snarktini

I give Carrie more credit for her toasts BECAUSE they are so simple and not TC-worthy. How amazing and creative must her toasts be for her to win twice with them?! (Tho in the first ep, the "pot luck" she crashed and burned with bruschetta.) And in this case, Dufresne said the winner was who highlighted sarsparilla the best, so I imagine she did something special there. Plus she had a high degree of difficulty with no protein or real vegetables. It's like the win for a veg side dish (didn't mushrooms win once?) or a salad. It's rare, but speaks to how perfectly they were executed. Really sad to see Chris go. His dish was just too homey, not fine dining enough. :(

I'm the opposite. I always liked Bruce, but when some other chef picks up the box, reads the directions to him about something as stupid as gelatin and suddenly: "OH NO, I'M SCREWED"--I have to think he's not Top Chef material, or else he's not operating on all cylinders and he just subconsciously wants to get home and see the baby. A "risotto" with undercooked barley pellets? Plus that slop must've tasted like a salt lick for Tom to complain. Go now. Skip LCK and go get your hands on that baby because your head's not in the game anymore. I'm with you on Carrie, though. I enjoyed her speech about thinking she was pretty average, but now realizing she's better than that. It could have sounded strategic and disingenuous from someone else, but I believed her. Very nice. Which would be nice except Bruce CAN'T go home. They have to go to the sequester house after they pack their knives. (Which sounds terrible -- stuck in a hotel in secret with no phone, no wallet, and what amounts to limited "yard time".) He's stuck there until the bitter end either way. If Joe won I'd be bummed but wouldn't be outraged (*cough* Hosea). He's my least favorite of who's left by far, but at least he has put out some really good food. What sucks is he's also scraped along the bottom several times when better (IMO) chefs have gone. I love that Carrie admitted her expectations were low and she's gained confidence and self-awareness. The bluster of so many reality show competitors kills me -- everyone says they are sure they can win and that's just something I would never think no matter how good I am. I'm pulling for her and Chris.

Ah, that explains it. There were a few times I was sure they were off beat but the judges didn't stop them ...now I realize I was the one who was wrong! I instinctively wanted to put accents on the on beats. It did seem like judging got easier. I could justify where the skiers had to spend extra rounds because they were focusing on the words and not doing the "confident performance" part, but Cody didn't get either right and they still passed him through. I was neutral on Yale, but after Jessica's tantrum and the targeting of them I'm rooting for them now.

Marie Claire is an interesting case. If it's meant to be French it should sound like MAIR-ee, accent on the first syllable and a hard A, but the "accepted" U.S. pronunciation is probably Muh-REE. Same spelling, different pronunciations in French v American English. Regardless of what the magazine intends, it's not surprising Heidi would naturally favor a european pronunciation.

Do we know for sure it's Mer-leen? Her last name is Labissiere, which is French, so it could be Mare-leen -- with that little bit of swallowed H sound on the R, the way you'd say la mer (the ocean). It's really hard to maintain a foreign pronunciation, though, so I have no idea what she or her family meant it to be. Surprised Stanley won...I thought it was dowdy. I'd have given it to Fabio. And as much as I wanted Helen to get bounced, it was definitely Candice's turn for that dress.

Huh. So that happened. Agree the resolution wasn't given enough room to unfold, or something dramatic was missing. I was right that Flynn didn't leave voluntarily. Wasn't right that the new people finding out about the Library would boost memory power to resurrect it. On that note, it felt too easy to restore memories. Baird just had to hold on and then they had to find each other. Flynn kept lots already. Not a very difficult journey for our heroes! And why where they all in one place, so easily reunited, anyway? In an alternate reality, couldn't Nicole have put them anywhere, or wouldn't they be back in their own hometowns if the Library never existed? Certainly letting 2 of them be on TV and 2 more end up in the same asylum is bad villain craft. IJS. A two-parter might have given time to reunite more slowly and have the whole thing feel more earned. It also seemed too easy that Flynn could pop back in time and with so few words "fix" Nicole. Any rate, Jenkins is back. Which is great because I love Jenkins! But it means our Librarians don't find out the Library went psycho and killed him, which made them all resign. (The writers didn't pick up the thread I was questioning last time, was that actually the Library or Nicole.) If it was the Library, they learned something important about its character and that's been erased. Is there any hope that they still had the Jeff case and he's still a dungeon master? Overall this season didn't work very well for me. Episodes were hit or miss. The two-fers were distracting. As charming as I've found this show, maybe it's time for it to end. :(

yes

I'm tempted the believe the Library never inhabited Jenkins or wanted them to kill each other. That was all Nicole somehow. Sure, it could be bad writing, but the Library becoming a raging homicidal jerk overnight just doesn't feel right. The Library chose all 3, so why do this now? Why kill Jenkins at all? And why would it even demand tethering for that matter? Unless I missed something, my impression was the Library itself didn't need to be tethered -- that's for humanity's benefit. Without tethering, it would simply "protect itself" and become feral. Maybe they'll be able to explain all this next ep but for now I am skeptical. I agree that all the outsiders finding out about the Library is about to pay off to save it. (Yes, very Doctor Who!) The writers usually wrap up loose threads, so that's why I expect there to be a reason why the Library went psycho beyond "protecting itself", if it did at all.

