Top Chef: Seattle Recap
By David Mumpower
February 20, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Once the number of participants dwindled to half a dozen, Lizzie had multiple opportunities at 16.7% odds or better each week. In the most recent episode, the odds were 25%...twice. As much as I like the sexily accented chef, Lizzie never managed to insert herself into the competition as the strongest contender. She did, however, earn the respect of her peers as well as the viewers. Also, as far as consolation prizes go, Lizzie does have a decent chance to be named most popular chef of season 10 at the reunion show. Everybody likes her. None of that consoles her for the loss, though.
In Lizzie’s absence, three chefs remain in the competition. Brooke is outnumbered two to one, yet she is cooking as if she is the mother teaching her young boys how to boil water. I like Sheldon and Josh, but they really need to step it up if they are to have any hope of challenging her. With only the three of them remaining, every little mistake will be blown way out of proportion. This is problematic for the fellas because they make oh so many more mistakes than her. I will be surprised if the episode ends with Brooke’s elimination. She is just too good.
The start of the episode features the trio relaxing at their temporary Alaskan home. All of them are feeling the pressure of advancing this far in Top Chef. Nobody wants to go home now. Despite this concern, the conversation lacks tension. All of these people very much like one another and will be friends for life. I always enjoy when reality shows end with situations such as this wherein affable people battle one another to determine who the best of the best is. Most of the time, a jerk (or two) claws their way to the end. Sarah did exactly this last season. I love that all of the people sitting in this living room would be exemplary winners of Top Chef.
Josh has the weight of the world weighing on him this day. His wife still has not given birth to their child yet. He is stunned by the timing of the matter. Becoming Top Chef would fundamentally change his life yet there is nothing more important in the world than parenting. He is forced to be away from his spouse during her time of need. Due to her being several days past the expected delivery date, he is distracted from the crucial upcoming challenges because of his familial obligation. After a couple of episodes where Josh had seemed completely liberated and carefree, the enormity of the situation has finally overwhelmed his conscious thoughts. In such a competitive environment, this disadvantage may be enough to set Josh.
The Quickfire challenge is located at Eagle Crest. Wait, no. All that is located at Eagle Crest is a helicopter. This aircraft will carry the cheftestants to the proper area for their challenge. The only problem is that Brooke hates helicopters more than cruise ships. She breaks down in tears and has to be reassured by the pilot before she will board the helicopter.
“I’ve got survival gear for seven days. Should only be about 15 minutes to get there.” This sounds like dialogue from Alive, and my mind starts to calculate who would be eaten first. Brooke and the female pilot are too thin, so the choices are Sheldon and Josh. If the situation is handled democratically, I think everyone would ultimately choose Josh, who is a bit doughier. In a fight a death, however, his wrestling training would give him the advantage over Sheldon. These are the things I think about while writing reality show recaps.
During the trip, Brooke puts her head down and shuts her eyes tight. After a bumpy moment of turbulence, she looks up and from that moment forward, she is too hypnotized to look away. The view is as HD-friendly as anything I’ve ever seen on television. Relatively untouched by man, these Alaskan mountains are breathtaking. As Sheldon exits, he mentions that he “would die for some good reefer.” I don’t think the view is like a Pink Floyd laser lights show, dude.
Anyway, the chefs are still not at their destination. Instead, they realize that their next journey will require travel by dogsled. Alaska really needs a good monorail system. This part of their trip is much more successful than Eight Below, the Paul Walker movie that doubles as a doggie snuff film. No animals are harmed during the journey. Also, neither Sheldon nor Josh wounds up being eaten. That would have been a very awkward Quickfire challenge. “I feel like you could have used Sheldon’s nature better than this. Also, his flesh was under-seasoned.”
Finally, the players reach Padma and Tom. Dressed in Alaska coating and wearing thick sunglasses to provide protection from the glare of the snow, Padma is accidentally doing a fine impersonation of Kelly McGillis. This is reinforced when she barks out instructions to the remaining three people. “We’re at the Alaska Heli-Mush Dogsled Camp where training is going on for the Iditarod.” Brooke, Josh and Sheldon are required to cook food for the dog-sled athletes.
