I decided to skip the 6 episodes in between in order to catch the finale on the night it airs. I'll go back afterwards and snark the highlights.
So we join Elise, Paul, Tommy, and Will as they have survived to the end. Given this lineup, I'm rooting for Will without a doubt. Will describes himself as a machine in the kitchen, and Dave points out that HK relies on technical skills while Food Network Star relies on cooking and presenting with emotion. Will (and probably most of the good HK chefs) would probably be miserable on FNS. We see that Jennifer was the second-to-last woman in the kitchen. I can definitely see that...she was quiet but strong in the early episodes.
For the challenge, we have the traditional family visit with then recreating a dish. Let's see who is inspired by it and who is distracted. Tommy barely stops kissing his cute little 19-year-old long enough to say maybe they should get married when he gets home. Yeah, that's romantic, especially with his mom sitting right next to him. Will says he's fired up and waiting to kill everyone around and switch the bodies. Trust the Jersey boy to say that!
This one is a fish dish, with the group divided between monkfish, cod, and halibut. Most wrapped it in prosciutto, but Tommy wraps his with serrano ham. Chef gives them a little more guidance than he usually does, pointing out that they can cook up two different fishes and go with what seemed right at the end. Tommy was wrong on the serrano ham, and the fish is...the commercial break. Or actually, it's Paul's cod. Better than than when he was thinking with his codpiece with the Swiss car racer! Elise starts sniffling again. Will owns up to the fact that he has no one to blame but himself. Paul and his brother get to go to a Dodgers game and meet Tommy Lasorda and Don Mattingly. What is this, the season of athletes? Paul says it doesn't get any better than this, which just about guarantees that he won't win. Ramsay throws out the first pitch and gets it to the plate. Then he brings them hot dogs in their box seats. The losers get to clean the apartment, and they find plates of food under some beds and a broken wineglass beside another.
Two people are going home after dinner service, with the added fun of each of the contestants taking a turn at the pass. What tricks do our souschefs have up their sleeves? Paul misses lobster in the cappellini as a setup, but he does catch Tommy's mistake of raw fish.
And then Dave goes ballistic.
Paul is still getting on Tommy about not giving times for his fish, at which point it's pointed out from Elise, "If they're already flustered, there's no point in screaming and yelling at anybody. That's not leadership." Dave explodes, "WHAT? Hello, pot, kettle, black!" (as Jessie adds, "And Omarosa screams in rage from whatever cave the troll is hiding in.")
Tommy is a disaster at the pass, unable to keep anything straight or catch the sabotage in the order from James. Dave comments that, "Tommy is being run by the kitchen. This is a textbook example of it." Elise is next, and Paul comments that she needs to put up or shut up. She does manage to catch parsnip puree for mashed potatoes after mistaking cauliflower puree for the potatoes. Tommy calls her "babe" at the pass...no wonder he can only get a 19-year-old to date him! Elise says she needs carrots yesterday, and Dave comments that saying you need something yesterday is a great way to piss people off. Will is last up at the pass and starts out strong, repeating back the times he is given from his troops. He catches Scott's sabotage almost before Scott lets go of the plate. Elise starts screwing up on garnish enough to make Will wonder if she's trying to sabotage him. Unfortunately, he focuses on her to the extent that he loses control of the kitchen.
Dave rewinds and analyzes the Anatomy of a Meltdown: "Here's where it all falls apart: Will says, in front of everyone in the kitchen, 'Attitude and a half on a girl that can't cook for shit.' Look, I know this from experience: you can think whatever you want about the people that work for you. You can think they're not competent. But the moment you let that be known and make it so that they know you think it too, you've lost them. And that's what happens here. All of Will's people have lost confidence in him as a leader, and it shows. Very bad form, Will."
The chefs do start responding to Will eventually and he finishes his time at the pass. Well, there's no question who the strongest one was: Paul wasn't perfect, but he was able to do anything. Tommy thinks it went well as a whole? We think he was the worst! So does Chef Ramsay, as the first decision is to send him home. And then there were three. Chef asks them each why they deserve to be in the final...he didn't even wait to do this before sending Tommy out. Will is the first one into the final where we thought it would be Paul. Paul versus Will is going to be a great contest! Dave and I were watching tensely to make sure that was the matchup we would get, and we were right. Will proves he's a class act by telling Elise she has nothing to be ashamed of, and Ramsay allows her to keep the jacket. The question is, how will Elise handle not being in charge when the contestants come back to serve as sous chef?
