snarktini

Why?

Ha! I loved how they were just like, we can't even pretend there's a top set and bottom set. It was abrupt but better than drawing it out. Switching it up is good, keeps the chefs on their toes. I don't think it was a bad challenge. If anything it was too wide open but that's a creativity problem not a challenge problem! (Blank pages can be the hardest for an artist.) They didn't have to tie it to FLW visually or do anything fancy -- they could do anything, as long the two dishes made sense as a contrasting pair. There was a real failure of imagination AND execution here. I was especially stymied by comfortable / uncomfortable, which they mashed up with compression / release when they presented. The concept was muddled. What does an uncomfortable dish mean? Surely one weird flavor doesn't meet that bar. Compression / release may have seemed too obvious for them, having been given it as an example, but that was a stronger duality. A dense element (steak would have still worked) with a (literally) compressed fruit/veg, paired with a dish that was airy -- something like a foam, meringue, froth, whip etc. Compact vs. open, low vs. tall, precise versus billowing. The house was cute and very FLW in style, but it didn't create a duality. I wanted to see someone play with earth, the harmony of the natural world and the built world, which was the heart of his work. (The not-egg dish, with its black rice soil was the closest there.) Land / sea could have been reframed as earth / water or earth / air, like the elements -- that might have taken them somewhere better.

Yes! The episode chefs were not expected to make things that looked architectural but I loved that Buddha went there. That was so perfectly simple but clearly FLW. Aw, I like Buddha! I get why he's not everyone's cup of tea but I see him as cerebral and conceptual, not snobby -- and I dig that. Very similarly, I have a soft spot for Marcel too. He was annoying as a young contestant but I appreciated his curiosity and unconventional nature. Glad to see him here, grown up into a more settled and authentic version of himself. Twenty years will do that to you! He's looking good.

Color me surprised that Michelle's dish was the crowd fav! I figured that collards, no matter how good they are, wouldn't have as much broad appeal as the other two. FWIW, I see croquettes on menus quite often (I live outside of San Francisco) so that's not a "in the past" dish to me. I love them! Were we counting the arancini as one of the croquette crew? Different core ingredient but the same effect -- fried starch and cheese ball.

To me the strongest theory is it's a variant on Colorado, making it possible to enter partway through via LCK as a wild card -- Lee Ann and Brother entered new seasons that way. (And they were not very welcome. The remaining chefs were pissed.) Whether or not David participated, I am sure Soo was already on deck. They wanted a surprise 16th. They said a few times in the beginning that this season will have different rules -- like no immunity for QF wins, etc. They did the same in Vegas adding new high stakes game play, and later with sudden death QFs. I believe they're just trying to switch it up and add new twists.

I realize we don't see all the rules -- and this clearly was in-bounds since the judges didn't say anything -- but how in the world is gnocchi considered pasta? Gnocchi bafflement, take two. He was rolling it hard, and you don't roll gnocchi flat like that! You kind of gently make snakes out of it, to keep it light and fluffy. Smashing it with a rolling pin is presumably how how made it "filled" but the texture must have been terrible. They had nothing positive to say about his dish and the other two were overall good but with a massive flaw. He deserved to go home without the cook-off. I don't know the rules but it has happened before at least once -- Claudette competed in TC Mexico and TC US Season 15. She did them pretty much back to back, according to her bio, both in 2017-18.

Wonder how Joe Flamm felt about being scripted to say you can't go wrong ordering a High Life at a Michelin star restaurant. Those sponsor dollars are mighty powerful! What I heard her say was "I say WIN you say consin" which was at least a little cute. But, yes, dumb TV thing.

It made sense to me that Dawn crossed over after finding peace. I don't know if Mr Martin is evil - though what's with the IT'S MY JOB to take care of all of you bit, why is it his job? -- but preventing them from looking back keeps them from healing and reaching closure so they are ready to leave. Maybe a psych professor can die next and help out? Dawn isn't the one who's been there the longest! Rhonda said she's been there 60 years, which tracks with her beatnik vibe, putting here there about 10 years before early-70s Dawn.