The challenge is heightened by the conditions. The trio of chefs is stationed in one tent with modest cooking equipment. None of appliances are electric; there is also the distraction of dogs barking excitedly in the background. Two of the three chefs basically fail because of the conditions. As would be expected, the person who meets the challenge is Brooke.
Brooke’s pan-roasted halibut is a huge hit with the Iditarod crowd. Meanwhile, Josh cooks breakfast. Again. Padma is even sardonic about it, noting that if she sees a breakfast food, it must be Josh’s dish. He has ruined the egg by failing to scramble them correctly. Sheldon fails with his sauce, over-seasoning it. This Quickfire challenge is a blowout. Brooke wins in a walk.
Padma drives the contestants to their next destination. It is a house with a pair of special guests inside. Popular Los Angeles chef Roy Choi and celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse are in the kitchen, cooking dinner for Josh, Sheldon and Brooke. Choi and Brooke are old friends and in fact Choi indicates that his current job had been previously held by Brooke.
Choi recounts one of the most memorable stories in the history of Top Chef. A self-professed “scumbag” as a teen, Choi experienced a transcendent moment when he watched Lagasse cooking on television. Lagasse, who is seated beside him during the story, had no idea that he would be the focus of it. He listens intently as Choi reveals that watching that show at that moment caused him to research culinary schools in the area. From that moment forward, Choi was a chef. Emeril is understandably touched by the revealing anecdote. The two clink glasses in a toast of celebration about the man Choi has become. This is a wonderful moment of television.
After the meal is finished, the obvious moment arrives. Padma reveals the stipulations for the upcoming immunity challenge that will determine the finalists for Top Chef Season 10. The trio is informed that they must create a dish that reflects the defining culinary moment in their lives. Brooke is particularly confused by this announcement. She is famous for having wanted to be a chef since she was four years old. So her dish may be peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and paste.
The next several minutes of television focus upon Josh. His wife calls to inform him that her water has broken. He replies, “I really want to be there.” Her crying is obvious during the phone call. I give her tremendous credit for the next tidbit in the conversation, though. When informed that he is still not finished with Top Chef, she forcefully states, “Well, if you are still competing, you just need to win.” Even in labor, she has her eye on the prize. In the immortal words of 300, “Only Spartan women give birth to real men.”
In a brutal turn of events, Josh must begin to cook the most important meal of his life while his mind is fixated on the impending birth of his child. No contestant in the history of Top Chef has faced a larger impediment in a challenge.
Sheldon reveals that the seminal moment in his life was watching Sam Choy cook on Hawaiian television. He proceeds to behead a fish and stuck the giant noggin in boiling water. The fish’s giant eye stares at me wherever I go. Tom Colicchio and he have a conversation that people always plate their fish too soon. Sheldon determines that he will wait to plate until the last possible moment, which causes Tom to state defensively, “If you don’t get it plated, don’t blame me.”
Tom also comes over to quiz Brooke about what I presume will be the winning dish. She states that the plate has not “completely come together in my head.” Trust Brooke to poor-mouth the situation moments before her inevitable domination. I’m going to look like an idiot in a few hundred words if she gets eliminated.
Josh’s defining moment was the first moment he sampled foie gras. He needed to make weight in his wrestling competitions. Because of this, he researched healthier meal choices and discovered that duck was perfect for his needs.
Moments later, Josh continues the unluckiest streak in Top Chef history. Tom Colicchio wanders over to him and asks what the meal will be. Josh answers that he is crafting a foie gras torchon. He notes that he is trying to create a dish that ordinarily takes multiple days in a four-hour timeframe. This aspect alone is a strong indication that Josh is not thinking clearly.
The situation worsens when Josh informs Tom of his plan. He describes his internship for a chef named Alex Roberts. As fate would have it, Roberts worked for Colicchio. Tom replies, “That torchon recipe he made for you? I’m sure it was my recipe.” Yes, Josh is now cooking Tom Colicchio’s recipe for Tom Colicchio. Also, the head judge of the show is well aware of the fact that Josh does not have the appropriate amount of time to prepare it. Josh is in a lot of trouble.
After the daily preparations are completed, the chefs retire to their home. Late at night, Josh’s wife calls. She is crying and largely incoherent. The gist of it is that she is freaking out over his absence during the process of child birth. On top of everything else, Josh now feels guilty and he doesn’t get any sleep. His evening (well, morning) brightens when he gets a voice chat message. This proves to be his first conversation with Georgia Valentine, the presumptive winner of Top Chef 2040. Congratulations, Josh!
