some1105

Corrected in post, so as to avoid confusion and the possibility of anyone missing the correction.

Tom really put the calculus of the judging out front tonight when he blatantly warned the others on the panel what would happen if they gave the gold medal in the creativity round to Chris rather than Mustache Joe, who then won that round by only half a point. To me, that was entirely about the consequences that Tom had just spelled out—that Chris winning the round would result in a second place overall finish for the white team. That would have kept them safe and put the red team members in danger—the team on which the only dish they didn’t really like was Carrie’s and she had immunity, which the judges also discussed. Basically, Mustache Joe beat Chris because Tom had no intention of sending home Fatima or Adrienne due to Carrie’s awful dish. I was also ok with that, since neither Claudette nor Tanya had covered themselves in glory.

Agreed. I started to suspect around episode 5 that Ward was going to steal the show for me, and he did.

I would be extremely surprised if the prepared food was not consumed expeditiously by ravenous crew, and any additional foods not intended for use in subsequent challenges donated to local food charities. I know they do this for Great British Bake-Off, and I would swear I read an interview with LeeAnn Wong a while back that they do it on Top Chef. Not to mention, Tom C. (as Bluepiano mentioned above) and Hugh Acheson are both very involved in food/hunger initiatives.

Oh, I feel you. Your comment just led me down the heartily depressing path of trying to think of an appropriate cable network that would be a more respectable home for Top Chef. Unfortunately, all the likely homes were either trashy to begin with (like Lifetime), or have self-cannibalized Bravo-style over the last decade (A&E, TLC, etc.). The few that remain relatively close to some quality "mission", like Ovation, are too low profile to reach sufficient viewers. Like I said, depressing. I just close my eyes and think of PBS while I fast forward through the Housewives promos...

I highly recommend reading "The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks" by Toni Tipton-Martin (who was on the show last night). The release of that book about a year ago coincided with a big re-release of Edna Lewis' seminal cookbook, and a brief storm of media attention about the centrality of people of color to developing many of our most beloved foodways. ETA: I'm afraid I disagree that Lifetime is a more reputable network than Bravo, Andy Cohen & Co.'s crass antics notwithstanding, though.

Ashamedly, I must admit that I somehow thought that the duties of the Surgeon General had been competently assumed by Michelle Obama and hot Sam Kass, lo these many years.

Unfortunately, this challenge has been botched before as an elimination challenge (comfort food done healthy, though not necessarily vegetarian) in Season 3, with Alfred Portale as the guest judge watching a sad parade of tasteless, disgusting and often UNhealthy glop force fed to a room of unsuspecting elderly.

I wanted A'kai to stay just for his plaintive cry "I got paint on my zapatos blancos!" At first I though that he had given an adorable nickname to his very blonde model, but his concern for his loafers was just as funny.

Yes. She is Not Here To Make Friends. In fact, she seems to have built her life philosophy on never making any friends anywhere.

I could only deal by watching this episode backward, scene by scene. Done that way, I was ok with how it ended. My main quibble is that, no matter what Christopher may claim and this show has always pushed, Rory is not a "force of nature." She's smart, sure, but kind of an emotional fuck-up, and has in some ways been stunted by a lack of consequences. I'm hopeful for her at the end, though. Although the obvious parallel is that she's following in her mother's path, she's starting on that path from a very different point. She's highly educated, will never lack for emotional (or, honestly, financial) support, and has some concept of what's ahead of her. In fact, I probably respect her most for her choice to go it alone, at least at first, at least for now. I'm seeing reactions from various "teams" about lack of closure, and how it's all very open to interpretation, and I guess it is. However, for me, there are some logical "and thens," as long as I believe that Rory doesn't intend to be 100% a dick. She'll tell Logan about the pregnancy at some point. Unless Odette is prepared to start the "dynasty" off knowing she's been cheated on and that Logan is about to be a father of someone else's baby, that marriage will be off. Logan may, in fact, go the Christopher route, or he may grow the fuck up and be there for his kid. And Rory may stay single, or find someone new, or reconcile with Logan, or co-parent with Logan, or someday end up with Jess, but not on such an obvious rebound. I mean--watch it backwards like I did. Knowing what we know by the end, every conversation, every decision, every relationship note makes sense. All in all, I'm optimistic. And Luke is made to be a step-grandpa. ETA: Or, obv, Rory could choose to terminate her pregnancy.