This show is so much better than I expected! Not only not ready for someone new -- remember she was in love with her BF two weeks ago -- but also certainly not ready to accept and move on with an afterlife when they haven't even solved her murder. That's obviously going to preoccupy her! Instead of dissuading her I'd think the ghosts would actively want to help her solve it, if only for something interesting to do. THEN she can settle into their support group. I legit do not know how this will end and am really not even guessing; I'm just along for the ride. But I just finished Travelers and I really don't like seeing lovely and kind "David" as a shady character here -- and I'm not sold on his alibi either. (They called it a solid alibi, but when he was talking to Claire outside his house he said something like he told the police he was with his father, which is not the same as actually being with him.)

Total agreement on Nick vs. Damarr. El Charro is legendary, I've eaten there many many times. Excited to see them go to where I grew up! It's not an epic finale locale but times being what they are... Watching Nick throughout and in his final talking head -- what a lovely human he is, just good of heart and spirit. And perhaps unfairly, one of the reasons I was rooting more for Damarr in this match-up is that Nick is the older brother. He won a fair bit of money on the show. He knows who he is. Everyone benefits from the title boost, but I think Nick has it going on already. Damarr is still coming up. Yes, I love that Buddha studies! To me that's a reason to like him more not think his wins are diminished because it. I love that he does his homework and is analytical and yet also conceptual and whimsical. He's someone I'd hang out with.

UGH. It's OTT cartoon villain origin story, a single event (that he has wrong anyway) gave him rage to fuel a lifetime of machinations to lead to This Moment. It struck such a sour note. It's like a different show IMO. I realize "he was going to die anyway, and earlier" is a lame rebuttal to "you killed my dad" but...yeah. Now, if Ben could have tried to save Josh and didn't, that would have actually made more sense for Gideon's rant! The character development here is just so bad. I figured that the kid would be important -- and in fact that's who I assumed the leap was for when we met him, not the brothers. Same with the fire, when they said there was more to the leap. Never occurred to me he would be Gideon, mostly because I had tuned out that plot and forgot there was a Gideon. I have to assume Hannah died young, and didn't live to see this whole fake life of vengeance her son created. I think she said it had only been 7 days for her? Meaning 7 days of her life spent with him on leaps, over the many years. Hard to say how many months have elapsed in HQ time -- I'd appreciate having more dialogue markers for things like that.

Yes they said 6 months in the first episode, though the doctor noted that the first 2 she was in bed as part of his reasoning for why he wouldn't sign off on it. (That, and nerve pain in her arm.) In this episode, she was not actually back on duty. Amanda called that out, and it's why she went with. But now Amanda agreed to support her returning to duty. Y'all have more faith in the screening of cops for mental stability than I do.

WHAT WAS THAT, SHOW?! Just rude killing off Cricket like that. It didn't sound Georgia but I didn't give any real thought to what it did sound like -- that's it. Do they? They sound normal to me! It's totally in character for Angie not to care that her hair looks a mess. She has this cute new cut and still it's a wreck. There was so much commentary on The Diplomat about the lead needing to brush her hair, too, and it's a little extreme but character styling always is. Will wears a dull three piece suit, Faith wears quirky sweater vests, Angie has unwashed bird's nest hair. Each choice is telegraphing something distinct about the character. They've had a lot of fun developing Faith's style as one of contrasts. Everything is very conservative in coverage (collars, high necks, layers), but she plays with eye-catching patterns and details. She pairs grandma knits with corporate button ups crowned by a revolving door of young, creative hair styles. (Where I think they've dropped the ball is making her style SO distinctive, without making the character live up to that vibe. I like Faith fine, but she doesn't seem to be the bold, expressive, creative type her wardrobe would indicate.)

I'm so glad this comment section helped me out with this detail! I missed where the photo we saw came from and didn't remember the article. There had to be a trigger, some reason he was doing this to lure / hurt Will at this moment in time and not before. This tracks. Yes, I left that scene 100% sure that Amanda was getting busy with the journalist, and not for the first time. We also know that Amanda was married, Faith's mom mentioned that Trent was her maiden name. Did we learn who she was married to? I liked this show! I agree it's disjointed at times but I like the characters. We've certainly seen the oddball, trauma-survivor, hyper observant detective before but Will manages to feel a little different. I like that he has more humor and big-heartedness than this type of character is often given.

