snarktini

True. The way creepy chef said he recognized her from the nunnery made it sound like a specific one to me, but it could also have been generic.

What a pain! PBS is running full episodes, so maybe you don't need to pay anyway? I, too, run CC even though my hearing is fantastic. I don't like a loud TV (partly because my hearing is too good in high ranges) and that means sometimes dialogue is low. FWIW, they're being cryptic with this story. It wasn't laid out clearly and I've had to stitch together bits from several conversations (and some other commenters' thoughts) to get that synopsis. Which is in stark contrast to how they are beating.us.over.the.head with the dialogue between V&A.

Right, she worked in the Nunnery (the name of a local whorehouse) and I also believe her story about being in the laundry there. The real Eliza met a trumpet player (something like that, maybe trombone?) and got pregnant. We learned last episode she chose to keep the baby rather than give the baby up to an orphanage and take the palace job. Our Eliza took her place. She said sometimes she thinks she's the lucky one, sometimes she doesn't. She said she never wanted to get married last episode, now I wonder if that's truly what she wants (fine by me, more power to her) or if she feels she can't have a life of her own because she's living a lie and can't afford to be caught out. The chef skeeves me out. The way he skulks around Eliza feels menacing. It feels so classically like a man who fancies himself a suave white knight but in reality following her around after dark, staring at her, and making sure she knows he knows her secret is actually really creepy.

If they really want creativity they could give them longer than the ride to the store to plan.

Spot on. I thought he was terrible and they were terrible together. If my flatmate didn't love it this would be my last episode.

My take was he was distracting her with the trivia. He told her this long-winded, slightly absurd story to lighten the moment and her fear. It was a weirdly written scene, though.

I think there's a difference between more "gentle" and more "good". He definitely seems to have controlled the outward aggression -- anger management has worked for him and he is much, much calmer. However, he is still a jerk, manipulative, and and now passive aggressive instead of aggressive aggressive.

If Good Janet's abilities were out of range in the Medium Place, why did her walkie-talkie function work?

The judges said something similar. However, I thought the food did come in bowls/platters, they were just looked like the size of regular plates. They seemed to be, for lack of better terminology, family style small plates. Sheldon's stew came out in a shared bowl about the size of a soup bowl, and everyone had to spoon out their portion onto their plate. For the tamales, they received a shared platter with 3 tamales (not 6, the size of the group) and Tom made a crack about having to share small plate portions. That may have been a server error.

It's a good question. While I didn't think he'd go home he wasn't out of danger only having one dish that wasn't good. It wasn't even complicated or labor-intensive. I get there wasn't much left for him -- Katsuji claimed 3 dishes, John was EC and Casey was FOH -- but not fighting for a second dish or more responsibility was dangerous. Did he just totally check out when he lost out on being EC? Has there ever been another case where one of the line cooks in RW did only one dish?

Ooh I like this idea! Hell yeah! But this was an extra special edition of Mack looking good...maybe more due to the sunglasses than the suit? As the Fug Girls have noted, Everyone's Hotter in Sunglasses. Loved Talbot saying that May was, with the possible exception of his mother, the most intimidating woman he'd ever known. Would kinda like to meet his mom. Agree Aida is either playing Radcliffe, or will be soon.

Yes, he did. A little surprised that didn't come up, but it's hard to know after editing what was actually said. I'm sure Sheldon was grateful to fly under the radar. He stayed very, very quiet. I might have booted John. The EC usually bears more responsibility -- one bad dish that was made in advance, didn't help the line, failed to expedite, failed to lead. It was even a lousy menu/concept. That usually means EC goes. He was responsible for the overall failure, by definition. Regardless, this is why it's fair that Katsuji went. Colossally bad decisions on his part tanked their team, and John wasn't strong enough to overcome it. What an asshole. No redemption for that. She was lucky to be with two such horrible teammates because, yeah. I pinged her saying only she could seat and we know from the past that usually leads to a backup at the front door even when everything is running smoothly. Question: Are the wrong things going to the wrong tables more the fault of FOH or the expeditor?

The dumb overalls certainly aren't my taste but I can kind of see the "FASHION" in it. But her story of a CEO in that?! Nuh uh. Look, I'm in a creative field. I've worked in ad agencies in San Francisco, where you can get away with a whole lot. And I still can't imagine anyone showing up with that strappy / bandeau / peekaboo top action. Worse, it wasn't even a little day to night, and it especially lacked glamour -- which you'd think might matter since they praised Allie for getting an element glamour they said others missed. It was just fashion sporty. The judges have never been consistent so that's not a surprise, but feh.

