S12.E11: Sous Your Daddy

[Tara Ariano]

The chefs' family members pay surprise visits. In a twist, the family members must serve as sous chefs in a challenge that features the creation of one appetizer and one entrée.

[Nidratime]

That ending sucked. Mei should've won based on her overall performance throughout the season and the fact that her brother was not a cook at all and yet executed perfectly. This means to me they want another man to win because they are torpedoing their strongest female.

[HappyDancex2]

I knew they weren't going to give it to Mei.  I think it's because her brother's dish was so simple and Melissa's mom made chawamushi.  Eh.  I hope Mei isn't the one that makes nauseating chinese take out ribs next week.  My vote for boot is George!

 

The drudging and digging and fishing is always fun to watch.  I really wanted some fresh oysters or fresh surf clams!  Oh my.

 

The setting for this episode was spectacular.  Nice house, nice dinner setting....quite lovely.

[avecsans]

I teared up a little when Melissa talked about how loving and supportive her mother has been to her. Such a contrast to Mei's straight up nastiness to her brother. I was glad Melissa won just to see how proud and happy her mother was. I am a sucker for happy mother-child relationships. And by the way, I hope Melissa's father is ashamed.

My Gregory has to step up his game.

[HappyDancex2]

Thought it was a wee bit odd that George called his dad "Mr. Tony" repeatedly.

[AngYouDontStop]

I was sort of... I dunno, stunned? Put off? by how nasty Mei was to her brother. I'm not going to judge her (who knows, this guy could've been a total dick to her for their whole lives), but it came off really unpleasant. Her food sounded great, though.

[Ketzel]

Thought it was a wee bit odd that George called his dad "Mr. Tony" repeatedly.

Heh, I'm guessing everyone who worked in his diners called him "Mr. Tony" and he made his kids do it too so as not to look like he played favorites. Years ago I had to call my mother  Mrs. Ketzelmom when I took a class she was teaching at my high school.

 

I thought I completely understood Mei's relationship with her brother and it made me so uncomfortable watching it play out on my TV that I had to keep walking away from their scenes.  She thinks he was the golden child, she's angry she didn't get the support and approval he got, and she takes it out on him with no restraint. He feels both guilty that he's been treated better than she has, and also resentment that she blames him for what isn't his fault. I expect he also feels trapped between affection for his big sister and loyalty to their very rigid parents.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Ketzel

[Mrs. P.]

Melissa is totally going to win this thing, isn't she? Gregory has stumbled recently, and I can't believe George will win. I guess Mei could still pull it out, especially since her flavors always seem to be exceptional, but I just have a feeling that it's going to be Melissa.

[candall]

No elimination + cheftestant relatives = no interest.

 

 

 

[JES004]

While I was put off by Mei's attitude toward her brother, I thought she should have won.  Her brother didn't know how to cook at all.  Melissa's mother was much more experienced.  You have to explain even the smallest things to an inexperienced cook, something Melissa did not have to do.  I do sort of understand.  I know someone who was raised similarly, and the wounds go deep.

[ShadowSixx]

When Mei said her brother was a brat, I was thinking she was the brat between the two because her brother seems like a really nice guy, who seems to like to please people.

 

What I don't understand is how Melissa's father possibly isn't in her life because she's a chef. A chef can be a very rewarding career, if you know what you're doing and keep at it.

 

I had a feeling that Melissa was going to win and not mad at it. Gregory better be glad that it was a non elimination round or he would have packed his knives and go.

[NowVoyager]

AWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!! How sweet was Melissa's mommy?!! I felt the love through the tv. While she can't make up for the complete lack of support from the father, it's still a blessing to have someone like that in your life.

I was ready to call bullshit on the whole episode from about 10 minutes in, when I heard George's father was a chef. Glad he didn't win the free pass into the final---that would have been a Mess! If he's going to win the whole thing he needs to earn it, otherwise there would always be a dark cloud hanging over his head.

