Sigh I knew the writing was on the wall for Hermine but it was a fair decision.
As far as week only vs. Cumulative judging goes I have always been an advocate of taking past performance into consideration on shows like Top Chef or Project Runway because there was a pathetic amount of times someone better went home for one bad project/dish over the perpetual "second worst" person. On this show, I don't know. Maybe it's because it is only 10 weeks over the 13-15 the other ones have. They had a similar quandary in S8 when Steven and Stacey turned in underwhelming showstoppers and while technically Steven had the worse performance they kept him over Stacey (who was very erratic) due to the fact he had 3 SB wins in the past so when it's really really close they do go back.
I don't see Laura as skating by. She had one thing on her showstopper go wrong which ended up affecting presentation but her flavors were great per usual. Hermines was a disaster all around I pretty much knew she was toast when she said she hadn't practiced her new recipe. Sadly on the day she was supposed to excel, she tanked. And of course the internet does what the internet does and harasses poor Laura, she does not deserve that. I agree if she's going to win the final she's going to have to add a little style to her substance, like an anti-Frances.
That said the editing was predictable and heavy handed. It's HERMINE'S WEEK! Will she prevail? Can PETER have a comeback to the early glory days. It was all obviously telegraphed.
And I'm going to give a long suffering MEH to those challenges. Saverins are classic I'll give them that but that idiotic technical!? I miss the days of Les Miserables slices or Fraisier cakes, THAT'S PATISSERIE! Not that cornucopia shit, not patisserie. I can't believe I'm saying this but Prue should have set the technical this week. And the cube cake seems, I'm sorry, made up. Like they thought it was too simple for them to do decorated mini cakes no it had to be a cube cake. I look forward to beautiful cakes or french pastries but nothing struck me as actual patisserie this week; it seems more mostly contrived what they think is hip challenges.
Don't get me wrong I'm fine with all the finalists and will be happy for the winner ( hoping for Peter ) but this season definitely feels off. Not because of Covid but I think it's the lackluster and badly planned challenges.