I so love that the famous black astrophysicist is named Tyra DeNeil Fields! Fun shoutout to Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

I'd have hoped the architect could find a secret door! However it's really the only likely "out" for Holmes so that's probably it. I guessed that George = Holmes right away, but to be fair it's easier as a viewer with some outside knowledge about the serial killer hotel and having previously known everyone else in the room. TBH I never read Devil in the White City, I had no idea he killed in a hotel until it was mentioned on Sherlock. That was just last week...many shows seem to be converging on common themes lately. On Murdoch Mysteries (aka Artful Detective) which starts in 1895, their police department's term for serial killer is sequential killer. FYI.

Excited to see S1 starting this week on Ovation! It's the season I've seen the least, so happy to be getting a fresh look. Juliet and Shawn look so young! Lassiter is being a worse jerk than I remember, particularly to Juliet.

I have a question, hoping those of you with historic knowledge can help me out. Melbourne is the Prime Minister (right?). In this episode he offered to become Victoria's "private secretary". Which seems...strange. And like a step down or a conflict of interest, or something! Especially considering all the hand-wringing later about impartiality towards the parties. How would that work? Was PM in this time not as full-time or powerful as it would be today? I get the idea of a close relationship between Queen and PM one of mentorship and advice, a la Elizabeth II and Churchill. This just seems like a lot more than that.

Pretty close?! She's a psychopath, no bones about it.

I don't think this happened? But she should! She's the current danger. Ugh. Poor Jenkins. "It sucks" indeed. Now it seems like the unexpected scene of Cassandra asking him out may have been written to voice the idea that he loved someone who loved someone else. Glad to see Kane got to be Eliot again -- will be happy to see Stone as a (now magical) badass. Also glad Lindy Booth got to use a lower register in her voice. So much better!

Sounds like Casey's scallops weren't "spoiled" as much as "not good enough to be served raw". They implied if she'd have cooked them they'd have been okay. Most seafood isn't sushi-grade, only the best of the best should be served raw, and a Top Chef should know better. One judge said something like they're only fresh enough if they're still moving, which seems to be a pretty high standard! (Personally I love sashimi and crudo and carpaccio and all that, although don't care for the texture of raw scallops. ) But if they were that unpleasant raw, they can't have been that good, period. What would have happened if a chef felt the required ingredient, provided by the show, was not good enough? What options did Casey have, and what would they have done? Could they have substituted in time?

I think the judges would agree with you. The problem is, the loser had to come from the worst team and they decided that was Jamie's team -- they said Katsuji's dish was so good it made up for Brooke and Casey. He brought their average up. Sadly, Jamie's was the worst dish on the worst team.

I am sure it wasn't actual product. First, for food safety reasons it wouldn't make any sense to serve potentially mis-handled food to party guests. Second, food for an entire party wouldn't fit, the lobsters illustrating that perfectly. It's also unlikely IMO that production split up the ingredients (raisins go in the chest, chicken goes in the kitchen). The bags were just placeholders. When Tom said tasted like they'd been in the chest for four hours, he was being snarky. Good insight on Jamie. It sounds like his dish was legitimately terrible, per the judges, and the grill was less likely the problem than the sauce. They said it tasted synthetic and implied it simply tasted bad overall. I don't think he'd have been swayed by knowing that Emily was considered to have a dish nearly as bad as his -- he was convinced his was the worst dish of the night, and he did what he. Not logical game play but I think that was part of his point. Loved Jim, sad to lose him. Go Sheldon! Also thought it was amusing Brooke and Casey packed their own rain gear, where everyone else had to get one from the show.

I thought they might, but wondered how they'd make that work. Xavier finding a way to divert it is a great solution -- our main character isn't crazy and there is an asteroid, but the world CAN be saved.

Definitely. I interpreted it as telepathy -- Cassandra could see the nurse's puzzle grid (which was out of her sight), she solved it, and then the nurse repeated the solution. The nurse had previously said it was too hard for her to solve. It also seemed like with all the things floating in the room prior to that, Cassandra may have been keying in to thoughts of others in the room or something like that.

This seems logical, actually. Someone who wants to abuse people would want to put themselves in a position to easily find victims. She chose a job to enable her sickness. (Or that of her ex, depending who started it. I tend to think she was warped from the start. To me it's more plausible she chose this career for this purpose, rather than she worked to help immigrants and then switched sides. Unless she actually disliked immigrants along and viewed an ICE job as a way to control them? Who knows. They didn't give us a lot to work with.) Even though they divorced, I thought they were still be in contact for slave purposes. She had a burner phone that she was willing to answer, which didn't seem one-off. Their divorce was 6 years ago and he kidnapped the young woman 5 years ago, so unless he still had access to the database (they said he didn't) the ex wife may have helped him. FWIW, I don't mind the addition of Shinwell. Not in love with his character, but the story holds some interest for me.