I didn't have a problem with Mei's relationship with her brother. I do think that sometimes you have a certain comfort level with someone where the niceness takes on a bit of shorthand. Like the mantra from MTV Realworld: "when people stop being nice & start being real." She yawned openly without covering her mouth & gave him the business about school; he laughed often & tried to follow her instructions. I think they're cool. I think they have an understanding of one another.

Gregory & his sister clearly had a warm relationship as well. He seemed rather subdued this episode & not at his best though....Hopefully just a build-up to the finale.

Greg or Mei for the win!

Edited January 15, 2015 by NowVoyager

[Bastet]

When the general idea of this challenge - cook using a family member as your sous chef - was revealed by the preview after last week's episode, I was taken aback by the thought of using such a gimmick late in the game, thinking someone could go home because of mistakes made by a non-chef.  So I was pleased to see this was a non-elimination EC.

 

When Padma described how neck and neck Mei and Melissa were and said the edge was going to go to the one who showed the best leadership skills by coaxing an excellent dish out of their sous chef, I thought Mei was going to get bonus points for having a sous who can't cook vs. Melissa having one with passable skills.  I figured it would be a cover for "on the basis of the competition as a whole, Mei is more deserving of an advanced pass to the finale than Melissa."  And I thought it would kind of be screwing Melissa over, as her appetizer seemed more complex than Mei's and thus the edge should go to her.  So I was surprised, but pleased, when Melissa's name was announced instead.  I think she did a great job of breaking things down step by step in writing so that her mom could feel confident executing the dish and they could both relax somewhat and focus; Melissa probably came the closest to doing it herself as anyone could with the "you can't touch the appetizer" restriction, and that was sound strategy.

 

Plus, Melissa's mom rocks.  An aerospace engineer who is bursting with pride for her daughter even though that daughter turned out a bit different than she'd imagined or perhaps even hoped?  I'm in.

 

I'm very close to my parents, but under these conditions I'd have sounded a lot more like Mei in the kitchen than the kumbaya vibe everyone else had going on.  That's just not how we roll in my family.  (Mei not knowing how many years of school her brother has left or her parents distancing themselves from their daughter because she chose a different path than the one they wanted for her is not how we roll, either; I'm just saying we get snippy and then move on.)

Edited January 15, 2015 by Bastet

[HappyDancex2]

I'd love a video master class of Melissa's techniques on her magic vegetables. They have been well received in many challenges. When the veg overshadows freaking lobster, I need this information in my life!

I get Mei too. And I feel bad for both Melissa and Mei but it's pretty typical of that parental generation.

[mlp]

I thought Melissa earned her win tonight even though Mei has been stronger all along.  I've never liked Mei and, after seeing her behavior during this episode when she knew full well she was being filmed, I can't stand her.  She and Michael V., both of them arrogant, deserve each other.  George seems like a nice fellow.  His homely father not so much.  I kept expecting him to chew George out for something.  Gregory just blew it.

 

I saw several commercials for Tom's new restaurant competition show which apparently starts next week in Top Chef's time slot.  Does anyone know what will happen with Top Chef's scheduling?  I know the participants have some downtime between the last regular episode and the final episodes shot in a different location but I don't remember there being a gap between televised shows.  I must be missing something. 

[VintageJ]

Top Chef starts an hour earlier next week.

[GaT]

At first I couldn't understand what the point of having a family member cooking was, & it pissed me off that they were being judged on how they cooked, but I finally got the idea about chefs should be able to instruct so I'm OK with it. I was also OK with Melissa winning, everyone seemed to do a pretty good job. 

 

Is it just me, or has this season seemed to have gone pretty quickly?

[In Pog Form]

Holy shit, George starts the episode off on a cringeworthy note with "Heh, an Asian chick, an Asian lesbian chick, a gay black dude, and me - a straight white male!" Yeah, because it's simply hilarious that other people have different races and genders than you. Who would have thunk it?

And also Gregory referring to Julia Child as "Julia Childs." I thought he was a big fan of her. Apparently not.

