AriAu

Budda is killing it, but both of these challenges were directly in his wheelhouse-this is what he does best, and you just know that he has his finale/"cook the best meal of your life" (again) planned out. Then again, other than mis-cooking rice in one episode, there is basically no type of challenge that he isn't doing incredibly well. By the way, on the Pack Your Knives podcast (IYKYK) they confirm that no one has ever won QF and Elimination Challenges in back to back episodes. Not even on the most legendary hot streaks has anyone done it....not Paul Qui, not a Voltaggio, not Melissa King, not Brooke, not Stefan, not Gregory Gourdet....no one. I did not love that they had this challenge deciding who goes on to the Finale, although it did allow for Sara to advance by cooking excellent food even if she did not do the best job with the mis-direction part. I am a big Sara fan and am glad she is having success, but she is not bringing a lot of new stuff to the party-you know she has been dying to pull out the matzo ball recipe again, and she went to it quickly this challenge knowing she could try and make it look like something else. On the other hand, the judges clearly remembered her matzo balls from the Ky season and seemed disappointed that she went back to the well so quickly. They could chose to either pick more flattering shots or just not show the less flattering ones. One thing to note is that I follow Sara on IG and she posted a video before the season of her training "Rocky" style, and it was really not flattering-I think she is comfortable in her own skin and is willing to per herself out there. On the other hand, the Magical Elves are showcasing the more "fun" and less serious approach that she is bringing to this season, which is NOT an act. As an aside, Tom was definitely getting the asshole edit. What he thought was fun loving, made him come off as "jerky" However, all the cheftestants seemed to like him....or at least acted that way at the end. Lastly, I can not believe that Gabri is still alive-talk about "don't have to out run the bear, only have to outrun you". While this was clearly a well conceived and well received dish (despite not being as precise as Tom wanted), he has really been skating by and always seems to be on the edge of disaster. He's gotta be the next one out, altho I have been saying that since the first episode.

Just to be clear.....her "tight 4" went on for 6 minutes and 15 seconds! And, no, while triumphant and a great cap on the series (at least the 1961-62 part of it), it was not really funny. While I know it was supposed to be a transcendent moment of comedy for the character that launches her to superstardom (or at least a gig opening for Tony Bennett on her way to super stardom), I think for purposes of the show, it was supposed to be 1/2 comedy and 1/2 character awareness and feminist commentary...and on that score it succeeded. I know I am in the minority, but I could have done without the first Lenny Bruce scene-he wasn't patterned after a real person.....he WAS a real person and we know/knew he was a junkie who dies of a drug overdose in 1966 and unless they pulled a Mad Men and re-wrote history (news flash....Don Draper did not "teach the world to sing"), we knew there was no happy ending for him or for him and Midge. While the scenes of Midge in her BIG empty apartment (in the Dakota, no less....we know because of the Yoko reference), were sad and lonely and her need to be booked each night shows that she still craves the affirmation of an audience, the actual ending with Susie and her acting like an old couple (complete with ball busting and intimate knowledge of each other) cracking up over Jeopardy shows that they were the real love story and the true end game. Other things I loved. 1. Susie loving birds....although clearly a higher quality than the pigeons on her old window sill....did one wink at her??? 2. Alex Borstein's Emmy roll reveal of the Hedy story....heartbreaking and brave performance. 3. Midge is really powerful and wealthy if she can keep Blanton's in stock! 4. The way she touched and smiled at the framed picture of her and Joel from their wedding day makes me think they got back together....and that he had passed away by 2005. 5.Given that we got the flash forwards all season, we didn't need to rush and tie up all the loose ends....which let them keep this from feeling rushed and we really did not need to see the actual end of Rose, Abe, Moishe or Shirley. 6. That being said, there was a lot of filler-didn't need to see Rose and Abe trying to catch a cab and the patter wasn't funny and we didn't need to be reminded, again, that they were clueless. 7. LOVED the other writers curtsying to her! I'll miss her, but it was a good wrap up......until the Palladino's decide they need to do a tight 90 minute movie in a couple of years! EDITED TO ADD... I listened to Amy Sherman Palladino on Marc Maron's podcast WTF and besides being an enjoyable listen, she states that she did NOT decide to end the show....that it came from on high/from Amazon studios due to the high costs of production. Hence my hunch that some day we will get a Midge/Susie reunion movie!