Dinner is served at the Governor’s Mansion. In attendance are the Governor and the First Lady of Alaska. Roy Choi and his inspiration, Emeril Lagasse, are also in attendance as are Wolfgang Puck and Gail Simmons. Sheldon is the first to present his dish, which is pan-roasted rockfish (eyes no longer following me) with spot prawns, baby vegetables & dashi. Sheldon is worried about the dish because in waiting until the last minute to plate, he accidentally allowed the flavor to be overwhelmed by the salt. The judges are impressed by the cooking of the fish as well as the presentation of the dish, but they notice the “one mistake” that could cripple his candidacy. Following Tom’s advice may in fact lead to Sheldon’s elimination.
Brooke announces that her inspiration was her mother’s cooking, who crafted homey dishes. Brooke’s plate of comfort food is braised chicken, grilled quail with carrot barley & pickled vegetables. The judges love the flavors the way that Patriots fans love Tom Brady. The devotion borders on religious. Brooke’s buddy Roy Choi points out the complexity of the components. Wolfgang Puck notes that the quail is slightly overcooked. He then adds, “But you know what, if her mother cooks like that, I would come to her house.” Choi adds that Brooke had been a prodigy in Los Angeles. He considers the meal to be “Brooke on the plate.” So, I guess I picked the wrong cheftestant in my earlier Alive analysis.
Josh goes last and his issues give me confidence that he will finish last. As expected, the torchon has not cooked correctly in four hours. He hopes that “the flavors will pull me through.” I suspect Sheldon’s dish would have to be very, very salty for that to be the case. Josh does provide the best news of the evening when he reveals to the judges that he has a new baby girl. They applaud loudly. Then, they proceed to criticize his dish.
The meal is foie gras three ways: torchon, pan-seared & profiterole. It is an oddly bare plate. Roy Choi is the kind one who eats every bit on his plate. Gail states the obvious; the torchon is not set. Everyone agrees that the flavors are great. The cornmeal in his dish is delicious. Everyone likes the companion pieces. This is a duck dish, though, and Josh has failed in that regard.
The judges finish their meals and call the three players to Judges Table. Tom grills Josh about his choice of torchon. “There is absolutely no way to poach it and form it and chill it in an hour. This has nothing to do with how good a chef you are. You just can’t do it.” Tom was ready to send Josh home after their kitchen conversation. The head judge knew how this meal would play out, and he was right.
There are further conversations about each item, detailed ones since there are only three plates to debate. The results are readily apparent, though. Brooke has won for the third consecutive time. Sheldon finishes in a shaky second place while Josh is eliminated from the competition. The Oklahoman does receive the ultimate consolation prize, though. He is a new father who can return home to spend time with his infant daughter.
Last Chance Kitchen ostensibly provides Josh with another chance to reach the final, though. When Josh reaches his new destination, he is greeted by three other players. In addition to Kristen, C.J. and Lizzie are in attendance as well. That Save a Chef hashtag challenge that has baffled me all season is finally finished. The results are announced on the air. Lizzie, whose popularity I mentioned at the start of the column, defeats C.J. and becomes the third participant in what is revealed to be the final Last Chance Kitchen challenge.
In Season 9 of Top Chef, Ed was screwed because he thought he had reached the final four. Then, Beverly returned and upset him to earn his rightful spot in the finals. This season, that issue has been addressed effectively. Everyone who has been eliminated has been given the opportunity to return via two avenues, Last Chance Kitchen and Save a Chef. Anyone who qualifies in the latter category has already been eliminated twice. This rule is not optimal, but it is acceptable. The glaring flaw had been that nobody in the winner’s bracket had been made aware of Last Chance Kitchen previously. Since everyone was informed by Tom Colicchio early in the season, it is a non-issue.
Kristen has been on a hot streak ever since her brutal, unfair elimination during Restaurant Wars. She has won four straight challenges. If she manages to defeat Lizzie and Josh, she returns for the finale of the show. The only difference for the players in the winner’s bracket, Sheldon and Brooke, is that they will have to defeat two chefs rather than one in the finale. I am of the opinion that the chef who earns their way back into the competition must significantly out-perform their peers in order to win Top Chef. This is something that will be addressed in the finale.