By the way, Elise, some of our parting contestants may receive the following: a set of five leadership courses, courtesy of Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity, for the low, low price of a college course at a participating university plus $65 payable in two installments.
And now, the conclusion of Hell's Kitchen. Will and Paul were two of the strongest contestants from the beginning, and I'd be happy to see either of them win, but I'm rooting for Will. They're sent upstairs to work on their menus, and Dave advises them to not get too drunk on the champagne in the apartment. They're taken out to dinner, where they become the chefs. Paul falls for the trick, showing that he hasn't paid enough attention in previous seasons. He says he feels like a culinary rock star and notices all the girls. Thinking with your cod again, Paul? Will asks Andi what she thinks about a red "pesto," and she sounds impressed as she says, "That's hot." Now we know what gets Andi excited!
Will's showing more confidence in the tasting, as Paul is showing his nerves. Guys, it's all going to come down to the last dish anyway! Both fish dishes are a touch overdone, but Paul gets the point. Will ties it up again, of course, as the taster takes another bite of his ribeye. We both think Paul's filet dish looked more appealing, but Will wins it. Paul has a genuine smile and an enthusiastic clap for Will. Again, I like both of these guys. As the guys get to choose their souschefs, Ramsay asks who's going to help them out. I add, who's going to fuck them up. Will picks Tommy first, Paul picks Elise since he doesn't have the bad blood with her. Will picks Krupa and leaves Carrie for Paul, not because he doesn't think Carrie is good but because he wants Paul to have to deal with having Elise and Carrie on the same team. Elise is threatening to beat the crap out of Carrie afterwards and then trying to debate with Paul about what station he gets.
Will is teaching his team the menu. He draws a quail that looks like female anatomy and a quail leg and thigh combo that looks like male anatomy. Jennifer comments that he needs to get out of HK and gets laid. The day of dinner service, Will appears more calm than Paul. Chef tells Paul that two of his dishes need serious work, and Paul walks out to cool down.
Dave comments, "It doesn't matter what any of his team is wondering. Paul is doing the best thing for himself right now: getting away for a few minutes to calm down, compose himself, find his focus, and not show his being frazzled in front of his team. A leader needs to look the part of confidence in his team at all times, even if he/she doesn't always believe it (though actually believing it is a lot better). I've found this to be a weakness in myself, and it really showed several times last season in curling: I needed to look more confident in my team (and myself too) when things weren't going as well as we would have liked. What was the result for us? Almost any time the game was close, we lost: literally. We went something like 1-9 in games that came down to the very end. That's simply confidence, and my teammates told me that I needed to show it." I can't blame Paul for tearing up there, either, even before hearing him talk about his late mother...that's a lot of emotion there. It's not like Elise crying about losing.
When Paul comes back, he's more inspiring than Will. He said he wants his team to show tonight what got them as far as they got and tells them that this is for his mom. The question is, will this push him beyond what he can do on his own, or will the weight of it crush him? Elise says she's not bitter and she wants to help Paul win. Still, she screws up her first app and sets a pan on fire on her second try. As they get to entrees, Elise is louder than Paul once Chinua Achebe shows up and things fall apart. Dave points out that few other bloggers would reference Achebe...I guess I'm just special that way. Elise, who the hell are you to call Jonathon or anyone else a crybaby? Are you going to bring back "dum-dum" next?
Paul replaces Jonathon with Elise on the meat station, and it starts to look like Will needs to replace Krupa on fish. Elise then moves over to Carrie's garnish station and calls it "Operation Save-a-Ho." Oh, yes, she did. Will does replace Krupa with Natalie, who asks Krupa about a piece of fish, "What is it supposed to be?" Krupa shows her mad fishy skillz by responding, "Cooked." Dave tells Krupa that she has given him enough confidence to consider auditioning, since she made it halfway through the season. Paul gets more and more agitated as he tells his team to push. I'm not sure I want to see him in a birthing room someday! At the end, Paul points out that he's the only person who's been able to get Elise and Carrie to work together.
