Darth Nigel

Well, every time we see Marcus and his outfits, either my wife or I comment "Marcus is trying out for Doctor Who again"

Well, I can see why.. I read the name and said, "Who?"

Yeah, but one person comes back from LCK, so there really are 7 chefs left.

Quite enjoyed the episode; agree with the various comments on the crappy quickfire. When Jamie missed one plate, and it ended up in front of Padma, she got that haughty tone and said "Care to tell me what happened?" (or some other shitty phrase). I would have given serious money if Jamie had answered, "Well, you're looking a bit chunky these days, Padma. I figured it wouldn't hurt you to miss a course". Cut to Tom, Gail and Hugh-ni-brow giggling like schoolgirls. Alas, 'twas not to be.

Based on an episode i just saw: Chopped 2017: Beard Kisses for Everyone Failing that, I like the offal one as well

Thanks, JeanneH. That was a good read, and makes me realize why I would never succeed in the restaurant business (well, other than I can't cook for shit)

I am confused watching Katsuji's interactions on the show (where he's often shown being a dick), and comparing it with the reactions of many of the chefs around him and on his Facebook feed. Then I remembered something John Scalzi wrote -- "The failure mode of 'clever' is asshole". I suspect that applies here too, although it's possible Katsuji is an asshole, just a personable one. Having said that, I loved watching John and Katsuji together. And they produced some good food too. I figure about two or three more episodes before we get down to the serious contenders; there's still a few (in both camps) who clearly are not going to be successful here.

So what's with FN and kids? (or probably "KIDZ!!!!")? The last couple of BBF have had kids as the Round 1 judges (with someone older if not more mature as the designated grownup) which is OK. But then the Round 2 judges are all kids as well, which seems a little unwise. It's making me grumpy, which I don't need these days.

Well, 5 out of 6 people really enjoy Russian Roulette and would play again...

Seems like the last few episodes have had episode-specific opening credits. I think that the only chefs we see in the opening montage are the chefs on that night's show. Certainly true for the "scotch egg" one and the one before that. Wonder why?

If I were Amar, I would have said "My favorite magician is Teller, and he doesn't talk", and then presented the food in silence claiming it was part of the schtick. Also, I missed who the guest judge was -- Julio somebody -- but he didn't seem to have a lot to say. Generally, these have been more likable chefs this season (some I liked more than others) compared with the bitch-fest that some previous seasons have given us. I don't think any of the final however many it was since Philip left did themselves any damage by being on the show, and I'd probably watch them if they showed up again/go to their restaurants. Much nicer season for me.

I swear I've seen some restaurant show (maybe Scott Conant's short-lived "24 Hour Restaurant Battle") where the contestants had to open a restaurant in a day. The chefs figured out the menus and the decor, picking colors from swatches and furniture/cutlery/fittings from a big catalog. Then they went off to do the cooking, and a small team of painters/dressers/grips came in and made the restaurant space appear. This worked quite well. The chefs still had the job of defining the decor, planning the menu, cooking, FOH, expediting, service and dealing with any minor disasters that happened before or during service. They were critiqued a little on the theming and especially on the food/service/comfort. I remember one chef served everything family style round big tables, which wasn't as successful as he had hoped. I'd like to see something like that in Restaurant Wars. Given how unrealistic the scenario is, let us at least give them some help for the things that are not related to cooking and service.

There's a BBC Documentary called Victorian Bakers up on YouTube. Looks interesting.

Damn, I can't tell some of them apart. But I would have loved to see Chad(?) come out and say, "10 years ago, I was a Navy cook. For you tonight, I have prepared Shit-on-a-Shingle. Bon Appetit"... if only to see Padma's look of horror. The kicker would have been to make a gourmet version of SoS on artisinal bread, and have it be delicious.

Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how they show the mayhem and protomolecule on Eros. I'm not thrilled at some of the choices made in the TV series. mostly around characterization. Havelock getting shot, Miller getting kidnapped, the relationships between the crew of the Cant/Tachi/Roci... it feels a little uncomfortable and sort of "TV-ish".

