WearyTraveler

I think Carmen cinched it when she did her last reveal. For those who don't know the song, the chorus goes like this: Ya lo ves, la vida es así (So you see, such is life) Tú te vas y yo me quedo aquí (You go away and I remain here) LLoverá y ya no seré tuya (It will rain and I will no longer be yours) seré la gata, bajo la lluvia (I will be the cat under the rain) y maullaré por ti (and I will meow for you) She did the wig reveal on the line "I will be the cat under the rain", and it was planned that she'd be wet, so, it wasn't a regular wig swapping reveal. As everything Carmen does, it was perfectly timed; not only on the song line (which being the chorus had been repeated a couple of times before her reveal), but also on the placement of it at the very end of the song (for most effect). She did her skirt reveal one third into the song, also well timed, but perhaps more expected. I agreed with a lot of the judges opinions when they were discussing the contestants after they had walked off the stage. I thought that they might have given it to Killer Queen, with all the talk about evolution, and with all the talk about Carmen being too perfect. But at the same time, every time I hear that kind of talk on shows like this, it bothers me a little because if a person is performing perfectly, why should they be penalised? I wasn't very taken with Carmen at the beginning, but I have to say I changed my mind as the competition progressed. Mostly it was the way she interacted with the other contestants. She was supportive, and helpful, and they all seemed to like her a lot. Agreed also that Sagittaria is still too young, she has the energy and the modern look, but it's a bit too much at times, disorganised. Killer is versatile, funny and her looks have improved, but I have always thought she needs a bit more finesse on the runway (walk wise). Sometimes it looks as if she were flat footed, and she looks clunky. I believe Carmen deserved it because she has been flawless all season and also because she absolutely wiped the floor with the other two during the lipsynch. Killer and Sagittaria were worthy competitors, though. And the show was so light-hearted and positive (compared to other iterations), that I really did enjoy it a lot. Finally, Drag Vulcano looked S-TUH-NINNNNG! (hope they call her back for a future all stars)

This is correct (native Spanish speaker here, and yes, the translations are lacking, in part because there's cultural stuff that can't be communicated with a literal translation, and in part because they are cutting out some stuff)

I mean, some guys mixed it to the tune of "Backstreet's Back" (starts at the 40 sec. mark) LOL!!

Here you go! This short jingle is so ubiquitous that there's even a video of a guy analyzing it in youtube. They put it at the end of every commercial and they have commercials everywhere. And this video I'm posting is of someone actually remixing the first 4-5 seconds (original jingle) into 1 minute and 15 seconds with several beats and variations.

It's possible, but if they were going for the kitschy joke, Mercadona has a jingle and it's pretty pervasive, let me see if I can find a commercial for it on youtube so you guys can hear it

Alma asked Bertram if he'd got the negatives when he got back in the car and he said "Yes", so, Vern sent Alma pictures and negatives, he can't print copies of the pictures anymore, which is why he was asking Scooter about what he heard/saw the night of the murder. It seems Vern will never see the pictures he took again, unless Bertram was lying, but why would he do that? If he thought the negatives could resurface, he would be less likely to try to set up Isabel as Carlo's killer. Who was doing quite well for himself and had been getting away with it for decades without anyone suspecting a thing. If it hadn't been for Alma's obsession to get in the garden club, which led her to want to make a dress, which led her to a dropped object, which led her to Bertram's collection of victim keepsakes, he would have probably stayed undiscovered, successful, and happy as a clam!

Could be, I thought about it too, but we have nothing to confirm. Rita still seemed a fairly new wife, they spoke about months to bring Isabel to Rita, and Rita, despite being dressed to the nines, didn't seem as jaded and cruel as when we first met her. But it is possible. No, they are meant to be Catherine! (I will correct in my OP, thanks for catching that)