Each of them says they don't think they won, and they seem genuine about it rather than pretending to be modest. Dave thinks it goes to Will. I kinda do, too, but I'm not sure. Paul is pacing, and Will asks if he can join in. Judging or joining? Joining, apparently. Dave points out that it would be really awful if the phone rang and it was a wrong number. Paul's handle is a little lower than Will's, which makes me wonder. Holy crap, it is Paul! He did manage to do it for his mom, which has to be as special for his brother as for him.
I hope the outtakes at the end make it onto YouTube, cause those were great!
Dave concludes, "It's nice to see some new things coming up in Hell's Kitchen. It's nice to see a little more of the softer side of Gordon, more of what we've seen every once in a while with Masterchef and Kitchen Nightmares (especially the British version). Sure, I love seeing some of the same things like the blind taste test, the "roll the dice for ingredients (and don't say figs!)" challenge, and the taste-it-and-make-it challenge. And yeah, you know Gordon's gonna be a hard-ass, period. But it's nice to see a little something different coming out this season. It's too easy for a show like this to do the same thing over and over; adding little things to keep it fresh brings people back again and again."
Monday, September 19, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Hell's Kitchen 8/8/11
Ooh, now the description calls it a lavish prize!
Let's see if Paul can come back from the last episode. Jonathon describes getting called up for elimination as Ramsay needing to point out some weaknesses in him for him to work on. I like that attitude. After the elimination, we have more drunken shenanigans, this time from Krupa. Fortunately not Soup Shenanigans. Unfortunately, she's hungover for the team challenge. We meet a couple of beer sommaliers...beermaliers?...and see what they would do with different ingredients. Jonathon says, "You had me at baby back ribs." Each dish for the team challenge has to involve beer, but as Dave points out, the challengers are taking rather large "samples" of the different beers. Tommy points out to Jonathon to "think of colors," which Dave notes is surprisingly insightful as Tommy is trying to be ridiculous in impressing the blond judge.
Krupa manages to flambe her beer...not sure if she was trying to do that or not. The girls have to drop one dish since they have one more member than the blue team, and for once they drop someone other than Carrie! They do rank Carrie as the last one to make the cut, but Ramsay calls her dish the best one she's ever made. Paul's dish (ranked last) involves Heffe-why-zen broth that makes one of the tasters choke on the bitterness. Jonathon, if you have to tell them that it's a tasty dish, it's not. Elise gets the point for the red team and is surprisingly not bitching about being ranked 4th out of 6. Tommy also can't pronounce Heffeweissen...do guys seriously know less than I do about beer?? I know I'm married to Dave, but still! Blue team wins, red team looks pissed, and Tommy thinks he's all that. Then he makes us really wonder. Ramsay tells the blue team he has a great day planned for them and asks if they like speed. Tommy asks, "Meth or coke?" Dude, I didn't even think that and I worked in addictions! (course, I had crack addicts, not coke addicts, but I never heard them call coke "speed")
Well, we find out why Elise cries. Because she lost. Seriously. And then she's standing there watching her team unload a truck of ice and saying she's not going to. Carrie lifts 2 bags and breaks one open while Elise calls her a dum-dum. First of all, maybe she wouldn't have to lift 2 bags at a time if you would do your part, bitch! Second, YOU'RE NOT FIVE YEARS OLD!!! First crying about losing and then calling someone else a dum-dum?? That's a frickin lollipop, not an insult!
Meanwhile, the blue team gets to drive Indycars, helped by Arie Luyendyk (which Dave notes, "Sweet! They got one of the legends!") and a female not named Danica Patrick. Paul, of course, proceeds to try to hit on the female driver, asking where she's from (Switzerland) and noting "I'm a big fan of your cheese." Um, flirting FAIL.
Elise refuses at first to do anything to help with lifting kegs, and the team confronts her in the evening about not helping. Elise says she's been busting her ass too. Elise, you haven't been busting anything except the nerves of everyone around you, including the viewers! Elise tells us that she's not here to make friends...yes, girl, you've told us that every damned episode. She does say that she'll try to be more helpful, and she does offer to help others during prep. We'll see how long this lasts, but might as well enjoy it in the meantime. Yet again the guys are determined to bounce back and have a good dinner service.