Edited January 15, 2015 by In Pog Form

[stopeslite]

I felt achingly sorry for Mei this entire episode. It seemed like she and Melissa were building up a relationship based in large part on being from similar families with similar levels of familial non-support. Then the families show up, and Melissa gets her mom, who spends the whole time talking about how proud she is now of Melissa, and Mei gets... her brother. George got his dad, Melissa got her mom, Gregory got his sibling who's his best friend,and Mei gets the brother she's never been anything like close to. The first thing she thought was probably "Well, nobody wanted to come, so they made him and he just thinks it will be fun to be on tv". And all the messages they sent out indicated that she's been resentful of him her entire life, that she got all of the parental discipline and "tough love" while he got all of the attention. Then she soldiers through, he does step up, and they do something great, which is so lovely... then Melissa gets the win. I don't think Mei's outright jealous of Melissa, but that was another blow that well, now instead of being proud of her, her parents might be likely to complain that if she couldn't win with her "fantastic" brother helping her, she must not be good at all. All of her anger looked rooted in years of that kind of screwed-up family dynamic, and I just wanted to give her a hug. 

 

Oh, and speaking of not being familiar with Julia Child, my husband couldn't believe that none of them made fish. She loved fish. Fish was her introduction to French cooking, and it's a protein that is easy to fit in that time frame. Have none of them read her autobiography?

Edited January 15, 2015 by stopeslite

[cooksdelight]

And also Gregory referring to Julia Child as "Julia Childs."

Gregory, meet RHoA star NeNe Leakes. She adds an S in the weirdest places.

[Julia]

I think Melissa's mom is awesome. I didn't think the challenge was choosing a recipe your awesome mom already knew how to cook so you could concentrate on your dish. 

 

Well, it's not the first time someone in the final three had an asterisk. It'd be close to the first if one of them didn't.

[elzin]

Top Chef starts an hour earlier next week.

Well, I know what I won't be watching live, then. Unless Modern Family and Blackish are repeats, that is.  I like it at 10 and I hate network shenanigans.  This episode being so boring that I checked out about 10 seconds in and had to come here to check on the elimination that I thought I missed didn't help.

[Primetimer]

There's only four Top Chef contestants left, which means this is the episode that decides the final three! R...ight?

Read the story

[Corgi-ears]

When Padma described how neck and neck Mei and Melissa were and said the edge was going to go to the one who showed the best leadership skills by coaxing an excellent dish out of their sous chef, I thought Mei was going to get bonus points for having a sous who can't cook vs. Melissa having one with passable skills. 

 

 

It was a fascinating "depends on how you slice it" situation (WORDPLAY!). On one hand, it is true that Mei had a sous chef who apparently had never cooked, so perhaps she should have gotten points for that. But I also thought that Melissa's leadership approach was better. Mei's tactic, by her own admission, was to give her brother as little to do as possible (I can't remember exactly what he did, but didn't his dish feature raw seafood?). In contrast, Melissa thought back to a dish that her mom used to make, and taught her to do an elevated version. She recognized her sous chef's strengths and talents and nurtured them, brought them out. If I had to work in a kitchen under someone, it would obviously be Melissa instead of Mei. And if the challenge was truly meant to assess and reward that skill, then it was nice that Melissa did win.

 

(Of course, the counter-argument to that is that Mei was working with someone who had no talent that could be brought out. At least in her account; Im not sure I totally buy it.)

 

This is also why I found the episode quite gripping. I know some viewers and reviewers deemed the episode boring because there was no elimination. But the challenge was actually an interesting one that showcased different ways of relating to people. The Mei/Melissa situation could even be a Business school case study in leadership and management styles.*

 

* possibly an overstatement

Edited January 15, 2015 by Corgi-ears

[Darian]

I also think Mei should have won. Some people just can't cook and trying to teach them in a high pressure situation isn't going to go well. Especially if there's personal baggage. At least no one was eliminated. Before Padma said that I was annoyed.

 

Finally, Top Chef features a place at which I've eaten and it's a lobster shack we happened to pass as we were ready to eat lunch. I think we even sat at the same picnic table. The scenery in this episode was beautiful.    