Today’s Last Chance Kitchen is all about determining who will reach the ending. And in typically aggravating Bravo TV style, we have a cliffhanger result. Josh’s dish is once again not quite up to snuff, so he will not be winning Top Chef this season. I do, however, want to congratulate him for losing so much weight in the time between Alaska and now. He is in much better shape in Last Chance Kitchen. That sort of weight loss is brutal at any point, much less for the father of a newborn child. Once again, I offer my congratulations to Josh, a really nice guy and a fine chef.
The debate becomes who wins between Lizzie and Kristen. For whatever irritating reason, these results are not revealed. Instead, we must wait until the start of the next episode to receive the revelation about the ultimate winner of Last Chance Kitchen. From the way Tom Colicchio talks, I am inclined to think that Lizzie has achieved an upset, but some Top Chef obsessives claim that they have seen Kristen’s tattoo in a single frame of the preview for next week.
If Kristen’s return occurs, I think we all agree that Sheldon has his work cut out for him if he is to become Top Chef. I said very early in the seasonal power rankings that Lizzie and Kristen were head and shoulders above everyone else. Nothing has changed. If it is Lizzie appearing in the finale, I very much like her but since she hasn’t won anything yet this season, I don’t like her candidacy. In such a scenario, Sheldon has a much better chance of winning. He can defeat both Brooke and Lizzie much easier than Brooke and Kristen. Ultimately, this has been Brooke’s season and she deserves to win, though.
Rather than do an individual column of Power Rankings, I will simply add them here based upon the comments above.
1) Brooke: Brooke has not only been the best player this season, but she also happens to be streaking at exactly the right moment. Since the herd has thinned, she has absolutely dominated, winning four out of the last five individual challenges. Overall, Brooke has won eight times this year, almost as much as the second and third highest totals combined. She has been that dominant.
Since there is a scheduling gap between what happened in Alaska and the finale, there exists the possibility that Brooke will have cooled off since then. I am of the opinion that the cream rises to the top, though. Brooke has won the most challenges this season, and she has been undeniably the best player ever since Kristen’s elimination. Brooke deserves the title of Top Chef.
2) Sheldon: Since I debuted the power rankings for this season, Sheldon has been listed somewhere between second and fourth place. After Kristen was eliminated, I moved Sheldon into second place and he has held that spot for five consecutive episodes now. This is exactly how I view Sheldon. He is the penultimate contestant in Season 10. He isn’t quite as good as Brooke, but he is better than anyone else. I am glad that Top Chef: Seattle is ending with the best two players in the finale. We have been robbed of such a conclusion most of the time. Seasons four and six are the noteworthy exceptions in this regard. Hopefully, this finale will be every bit as satisfying as each of those were.
3) Kristen: Given the fiasco that transpired at Restaurant Wars and Kristen’s dominance in Last Chance Kitchen, she deserves a spot in the finale. After Brooke, she is the most talented chef this year. This is why she was never ranked lower than second during any power rankings I wrote this season. Still, I mean what I said above. Kristen was eliminated from Top Chef. No matter how big a mistake that was on the part of the judges, she still should be required to do much better than her peers in the finale in order to win. And there exists the possibility that she is already out of the competition. That stupid Last Chance Kitchen cliffhanger creates a lot of confusion in this regard.
4) Lizzie: I believe that Fan Favorite will be won by a woman this year. Lizzie, Brooke and Kristen are the strongest candidates although Sheldon’s smile and Josh’s story keep both of them in the conversation. At a minimum, Lizzie has already defeated a popular chef, CJ, in the Save a Chef challenge. She has also effectively matched Kristen in Last Chance Kitchen, which sounds impressive until we remember that Kristen had just beaten her the previous week. As such, I struggle to consider Lizzie worthy of the title of Top Chef this year, even though I really like her. If she does earn a spot in the finale, I believe that she should have to do even more than Kristen to survive. In addition, the situation would also be aggravating in that Lizzie and Kristen would have one win each in Last Chance Kitchen. This is a different variation of the Beverly/Ed situation last year. My personal feelings toward Lizzie aside, the Top Chef finale is more valid if Kristen qualifies instead.