And so dinner service begins. Dave sees that they have Andre Carter, who actually played football, and Matt Leinart, credited as a "Professional Football Player" but better known for his flings with Paris Hilton and getting paid boatloads to hold a clipboard (no, Dave's not jealous at all, and that has nothing to do with Paris Hilton...he likes girls with a little more meat on their bones and a little more under their hair). "Credited as" a football player? What is this, IMDB? There's a special tonight of Belgian ale-steamed mussels...might have to try that. We see that in prep Carrie told Elise she needed to drain her salads...she didn't bother and then tried to throw Carrie under the bus when she puts up a soggy salad. Well, that was short and sweet.
Natalie wastes over 30 scallops in trying to get a good order...Dave and I have done better than that with lesser-quality scallops! Elise steps up again to expedite things...we still haven't seen if she's going to continue helping in any way besides bossing people around. Once the blue team gets to entrees, Jonathon blames Tommy for the pastry in the wellingtons still being raw...even though they apparently worked on them together! Dave says, "So, the moral of the story tonight: when doing prep, pay fucking attention! Everything that's gone wrong is prep problems (except Natalie and the scallops)."
Krupa goes from raw meat to overcooked meat, and I have a feeling she's going home tonight. Jonathon's next to give us an overcooked wellington. Why bring it up when you know it's overcooked? Natalie and Jonathon get sent out of the kitchen, and Jonathon quits and walks off telling Ramsay to kiss his ass. Well, that may keep Krupa from going home, even with Ramsay not paying attention to the "I quit"! Jonathon complains about the prep, but it being overcooked is his fault just as the raw sea bass is Natalie's fault.
Both teams lose and have to nominate 2 people. Jonathon, Natalie, Elise, and Krupa. Red team might nominate Jamie instead for issues with fish, but I think they'll put Elise up instead. The red team put up Jamie, and Elise makes a face when Carrie hesitates before saying it. Jonathon digs a hole for himself as he says he wishes he had defied Ramsay when sent out of the kitchen. I think it's between him and Krupa at this point. He hates people shutting down more than he hates backtalk, because he sends Krupa home. Dave wonders what is up this year with the random applause for people when they're eliminated...it just seems wrong.
Let's see if Paul can come back from the last episode. Jonathon describes getting called up for elimination as Ramsay needing to point out some weaknesses in him for him to work on. I like that attitude. After the elimination, we have more drunken shenanigans, this time from Krupa. Fortunately not Soup Shenanigans. Unfortunately, she's hungover for the team challenge. We meet a couple of beer sommaliers...beermaliers?...and see what they would do with different ingredients. Jonathon says, "You had me at baby back ribs." Each dish for the team challenge has to involve beer, but as Dave points out, the challengers are taking rather large "samples" of the different beers. Tommy points out to Jonathon to "think of colors," which Dave notes is surprisingly insightful as Tommy is trying to be ridiculous in impressing the blond judge.
Krupa manages to flambe her beer...not sure if she was trying to do that or not. The girls have to drop one dish since they have one more member than the blue team, and for once they drop someone other than Carrie! They do rank Carrie as the last one to make the cut, but Ramsay calls her dish the best one she's ever made. Paul's dish (ranked last) involves Heffe-why-zen broth that makes one of the tasters choke on the bitterness. Jonathon, if you have to tell them that it's a tasty dish, it's not. Elise gets the point for the red team and is surprisingly not bitching about being ranked 4th out of 6. Tommy also can't pronounce Heffeweissen...do guys seriously know less than I do about beer?? I know I'm married to Dave, but still! Blue team wins, red team looks pissed, and Tommy thinks he's all that. Then he makes us really wonder. Ramsay tells the blue team he has a great day planned for them and asks if they like speed. Tommy asks, "Meth or coke?" Dude, I didn't even think that and I worked in addictions! (course, I had crack addicts, not coke addicts, but I never heard them call coke "speed")
Well, we find out why Elise cries. Because she lost. Seriously. And then she's standing there watching her team unload a truck of ice and saying she's not going to. Carrie lifts 2 bags and breaks one open while Elise calls her a dum-dum. First of all, maybe she wouldn't have to lift 2 bags at a time if you would do your part, bitch! Second, YOU'RE NOT FIVE YEARS OLD!!! First crying about losing and then calling someone else a dum-dum?? That's a frickin lollipop, not an insult!
Meanwhile, the blue team gets to drive Indycars, helped by Arie Luyendyk (which Dave notes, "Sweet! They got one of the legends!") and a female not named Danica Patrick. Paul, of course, proceeds to try to hit on the female driver, asking where she's from (Switzerland) and noting "I'm a big fan of your cheese." Um, flirting FAIL.