[Lamb18]

I was hoping Mei would win.  That broth sounded so good, plus she had the tougher training job.  I didn't mind how she treated her brother that much.  This competition and her career are very important to her and I think she was afraid her brother wouldn't take this seriously and be careless and have the mentality of "it's just my sister, it doesn't matter."  I could tell she was happy when she realized he was trying hard to help her.  I think he was slow because he didn't want to do things incorrectly.

 

I guess I liked this episode.  I'm glad no one was eliminated.  They had the challenge of the untrained sous-chefs making a dish and had some restriction on ingredients, but like last week, there was no convoluted twist based on product placement or some other gimmick.

[sourpickles]

I've been overall disappointed with this whole season, maybe because I'm from the area and expected far more than some of the overdone gimmicks that they've trotted out. Which seems to get worse every season, but I digress. I thought from the first episode that Mei was going to go far, if not win. Now that I've said that, of course......However, I've finally figured out (I think) what it is about her that bugs me. Someone a few forums back mentioned the spectacular resting bitchface. I flashed back to Cycle 3 of America's Next Top Model, when they went to Japan and were filming Campbell's soup commercials. They had pulled Amanda's hair back VERY tightly and when she saw herself she said "I just look like a pair of ears on an onion!". When I see Mei with her hair yanked back and headband on, there you go. Or maybe it's just me. Still rooting for her, though, she should have won this week.

[Wings]

  I was rooting for Mei, too but not overly disappointed that Melissa won.  I wanted to eat that custard.  My hunch is that Melissa's father alienated himself more because she is gay than on being a chef.  Both are at play though.  

 

The Asian culture sees cooking as a lowly profession.  My husband worked with a Chinese man and business took them to China.  They talked about food.  The reason the Chinese food we get here is all the same and basically pretty bad is because people immigrate and open restaurants not knowing how to cook and don't think it important.  They get a bunch of random men to do the cooking and most we eat comes from a restaurant supply house.  Nothing is prepared from scratch.  There are exceptions, of course but they are rare. 

 

I like George.  It is not his fault he works for Mike Isabella or was voted back in.  He is skilled.  I also liked his hair straight off the boat; it looked great!  

 

Mei for the win!

Edited January 16, 2015 by wings707

[FineWashables]

I enjoyed the dynamics in this episode, and everything looked delicious.  I'm glad Gregory wasn't eliminated yet -- I don't think he'll win, but I've enjoyed watching him become more confident as opposed to arrogant as the season progressed.  

 

I want to see Greasy George out next because I never wanted him back in to begin with.  It was such a random and unfair decision -- yes, of course the judges can do whatever they want to define the competition, but it's less compelling when they just ignore the structure and change the rules arbitrarily.  Now we see that next week they'll drop another eliminated contestant into the final four.  So instead of going from the final four to the final three, we're moving from the final four to the final five.  I really hate that.  I watch and become invested in the people who I see each week, and immediately forget whoever didn't make the cut.  The only exception to this since the show began is Kristen Kush, who I was happy to see return since she shouldn't have been eliminated in the first place.

 

 I'm fine with either Melissa or Mei for the win.  There were a lot of subpar chefs this season but the ones who are left now really do seem exceptional.  

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I think Melissa's mom is awesome. I didn't think the challenge was choosing a recipe your awesome mom already knew how to cook so you could concentrate on your dish. 

 

Well, it's not the first time someone in the final three had an asterisk. It'd be close to the first if one of them didn't.

 

I am not sure why Melissa should have an asterisk for accurately assessing her mother's strengths and weaknesses as a chef, designing a dish that took advantage of those strengths, breaking down the dish for her mother step by step, and coaching her through the process so that it was extremely successful all while producing her own perfectly cooked dish.  That deserves an asterisk because why?

 

Listen, I thought that Melissa was a pretty weak at the beginning but she's really stepped up her game and produced several really good dishes over the past several episodes, even while someone like Gregory has stumbled. She deserves to be in the final, in my opinion, without an asterisk.