This episode was packed! So many things happened, I can't believe they covered so much in a single episode. We got: Rita and Isabel's backstory (Rita was selling her body, Isabel killed to defend her, and was also her pimp, Carlo was the one requesting Isabel be a maid, Rita didn't start out cruel and manipulative), Scooter trying to play the devious game, but not being smart enough to wait for the evidence to burn completely or at least not draw attention to the fire, Catherine finding out Scooter was Rita's lover, confronting him, and apparently convincing him to testify against Rita, a new butler who is fiercely loyal to Catherine, was enjoying her fight with Scooter and seemed upset when they made up (unrequited love for Catherine, perhaps?) Isabel trying to blackmail Rita and Alma, and dropping enough hints to Vern that he figured out he must have caught the murderer(s) on camera, Alma suggesting killing as first recourse to deal with Isabel, then pretending to apologize to steal the drug so she could kill her when Bertram refused, then going through with it with ease Bertram finding a way to get Rita out of jail without having to expose himself or Alma Rita refusing to throw her cousin under the bus, or even expose her to save herself, which is Rita perhaps going back to her original self Mrs. Yost's nephew showing up, discovering the missing items, and becoming suspicious of the neighbours Dee discovering everything related to Mrs. Yost, from her disappearance, to the stolen items, to the body in one single episode, and then deciding to leave with Vern Puff! That's a lot of stuff! I don't think previous episodes packed so many plot developments in a single run. And I have to say, I didn't feel anything was rushed or too contrived. I wonder if Vern and/or Dee will eventually put the pieces together and realize Alma and Bertram murdered Carlo and Isabel. It's interesting how they are developing Alma and Rita's arcs. Rita started out cruel and manipulative, and I guess we wouldn't have been surprised if she had actually killed Carlo, or if we found out she had murdered someone before. Now we know she has never killed anybody, she was being abused and someone else killed to defend her. And then she surprises us by refusing to endanger Isabel. In contrast, Alma started out meek, a victim of bullies, someone unhappy and aspiring to better things, who was shocked and horrified when she discovered her husband was a serial killer. Then she started playing devious games to climb up the social ladder, then she hid a body, then she actually manipulated her husband into killing someone for her gain (while framing someone else), and finally becoming a murderer herself. If the next two episodes are as packed as this one, we're in for a wild ride.

One of the biggest Supermarket chains in Spain is called Mercadona, which I think was the intended pun, but they probably can't say it because it would be free advertising

Vern blurting out "it's not mine" after the pregnancy revelation was hilarious. I knew those photos would come back to haunt Alma. I knew it!!! So many devious characters on this show, and yet I find myself enjoying them a lot. It's sinfully delicious.

A few pages back @Umbelina posted an interview with the show runners where they give an answer to this very question. You can search for her post here or look for the link in the media thread, where it has also been posted.

Which is why I said:

Just adding clarification: Gabe did not forget to plate one tortilla. He explained that the towel he was using to wrap the tortillas and keep them warm had been too close to the stove and had burned, and that part of the towel material had attached to the one tortilla, so he could not serve it. As anyone who cooks tortillas knows, they are the last thing you cook before plating, so we can be relatively sure that at the point that tortilla got ruined, he couldn't have made extra dough to replace it. So, at that point he had to decide whether to short-change all the diners by reducing their tortilla portions but making all plates consistent, short-changed two diners by reducing one portion of tortilla in one plate and be dinged for consistency, or short-changed one diner who would probably get a piece of tortilla from a considerate neighboring diner (which is what happened) and still be dinged for consistency. We know what he chose to do. His reasoning is not completely clear as to why he made that choice, but I suspect in the rush to plating, he didn't have much time to think about it. That is not the same as running out of time to plate all your components, which were all cooked and ready to go. And I say this as a person who doesn't mind that there is a final 3 instead of a final two. I am frustrated that Dawn has had time management issues repeatedly and has failed to plate components that she has cooked and are ready to go. The first time it happened is understandable, she was new to the competition and had not experienced this sort of time pressures before. But when it continues to happen, it's like the definition of insanity: she keeps doing the same thing, over and over again, expecting different results. By this time in the competition, she should have figured out what to do to get all her plates consistently plated by the time the buzzer goes off. I also don't believe there's a conspiracy to ensure she remains in the competition, even though she continues to make the same mistake. I believe Tom when he has said on several occasions that the number one criteria for elimination is taste. Dawn has been lucky that every time she's screwed up, someone screwed up worse by having a worse tasting dish than her inconsistent dishes have been. Win or lose, I hope she fixes this time issue on her finale cook. Mainly because I'm tired of seeing her struggle to plate cook after cook. Finally, neither of those missing components situations (Dawn and Gabe's) are the same as a chef choosing not to plate what he considered to be a substandard component. We have heard the panel ding plenty of contestants who decided to plate something that wasn't right in the past. It takes a lot of integrity and maturity to choose not to plate something, knowing the judges will still ding you for portion size. But if you have been listening to Tom, then you know that taste carries more weight than size. So, Shota chose the lesser of two evils. I agree with the posters who theorize that they were planning for a final three all along, since they were expecting someone to come back from LCK, so this episode was supposed to have 4 competitors instead of 3. As I see it, they could have still chosen to go forward with only 2, but couldn't cut anyone on taste alone, and all 3 competitors had execution flaws: 1) Shota: portion size of his cold dish 2) Gabe: temperature of his cold dish and not making enough dough to replace the damaged tortilla 3) Dawn: not having a starch element for her hot dish sauce and rushed plating with splattered sauce as mentioned by the judges. Since they thought Shota was the clear winner, they could have chosen to boot Dawn or Gabe, who both made technical errors that, while not of the same type, carried about the same weight on performance evaluation. So, at that point it becomes about taste, and they seemed to think all of Gabe and Dawn's dishes were on the same level in that regard, so they chose to let them both advance to the finale. I'm okay with that, and I honestly don't know who has the best odds at winning it. They all appear to be able to cook delicious food, so next episode will definitely be interesting.

