dubstepford wife

Erin and Daniel are doing a Christmas movie? Lol. I hope the plot involves her being a widow finding love with him as she recovers from her grief, with a Christmas backdrop. Bonus points if she's pregnant and about to give birth, as that's exactly what happened in the show. That would be so meta, I'd almost think Hallmark was trolling. Extra troll points if his character's name is John. (because of Jack being diminutive for John)

I noticed this as well. He's in his mid-60s so he's not a spring chicken anymore, and slowing down is to be expected. And not to make this too sad but I have noticed a lot of people in the culinary arts and/or the restaurant industry tend to not be in the best health later in life. All that wine, alcohol, and rich food is great if you're a diner and it's only once in a while, but these people live it, and there's such a thing as too much of a good thing. If you follow restaurants, the guys behind Joe Beef in Montreal, who were famous for being heavy drinkers and lovers of big, high calorie meals, sold their restaurant for precisely that reason, because they saw the effect it was having on them. I believe they're both completely sober now. Sean Brock, who was on Top Chef as a judge (and as a contestant? I can't remember), left a famous Southern restaurant for the same reason, because he knew he needed to get sober. And of course, there's Anthony Bourdain. Back on topic...I hope Emeril is taking care of himself. He's such a treasure.

I agree with others who say that Danny won because his ideas were better. I remember this is something that Project Runway, the OG Bravo version, did a lot. If two contestants were more or less equal, in that they both made minor mistakes, the judges would give the edge to the person who was more creative, because it's a show about creativity and they want to reward that. Danny's food seems, as Gail said, very modern and forward thinking. Dan's food is food that you'll certainly think is delicious, but you can get it at other restaurants. And I said to my husband as we were watching, I feel like I don't know who Dan is via his food. Savannah and Danny both have very clear points of view, whereas Dan seems like he wanted to cook what would win as opposed to what represented him. And you can get away with that if you're Buddha* and you're just so skilled that no one else can rival you, but Dan isn't Buddha. I wanted Savannah to win, but as soon as they started critiquing her third dish I knew she wasn't going to win. She just made too many mistakes. I'd still eat at a restaurant of hers in a heartbeat. *: I think Buddha can cook with soul by the way. He often cooks with his family in mind, be it his late father or his wife. But there were plenty of times when I thought Buddha was just cooking according to a formula and what he thought would win. And hey, considering he won twice in a row, clearly that method works, but you have to execute everything perfectly. Dan did not.

I feel like they're setting Dan up as the winner, which, meh. He's fine I guess, but Savannah and Danny have both made dishes during the season that I thought looked amazing, while Dan has always been just sort of fine. I couldn't help but laugh with how confident he was in his first dish and how cocky he was about Tom "lapping it up," only to get to judges' table and have Tom tell him it was gross. Maybe I'm too much of a plebe but I thought Savannah's fried fish "sandwich" looked great. Perhaps a bit safe, as Tom said, but it reminded me of an open faced po'boy. They told her she should have nixed the bread but it would just be a hunk of fried fish without the bread. I went to Morimoto's restaurant in Philadelphia to celebrate my college graduation. It's as incredible as you think it's going to be. They have a really cool bar too, so if anyone is thinking of going there, get there a little early and get a drink before your dinner.

Michelle is a wonderful chef who will go very far in the culinary world. But this was probably the most obvious elimination ever. As Gail said, between her and Manny, it wasn't close, even with his Top Chef kiss-of-death risotto. I'm sure Dan's food tasted good (hence his being in the top) but I'm kind of over the Jackson Pollock-esque presentations. It's too easy, too obvious, and it's been done before. Savannah's presentation was way cooler. It looked like a banquet for mermaids. It's a shame about her oily tempura and the chewy octopus. Had she nailed them she could have been in the top 3. Color me impressed with Laura. I wasn't a fan of hers the first time around, but her entire plate looked delicious, and I love the idea of a ring of phyllo that you break at the table and use to eat ice cream and fruit toppings. It tastes like a sundae, but eats like chips and dip. I love it. Well played, Laura. Well played indeed.

OMG, that is *all* I can see whenever I look at him. They're way, way too white. Even by Hollywood standards, where distracting veneers are the rule, not the exception, his are egregious. Especially when he's paired up with Erin who has kept her lovely unique smile. Glenn Miller would have been a teenager in 1920, and lived in Colorado at the time (per Wikipedia). All I can do is shake my head and laugh. Oh Hallmark.

I don't object to how Gail was dressed. If you got it, flaunt it. Padma did it all the time. I remember when I took Anatomy and Physiology in college (at the time I was pre-med, that didn't last) there was this chart in the textbook that showed a human body, except various parts of it were made larger/smaller depending on how sensitive they are, so the person ended up looking super distorted and weird. It's NSFW because, as you can imagine, genitalia are extremely sensitive, so I won't link it, but you can Google image search it. Your hands, feet, lips, and tongue are very, very sensitive, so an injury to any of them is going to be excruciating. No wonder Savannah couldn't pull herself together, she was in a ton of pain.

I feel like Manny should have gone. Soo's dish was absolute chaos, but at least it showed some attempts at creativity. Fish with rice, guacamole, and store bought chips might have been fine in earlier weeks, but that's nowhere near enough with six people left. And I'll take creative failure over boring kind-of success at this point in the competition. The kerosene explosion novelty wore off on me as time went on. I've never been to one so I might very well be wrong, I know the fish boil expert offered some kind of explanation as to why you need it, but it just seems like a gimmick and a good way to start a fire and/or get someone seriously injured. Louisiana crawfish boils don't feature any kerosene and they are fine.

