zibnchy

The worst part about this episode was the fact that there was no execution at the end. Way to get my hopes up, show! My top 3 are Jaala, Malia, and Reed. Are we ever going to see Ivy cook AND be critiqued? If they are making accommodations for her, why? Have we seen any spark of something extra special about her? Are they going to give her immunity all the way to final 4? I don't think I believe those kids made those eclairs without help. Choux pastry is hard.

I love this show and I'm thrilled it is back. I don't care that it is obviously and unabashedly manipulative (cue up the sad backstory.) I don't care that it telegraphs the final results (did anyone on the planet think that Dee or Weepy Prawn Curry guy were going home?) I don't dislike anyone yet though if Everything Ice Cream guy had got thru I'm sure I'd have disliked him soon. I don't even want to know what that ice cream tasted like. This show is everything I love -- nice people cooking weird and sometimes stupid things, sad backstories, competition, laughter, tears. It helps take my mind off the fact that my country is a big giant dumpster fire right now. Remember last season when Jess had to cook scallops and she had never cooked them before so she was going to marinate the scallops in mustard? And the looks of horror on the judges faces when she suggested that she might do that? I'm only sorry they stopped her. That woudl have been epic. Cracks me up every time. Here's to a great season!

I almost feel a bit sorry for Sadie because she's clearly being coached by someone who has never met a child before.

Is it just me and my bad memory or do we rarely see anything Ivy has cooked? What is the deal there? Is it terrible? Can't be worse than a dry, raw, tuna pot pie. I'm first to admit that I don't always pay close attention to the show but the numbers are low enough now that we should be seeing something from everyone. I like that kid Reed. I don't know why. Also like Jaala since she's from Rhode Island and I'm loyal and she seems like a nice kid. The one to beat is obviously Malia.

Why is Rhea Seahorn on this show in such a tiny forgotten part? I suppose she'll play a role later but seems criminally underused. Why is Amy supporting Jonah. I don't understand.

I have always thought we had Flo (and Zach) to thank for that. Flo, who literally whined her way around the world, and Zach, who singlehandedly dragged her along with the patience of a saint. Was it season 2? Or 3? And they won! Flo did, maybe, one RB and, I'm sure, whined about it loudly. I'll have to revisit C&C's season. All I remember is the Broken Ox. I think the dating comment was a joke. I think they play for different teams. But I do remember them now, she did start out all fun and cheery but her mood did take a turn for the dark side later in the game. If I remember correctly she blamed him pretty hard for something that went wrong. It was very unfair of her and is probably the reason I'm not happy to see her again.

She was on BB15 and she is RR's real life sister.

Elissa (of the team of Rachel and Elissa) was pretty likable during her time in the BB house during a season (15) that was almost completely filled with intolerably gross people. It had racism and misogyny and drawers full of used condoms and GinaMarie and was won by a troll. I never saw Rachel on BB but learned to dislike her whiny ass during her first stint on AR. Both women could step away from the fillers but I like Elissa so I'll reserve judgement for a couple of weeks. Loved seeing Colin and Christie again. Have no memory of the border patrol guys and, frankly, thrilled to not see them again. I only wish they could have somehow taken Rupert and Laura with them. My early favorites are the more mature afghanimals, and the more mature Colin and Christie. And I'll root for Victor and Whatsername from BB because I like Victor. I had an idea tonight that it'd be fun to bring back an entire cast from an earlier season of AR and rerun the race. Maybe go to the same locations but with different tasks. Obviously this will never happen but it is kinda fun to contemplate. I missed this show.

I have an uncomfortable feeling that they have already predetermined that Ivy go far in this competition. I don't know why. I hope they don't drag her to final 3. I feel bad that we lost both Kate and Evie tonight because, until tonight, I apparently thought they were the same person.

There's a Kate? I have no idea which kid is Kate. The part where these kids are barely able to hold back their tears while being judged is kind of hard to take. Some kids seem to be OK with it but that little girl last night (Naelli?) was hurting my heart. Malia is still my favorite.

