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."
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