 

Regarding Mei - I didn't love her treatment of her brother but at the end of the day, she did admit that he did a good job and she seems to have affection for him.  My heart did kind of break for her when she said she didn't want to prove herself to her parents because I think she is probably not being totally honest with herself about that.

Edited January 15, 2015 by eleanorofaquitaine

[jackjill89]

Melissa hasn't been a stellar chef all season, but I really like her, and she's peaking at the right time. Her mother was wonderful. I really felt for Mei. Her entire demeanor and body language changed with her brother there. So much baggage there. I hope Mei is in the finals. She is a great chef. 

[archer1267]

she's peaking at the right time.

 

 

No disrespect intended towards your opinion, but I'm not a fan of contestants suddenly rising to the occasion when it matters. I'm still irked about Nick's win last season. He floundered in the middle of the pack for a good chunk of his season, whereas Nina and Shirley competed hard all season long and consistently delivered. I get that previous performance is not taken into account, but Melissa's been skating by on the bare minimum for a long time…and now that she's in the final four, NOW she pulls it out? Eh. 

[eleanorofaquitaine]

No disrespect intended towards your opinion, but I'm not a fan of contestants suddenly rising to the occasion when it matters. I'm still irked about Nick's win last season. He floundered in the middle of the pack for a good chunk of his season, whereas Nina and Shirley competed hard all season long and consistently delivered. I get that previous performance is not taken into account, but Melissa's been skating by on the bare minimum for a long time…and now that she's in the final four, NOW she pulls it out? Eh. 

 

I don't think that's a fair assessment of Melissa's track record.  It isn't as if she just put weak dish after weak dish out until yesterday's episode. It seems as if she turned a corner with the Thanksgiving episode and has produced some pretty highly regarded dishes in both the Quickfire and Elimination challenges since then.  Meanwhile, Gregory seemed to rise to the occasion at the beginning but has since floundered.  People react differently to high stress and competition, and it seems like it took a while for Melissa to get her bearings but once she did, she's produced great food.  On the other side, Gregory seemed to come out strong, but also seems to have lost his bearings once he wasn't the only one winning. 

 

Of the four remaining, I'd say Mei has been the most consistent, but even she's had her highs and lows.  IMO, it's just the nature of this kind of competitive game.

 

Edited January 15, 2015 by eleanorofaquitaine

[Writing Wrongs]

That was a waste of an episode.

[roctavia]

I don't have a horse in this race...which perhaps proves even more that I watch this show out of habit instead of actually caring about Top Chef anymore. I don't care about the contestants... I'm increasingly annoyed with the gimmicky returns of people who were already eliminated... I know they may not have had a 'fair' shot, but that's how competition shows work, you screw up, you're out.

 

And this week I wasn't even excited about the food. Maybe because I eat boring stuff and don't eat any kind of seafood... so many episodes contain more and more foods that I have no interest in trying. I don't remember feeling that way in the earlier seasons ???

 

I didn't have a problem with Melissa's win.. the judges are supposed to be judging the food not what's happening behind the scenes. Melissa had the best dishes no matter her mom's skill level. I mean, wasn't george's dad a chef? It was sad to see that Mei didn't have the support for cooking from her parents and that she's not best buddies with her brother, but I'm honestly tired of all of the cooking show sob stories. Cook some good food and don't be a douche... that simple!

 

I am sad, though, that top chef is a big 'ol bore to me when it used to be one of my favorite shows :(

[The Solution]

I thought Melissa won her spot in the finals fair and square. Not only did we have the perfectly-cooked vegetables we've come to expect from her, but we got a protein that every one of the judges said was cooked perfectly and a well-executed and complicated appetizer.

 

However, I wouldn't have minded if Mei went straight through to the finals as well. Would be perfectly happy going from here to a menage a trois with the LCK winner and the winner of that three-for-all taking the final seat in the finals. I should be a producer.