I'm still kinda bothered by the nonchalance with which they killed their lobsters, last week I think. I actually thought for a second that I had accidentally missed the portion of the show where they created those perfect fillets. Maybe they were afraid to show the carnage so they just hand waved that part. I cracked up when one of the 8 year olds said he'd been cooking since he was one. So, apparently, there's a girl from my state competing. Her name is Jaala, I think. I'm not sure I've ever laid eyes on her. Now I'm afraid she'll have an early talking head next week and I'll know she's a goner. Like maybe I jinxed her by mentioning her.

I see Sadie as a softer version of those hair bow girls from last year. She's a bit smug, but she seemed less smug in the circus episode. In fact I detected a bit of snark and I kind of liked it. And she made a good cake. And she strikes me as smart. I'm so glad we lost the "I'm from Georgia and I Cook Steaks" kid early on. I'm not sure I could have taken more of him. His cake was ridiculous. I'm sorry about the other girl (Ashley?) but we just met her. There were kids in that balcony that I'm sure I've never seen before. I think 8 is too young. A couple of those kids are wee. Maybe if they had kids 10-14? I'd actually like to see a competition of kids aged, say, 14-17. Malia is my favorite. She's cute, more or less competent, and not too obnoxious, and I can ignore the hair bow. It's understated. I also like Ivy but please lose the gd hat. Can Tosi just go join the circus please. Aaron's fingers are tattooed - I always just think his hands are dirty. Speaking of dirty hands - children are gross germ factories. Why do we never see them washing their hands or wearing gloves? In truth I would not want to eat their food and I am not a germ phobic person. These are just my opinions. YMMV.

My favorite moment was the little "ew" that escaped from Alexis when the Soap Actress told her she and Moira could be sisters. It was understated and delivered perfectly. It actually, for me, hearkened back to an episode from an earlier season. In a scene Johnny was hugging Alexis and David, and Moira entered and asked him what he was doing. Johnny said, "I'm hugging our children" and Moira said, "Why?" It was perfect and Alexis' delivery reminded me of that. I love mother and daughter together. The only thing missing from this episode was Jocelyn. I want them to replace all Roland scenes with Jocelyn scenes. Other than that it was really a perfect episode.

I'm 100% Team Tiffany. It actually hurt to watch. I believed every word when she said her mother started shutting her out at age 8(!), when her parents divorced. Probably blamed her. Full disclosure, I had a very similar mother (though my parents stayed together). I just wanted to hug those daughters. They can do so much better. They should run. Could not believe that mom when she started whining about the new decor and how much it would cost her to take it down. That place was kind of a dump. GR's team could only improve it. I think they should have ended the season with the Social episode. The M'Dear episode left me feeling down.

Fake Gordon Ramsey rocks! I want him in every episode. One thing I liked about the Social episode is we didn't have to see gross kitchen stuff (except for a sneezy line cook.) It was just ineptitude, drama in the kitchen, and bad management.

How did you manage to turn my words "probably going to win" into "guaranteed win"? Do you have a special dictionary for special people? Just ignore me if you don't like what I say but don't put your words in my mouth.

Sure. Keep telling yourself that.

Sara doesn't seem to have planned for cooking anything that's not "Southern American" food. She goes to Macao and makes shrimp and grits for the Chinese New Year? And she's smug about it. (Also, I'm just so f'ng tired of shrimp and grits.) Really dislike Kelsey but I know lots of people love her and she's probably going to win because she's blandly pretty, white, and young. And she can cook OK. Adrienne strikes me as the type of person who is only nice on the very thinnest surface. I worked for many years in a field that has many like this (not restaurants.) I'm not a cook by any stretch of the imagination so I will confess to thinking for a *very long time* that umami was a kind of mysterious fruit or vegetable. It never occurred to me to look it up. (It wasn't till the kids on Masterchef Junior started using it that I actually looked it up.)