I think you mean Lisa from Chicago-Season 4....who had the same "only have to out-run you" approach as Gabri without the manic personality and approach...and with a lot of not nice comments. It is exhausting watching Gabri run around like a whirling dervish and continually mess things up and/or over commit (a mole with 58 ingredients...in a short time!!), yet I cant believe he is still alive over clearly more talented chefs like Begonia....but sometimes the better chef loses out to the better "cheftestant". I am rooting for Sarah, but her concept of "it's just like a southern dish known as...." schtick is getting over used. The dirty rice worked in the elimination worked, as did the thunder and lightning, but the SMAK in the quickfire didn't. She is a classically trained chef, with incredible skills and a refined palate, but it looks like she decided that would be her hook this time since I don't remember her doing it this much in Top Chef Kentucky. It was time for Victoire to go home-she is a talented chef and a great story, but as a cheftestant, she has been barely hanging on for weeks. I am shocked at how well Amar has done...and so is he. In his season, he was a solid cheftestant, but was actually eliminated and came back thru LCK. I think he has "matured" as a chef and is more confident and has decided to have more fun than TC California....and it has served him well.

Wow.....this episode really showed a few things: 1. Last week's episode was really, Really, REALLY great, particularly by making this basic Maisel episode seem so blah. 2. And its hard to make any episode with Hank Azaria doing impressions and voices along side Sutton Foster (how do you have her on and NOT have her sing) seem blah. 3. Moishe and Shirley are not particularly nice people, but they are saints compared to Abe and Rose, a toxic combination of self-absorbtion, self importance, pettiness, rudeness and cruelty. 4. It is no surprise that the Maisel kids have a messed up relationship with their Mother....and are messed up in general, altho Ethan at least knows how to be happy. No surprise that Esther is messed up since the only one she could talk to (according to the first episode of the season's flash forward, is her grandfather Abe. 5. Gordon Ford is NOT funny-his lines while Mike had them at the bannister worked to make Mike comfortable but just were not funny. On the other hand, Danny Thomas (I mean Stevens) IS. Random thoughts 1. Are we supposed to believe that Midge and/or the staff wrote Danny Stevens lines, or did he come up with them himself based on Midge's premise of tell your life story and make it funny. 2. How do you have a musical number with Hank Azaria singing and NOT Sutton Foster. 3. Based on last week's episode, the Hawaii Wedding was 1973, as was the scene of Rose shooting take 197 of the commercial. I would have thought they would have put some time between them since Rose looked pretty bad in this episode. 4. Poor Janusz..... I know he was aggravated about the Maisel's and Zelda's helping them, but I was surprised he didn't greet the kids since he said how much he loved caring for them. 5. A little heavy handed on the equal pay comment-true, but heavy handed.

What a depressing hour of television, that I will need to rewatch again tonight and at least 3 or 4 more times this week. Rava/Kendall scene-no way does she wait to meet up with him a day after it happened-she calls him like 30 seconds after whatever encounter Sophie had and it certainly doesn't start out calm with any normal protective mother conversation. And Kendall's response that everything he does is for his kids and to make the world safer for them is such a call back to Logan at the family therapy session that feels like 100 years ago. The Tom/Shiv thing had lots of brutal and brutally honest moments except it left out one thing...SHIV IS 5 1/2 MONTHS PREGNANT. There is no way she isn't showing at least a little and as they make clear over and over, Tom is seeing her naked.....a lot. And while the line about her being a bad person who should not be a mother is a clear call back to what Shiv's mother said to her, was it also some allusion to Tom knowing she IS pregnant, and if so, it was the cruelest most intentionally hurtful line of the whole Virginia Wolff affair. And, while there is a lot of real estate porn throughout this series, I am really, REALLY jealous of the soundproofing of the windows/sliding door of Tom's apartment! yeah Geri.....Shiv's godmother Geri...for putting Roman in his place, which of course makes him spiral off into pressuring Connor to abandon the Con-heads so he can get at least one win from the day. Great call back by Nate about not wanting to drink Tom's wine from the wedding episode.