Elise refuses at first to do anything to help with lifting kegs, and the team confronts her in the evening about not helping. Elise says she's been busting her ass too. Elise, you haven't been busting anything except the nerves of everyone around you, including the viewers! Elise tells us that she's not here to make friends...yes, girl, you've told us that every damned episode. She does say that she'll try to be more helpful, and she does offer to help others during prep. We'll see how long this lasts, but might as well enjoy it in the meantime. Yet again the guys are determined to bounce back and have a good dinner service.
And so dinner service begins. Dave sees that they have Andre Carter, who actually played football, and Matt Leinart, credited as a "Professional Football Player" but better known for his flings with Paris Hilton and getting paid boatloads to hold a clipboard (no, Dave's not jealous at all, and that has nothing to do with Paris Hilton...he likes girls with a little more meat on their bones and a little more under their hair). "Credited as" a football player? What is this, IMDB? There's a special tonight of Belgian ale-steamed mussels...might have to try that. We see that in prep Carrie told Elise she needed to drain her salads...she didn't bother and then tried to throw Carrie under the bus when she puts up a soggy salad. Well, that was short and sweet.
Natalie wastes over 30 scallops in trying to get a good order...Dave and I have done better than that with lesser-quality scallops! Elise steps up again to expedite things...we still haven't seen if she's going to continue helping in any way besides bossing people around. Once the blue team gets to entrees, Jonathon blames Tommy for the pastry in the wellingtons still being raw...even though they apparently worked on them together! Dave says, "So, the moral of the story tonight: when doing prep, pay fucking attention! Everything that's gone wrong is prep problems (except Natalie and the scallops)."
Krupa goes from raw meat to overcooked meat, and I have a feeling she's going home tonight. Jonathon's next to give us an overcooked wellington. Why bring it up when you know it's overcooked? Natalie and Jonathon get sent out of the kitchen, and Jonathon quits and walks off telling Ramsay to kiss his ass. Well, that may keep Krupa from going home, even with Ramsay not paying attention to the "I quit"! Jonathon complains about the prep, but it being overcooked is his fault just as the raw sea bass is Natalie's fault.
Both teams lose and have to nominate 2 people. Jonathon, Natalie, Elise, and Krupa. Red team might nominate Jamie instead for issues with fish, but I think they'll put Elise up instead. The red team put up Jamie, and Elise makes a face when Carrie hesitates before saying it. Jonathon digs a hole for himself as he says he wishes he had defied Ramsay when sent out of the kitchen. I think it's between him and Krupa at this point. He hates people shutting down more than he hates backtalk, because he sends Krupa home. Dave wonders what is up this year with the random applause for people when they're eliminated...it just seems wrong.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Hell's Kitchen 8/2/11
Good to see you again, SnarkFans! We are glad to be back after a month and a half that provided plenty of SnarkFodder (some of which can be found at my other blog and some will only come out after a couple of beers).
So as we rejoin our special friends in Hell's Kitchen, we see that the rating includes mention of sexual situations and Dave gets excited. The recap reminds us that after drama in the red kitchen and incompetence in the blue kitchen, Gina was sent home. As the episode begins, Ramsay tells the contestants that they're getting a clean slate as they cater a high school reunion. Paul and Elizabeth go to meet with the reunion committee to find out what they want, and Carrie says Elizabeth doesn't listen. Ooh, the blondes are sniping at each other.
Elizabeth asks how the ladies feel about meat and fish on the same plate, "like a surf and turf." Um, no. But Dave points out, "No, no, that's a perfectly reasonable question. It could be typical of Hawaiian cooking all the time. Heck, the bigger Hawaiian plate lunches have some sort of meat (pork) and fish (in banana leaves) together all the time. She's not crazy at all for asking that. Paul might be missing something here." The question is, will Elizabeth suggest a surf and turf anyway or will the red team overrule her and do it anyway? No, she considers Hawaiian equivalent to Asian and just tells the red team "Asian." Then she decides lentils fit into the theme. Might as well give all of the points to the blue team now. To add to the fun, Carrie and Jennifer can't agree on ingredients or plating for their dish.
