I love how Bailey said that she was going to do well with risotto, because she trained under Sarah G. from season 9. Completely ignoring how much of an unlikable bitch Sarah was back in season 9 for a second, when Sarah tried to make risotto in her own season...she got dinged for undercooked rice. I don't think Sarah's the best person to reference when you want to inspire people with confidence on you finally being the one who makes a great risotto on top chef.
As for the season itself, great start I like the episode, both of the challenges were well designed. Season 22 at the start at least feels far better than the previous season, feels like we got a far more talented group of chefs than back in Wisconson, and there's better editing this time around. I could already see a few frontrunners in Vincenzo, Anya, and Shuai. It's a good sign when most of the issues were plating/time management issues. Very few are outright bad dishes themselves.
Out of curiosity, if you were to compete in the elimination challenge, which one of the 5 boxes would you want to get, and feel the most comfortable with making a good dish out of?