By the way....a little timeline just from this episode. Let me know if i missed anything. 1960ish (maybe 59)-1st Gaslight show. Date comes from working backwards from dates in the show and 25 year relationship 1961-62ish Dinah got beat up and Susie really went all in with the Mob/Muscle. Christmas 1962??? Joel tears up Susie's office and makes deal with Frank and Nicky. We know it's Christmas, and I assume 62, because of the events of the prior 4 seasons, but could be 61, wasnt really dated 1963-Toots Shore scene with Darren Criss, looking nothing like Blaine from Glee! 1970- Susie's "Triple Crown" day. 1970ish-Midge starts touring non-stop. In 1985 synagogue fight, she says she has been on the road non-stop for 15 years. 1971-Midge sold out shows at the Copa (per 60 Minutes) 1973-Hawaii (non) Wedding. By the way, WOW were Abe & Rose awful....all they cared about was the very expensive cake and not their daughter, but given the Zelda scene last week, no surprise how selfish and self centered they have become/been portrayed. 1985-Joel gets arrested....break-up..."How I'll remember you......small". It was amazing that Midge didn't look hurt by Susie calling her an ungrateful c---, yet Susie looked devastated by every word out of Midge's mouth. My guess is Fall '85 since i would guess that was Rosh Hashanah with the full synagogue. 1985-The opening monologue....obviously after the arrest. 1987-Midge visits Joel in Prison. says he'll be out in 4-6 months. 1990-Roast. Joel had "just gotten out of the klink" per one of the guys.....so who knows

Many, many thoughts about this episode. Are we to believe that Susie got the French Connection made by threatening the studio guy with her Mob connections-he looked mighty scared after their talk on the tee box. The other 2 deals were with her guile/charm/bullshit, but that looked like something else. There is being in with the mob and then there is being IN with the Mob. He agreed to go all the way IN to save Midge-wasn't just paying protection money (which he would have had to do at some point...and may have been doing with his Landlord in Chinatown), but he agreed to (ok, actually suggested) getting financing which is mob talk for laundering and paying high "juice" on the money, which is a whole other, very direct partnership with the muscle. Did he do it because he is totally and obviously in love with her or because he is seeking redemption for the past or otherwise trying to make it up to her....or is he just a great guy, or, more likely, all of the abve, but I don't think he deserves the criticism for his actions....you know other than the fact that it was totally illegal! I know others disagree, but I have no idea why Midge extended the olive branch-i could never forgive Susie for letting this happen.... YMMV. By the way, i thought it was also weird/inappropriate for Midge to do it on a video in that setting rather than reaching out to Susie directly, unless Susie had blocked previous attempts. By the way, was Joel out of prison by the time of the roast? I did get a little confused with the time line this episode...other than I think the roast was the latest date we have seen so far. EDITED TO ADD-Yes, per the BS session after the roast, Joel had just gotten "out of the klink". Gotta say, they have done a great job making Midge look great at all ages....but not quite as good as Rachel Brosnahan in her Met Gala dress! It was heartbreaking and showed how loyal she could be, but that was Harry, not Jackie

A few Top Chef alums in the Beard Finalists....including Kann for best new restaurant and the fact it came from Restaurant Wars always amazes me! Way to go DeMarr and Sarah Welch. https://www.eater.com/23626343/2023-james-beard-awards-restaurant-chef-finalists

Nice episode and really impressed with how many great (according to the judges in the moment) dishes there were...but it is still really hard to follow with soooo many chefs. Even with an extra 15 minutes we saw very little of most of the chefs other than Mr. 54 ingredient mole who will be gone soon enough. The dishes were really imaginative and well prepared and the 3 dishes in the bottom were not "bad dishes"-Dawn went home for a dish that in prior seasons might have let her skate by. I thought it was a weird to have rice be involved in a challenge spread over 2 days since I would think that the cool down time would hurt the rice and certainly wouldn't help. It's why there were so many congees and why Sarah was smart to use it is a rice cracker(ish) thing. It did not seem like Dawn's heart was in this and given her timing issues, it is obvious that her head wasn't (and historically hadnt been) "in it" either....especially using a long cooking rice for her congee. Dawn's exit was similar to Jen Carroll in the first All Star season-a popular fan favorite and almost winner, with a good story and who had been adopted into the TC Family and who then flamed out quickly in the All Star season.....altho Dawn's lacked the yelling and the expletives! Big Sarah fan since she seems very real and genuine and makes a lot of food I would like to eat. It will be interesting to see how she does with the Euro/guest judges who are not familiar with some her flavors-I am not sure the guest judge knew what "everything bagel" flavoring meant and last week's judges had no idea whether it was a good pot liquor (or licker or likker) sauce or not. By the way, Sarah is getting a very nice edit, at least so far-the pumping the breast milk discussion certainly humanizes her, as did the part about never having been to London or Paris...I hope it means she will go far. I was not shocked by this because on the Pack Your Knife pod (IYKYK), Sarah from last season that she even had a little alliance among a few of the cheftestants to share money or products (l"you get onions, I will get lemons") so I was kinda glad that they showed it. Whether it's fair or not to all the cheftestants is another story (I say it's not and brings in a level of alliances and gamesmanship that TC has seemed to avoid, unlike others in the reality TV world), but it has been done in the past.

