Marianna

Juan bugged me so much bitching that Mellisa made him sit out. No one who complained about her doing that seemed to acknowledge that she had to pick someone. No one was saying, it should’ve been so-and-so. And then when he was put in the position to throw someone out, he chose the person he was apparently closest to - and really, hard to believe you wouldn’t pick Cedrick, who was clearly given scut work — although that Juan and Tyricia are best friends thing seemed to come out of nowhere. I mean, total hypocrite. I do agree he should’ve won, but even though Mellisa bugged me quite a bit, I had a soft spot for her and Thiago in the final. Also, I did love Amaury. The occasional bitch sessions honestly seemed out of place in this lovely show.

Even name-brand stars have morals clauses. TC can kick off anyone it wants to.

You don’t get how having your hours cut is an injury? You don’t get how the powerful partner cutting their employee’s hours sounds more like revenge than does that less powerful partner’s act to report it? To me it does - on its face. And that is without knowing why he cut her hours. Pretty self-serving to say it was performance-related. Perhaps it was when she cut off their relationship? Or to scare her off of revealing it? Whatever the truth, the rules against this are in place precisely so that employees can be managed without anyone having to guess whether it was retaliation. Professionally, Gabe deserves what he got. Without TC, he would’ve just gotten the next job, unfortunately for his employees there. He chose to go on TC, and with utterly predictable consequences for his behavior.

Just on a purely food level, this finale was boring. Tom was far more blown away by Shota’s team on Restaurant Wars. And that recent dinner Shota did with the dashi and the purple daikon - I would have given a lot to taste that. And the duck dish earlier this year … just underwhelmed by the finale food altogether.

I just want to say that I would give a lot to taste Shota’s dishes. Or even get the recipes. I looked up his restaurant tonight and it looked a lot like fast food, which seems like a waste.

Byron’s backstory is that he is an undocumented Dreamer and here under DACA. He theoretically could be deported to a country he’s hasn’t seen since he was a child. That’s a pretty big deal!

Has there been another episode with no winner?

I am watching in America now and I’ve just gotten through the episode where Sal and Alon went home. Just a few observations about the episode in the season so far, if anyone is watching. I’ve only read posts through this episode as I don’t want to be spoiled. — I understand why Sal had to leave but it’s a gigantic bummer. I’m not sure why she decided to go off brief – it’s not like she’s been doing that all season long. She seems like the most technically proficient of all of them by a country mile. Watching the preview for next week without her there, it’s sort of felt like whoever wins is going to of had an unusually easy path. It’s not like I thought salad for sure win, but the idea that whoever wins now doesn’t have to do better than her in the final I think means that the final is not going to be nearly as exciting as it could’ve been. — I thought Rich would make a good judge, but I did not imagine what seems to have happened, which is that Rich is doing an amazing job and Keith is not? He’s providing all of these technical incisive comments… And Keith has really sort of faded? He rarely says anything other than “Fantastic!” Or, “that wall’s a bit thick”, he comments on the weight, and he chooses who to cry over. In the past, I’ve loved Keith. I was very disappointed to see this – not that I didn’t want Rich to be good, but I thought they would be more of a strong pair. I’m really not sure what’s going on there. — That said, Keith really really loves Jodie, doesn’t he? And it’s weird – it’s not like she’s not one of the better potters - she is. But his level of adoration for her really does not seem merited, or entirely to do with her pottery. That’s not me saying he’s being creepy! It’s more of a daughter-ish vibe? Conversely, what did Adam ever do to him? There are a few challenges – that fairy house and maybe the animal water feature, that it really feels like Adam should have won.

Want to add ... would be a bit annoyed by a “Kelly-Taylor-I-choose-myself”, not because it isn’t a valid choice for Rebecca to be on her own or look for someone else or whatever. But because the show chose to set it up that way, when it was unnecessary. This is the entire reason they brought back Greg, which was unnecessary. And it’s sweet that Rebecca and Josh became friends, but very unlikely that he’d decide he was in love with her, after everything. I feel like she should pick, or else what on earth was going on this season? Of the three of them, only Nathaniel’s lingering feelings were really supported by the ongoing story. This story is pointless if she doesn’t pick one of them.

I just sort of don’t get this? It has to be Nathaniel, or someone she’s never met yet. Josh is not a person you share your life with if you’re Rebecca. He would not be an equal partner to her. Greg… Is not the answer. I think the theme show episode – I really didn’t agree with how they framed it. He was being a jerk. You try to enjoy things that your partner likes occasionally, and if you can’t enjoy them, then you don’t act like a jerk and ruin their good time. And that’s how he is all the time. Further, were they ever even really a couple? They were sleeping together, but I felt like they were not in a real relationship. Greg has made Rebecca feel bad about herself for most of their relationship. Nathaniel is her intellectual match, they are consistently drawn to one another, and he’s evolved into a “better person”. If it has to be one of the three of them, he’s the best choice. Couldn’t care less how the dates went.

Not a deep question, but what if they had been together when they realized their cover was blown? I wonder if they had go-bag materials stashed somewhere besides home, if they couldn’t get home? Actually, home seems like not a great place for it.

Because it literally just happened. But Elizabeth is not given to that kind of introspection over the long haul.

Eventually, Stan will work it all out and possibly regret his decision. I think, though, by then, Renee will be gone and Henry will be very, very important to him. I don’t think it is strange that he didn’t have it all figured out in the garage. I’m with the J’s in the Vox interview. It’s not that he believes they didn’t kill Gennadi and Sophia. He just can’t process it all in the moment. That said, I think the Js hit too hard on P’s truthtelling in that scene. They call P’s statement about not being a murderer “the last lie” - but everything else was real. I’m more with Nussbaum. P was incredibly manipulative in that scene. Bet E loved it. I do think E will not allow herself to think/talk of the kids too much and P will not be able to get on board. I think the show envisions them staying together, but I’m not sure they will be able to. It helps that he loves her more than the reverse, in that sense. He’ll have to decide if she’s worth it.

Henry, I think, has a deep affection for Stan, whom he has clearly used as an escape over years. As I noted above, he spoke very freely to him in the car when Stan was pumping him for info (which alone should’ve been Stan’s clue that Henry knew nothing). His conversations with Philip have been much more stilted. On he other hand, Stan does love Henry. His relationship with Matthew is basically nil, and I think he has consciously seen Henrybas a semi-replacement. I do believe Henry will eventually come to see Stan as a surrogate father and will love him. While I believe that Stan will protect Paige to the extent he can, which is far less, I think that is more out of their mutually-assured destruction thing, since Paige knows that Stan let them go. All he really needs to do is tell her to NOT SAY ANYTHING, since Paige’s biggest risk is an unforced error - an inadvertent confession.

I don’t really agree with this or the statements that he held no grudge. Henry wasn’t holding a grudge, because he was really already over them. He had essentially no relationship with Elizabeth. He had more of a relationship with Philip, but the one-two blow of first telling him he might have to leave school and then leaving him over Thanksgiving left a mark. He was far more open and candid with Stan on the car ride than with Philip. He wasn’t the type to have a big blowup, but I think he had emotionally sealed himself off from then to a great extent.