Why did Emir have to turn out to be a shit? Can't Stevie be allowed to be happy? Johnny Rose was in full on dad mode tonight and I love him. I actually teared up. I hope he spilled some drinks on Emir when he went to fetch Stevie's bag. Jocelyn (Jennifer Robertson) is, for me, possibly the greatest gift this show has given us. She is always a delight. And she holds her own with Moira.

I'm so easily confused. How does this work? Do they wait until several people have been eliminated from Top Chef and then have a long day of many LCK contests? Do they change clothes between match-ups? (I don't know why I think this question is important.) I have wondered how they get chefs to return and take time off from their restaurants etc, just to compete on LCK, but if they film it all in a day or two then that makes more sense to me. Pardon my confusion.

I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion but I just don't much like Patrick. Or maybe I just don't like him with David. He comes off as too smug to me. Maybe it's the fact that we really don't know much about him. He moved to SC? Why? Where did he come from? Who is he? We really don't know. Maybe he'll loosen up. Jocelyn, on the other hand, is almost always a joy to see in a scene. She was perfect in this episode.

Did anyone catch the blond chef (Kelsey? Not Adrienne) musing about how she could sabotage Brother's dish? OK, so I can imagine someone thinking that, but to say it out loud? On camera? Then she shrugged like she was kidding but damn, to say something that stupid on camera? She's the one, I think, who screamed at the servers to not talk in her kitchen (or something to that effect). She seems like the nastiest chef this season. I should be sleeping! Why am I rehashing (pun intended) Top Chef?

After roughly 178 seasons of TC and Restaurant Wars I have one question. Why on earth would anyone volunteer to be FOH? FOH people tend to get screwed every which way. Other chefs f up the FOH chef's dishes, servers are service challenged (as in just hired off the street), and FOH gets blamed for everything. Next season I want to see everyone just straight up refuse to do FOH. This year was a special trainwreck and I hope the person whose idea it was to do 3 teams is forced to do FOH for every RW ever for all eternity. Does anyone else think Tom really seems over all of it this season? Hope all is well with him. Also, unnecessary aside, Padma is too beautiful for words.

I will DIE of hyperbolic shock if anyone but Brother wins LCK. I don't think it will matter if he serves Cow Dung 3 Ways for his final plate. Tom will rave about his Dung Brulee and nobody will care what the other LCK failures think. (FYI I've loved Carrie since her kale salad and hope she gets another chance, maybe in an all star season.) This "season" of LCK was designed to bring back Brother. Everyone else, with the possible exception of Carrie, was cannon fodder. Just my opinion.

Ragnar's serious daddy issues caused him to invest his entire life savings in a venture he is not remotely trained to do or even particularly interested in. I'm not putting him down. I'm pretty old and I'm STILL dealing with the mommy issues that have helped me make so so many bad decisions in my life. I kind of wanted to hug him. Notice we didn't meet any of his family except the back-stabbing BIL (who should be fired). They took his money but they are giving him NO support. Guy looked pretty beaten down. He clearly is drowning. Honestly, I think he should fire the entire kitchen staff (with the possible exception of bald cook who can probably be retrained). Those guys could not fry chicken correctly (and safely) after several tries. Fried! Chicken! This seems brutal but damn those guys were not good. And the guy who served nachos with moldy, rank "cheese" should be taken out back, forced to eat all the nachos, and then fired. I get that Gordon's whole persona is an act but it's wearing thin for me. And I actually mostly kind of like Gordon. Questions: Were those real cops in the beginning? Did Gordon impersonate a cop? Isn't that frowned upon? Did Gordon really send the one cop to pick up Ragnar in his cruiser? Gordon's head is way way too big for his britches. I thought the new decor was ugly and incredibly basic. With the publicity (though bad) that the show drummed up Ragnar should sell that dump right now for whatever he can get, grab his wife, and run very far away and live a nice life far away from his "family". This show isn't really very fun so don't ask me why I watch.