I loved it too, but will wait for more people to finish the season for more specific discussion of plot points

Tuello had a line in which he said to Fred that what was happening was within a provision of the agreement they had signed. So, if I were to guess as to how that all came about legally, agreements with people for immunity are granted with conditions. Usually, one such condition is that whatever information the accused is providing must be accurate and not knowingly misleading. After his meeting with Joseph, and assuming the US has more than one informant/spy, Tuello can claim, and probably prove, that some of the information provided by Fred was fake and)or intentionally misleading, in which case his immunity agreement will be revoked and the US can choose to exchange him for other prisoners. There's also the possibility that the agreement included a provision that Fred's freedom would be contingent upon the International Court accepting the terms of the deal. So, it's likely that Tuello went to the International court prior to that court's ruling and asked them not to accept the agreement because the info provided by Fred did not comply with the terms and to relinquish custody of the prisoner back to the US. Then the US is free to have the prisoners' exchange.

When asked "do you want to quit?" Jamie literally said "no, but I would quit for her". I rewatched several times to make sure. So, yes, while Jamie admitted she did not want to leave, she did say that she would, if that meant Maria could stay. I point this out because many people here seem to be under the impression that Jamie wasn't really serious about quitting, but she really was.

Or, playing the double, triple, quadruple agent game, maybe he already defected and he's been working for the US for a long time, and it was the US who spread rumors about some horrible thing he supposedly did, so that foreign dignitaries would not put him in a difficult position

Because when you hold all the cards, you don't propose any deals. You wait until the person in the weakest position tries to cut a deal and then you play some more and put even more pressure on them to get them to roll over even more. (Years of Law and Order Original recipe taught me that 🤣)

I mean the closest I can compare this would to would be the Nuremberg trials and they seemed to do all right with the testimony of the concentration victims. They were absolutely the people testifying to the atrocities committed. So why wouldn't that work here? I think that wouldn't work here because by the time the Nuremberg trials came about WWII was over. There were clear winners and losers and the losers had no power. In the show, they are not even at war yet. Gilead still has power, and the rest of the world suspects that power is high enough to cause major trouble, so they need the Intel. It is also worth mentioning that a lot of Gilead's victims will feel they were screwed over when Gilead finally falls. If we use the aftermath of WWII for comparison again, only high profile Nazis were convicted at Nuremberg. There was an agreement to "forgive" (for lack of a better word) many of the low level officers and troops involved in all the Nazi atrocities in the name of peace and, to an extent, to avoid WWIII, as one of the reasons Hitler had enough support from the German people to rise up in the first place, was the very detrimental arrangements imposed on Germany after WWI

Just wanted to add that firepower is not all nuclear. Gilead could choose to use non radioactive bombs. But show hasn't really told us what is in Gilead's arsenal exactly. That's information that Fred presumably knows and the rest of the world is after.

I can picture that. First we have Fred's trial. With Serena's help Fred is found guilty and sentenced (life w/o parole or death sentence, it makes no difference). Now he's out of the picture, just like Serena wanted. Then we get Serena's trial. Amazingly, it seems to be going well for her, even the witnesses (June et. al.) are worried that she will get off, or that she will get off with a light sentence. Her lawyer tells her there is hope, they put forth a good case. The jury is back, everyone files into the courtroom. A juror looks at Serena with an almost imperceptible hint of a smile. But Serena goes into labor right before her verdict is read. She is rushed to the hospital, she has a natural birth with all the pain, and the contractions, and the pushing, and the screaming. She gets a beautiful baby, she holds her, she kisses her, she's crying tears of joy (pun not intended), she's thanking her god for this miracle. Then Tuello shows up. She was found guilty. Because of the crimes she has committed and because she now faces a long sentence (it would be great if it was life w/o parole), she has been declared an unfit mother. Her parental rights are terminated. Social Services is here to take the child. She has no friends or family in Canada and no one is going to send a baby girl back to Gilead. Her child will be put up for adoption. Serena will never see her again. She will be raised by other people. The child will call them mom and dad. They will never take her to see Serena in jail. They will never send her letters or pictures. Serena will never know where her daughter is. She will not see her grow up. She will have lost her forever. Cue flashforward a few years in the future. Serena is in jail and miserable. She is talking to her lawyer, asking, for the millionth time to try something, anything to get her some access. A picture, even from a distance, a word, the tiniest bit of information about her daughter. Her lawyer tells her all avenues are exhausted. Serena needs to accept her reality. The lawyer leaves, Serena goes back to her cell, which is now a run of the mill, regular cell. No special treatment for convicted criminals. Lights out, all prisoners must follow the same schedule, after all.. The next morning they find Serena hanging in her cell. Fade to black. More than DRAMA, that is KARMA!!! Poetic justice, as they say.