She has kind of ridiculed men. She has written about the impropriety of both Anthony last season, and Colin this season. She knows her audience though. She knows that the vast majority of LW readers are women, so she's harder on the women. It's catty and gossipy but it is what it is. Most readers of celebrity gossip pages and magazines these days are women, so there has always been an element of internalized misogyny to girl-on-girl gossip. I like Penelope but she's a complicated character. She's not all good or all bad, and just because she's the protagonist of this season doesn't mean she's a good guy. Plenty of protagonists in literature have been bad people -- all protagonist means is you're the main character, it doesn't mean you're good. Deep down I think she wants to be nice, but she very much embodies the adage, "Hurt people hurt people." She's been on the sidelines, laughed at, ridiculed, and abused, for her whole life, by both society and her family, so when she has the opportunity to dish out some ridicule and abuse of her own via LW, she relishes it. It's petty, she clearly enjoys it, and I agree with those who say she took it too far with Marina, but within the broader context of who she is and what she has been through, it's understandable that she'd want to get some revenge. Not good, but understandable.

Absolutely, this is what I'm hoping for too. In the previous episode, they even had a bit of chemistry! She could hold her own in a conversation with him far better than Penelope. Cressida talked about loving birds, and Penelope said something about grass. I don't think we've seen the last of him, just the last of him and Penelope.

This is more about a future season but I don't know what the heck they're planning to do with Benedict. His entire character for the whole series has been quirky bohemian artist/modern thinker who likes to sleep around. I haven't read the books so I guess he'll find his perfect match, but in whom? He just doesn't seem like the love type. Free love, maybe, so to speak, but not romantic love. Oh Penelope. You're so happy now, yet we all know what's coming. Even I know what's coming and I haven't read the books or any spoilers. It's not hard to see the sh*t hitting the fan very, very soon. I do miss seeing you with Eloise though. Eloise is sweet for reaching out to Cressida, and Cressida seems thankful to have a friend, but the banter between the two of them is not what Eloise and Penelope had. And speaking of Cressida: this is my favorite season for costumes simply because of Cressida. Her outfits are bonkers with all the over-the-top shoulder pieces and wacky hairdos and I am loving every second of it. I'm glad Lord Vegetarian is gone. I get what they were going for, a reserved man who didn't really want to be married but felt obligated to be so, and I could see him and Cressida ending up together because she genuinely showed some interest in naturalism, but still. His character could have been endearing but he's just a snooze.

Watch the show go on for long enough that they decide to address The Great Depression but somehow not World War I.

I do wonder about these shows that go on way too long and whose main plot point is "will they or won't they." That has to get so boring for actors. And particularly for the actors who play the role not of the main character, but of the main character's love interest(s). Elizabeth occasionally has something else to do, but Nathan and Lucas exist solely to be her options. And Kevin McGarry, like Daniel Lissing before him, isn't a young man anymore. He's spent the better part of a decade on this show, he's been on it for even longer than Dan was at this point. I don't blame him for getting a little antsy, if that's what's happening. I'm also salty on this point because it's happened to another show I really enjoyed, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, which is now just "Miss Scarlet." The Duke didn't die, but he did decide to move on after four years of being her sidekick. And it sucks, because the OTP was literally in the name. But showrunners just don't know when to quit, or at least give love interests an identity beyond, well, love interest.

So, like just about everyone, I didn't completely understand the challenge, but my understanding was that the winning dish appeared super simple, but beneath the surface it ended up being super complex and sophisticated. That's where the duck analogy came from -- ducks look calm and even bored on the surface, but below the surface of the water they're paddling like crazy. This dish appeared to be a cabbage leaf in a bowl of milk, but it was much, much more than that. Is that chaotic? I probably wouldn't use that word, I'd describe it more as deceptive as opposed to chaotic, but I guess the judges liked the interpretation of the assignment. It's certainly not for everyone but I love Kristin's androgynous style. You have to have a very specific look to pull that off. You have to basically be her -- tall, rail thin, sharp facial features, short hair -- for it to work. Put androgynous clothes on someone with an hourglass figure and long hair and it doesn't work as well. Like Padma for instance would never be able to wear that outfit, she was way too voluptuous. Kristin looks very model-esque, like she just walked off a high fashion runway. I agree the pants were too long, when you can't see someone's shoes it makes me think of JNCO jeans from the late 90s, but otherwise I thought she looked fabulous.

It drives me crazy when I hear people say, "Oh you just didn't *get* it." That's the laziest excuse for bad performance. These are judges with decades of experience, Kaleena. They'll get it just fine. And if they don't, maybe that's because there's nothing to get. Man, I want to like her but she makes it tough. Somebody on the production team really hates Laura. She mostly laid low this episode but they couldn't help themselves with the dark chocolate at the beginning. That said, even though I defended her last episode because I didn't think the budget problems were her fault alone, she's emerging as a dirty player. The editors can't make up footage. I like Rasika a lot and I'm surprised she's gone when it's still relatively early in the competition. But "slimy" and "slug like" are not criticisms from which you can recover. It's game over at that point.