Blech. I have a really low bar where this show is concerned (as in, my affection for it is pretty uncomplicated and undemanding). But I didn't buy a second of Penny's family. They've done such a good job with everyone else's parents--Laurie Metcalf and Christine Baranski in particular. But the usually fantastic Katey Sagal was completely undone in this role (and Jack McBrayer's role research couldn't even have gone as far as watching an episode of Breaking Bad). Disappointment!

Jane's cake looked beautiful, but Selasi was the most delicious dish.

She had actually just taken off on her horse. Fair point. There would have been more pertinent details to share with her before the battle (though it wouldn't have made much sense to recount it, as the others in the battle planning session were still at the parley when Ramsay said it). I'd buy it most as Jon having told her after she asked where Ramsay was being held, but your observation remains.

Although I no longer live in Minnesota, hendersonrocks, frequent visits allow me to stay stocked with bottles of Brasa's hot vinegar, which I put on everything. I would have put it on anything that was served in last night's episode.

Jeremy, Success Academy is on the line. They would not only like to offer your daughter a place at your local Success school, but to make you lifetime president of its PTA.

As I noted above, I'm aware of selective editing. I also stated plainly that I'm having a hard time seeing what the purpose would be (foreshadowing or otherwise) in selectively showing footage of Marjorie critiquing Isaac over and over each week on basically the same issue--to be clear, I specifically question that purpose if perhaps she has similarly critical views toward other contestants who have shown relatively limited range or if others are also somehow really rankled by Isaac's presence. Because if so, this is the least "shadowy" and most "anvily" foreshadowing they've done in a while, and that's a high bar. As for Angelina, Marjorie's statement of tonight was, like her critique of Isaac, part of an ongoing string of commentary about Angelina by Marjorie--the totality of her comments about and toward Angelina do, I believe, support my contention that she has and continues to think the sun shines out of Angelina's ass. If you'd like me to dig up her exact (and often strangely unsupported by what we were seeing on screen) comments about Angelina's fierce talent over several episodes, I can do so. But it's hardly been contested. The only question for me is whether Marjorie has now questioned Isaac's credibility as a chef as many times on screen as she praised Angelina in tones so frankly reverent that I suspect massive over-identification with Angelina as a proxy for younger Marjorie and/or attraction issues. It was uncomfortable to watch when Ash did it with Mike Voltaggio in Season 6, and I hope we can at least all agree that Angelina is no Mike Voltaggio.

At this point, I really have to wonder when Isaac pissed in Marjorie's cornflakes. I'm aware of selective editing, but then I'm not sure what the narrative motivation would be for depicting Marjorie expressing such a dismissive view of one chef in particular, over and over, when we a) haven't seen anything to support a rational personal animus, and b) Isaac is hardly the only chef left who mainly cooks within a limited preferred wheelhouse and has managed to do that so successfully as to make the final six (now five). She just really hates things that are cooked slowly? Because two weeks ago it was that Isaac's food isn't sufficiently refined, last week it was too many stews and braises, and now this week she seems to suggest that Isaac is her own personal hangnail for not proving to her that he can make anything other than gumbo. Like, I don't know, his very well received non-gumbo dishes last week that, combined with his undisputedly excellent running of the lunch service, gave him the win in Restaurant Wars? This is the same person who still thinks the sun shines out of Angelina's ass. Her apparently wonky metric for which of her competitors deserve respect is making it harder to root for her, and I really want to.

