that complicated and/or lots of ingredients doesn't mean better - his complaints often come down to "I tried harder" yet he can't seem to acknowledge that someone just made something that tasted better. It's happened several times. He seems a lot more sexist than I remember him being, too. When he made that remark about him clearly being the best in his season last night I wanted to smack him through my TV. I know he feels he messed up and really, really wants to win this season, but he's getting too into it and it's making him a person I do not enjoy.
I don't really feel like Tiffany deserves to be in the final three, despite the fact that I like her. Given that Mike was back to his typical douchy self last night and Blais has been taking Mike lessons, I am pulling for Antonia. She's been consistently good all season.
One more comment - I was surprised how disappointed I was over Dale's departure a couple weeks ago. I really enjoyed him more this time around and I felt he deserved the finale. He and other Tiffani are definitely the most improved this season, personality-wise.
3/14/11 - I really would have enjoyed reading Limecrete's take on Antonia reveling in the idea of cooking for the King and Queen of the Bahamas. It was such an obvious fake to use the term "royalty" for the Bahamas, a part of the British Commonwealth. I thought it would be a pop star or someone who called himself "King" (which is essentially what happened).
Also, you had to cringe when Ptom did a straight-faced anger act about how the competitors had let the judges down? As if putting them without a real kitchen shouldn't have fazed them in the penultimate episode. Of course, they want to say that it shows how quickly the chefs think on their feet, but I just view it as pettiness. But that's par for the course with this show.
My views of the competitors:
1. Carla, my absolute favorite, shot herself in the foot (again) and is out. On some level, she really must not want to win. I'm really sorry to see her go as she seems the only one with a real personality apart from food/cooking. On the plus side, I have a feeling she's going to get a show on her own at some point. Maybe she has already and I just haven't heard.
2. Tiffany always seems to luck out with better competitors sabotaging themselves.
3. Mike is doing really well with a number of significant wins, but also seems to be waaaayyy out of his league. Take advantage while you can, Mike.
4. Richard was a shoe-in for the finals from the beginning. Hey, he has/had his own show although on another network...which may be owned by Bravo's parent.
5. Antonia is now my favorite, despite her ignorance of Bahamian politics. Not quite as engaging as Carla, but nevertheless appears human and not a jerk.
If I had to bet, I'd say that Richard will win. I wouldn't say it was wrong or that I was disappointed. I'd only think it wasn't surprising.
At the beginning of the series I was certain that Angelo was going to win. How he lost so early is beyond me.
Another cringe-worthy point: the episode they cooked for their families and no one was eliminated. That's like the old Christmas episodes that they said no one would be eliminated. The only difference is that they would eliminate two competitors in the next episode. Either Mike or Tiffany, or both, could have gone and not be missed half as much as Carla. Okay, you could also have tossed Richard and Antonia as far as I'm concerned as long as Carla could have stayed. Well, she wouldn't have won anyway, I'm sorry to say.
I do want to thank the producers for not bringing in Ilan in some way as his previous appearance indicate he works cheap. Sad to say, they brought in Marcel and the little sympathy I had for him vanished very quickly.
In any case, I hope the serious life business/health issues are small and settling quickly. I really enjoy the recaps.
his complaints often come down to "I tried harder" yet he can't seem to acknowledge that someone just made something that tasted better.
That's actually my complaint with a lot of reality show competitors these days; they equate taking a risk with the risk actually paying off. To them, they should get a reward for taking a chance, even if the results are terrible.
Television Without Pity is full of pompous douches, so I need to do a quick vent about last night's episode here:
FUCK. EVERYTHING.
I won't be watching the finale. Ptom has officially become too distasteful for me to watch and Mike can go DIAF. Hell, I may even take a pass on future seasons, and not even SEASON 2 brought me to this level of rage.
Just...wtf. There is no justice in the world.
I'm not full of rage on this one; just disappointment and ennui. I will say that I generally hate All-Star seasons, and the first stretch of episodes in this one really did a lot to rehabilitate the image. Then it totally ran out of steam. I think the challenge design went downhill, and once Antonia was eliminated, I could no longer care who won.
what did you think of the finale?
It was so-so. Richard winning is fine with me, but the best challenges were towards the beginning of the season, so it kind of ran out of steam as it went along.
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