After we get everyone to say (and caption) gougère properly we can move on to mascarpone! Please and thank you. Yes they always pack their knives and leave the kitchen after presenting, so help is only available from those who haven't gone yet. Watching Jamie help two of them plate, it occurred to me it's a significant advantage to go early -- there is more of a chance someone will stop their prep and help you. By the end, they are no extra hands.

That got a chuckle out of me! To me it was definitely herpes, because he was promiscuous I didn't love or hate it -- it felt disjointed and needed an editor but it also made me think. It helps that I knew nothing at all about it until finding it on streaming, so I had zero advertising to mislead me.

Currently re-watching the series and had the same thought! Based on how hard they went with the put-downs it seems like the writers were setting that up and changed their minds. (And because I've forgotten at least 90% of the plot lines, I didn't realize that wouldn't ultimately happen until he gets serious with Paige.)

She has one other season, which might not technically count as TC -- she was also a returning contestant in Last Chance Kitchen in Season 15, Colorado. She didn't make it back in.

Because if you leave them in the unlocked car, you can't lose them and never get locked out. (What that means for house keys, which are usually connected to car keys, I don't know.) I'm just now watching this series. Not sure I'm sold. I'm weirded out by how weird he is. I mostly like it but my cringe meter is having a hard time.

This was good! Definitely worth a watch.

I'm glad Michelle wasn't derailed by this one. I feel bad for the chefs when the challenge hits on their trauma. The family challenges always run that risk -- not everyone has positive memories and it has sent cheftestants into spirals. It looked even worse from the other side of Covid! I realize this is how kitchens and chefs usually do things, but it's not okay.

I think this is right -- it's the 70s and a trusted school, many parents would have been fine with it (possibly because they feel guilty about the holidays). The one I'm not sure I buy is the LDS missionaries agreeing to it. That boy is more likely to be at the school simply because the parents were living out of the country not because they are part of that social set. I believe it was Korea and Paraguay. Yeah I might have preferred no other kids left behind but it did work to make Angus extra rejected when they all escape. However, once introduced, IMO the storyline wouldn't have worked with one of the young ones staying -- it would have changed the dynamic too much. Paul wouldn't have agreed to Boston, they wouldn't have had the adult conversations. Paul would have remained more closed off if there were more boys. And Angus, too.

I thought it was pretty good! Definitely a step up from Crystal Skull. De-aging CGI has really come a long way, that's for sure. I appreciated that we saw an old man who was less spry than he once was but still wily. The FBI underestimated him, which is right for the character. (He underestimated / over-trusted his goddaughter, also right for the character.) The villains were cartoon cutouts, but they always are in Indy films. Good sidekicks, and loved seeing Sallah.

I don't think my physical form would have been able to do that at all. (Same with the massage -- that would have been physically unsafe for my back, and even if it hadn't created injury some of those moves would surely have given me a debilitating sciatica flareup. I know my body, and that would have damaged it.) Then again, my physical form means I would never have made it through the race at all lol. I loooove those views! It was maybe Corey who said he was taking a beat to take it in because "when will I ever have this kind of view again" and I thought...just come back tomorrow and you can see most of it from the observation deck. Yeah, I live in Silicon Valley and know a lot of tech folks. I can't speak to entry level but a friend at Google earns 250K (they have more years of experience, but not in a tech role) and others in mid/senior but not management tech roles can earn 400K+. (I don't remember if both are at Google but at least one is.) Need has nothing to do with it, and shouldn't have anything to do with it. They earned this! It's a competition they wanted to experience and they did. But yeah sure they don't "need" it as much as a delivery driver trying to get a service dog for his special needs child. With their publicity he'll surely be able to achieve that goal.

I found it surprising that at one point I thought I saw Rob sign out "roadblock" using individual letters. (But not knowing ASL, maybe I got that wrong.) I would have expected them to create some custom gestures for key race terms (and competitors). Seeing how Tasha did that on GBBO it made a lot of sense. Both fun and expedient! I was also a little surprised throughout how little not being able to hear affected their performance. The glass blowing in the finale looked like one of the tougher situations -- the ability to hear your partner say "keep turning" or "stop blowing" without looking up or using hands would have been helpful! But they made it through without a big deal.