Didn't ER end with Mark Greene's daughter coming back to do her residency at County General.....which is pretty close to what we got only without everyone knowing and recognizing her! The whole thing was goofy, but that's what happens when you try and wrap things up with a bow in half a season. Yup.....all made no sense although if you were on Wall Street in 2008, you definitely did a LOT of drugs....both before and especially after the crash.

Misery index was pretty high....lots of unhappy people. While the show has always been pretty misery lade, it's almost like they need to amp it up now that This is Us is off the air. They even had poor Luna be miserable tonite.

On the Pack Your Knives podcast this week (if you don't listen, you should) they interviewed Sarah. Among the things we found out was that she auditioned for the show like 4 years ago and they thought she wasnt quite ready and they actually remembered her and called her back. We also learned that in fact, she and Robert were very close friends from even before the show. They had a little bit of an alliance so when grocery shopping, they would buy for each other...."I'll get the garlic, you get the oranges". She also told us that sometimes they share money-she said she gave Nick some money one time when she had extra and he came up a little short! FYI-Robert made the acorn cake based on her recipe.....which sounded like a real pain. She also felt that the circulator wasnt working quite right...but didnt try to push off the blame. She also said that she and Buddha have become very close since the show ended. I came away very impressed with her. Got her act together. Cuz he was in Tucson-it was only a couple days after his elimination.

I think it was a big time editing fake out since the judges did rave about virtually everything Buddha did and the Elves kept finding ways to get in the judges saying nice things about Evelyn and Sarah's dishes. I think if they had gone by rounds it would have been lopsided-Buddha clearly and substantially won the first 3 rounds and it wasn't close and he was very close to the top on the dessert round. Sarah's pasta was too chewy and she somehow overcooked and undercooked a protein so she was a goner and Evelyn's crudo and goat dish were sorta under-seasoned, so she wasn't winning unless Buddha imploded...and he didn't. This result just goes to show how much better developed Buddha's skills and ideas are than the 2 he faced in the finale and based on how he did this season, every cheftestant this season. The chart at Wikipedia shows he was in the bottom twice but never in real danger-once was Sam's potato disaster and the other was when all the cheftestants made strong dishes and Luke went home. My real issue with the episode is that these cheftestants were too prepared-they had it all planned out. After 19 seasons, these cheftestants showed up having done their research and decided on a menu and approach and technique etc.... hell, Buddha brought those stencils for the tuilles and leaves. There is NO WAY any of them came up with any element of these dishes on the fly and they didn't even pretend to show them menu planning, but instead they were prep planning. It was actually a little off putting to see them trying to squeeze into the concepts they "created"-Sarah was suddenly the sustainabiity queen??? Maybe they need a small curve ball like in the Las Vegas season where they had to cook one extra dish based on an ingredient Tom sprung on them, or one dish where they each have to feature something they don't know about until they go shopping. It doesn't have to be bizarre or unusual, but something that allows them to differentiate from each other more on the spot rather than fully planned out. Was that really nasty-I think it was a combination of that Tom has never really been into the "flourishes" and that Buddha was kicking ass and this was like "gilding the lily". It was kinda like Eric Ripert's comment about the dish being from the 80's/90's -it sounded like a criticism of what was clearly a delicious dish, but I think the Elves were having trouble finding any other criticism in an attempt to create some level of drama. I know that the judges seem to always cook for the finalists, and it is always cool, but my mind was blown at the idea of Eric Ripert whipping up a ratatouille for these guys! And being completely shallow, something they did with Padma's hair and make-up in this episode made her actually breath taking. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she is one of the most physically beautiful women in the world, but in this episode it was like wow.

Again, I am so impressed (or maybe a little disappointed) that there are no real spoilers.. Those must be some strong NDAs...or more likely, the perks of being part of the Top Chef family are sooooo good that no one wants to risk pissing off the Elves. ...and get used to it. IYKYK

and then it took her awhile to get comfortable in her role. I think she really became the strong, confident Padma character we see today around Vegas (Season 6). I only think its distracting when the Elves do a lot of weird cuts to downplay them.