I'm glad Kelly asked Samantha what her wow factor would be. I think S has somehow gotten it in her head that her work is implicitly "wow" by virtue of innovation. Unfortunately, as others have noted, none of masculine-influenced clothing for women, gender-neutral clothing for women, sportswear for women, pockets for women, cargo pants for women or military-inspired design for women are, in and of themselves or in combination with each other, innovative. I have really liked some of Samantha's designs--in fact, in a way that I think is very apparent in her collection, because I've liked one of Samantha's designs I therefore have liked them all. Because I primarily dress for comfort, hers are the clothes I would most likely wear of those presented (assuming more practicable, sensitive fabric choices). But she's showing the limits of what she is willing to do at this point, if not what she can do. Absolutely, designers have made empires out of a single look--but those single looks are generally strikingly unique, breathtakingly fresh, or appealingly universal. S isn't hitting that sweet spot, and therefore still needs to compensate with some range. I don't mind Maya's print. But I think that Tim got to the heart of things with her--she hasn't yet had the time to deepen her knowledge and sourcing of fabrics. A few years down the road, she would have found something delicate and abstract, but also special and luxurious, which would accomplish her vision and give heft to balance her use of sheer without needing to compensate with more saturated color. Zachary. I have loved watching Zachary. I loved Seventeen's editor standing up for him and insisting that he doesn't need to design for her target demographic (and by "mature", they're talking about women 30 and older--so much money to be made off those women, as Christian very well knows). There is a version of Zachary's collection that he developed in a parallel universe that would be stunning. Unfortunately, in this timeline, he shot for Dior and landed in latter-day Marchesa. Peytie. I don't know. I'm not worried about Peytie. I think she'll be fine in life. I also think that whatever else happens, if she were to leave a stack of business cards for her sister somewhere strategic at Fashion Week, her sister could easily earn FIDM (or MIT) tuition for both of them over summer vacations before Peytie graduates high school.

Philip lost. He wasn't in the top 3 for the Quickfire, and he lost in his head to head. He was in the middle (his dish was good enough to keep him out of the bottom), though, and his dish was well-received. Also, while I don't necessarily quibble with Frances going home, she said she doesn't specialize in Thai food. She wanted to go some kind of Asian, which is in her wheelhouse, and characterized Thai as "meeting half way" to Italian from what she usually does. Her competitor, I thought reasonably, saw Thai as nowhere near "halfway", but Asian cuisine isn't monolithic, and Thai doesn't seem to have been her main focus. I think the closest she came to cooking what she would have considered "her" food was the bitter melon soup at the fakey fake food festival in the first episode.

I don't even hate Beckett that much. I'm just completely over her relationship with Castle. I bought into the 'ship, I let it yank me around for a while, it made me feel crappy, I've emotionally uninvested in it as a result of too much drama, and now I'm over it. If Beckett's good at her job, she should do that. She's demonstrably bad at being in a relationship with Castle, and I don't feel like watching it anymore. I'm not interested in some "tension" over whether Castle will inevitably take her back. The whole thing is just pathetic and pointless, and any time spent watching this show's version of Caskett angst feels like a waste of my time on Earth. This show has never provided meaningful material for soul-searching or philosophical insight into interpersonal relationships. I don't want to spend time in a bad marriage--why would I want spend time in Castle and Beckett's bad marriage?

To be absolutely, blatantly awful about it, I don't care that Beckett's mom was murdered. Not in the I'm tired of this storyline way, but in the straight out so what kind of way. Beckett is choosing to address the destruction of the life of a dead person in a manner that is destroying the lives of living people that she supposedly loves. To me, that is ridiculously, beyond the pale selfish. If the people who run this show want to write her that way, fine. But then they should see it through, and Castle should not take her back. This marriage and personal relationship should be over, and she should continue to live her life as a single person, without obligations to others that she has no intention of meeting.

I've had the episode on near-constant repeat since it aired yesterday, so I looked out for this. Francis is the one that cooked her custard partially on the stove top before baking--she has a little video moment of noting that others are not doing it. She came in first in the technical and, despite not having the fantastic little paper handles Ruby devised, managed to get her tarts out without destroying them, so I'm going with the answer being to follow Francis' method: pre-cook custard enough to thicken, and then bake. I was surprised that Ruby was the only one who thought to come up with a removal aid prior to baking--not because I would have thought of it myself, but because the others' surprise at the difficulty of removing the tarts suggests that not one of them had ever made custard tarts before. They are delicious.

Oh nooooooo! I jinxed Marie! I'm not going to say a word about Nadiya. Or I can just absolve myself and blame the Curse of the Star Baker. I was glad to see some of the men start to stand out, particularly through the individuality of their bakes. My mouth started watering just hearing about Ian's plans for orange and rosemary biscotti. Now if I could just stop confusing his name with Mat's.

I will never forget Glenn. He's an inspiration (quitting his job to pursue his dream, even though I bet he's an awesome teacher). I would love to follow him around the country like his own personal Glennhead, watching him make huge cakes in village halls. I like that they don't do "stunts" like bringing in surprise guest judges or re-inserting past contestants, but it's definitely time for another "Where are they now" special.