 

I don't dislike George, but it still galls me that he's gotten this far by doing so little. All he's done is win a quickfire against someone who was deservedly on her way out and manage not to lose for the two or three challenges since then. G I M M I C K Y

[Apocalypse Cow]

Did anyone notice how high George's pants were on the oyster farm boat ride? I don't even know what they were talking about on the ride because I was so distracted by the high pants. You could see the waistband of his pants through his red tee shirt and it was Urkel high.  George is very strange to me.  A little socially awkward and geeky--- def not the cocky guy I had him pegged as in the first episode.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Apocalypse Cow

[hendersonrocks]

Plus, Melissa's mom rocks.  An aerospace engineer who is bursting with pride for her daughter even though that daughter turned out a bit different than she'd imagined or perhaps even hoped?  I'm in.

 

ME TOO. It was lovely.

 

I was feeling for Mei, and think the analysis someone posted further up about alllll the feelings that came up through this challenge could be spot on. Then again, who knows--maybe Mei really is at peace with how her family sees her career. She's badass either way, and I like that she is who she is.

 

Do you think we were spared an elimination challenge because of how the elimination quick-fires panned out earlier in the season? I'm not smart enough/quick enough to do the math on that, but I wonder if it played a role. Personally, I was glad to see no elimination in this one--I do think it led to creativity over safety, and I would have hated for the family members to be thrust into that situation.

 

Finally, George: don't ever make that attempt at a joke/observation/awkward-way-to-fill-the-silence again. Please. 

[Nidratime]

That ending sucked. Mei should've won based on her overall performance throughout the season and the fact that her brother was not a cook at all and yet executed perfectly. This means to me they want another man to win because they are torpedoing their strongest female.

 

 

I have to reassess and explain my earlier comment after I went and checked Wikipedia.

 

I've watched this show off and on for years and have always thought they didn't do the greatest job when it came to their female contestants. They'd award them along the way for being better or just as good as the men, but when it came to the final prize, the dudes almost always win. (It feels that way for many food competition shows.) However, I checked Wikipedia and there was a female winner two years ago. (I thought only Stephanie had ever won and, frankly, I didn't think she was the best.) In any event, that's why I was so visceral in my comment about their not giving the win to Mei last night. She's been almost always pretty good, if not the best, throughout the season. So, now that we've gotten to the end and someone was being rewarded with a place in the final three (or four?) I thought it was "suspicious" that they didn't give it to Mei, since they admitted that this particular challenge was a virtual tie with Melissa. If Mei won a spot in the final at this point, it would seem like she was the one to beat and the suspense would be over. And I also thought that it was a way of keeping her even with Gregory who is the other contestant who has been pretty good all season.

 

However, with the knowledge that there *was* another female winner recently -- I must've bailed out that season -- I'm thinking I might be over analyzing this and looking at it with a sympathetic chip on my shoulder for the very talented female chefs who always seem to be almost at the top, but who do not quite reach the brass ring.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Nidratime

[Bastet]

FYI since you missed it:  The structure of the finale in which we got our second female winner was awful, but the two chefs competing in it were both women and both fantastic women at that.  We were also treated to Stephanie, upon being asked how she felt about no longer being the only woman to have won, saying, "It's about damn time."

 

Back to the episode, like someone upthread, I am wondering what voodoo magic Melissa works on vegetables that they are not only often highly praised, but get singled out for effusive praise when they are served alongside poached lobster universally loved and described by one as the best she's ever eaten.  I want her to come cook for me!

 

I was, however, put off by her statement shown in the beginning of the episode that she doesn't feel she's "been able to" show what she can do yet.  If the contestants had been stifled by a bunch of confining challenge parameters, I could understand that, but they've had several in which they had nearly free rein to strut their culinary stuff.

 

I felt bad for Gregory having the only dish that wasn't superb.  He did it to himself, but everyone else stood there next to their family member and got showered with praise, and he was informed his sister turned out a better dish than he did.  Ouch.  Self inflicted, but ouch.  It was such a nice, proud moment for everyone else.  He seemed to take it in stride and enjoy his time with his sister, though.

 

The Mei and Harly talking head segments were cracking me up.  I wonder what sort of relationship they'll settle into.