Farewell Forum Friends......there is nothing left to speculate, Thanks for the smiles and laughs, but it has been pretty amazing how few actual spoilers there were for this season-lots of speculation but no one had actual spoilers. Fogelman runs a pretty tight ship! Be well and see you other places on this site

I have gone through all kinds of thoughts on the episode and the approach they took-at first I was like "is this all....no flashforwards....no real idea how their lives played out....how Jack Damon became JACK DAMON......how Randall became President...." etc, and then there was "why the hell is the last shot of Jack and Randall" and then it was "Well, I guess it wasnt like Harry Potter, where it was all about a mother's love" and then it was....."I'm glad there was no cliffhanger/shocking ending" and now I'm at "quiet is ok" and...... Well said. The Toby thing made me cringe, both that he said it and that he seemed to feel this way after everything they went through. As to the greatness that is Kate, the show did waaaay too much "telling" and not nearly enough "showing". Several people commented on no mention of Kyle, but there really has not been any mention of Kyle after the first few episodes and it was not something the Big 3 ever really dwelled on so I think it would have been a little out of place. Oh, they will most certainly drift....with the only saving grace that the spouses like each other! Hell, they didnt even know Randall was going to swing through Iowa, altho I liked that neither of his sibs were surprised!

I was hoping we would get more flashforwards, but it looks like we are going to have another 46 minutes of dead Rebecca misery.......which I guess shouldn't be that big a shock for this show! And, yes, Beth is perfect and I am thrilled we get one more "worst case scenario" with them. Like I said, earlier, I could "get down" with a spin-off with Beth.....but unfortunately Randall would have to come along!

Weak ending to a pretty weak season. On the other hand perfect sendoff for Kate and almost perfect for Aidy. as for Kyle, they will find someone else to do really weird videos and Baby Yoda, but they wont find anyone that can do the impressions that Kate did. Probably the greatest female cast member, barely beating out Gilda, but far ahead of the rest. He was a weak cast member.....one memorable character (Chad) and mostly doing stand-up about himself and his messed up personal life. I'm glad SNL saved his life, but all the headlines are about him leaving when they should be honoring Kate, who will truly be missed!

Anyone else think that "Circle Game" was just a little too on the nose as a song choice given the sidewalk chalk and the 4 Square and the Pin the Tail on The Donkey?

I noticed the Terrible Towel and the mugs and the 70's era TV showing THE IMMACULATE RECEPTION game...after which Jack and Rebecca had sex in the bathroom at the bar. I was sorta thinking the same thing, except that the character had sorta led Rebecca on a journey of sorts throughout the series so I wasn' as bothered by it. And I am not surprised that we didn't really have her visit with her parents on The Train since they were not as important an influence on how she viewed her life as a mother of the Big Three as the other people she encountered....and I think these last episodes hammer home the point that the whole show was about Rebecca's journey as the mother of the Big Three........with a dash of St. Jack, who at this point has been dead for like 30 years

Maybe because we rarely heard her (other than when she got into drunk Uncle Kevin's car), but he speech was the first one to make me shed a tear. "It's ok to be small...as long as I don't think of myself as small". Wisest line of the night! Toby cracked me up....some well placed comic relief, but I am not sure the ex would have gotten an individual audience like that. Very sad that Beth Pearson won't be on my TV screen most weeks....great character and Susan Kelechi Watson gives a consistently remarkable performance and delivers the excellent lines soooo well. I'd watch a spin off if not for the fact that Randall would sorta have to be there. However, they can't get Madison off my screen quickly enough. Gerald McRainey is only 73-figured he had to be older based on his appearance so great acting by him. Cuz it WAS the same actress....that was Lyric Ross,

Maybe my memory is bad, but we never did get much backstory on what Uncle Nicky did for all those years after he got blown up ish and Jack dis-owned him. From what we have read from Fogelman etc...supposedly they will wrap it up neatly and not leave un-answered questions, or at least we will have answers to the questions they put out there in the flash forwards. On the other hand, they need to bring some level of misery....other than the misery of listening to Randall get all Pearsony on us. On the other hand, maybe they will put all the misery into the penultimate episode (Rebecca dying) and then tie up all remaining loose ends with flash forwards. If they follow the path of Six Feet Under, they could tie up all loose ends in a moving, cohesive and ultimately satisfying way....altho there is no need to show everyone dying over time, but with this show, who knows!

I'm sure that is the plan-pretend like it never happened. Don't even recall any repeats, altho I bet they will show it along with the other finales like they usually do-after all they keep showing Mike Isabella in All Stars. Gabe won fair and square, and I am glad they showed the season rather than depriving the other worthy cheftestants of their exposure, but it will go away quickly and quietly.

Great 11:50 sketch and funny Update (I liked the Sarah shtick)….. but, was that the worst host acting….E V E R??? At first I thought it was the weird tone of voice and inability to read cue cards, but it was just awful acting