I like Andi on the pass too. Not sure if the regional chef judges enjoyed all the comments she gave after they gave the chefs their scores, though. Corrigan seemed to like it least, almost cutting her off to move on to another score. Kloo is meh! Not a lot of depth in her comments, unlike Matt and Oliver who explain with more precise words what it is that they like/don't like about a dish. Starter, Fish and Main have been decided now, and it seems this year they will not be awarding any chef the responsibility to cook an appetiser or a pre-dessert, I wonder if the venue where they will do the banquet has a smaller kitchen or if there's another reason for this. I thought it was nice that the chefs got an extra opportunity to make it to the banquet, even if it was with something small. I will say this about the dishes chosen for the banquet so far: that's a lot of eggs!! All three dishes chosen so far have a runny yolk: Alex's is a slow confit whole duck egg, and both, Roberta and Oli's dishes have a slow confit chicken egg yolk. I don't know if that works as a cohesive menu. I do recall the series before the pandemic had the judges discussing what dishes would make a good progression menu-wise and they talked about whether to choose a superb dish even though it didn't fit with other dishes that they had settled on. I think that while that may not please all the chefs, it is a worthy consideration. I mean, Iook at the banquet's dishes so far, would someone enjoy eating three eggs in a row? As much as I love a runny egg yolk, the most I could eat in a single sitting is two (eggs Benedict, for example). Three is one too many. At least none of the desserts have runny eggs! LOL! ETA: I'm very pleased that Roberta, the only female in the finals, got one of her dishes through, but sad for Jude who so wanted to honor his dead wife by serving a dish at the banquet. I don't think his dessert will get him there, considering the comments he got and the competition he's facing.

One of my biggest pet peeves in cooking shows is when professional chefs, foodies, and cooks who claim that food is their life mispronounce mascarpone adding the letter "r" where there is none (as in "maRscarpone"). I don't know why that one grates on me so much; it just does. If it's a novice in the kitchen who might have heard the word wrong because they are self taught, I can excuse it, but when it's a professional? Drives me bananas! And I'm not even Italian, so, it doesn't come from a desire to have my language respected or anything like that 😄. I am glad this show is back. Agreed with the elimination. Thought that perhaps the guy with the glazed bird who was on the top (not the one that worked for Tom, the other one) might have won, but we don't get to taste the food, so, I'll trust that the win was well deserved. Count me in as a person who actually likes Tom C., Gail, and all the guest chefs (yes, including Blais, I think he's just awkward, and people make too much of little things, just my two cents). I can take or leave Padma, don't love her, don't hate her, just neutral on her. Then again, I rarely have the level of visceral reactions from watching TV that many other people do. It's just TV, and when it comes to reality TV, the behind the scenes shenanigans could have a lot to do with what ends up as the finished episode, so I tend to cut people a little slack based on that alone (most of the time, although every once in a while I might lose it too, nobody is perfect). Guy that worked for Tom did seem to be a bit too confident and his comment that they should have won because they pulled off a good dish with the worst possible combinations of ingredients was ungracious, I thought. Even if true, that's the sort of thing best kept to oneself because if said in the wrong tone, at the wrong time and with the wrong words (as it was done here), it comes out as "sore loser". He didn't try the other team's dish, and they all know that at the end of the day, the best tasting dish is he one that should take the price (provided all other evaluation criteria are the same: presentation, meeting the challenge, etc.). They were unlucky that they had such difficult ingredients to combine, but, that's the way the cookie crumbles in challenges like these. Next time something is up to "fate" he might be the lucky one and get better ingredients or some other advantage and I doubt he'd decline a win if that were the case. So, play with the cards you are dealt, and make the best of it. I'm excited for this season, pandemic restrictions and all! Show me the food!!

The reason has been explained on this thread in previous posts.

I thought Naomi was trying to deactivate the bomb, somehow. Then she saw a ship approaching, even though she changed the message and she took the tool she was using to make markings on the wall and left the area. I'm not absolutely sure, but the noise we heard at the end sounded like someone was taking steps outside, on the surface of the ship. So, I'm going to guess that Naomi is out there with the suction boots on writing a message on the ship, scratching big block letters to warn the incoming vessel of the danger. Once Bobbi and Alex get there, they will figure out a way to communicate with Naomi and rescue her, We know she can hear communications but can not broadcast, so, perhaps once a ship is closer, they can ask her questions via regular comms and she can answer by switching some lights, or something. I still really like this show, but I would have to agree with others that have pointed out there hasn't been a lot of forward movement of the plot this season.