[Qoass]

 

maybe Mei really is at peace with how her family sees her career. She's badass either way, and I like that she is who she is.

 

I agree.  It was refreshing to see a grownup who is creating the life she wants whether her parents endorse it or not.  Some people just move on and create their own families out of their own lives.

[Totale]

Scraping the floor for b-roll there at Bravo towers, they threw a shot of the Duxbury Town Hall during the shopping montage, even though it's on the wrong shore and a good two hours drive each way away from Gloucester.  About all they have in common is that they're both on the water and that there is no Whole Foods anywhere near either one.

 

I was bored senseless during this episode, because I couldn't care less about any of these people or their family stories, and I can just put up a mirror in the kitchen if I want to see an amateur making bad knife cuts and/or burning shit.  So I'm just left looking at sloppy production mistakes like the above, and that they screwed up the timing and had to send TC in for the sniff 'n' sneer before Melissa's team was even in the kitchen, so they got left out. But I was always told to think of something nice to say, so it's nice that they held Blaise down to only about a half dozen lines too many, and while I usually avoid drooling Padma looked pretty fit there at the dinner table.  I'm sure LCK will play Lucy with the football and not actually say who else will be coming back next week, but I guess I will be.

[carrps]

I didn't have a problem with Mei's relationship with her brother. I do think that sometimes you have a certain comfort level with someone where the niceness takes on a bit of shorthand. Like the mantra from MTV Realworld: "when people stop being nice & start being real." She yawned openly without covering her mouth & gave him the business about school; he laughed often & tried to follow her instructions. I think they're cool. I think they have an understanding of one another.

Greg or Mei for the win!

I totally "got" Mei's relationship with Harley. Not every family has that overly effusive, gushy, huggy, kissy relationship. I didn't. And I find that over emotionalism rings false to me ... even if it's completely real. So, I can see how people who do come from demonstrative families find Melissa's mom and her abundance of "I love yous" more appealing. Not that I don't doubt the feelings, but, dang, give it a rest.

 

I kept flashing on a friend of mine who was the eldest child with two younger brothers. She's also Chinese-American, and I don't know for sure if that has anything to do with it, but she has/had a similar relationship with her younger brothers. She said she used to terrorize them, and they still defer to her. Being first born -- even if you're not the most favored child -- still has a certain built in power.

 

As for the food, everything looked really good to me. I want to try that surf clam. Right. Now. All except the chawan mushi which I heartily dislike. I love Japanese food, all except that.

[cpcathy]

No elimination + cheftestant relatives = no interest.

 

Absolutely. I cried out loud, "No one is effing going home?" and went to bed.

[In Pog Form]

The Asian culture sees cooking as a lowly profession.

Uh, there is no one "Asian culture" - that's like saying that there's single "European culture." Attitudes towards cooking vary greatly across Asian countries, and even within single countries.

[Wings]

Uh, there is no one "Asian culture" - that's like saying that there's single "European culture." Attitudes towards cooking vary greatly across Asian countries, and even within single countries.

 

 

Just using verbal shorthand.  Many Asian countries.  

[Julia]

I think a lot of second- and third-generation people are under pressure from their families to go into professions, but that's not really limited to families from asian countries.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Julia

[tvfanatic13]

So, does Melissa not compete next week, or does she compete with immunity?

[VintageJ]

I loved seeing the families cook together without fear of elimination. The different dynamics were interesting to see and I'm sure they all got a new appreciation for the craft. I loved seeing Gregory and his sister's relationship. They seem really close. Sorry he didn't do his best this challenge. Mei and her brother seemed to also be an oldest and baby of the family vibe a little. But she said they got closer doing that and I'm glad. Nothing she can do about her parents' approval. Good for her to recognize that and move on. I was happy to see the family members' dishes do so well.

[locomoco]

I felt bad for Mei... herding Harly around and getting him to focus and pay attention looked like any number of Simpson episodes where it was crucial for Homer to do just ONE THING RIGHT...

Edited January 15, 2015 by locomoco