Yes it was a good strategy. Still, I was surprised it didn't take longer. (Hard to be sure. I wish TAR showed clock timers but obviously I get why they don't.) The lectures appeared to be on a loop, so whenever a team entered the room they simply started at that point. Each time through, the firefighters would have re-entered at a random point and simply have had to wait til their next answer rolled around. That might take a few seconds or a whole loop, depending on luck. The lectures must have been pretty short, just a few minutes each?, for them to do this 9 times without falling behind.

Yeah, I figured Yale would be unhappy when they found out what else they could have done. I was so impressed by the violinists! While they seemed intelligent, that kind of memorization is special -- the very first answer, one recalled a 7 digit number correctly. I'm very good at this kind of task and still would have taking a few tries I think, given the volume of details they had to sift and recall. They did almost the whole thing in 1 shot. They were always a bit of a non-entity, but they were gracious and delightful. Still chuckling over "earnest words of encouragement". Would have loved to see more of them and am very sorry to see them go. The firefighters took *9* tries -- more than the number of questions! -- but they handled it competently and calmly. And clearly it didn't take them that long. They're growing on me. I'll start paying more attention to Evan and Henry -- I heard some nag undercurrents in this episode, but not as much as others perceived. (I often don't listen closely to the interpersonal stuff bc I don't care much.) I would defend her for calling him out for diverging from whatever agreement they had made -- in a race, communicating clearly and being aligned matters. It's not unreasonable to say if you want to change an agreement, you have to verbalize it. "Risk calculus" is something I would say :)

My BF and I cringed at the "you had one job" comment -- that thought makes a funny meme, but it's just not something you should say to your partner.

That's my take. He might have been trying to be tricky or taking the easy way out, but this is also plausible. She likes to be in charge -- so put her there. Her lack of team-player-ness would have been terrible on the line. This was the only job she could have done well. And who knows, maybe she could have if she wasn't so busy ducking responsibility. The judges area always critical when the captain doesn't ask to be the EC. They believe everyone should WANT to be the EC. That's what truly being a Top Chef means. But then they are so hard on the EC and FOH, it's no wonder many play it safe and take the line position. They didn't find a cohesive concept because they didn't even try. Mustache Joe rubbed me wrong almost this entire episode, but he was right here: You need a cuisine or at least a theme. I wasn't sure, but I was hoping!

Agreed it was total domination, but there was more to their dislike of that plate than it being hot (which cooked her plate sauces, a serious problem) -- they also didn't like the taste and Tom asked why anyone would put that pickled cauliflower on the plate. They pretty much hated that dish from what I saw. When she said she added that pickled cauliflower to make it more "earthy" like the other entrees, I had a guess that would go sideways. Still! Just one bad plate out of 9. And she did great at her others. Versus a team where most of the food had major criticisms. It was a blowout on food. However, noticeable this year was neither team had a full-on meltdown in either kitchen or FOH. Some lame food and service, but nothing on fire. I'm not usually prone to schadenfreude but I do kind of look forward to RW meltdowns :)

I hope they do something interesting with this. When Sophie asked about her "character" I thought...she's already playing one everyday! Perfect, marvelous Midge is the act. She constructed the perfect life and perfect appearance....but it's all just a veneer. There's no authenticity to her daytime persona. There's a lot of masks in the show. Joel. Sophie. Midge. Susie. People aren't who they pretend to be. There's some good storytelling there, if they take advantage of it.

I'd go with "putz", but sure that works too.

I think a man can be totally in love with his wife (or believe he is) and still cheat because of bullshit personal stuff. (Women, too.) Joel has imposter/inferiority issues: His wife is almost too perfect. She's marvelous and driven. He's mediocre and passive. He has a family to support and is ashamed to tell his wife they can't afford their lifestyle and don't own their home. He was handed a job he hasn't earned and as a result he isn't respected. Even as he appreciates how Midge's brisket and hustle get him better stage times, he probably resents that he needs her to make it happen. It's easy to imagine he wonders how he can live up to all of this. When it will all fall apart. Enter Penny, the dumb secretary who makes him feel smart and successful. It's easier to be with her and play at being the man he wants to be than actually deal with his fears and talk to Midge. I think the true fear was not her not adoring him, but her leaving him because the scales fall from her eyes and she sees he isn't good enough. So he left first. ETA: A lot of people ended up in lives that didn't satisfy them 60 years ago. There was such a strong middle-class push to get married young to someone "suitable", buy a house, have kids, mom stays home, dad finds a safe career, and stay the course no matter what. And, of course, never talk about your problems. It's still pretty strong today, but there's more room to push back and at least ask the questions.

