No thread yet? Is everyone depressed that Fabio went home? That there are two meatheads in the finals? People should be happy for Carla nailing her dishes in what might be the nost nervewracking of all the challenges - the final elimination. All three can now claim that they made it to the Top Chef final table.
Can we put aside the notion that Stephan is not an enormously egotistical ass? Five minutes into the show should have dispelled that idea - plus it almost cost him a spot in the finals. If it weren’t for his accumulated body of work, he would have lost last night. The judges called him on it, too, so we’ll see if he learns his lesson or puts a chip on his shoulder and doubles down on his arrogance.
Carla just nailed her dishes and has to be the surprise of the season. She has consistently gotten better as it has gone along. At this point I consider her a slight favorite to win it all. Next week is “the best three course meal you can make” and that may not be her best venue - she seems to excel in the structured challenges, unlike…
…Hosea, who does his best when he is given more rein. I think Hosea has been given the evil edit this year, somewhat deserved (FTR, Hosea’s girlfriend in Boulder broke up with him), but the judges really seem to like his food. I think he is a bit socially challenged, a bit of a dork, as it were. He seems to miss subtleties like the “Last Supper” challenge, which clearly meant that the judges wanted a classicly prepared comfort food, maybe something that reminds them of happier times, not something that challenges their palate. He completely whiffed on that clue, but even so the judges praised his dishes. This has happened at least once more during the show but I can’t think of the incident right now.
Jeff didn’t really belong in this episode, it was a needless distraction.
My prediction for the finale - I’ll take a gamble and say:
I let out an audible “god dammit!” at the end of that show. At first I didn’t like Fabio (his name is Fabio!?) but he won me over and my hopes were all on him - all dashed now. I have been convinced that Stephan will be the winner from episode one because I believe they edit the show to make the eventual winner somehow less likable to the viewer. How boring would that be if one person stood out as everyone’s favorite in every episode and then that person won? Every season the person I pick as “the jerk” either wins or comes close. Yes, the whole thing with Jeff and the others was a big waste of time. And it seemed somewhat unfair to the four finalists.
I was so mad that Jeff was back in the finale- can’t stand “I don’t do simple” food dude. However, I was thinking that it would have been good for him to be in the “Last Supper” episode- even more than Hosea, I think he would have gone waaaaay outside the box and been screwed by his own pretentiousness. Luckily, he didn’t win tonight- but there was enough suspense to make it entertaining at least.
I really don’t know who to root for- I actually like Stephan, even though he is arrogant with the other chefs, he doesn’t argue with the judges during the critiques and seems to be listening to what they are saying rather than defending his food. Most of his bullshit has more to do with trying to intimidate Hosea- neither party is innocent in that dynamic, but he seems to be very intense about his food and talented.
I like Stefan. The only thing he did “wrong” last night was not cook the roux long enough. Even Tom said on his blog that while Stefan seemed to have an attitude, his food was great. He also indicated that Jeff NEVER had a chance at winning, because there was a problem with his food that didn’t show up on the edit.
I think that Stefan is treating this show like a competition, and he’s getting under Hosea’s skin. It’s not his fault that Hosea lets him and responds to him so quickly and so willingly.
I think Carla’s just awesome–her description of herself as a tortoise slowly creeping up on the competition was right on. I also like Stefan, arrogant jerk that he is. A Stefan/Carla final would be awesome. He can’t get under he skin the way he can with Hosea.
Yes. Stefan is quite an ass (per his attitude toward Andrea in the Superbowl episode), but a fair proportion of his antics on the show are about trying to get under the skin of his competitors, disrupting confidence and rhythm. In the endgame, the only one who he’s still able to affect this way is Hosea. It’s pretty funny to see Stefan casually yank a string, and then Hosea dances around at the end of it, while simultaneously screwing up his face into an angry/serious “I will not be distracted!” expression, totally oblivious to Stefan’s manipulations.
And yeah, I’m in Carla’s corner. I mentioned in a previous thread: I dismissed her at first, but I’ve slowly been converted. She totally knows her shit.
He’s not oblivious to Stephan’s tactics, he mentions it all the time. He also hasn’t let it affect his cooking. Hosea’s had the least ammount of criticism from the judges about his food - he hasn’t received the greatest ammount of praise, either, he’s probably last of the three in that department, but he’s first in the other. If they all cook great, he’s last, but I don’t think he’s going to screw up, and someone usually does.
At the dinner with Emeril, Hosea and Stefan were dressed exactly alike–it reminded me of the kind of guy who’s so obssessed by his enemy, that he does nothing but talk about him all the time and subconsciously emulate him in a self-loathing kind of way. I think it’s great that Hosea gives Stefan too much credit about his mindgames; they’re simply a casual afterthought for Stefan (like a bored cat swatting a fly) but Hosea invests it with some evil-doer mojo. Hilarious!
Arrivederci, Fabio. Stefan has said in the past that he thought the only real competition he had in the Final 2 was Jamie, but I think of these three, he saw Fabio as his most formidable opponent. Being so close to the chopping block twice in a row may have scared him into a little humility, or he may see himself as truly untouchable. We’ll see…
Yay, Carla! I’ve liked her from the beginning, honest. Seriously, though, she has gotten the best compliments from the judges and really is the most honed chef there, imnsho. Go Team Carla!
I’m a Carla convert. I was never vehemently anti-Carla. I was simply ambivalent, figuring she’d be one of people who left towards the middle of the season. Not “how on earth did she even get on the show?” bad, or “she’s a lock for the finals” good. I don’t know if the truth of it is that she’s improved as the season progressed or the challenges are more and more suited to her skills.
I was thinking the same thing about Fabio, and everyone really. How much of his fate was the result of the specific challenges? What if in the Last Supper episode they’d drawn different knives…what percentage of that outcome was chance? Or the Superbowl one? I thought Fabio drew the short straw there. Green Bay…do any of you think Packers…Venison! Is Lambeau Field filled with folks wearing foam deer hats? Are the parking lot tail gaters grilling up venison??? I submit that they are not!
I really wanted to taste all the food in this episode.
Drool.
That’s why this show works better than something like Chopped over on the Food Network. The competition on that show is interesting but I never really want to taste a dish combining watermelon and sardines.
Yea, Carla! Hootie Hoo! She really had picked up confidence in the last few rounds. Stefan is an egotistical ass, and I’m not sure he can back it up. If Hosea would just concentrate on what he’s doing instead of trying to beat Stefan, he’d do a lot better. I was sorry to see Fabio go- I want him to have his own show. It could be called “It’s Not Top Pussy”. OK, maybe not.
Carla has really grown on me, and I’m rooting for her now. (Just blink, dammit!) I was sad to see Fabio go, but that’s because I have a little TV crush on him.
It bothered me that the judges agreed that Jeff was one of the best 3, but because of that contrivance in which he had to win to stay, he had to leave. That was screwy.
Stefan slipped a bit, but he doesn’t annoy me as much as he seems to annoy everybody else. Hosea annoys me more with his whining about Stefan.