Yeah, it was really nice to see Grayson (and somewhat Giselle) having fun in a kitchen with Tom.

#2

High spot of this one for me was the conversation between Me and The Doctor in the ruins of Gallifrey. There's real acting chemistry between those two, and I'd love to see more of it. Other high spot (perhaps) was finally seeing the last of Clara (except one presumes occasional "very special episodes" and Red Nose shorts). And I loved the old-style Tardis. But BBC America (Comcast Pierce County) screwed up the audio mix like they did all season -- for much of the early scenes, we had "dialog dialog dia"MUSIC SWELLS"dialo"MUSIC REACHES A PEAK"alog dialog"MUSIC RUMBLES INTO OBSCURITY... followed by me or my wife asking, "did you get any of that?". The audio mix is OK on the Amazon episodes that are for sale, so I have to decide if the missing dialog and plottery is worth $5.99 or whatever it is.

Well, I liked this episode, better than most recent ones. I do like that the producers/show-runners are trying new things (found footage, solo show, musical episode...) for the Doctor Who franchise. Some work better than others, but that's a risk you take when you take risks. I think this solo episode worked for me, although there were a couple of fridge-logic moments (be warned, that link takes you to TV Tropes, and a billion years may pass before you return). Thoughts: So how did he get to Gallifrey? He seemed fairly sure that he'd been teleported less than a light-year. Assuming he started on Earth, does that mean that in 2 billion years, Earth becomes Gallifrey? (really hope not) If he just teleported into his own confession disc, how did the disc get to Gallifrey? Did Ashildir take it? Did Missy? How much time has actually passed? Subjectively for the Doctor, it has been about 5 days -- as far as he knows, there was just the one iteration. Please can Clara be dead now. How can we miss her if she never leaves?

Justin Warner featured in an article on Kotaku (http://kotaku.com/chef-turns-splatoons-biggest-stars-into-tasty-squid-rec-1745282165 ) tied in to the Nintendo squid-ink shooting game Splatoon. The accompanying video is a little strange (safe for work, but well, strange). It's part of the Foodie Call series on YT.

Well, this was an interesting first episode, and the contestants did well with some interesting baskets. Can't wait to see Chopped After Hours do some of these. I liked that the final two seemed to get on well with each other, and there were no sob stories this week (yay!!) General question round our house was "Why is Robert Irvine a judge?" Seems a little unfair to have him see his potential opponents a couple of times before the final battle. They could have done better by having 3 regular Chopped judges and then have Robert come in from time to time (maybe in the stew room, maybe after the judging has been done) to lay down the Hulk Hogan smack talk.

Loved this episode for the most part. Very much enjoyed the sparring between Lady Me and The Doctor, with discussions of morality, longevity, and the essential transience of life. There was some good writing and good direction here. I can't help thinking that if Captain Jack ever does team up with Lady Me, they'll make The Master look like Mr Rogers. I even enjoyed Sam Swift as a comic relief. Loved the absence of Clara. The fire-breathing lion warrior was a bit silly, but that didn't get in the way much. But once again, the BBC America audio feed was out of whack. The background music was (here in Pierce County Comcast territory) almost as loud as the dialog. It's really f---ing annoying. If I download the episode from Amazon, the sound balance is better... heck, the sound balance is better on other shows on cable, but Doctor Who is an audio misery.

You're going to have to be a mite more specific...

Liked this one for reasons as stated above. Felt like a throwback to the earlier "classic" Who. The sound mixing is still annoying though; the music and occasional effect noise swamps out the dialog much of the time on my set. Didn't used to be this bad.

What I'd like to see: The Doctor travels back to Skaro, and rescues Davros from the handmines. After that, The Doctor and Missy figure out how to end the "eternal war", or at least to get them to sit down and talk. Davros grows up happy and an inventor, and invites the Doctor to visit anytime. Big happy ending and no more Daleks in this timeline. Then we get to explore a universe that doesn't have the Daleks, and imagine what that might look like. Would never happen. But it would make for some interesting stories. And in the worst case, Davros could invent something that looked llike the Daleks, maybe as an exosuit for for his people so they could explore hostile worlds... cue ominous music...