Maybe Chris was smart to stay out. Maybe he was legit busy with his short ribs. Maybe the production monkeys simply didn't show footage of him. But except for the one time he cruised by and offered Claudette help (which she declined), where *was* Chris the whole time? Tanya and Claudette were working on their dishes side by side (unhappily sniping but at least within range of each other if needed) and Chris was...somewhere else? If I were a judge, I wouldn't have accepted his "didn't know anything about it" answer. If you didn't know what was happening with your team, then you were part of the team problem. And if Claudette needed help, she should have taken it from Chris. Why was Tanya the only one she expected to help?

OK, I'll be the outlier -- my meal at Le Bernardin was a little underseasoned for my taste buds. Just a touch. Overall I wasn't as thrilled as I expected to be. It was very technical. I grew up going to amazing restaurants around the country and remember things I ate 30 years ago that stayed with me, but I can't remember a single thing I ate at LB. Yeah, his concept was fine -- pork, cabbage, fried noodle/dough -- but screwed it up in execution. There were a lot of ways this dish could have gone right. He just made it way too Asian. Lastly, I was also surprised Chris didn't know anything about German food given his Amish connection. I felt bad how he was thrown off his game -- like he said, just going through the motions of drinking juice out of a beer mug at a bar felt wrong. It's interesting how seemingly small things can really throw cheftestants off. Sometimes it's the family challenges (that sunk Kwame). There are hidden triggers for all of us. My biggest objection to what he did wasn't even the store bought ingredients. It was that it wasn't elevated in the slightest, which was the challenge. A sausage sandwich on a pretzel bun? That's cliché food truck German, not 5 star.

Not only was Joel's apartment baffling -- not only expensive but 100% decorated, not something he just threw together last week -- but his only asking to see the boy (Ethan?) also caught me off guard. I can handwave that divorced Dads might not have been expected or equipped to take a baby overnight back then. But he didn't say "I want to see the kids". He said he wanted to see the son. If the girl was the older child, would that have changed who he wanted to see?

Is it even possible to jump from Detective to Captain? Thought there were interim steps like Sargent or Lieutenant to train you up as a supervisor. They did the same thing with Beckett on Castle, too. Murtaugh letting Riggs come along on a stakeout...drunk...carrying a firearm...didn't sound like sound Captain judgment. Felt bad for Riggs when he finally decided to re-bond with his father-in-law but he was gone. (Assuming he actually is dead.) The "P.I." implied it was Riggs' past that got Miranda killed rather than her father's cartel, right? That may or may not be true, but it's going to weigh on him. Sounds like that's this season's Big Bad arc with a new explanation for Miranda's death plus the murdered dog.

It plays here on the radio (SF Bay Area) and my hand can't reach the buttons fast enough. It should count as a driving hazard. It really does creep me out. I turned off the last ep halfway through, I thought it was so bad. But I liked this one! Yay!

Didn't another show do a similar tree story recently? Maybe Grimm? (And if you're into this theme, there's also a book called Uprooted by Naomi Novik.) Thinking Serena (sp?) may be back. No way she can keep this secret! Feel like she'll boomerang. Also wondering if there's more to Flynn's absence than we know. All that talk about mysteriously disappearing people made me wonder if it was fully voluntary...he did leave a note, so it's not like he vanished, but it doesn't seem like him to leave without some goodbye. At least to Baird. He's self-centered and self-important, but not an asshole. And he just had that whole breakthrough about being part of a team and how they're stronger together. And he didn't say he left because of the multi-Librarian problem, did he? They're inferring a noble gesture. Gotta say, that doesn't seem likely to me either. If he felt strongly about it, I think he's more likely to have lectured about it rather than left silently. It still leaves 3 of them so it's not like he solves the problem. My read is that he is more likely to have left because of the Library's betrayal and Nicole's warning about not living his life.

I suppose we couldn't have wacky TV shenanigans if people actually communicated. (Or, real-life shenanigans for that matter.) It sure is annoying to watch, though! It bothered me that Dare lived and remained a Librarian...a ripple through the Librarian lineage could easily have wiped out our current Librarians. What are the odds you can have a Librarian live for several extra decades -- which could have displaced multiple Librarians -- and still end up with our Flynn + 3 at the same point in the future with the same history? The Library is sentient, maybe it can "heal" time or manipulate events to ensure our current Librarians end up where they need to be? I try not to get overly logical with TV, but this is a big leap. Maybe there will be a payoff to it later? The writers do a lot of callbacks.

Didn't see this get answered. Ewan asked if Shawn had the present. He said no. Ewan said he was going to need it. As Shawn's getting shot at, he says "This better be an awesome gift." Ewan replies something like "Don't ever break the case or drop it."

Dunno on the reneging, but what did surprise me is that Amy wouldn't made a beeline to hand over that check first thing, THEN gone to see cakes and flowers. I'd never have put down deposits on vendors without a confirmation and deposit down on the venue! And Amy is a lot more uptight and organized than I am.