Yep, the blue team sweeps it and I'm jealous of the tasters for getting to try the blue dishes. It's not just that the women completely blew it, the blue dishes were amazing. Even the one dish that Ramsay thought was too small was so good that the tasters thought it was worth the small portions. The blue team gets a day on a "superyacht"...someone put sunscreen on Natalie, please! We hear, "The Paul is on board." Dave comments that people who refer to themselves as "The _____" make him wonder, especially when the blank is filled with their name instead of a nickname. Natalie gets a bit tipsy and clowns around...luckily for them, the service wasn't that night. Unfortunately for them, they're hungover in the morning.
The red team has to make a three-layer cake for the reunion. My first thought is, I bet they don't know enough to put straws or dowels in to support the top 2 tiers. My second thought is that they completely screwed up covering the layers with fondant, so they're sure to not support it correctly. I'm completely distracted from their bickering for once because I'm too busy critiquing their (lack of) decorating skills. That cake is going to fall over horrifically. Ramsay says, "It's like a big Mexican sombrero gone wrong." Ole! I could do better than that having never made a tiered cake (so far, I'm meaning to try it)...at least I know how to cover a cake with fondant and the theory of supporting tiers!
As dinner service starts, the red team is confused about preparing the menu. Dave comments that this is what prep is for, but during prep they were too busy fucking up a cake! The blue team is on to entrees while the red team can't get apps out...unfortunately, fish proves to trip them up, with a stone cold center. Paul, we expect better from you. Ramsay asks who's going to lead the red kitchen and gets silence in return until Elise steps up, saying in her cutaway interview that she's a natural-born leader. After all, she says she's "got a big mouth but knows how to use it," which leads Dave to ask, "Does your man like how you lead him in the bedroom, then?" (Maybe he's still hung up on the sexual situations he hasn't gotten enough of yet?) The red team gets a set of appetizers out, and Elyse proceeds to crow, "That's right. That means I don't just talk." Dave adds, "Yeah, you can apparently put your hands behind your back too. Great leaders are known for doing that instead of getting involved!" Um, yeah, I know what my Command Sergeant Major father would say to that, and it would not be pretty. The red team does start pushing out entrees, though.
What is wrong with Monterray these last couple of days? He had poor focus in the team challenge, and he's having trouble helping Natalie with garnish. Paul has more raw red snapper, making Ramsay into a red snapper and cusser and yeller. Jonathan and Monterray get pushed onto the fish station to replace him, which quickly becomes Monterray cooking fish while Jonathan stands in the corner basically saying, "Call me if you need me, dude." Monterray screws up the snapper, and Ramsay shuts it down. Jonathan asks if there's anything he can do to help and complains about getting sent upstairs again. Gee, maybe you should have asked what you can do while your kitchen was cooking.
I'm seeing three good candidates for elimination: Monterray, Paul, and Jonathan. I'd like to see Paul stay, and at this point I'd like to see Jonathan go home for passing the buck. Monterray's been weak enough overall that it'll probably be him, though. Nominees are Monterray and Paul, but Ramsay calls Jonathan forward too...good move. Paul shows passion as he fights for his life, and this is the only bad service he's had, so he is told to get back in line. Chef sends Monterray home, and Natalie nods in agreement. Monterray says that if he knew standing back and not cooking was the way to stay safe, he would have done that...thus showing that he doesn't deserve to win. Elise comments on the way out that this is her prize and no one better stand in her way. Dave points out that the main person getting in Elise's way is Elise.
The preview for next week describes it as heartstopping. We're not sending someone else to the ER, are we? Dave wonders if that would make Elise cry like she does in the preview, but I don't think that would make her cry unless it was her. Jonathan survives another day only to be seen storming out of the kitchen in the preview.
So as we rejoin our special friends in Hell's Kitchen, we see that the rating includes mention of sexual situations and Dave gets excited. The recap reminds us that after drama in the red kitchen and incompetence in the blue kitchen, Gina was sent home. As the episode begins, Ramsay tells the contestants that they're getting a clean slate as they cater a high school reunion. Paul and Elizabeth go to meet with the reunion committee to find out what they want, and Carrie says Elizabeth doesn't listen. Ooh, the blondes are sniping at each other.
Elizabeth asks how the ladies feel about meat and fish on the same plate, "like a surf and turf." Um, no. But Dave points out, "No, no, that's a perfectly reasonable question. It could be typical of Hawaiian cooking all the time. Heck, the bigger Hawaiian plate lunches have some sort of meat (pork) and fish (in banana leaves) together all the time. She's not crazy at all for asking that. Paul might be missing something here." The question is, will Elizabeth suggest a surf and turf anyway or will the red team overrule her and do it anyway? No, she considers Hawaiian equivalent to Asian and just tells the red team "Asian." Then she decides lentils fit into the theme. Might as well give all of the points to the blue team now. To add to the fun, Carrie and Jennifer can't agree on ingredients or plating for their dish.
Yep, the blue team sweeps it and I'm jealous of the tasters for getting to try the blue dishes. It's not just that the women completely blew it, the blue dishes were amazing. Even the one dish that Ramsay thought was too small was so good that the tasters thought it was worth the small portions. The blue team gets a day on a "superyacht"...someone put sunscreen on Natalie, please! We hear, "The Paul is on board." Dave comments that people who refer to themselves as "The _____" make him wonder, especially when the blank is filled with their name instead of a nickname. Natalie gets a bit tipsy and clowns around...luckily for them, the service wasn't that night. Unfortunately for them, they're hungover in the morning.
The red team has to make a three-layer cake for the reunion. My first thought is, I bet they don't know enough to put straws or dowels in to support the top 2 tiers. My second thought is that they completely screwed up covering the layers with fondant, so they're sure to not support it correctly. I'm completely distracted from their bickering for once because I'm too busy critiquing their (lack of) decorating skills. That cake is going to fall over horrifically. Ramsay says, "It's like a big Mexican sombrero gone wrong." Ole! I could do better than that having never made a tiered cake (so far, I'm meaning to try it)...at least I know how to cover a cake with fondant and the theory of supporting tiers!
As dinner service starts, the red team is confused about preparing the menu. Dave comments that this is what prep is for, but during prep they were too busy fucking up a cake! The blue team is on to entrees while the red team can't get apps out...unfortunately, fish proves to trip them up, with a stone cold center. Paul, we expect better from you. Ramsay asks who's going to lead the red kitchen and gets silence in return until Elise steps up, saying in her cutaway interview that she's a natural-born leader. After all, she says she's "got a big mouth but knows how to use it," which leads Dave to ask, "Does your man like how you lead him in the bedroom, then?" (Maybe he's still hung up on the sexual situations he hasn't gotten enough of yet?) The red team gets a set of appetizers out, and Elyse proceeds to crow, "That's right. That means I don't just talk." Dave adds, "Yeah, you can apparently put your hands behind your back too. Great leaders are known for doing that instead of getting involved!" Um, yeah, I know what my Command Sergeant Major father would say to that, and it would not be pretty. The red team does start pushing out entrees, though.
What is wrong with Monterray these last couple of days? He had poor focus in the team challenge, and he's having trouble helping Natalie with garnish. Paul has more raw red snapper, making Ramsay into a red snapper and cusser and yeller. Jonathan and Monterray get pushed onto the fish station to replace him, which quickly becomes Monterray cooking fish while Jonathan stands in the corner basically saying, "Call me if you need me, dude." Monterray screws up the snapper, and Ramsay shuts it down. Jonathan asks if there's anything he can do to help and complains about getting sent upstairs again. Gee, maybe you should have asked what you can do while your kitchen was cooking.
I'm seeing three good candidates for elimination: Monterray, Paul, and Jonathan. I'd like to see Paul stay, and at this point I'd like to see Jonathan go home for passing the buck. Monterray's been weak enough overall that it'll probably be him, though. Nominees are Monterray and Paul, but Ramsay calls Jonathan forward too...good move. Paul shows passion as he fights for his life, and this is the only bad service he's had, so he is told to get back in line. Chef sends Monterray home, and Natalie nods in agreement. Monterray says that if he knew standing back and not cooking was the way to stay safe, he would have done that...thus showing that he doesn't deserve to win. Elise comments on the way out that this is her prize and no one better stand in her way. Dave points out that the main person getting in Elise's way is Elise.
The preview for next week describes it as heartstopping. We're not sending someone else to the ER, are we? Dave wonders if that would make Elise cry like she does in the preview, but I don't think that would make her cry unless it was her. Jonathan survives another day only to be seen storming out of the kitchen in the preview.
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