Top Chef Recap
Finale Part I
By David Mumpower
February 6, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com

Be careful, Nina. Stephanie used to lean on him like this, too.

Previously on Top Chef, Louis earned the title of champion of Last Chance Kitchen. The previous winner, Kristen Kish, had eventually become the winner of Top Chef. Before Louis could enjoy such fanciful daydreams, the rug was pulled out from under him. Within the hour, Shirley and he were both eliminated from Top Chef. The final two players this season are Nick and Nina.

Since the first episode, Nina’s opponents have perceived her as the strongest player. Even though Shirley dominated throughout the second half of the season, the aura of Nina continued to intimidate the rest of her opponents. Nick in particular has exposited that if he wants to win Top Chef, the path goes through Nina. That point of view has proven prescient.

What can be said of Nick? Almost every controversy this season has involved him in some way. Nick butted heads with Carlos so often that they seemed to auditioning for Bravo’s remake of Moonlighting. The two gentlemen seemed evenly matched throughout the season before Carlos claimed victory in a heads up Quickfire challenge match-up, thereby winning a new car. His celebration was short lived as Nick and Carlos once again had a showdown for elimination. Obviously, Carlos lost. By the narrowest of margins, Nick became the victor in their feud.

Alas, that series of incidents will not be Nick’s lingering memory on Top Chef. Instead, the most noteworthy moment of the season for him occurred when he gained immunity during a Quickfire challenge. Then, he turned around and sabotaged his three player team. Nick was manipulated into crafting a corn silk bird’s nest. His teammates on the challenges, Shirley and Stephanie, literally begged him not to serve the dish because they knew it was terrible. He did it anyway because Nick is about Nick, first and foremost. He had a fantasy about impressing the judges by going outside his comfort zone and thereby hitting a winner.

The dish failed in dramatic fashion. Out of the six players remaining, Nick offered far and away the worst meal of the evening. As one would imagine from the wording, the corn silk bird’s nest proved to be inedible. Nick was offered the chance to fall on his sword in order to allow his teammates who cooked extremely well to continue in the competition. Nick declined.

Stephanie wound up being eliminated from Top Chef for what was described as the most delicious food ever for a “loser”. It was a miscarriage of justice although I maintained at the time and still believe that the producers rather than Nick carry the burden of failure here. Even on a top notch production like Top Chef, mistakes are still made. Nick capitalized on one to advance deeper into the game. Now, he is a single victory away from becoming the champion of Top Chef New Orleans.

In the process, he would become far and away the worst winner in the history of Top Chef. I mentioned in the Power Rankings a few weeks ago that Nick was mirroring Top Chef season 7 winner Kevin Sbraga. The analog is that both chefs were surviving rather than excelling. Think of the situation similar to The Amazing Race. That reality competition is not about the cream rising to the top inasmuch as the goal is to survive every week in order to have a chance at the finale. In an extreme example, a consistently terrible team who were already reality television stars, The Fabulous Beekman Boys, became champions of The Amazing Race by employing these tactics then getting hot during the finale. They never finished higher than third place until that last episode.

The reason why I champion Top Chef so passionately is that this program is a meritocracy. The cream is intended to rise to the top. The best player each season generally wins. Sbraga is a rare exception in that he won only one challenge his entire season prior to the finale. Still, Sbraga is by all accounts a badass chef who has earned the respect of the Voltaggio Brothers. Nick is a hothead who was once the only person not re-hired when new ownership purchased his restaurant. How could this happen if Nick is a chef capable of reaching the Top Chef finale?

The answer lies in Nick’s personality. He is a “my way or the highway” kind of person. He also does not take criticism well, a key issue throughout this season. Nick has been told time and time again that his dishes have lacked seasoning. While I respect the fact that he chooses to present healthier versions of his dishes, he has never adapted to the requests of those critiquing his food. That decision is equal parts stubborn and stupid. In a nutshell, that is who Nick is. He marches to his own beat, for better and (oftentimes) for worse.

Reading the above, you should draw two conclusions. The first is that Nina’s quiet excellence is not great fodder for conversation. The second is that I have conflicted feelings about the idea of Nick as a Top Chef champion. There has been a situation such as this once before. During Top Chef All Stars, Richard Blais squared off against Mike Isabella in what appeared to be a huge mismatch on paper. Then, Mike created a pepperoni sauce that…did things to Gail Simmons. In the process, he almost achieved a massive upset, narrowly losing the title of Top Chef to Blais. Since we know from the previews that tonight’s episode features the closest finale ever, Nick is a coin flip to become the undeserving winner of Top Chef. You’ve been warned.

After a couple of minutes spent recapping the season, tonight’s episode begins with the same quote from the ads. The show fractures time for the first time ever (eat your heart out, Steven Soderbergh!), starting with Judges Table. Padma states, “This is the closest finale I’ve ever experienced.” She adds that Nina’s ragout dish was the best of the night. Gail counters by saying that Nick’s duck dish was “fantastic” while Emeril counters that he could not finish said duck because it was so undercooked. A frustrated Hugh Acheson queries Tom, “What happens now because we’re in a tie?” Tom wants Hugh to calm. The. F. Down. “Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Are we in a tie?” Gail adds that they could debate for 16 more hours without a decision being made. Obviously, there is a lot of suspense on Top Chef tonight.

Moments after the previous episode’s eliminations, Tom and Padma speak directly to Nick and Nina. The terms of the final Elimination challenge are clearly defined. “You will each be taking over a restaurant and making it your own for the night. Create a four-course menu that shows us without question which one of you deserves the title of Top Chef.”

You may remember that by winning last week’s challenge, Nick garnered an advantage during the final competition. It proves to be a huge one, albeit one he fails to capitalize upon to the fullest. Padma and several previously eliminated players arrive in Nick and Nina’s (breathtakingly gorgeous) hotel suite. Nick has the ability to pick three assistants before Nina gets to choose any. The options are Carlos, Shirley, Janine, Sara, Louis, Travis, Stephanie, Brian and Jason. Since only six people in total will be chosen, the other three will become vacationers in a matter of moments.

Early this season, Nick and Jason revealed the details of their Philadelphia bromance. While Shirley and Louis seem like the obvious choices for the first two picks, Nick does the predictable in choosing his buddy, Jason. He does add Louis next, meaning he is not a complete moron. Then, he does something a bit odd in selecting Brian rather than Shirley. My suspicion is that Nick recognizes that Shirley still may resent him for not resigning in the aforementioned Elimination challenge earlier this season. So he chooses a drama free team instead.

Nick’s focus on team chemistry is a boon to Nina. She quickly adds Shirley as her number one draft pick. The two best chefs this season are now on the same team, so Nick has needlessly given himself an uphill struggle. The situation grows magnified with Nina’s second selection, Stephanie. If anybody in this game wants to be the cause of Nick’s losing, it’s the Bostonian he screwed out of the game. I understand why he could not select her for himself; her participation on the other team is a huge benefit to Nina, though.

Nina’s final choice is a bit like Nick’s selection of Jason. Rather than choose a more talented chef, Nina picks her friend, Travis. Janine is a better chef, Sara is a more experienced one and Carlos would be similarly motivated to defeat Nick. So I think this is the worst of the four options with regards to cooking ability. In terms of team chemistry, however, the decision is understandable. No matter the reason, Nina’s team looks much stronger on paper than Nick’s. The real winner in all of this is Carlos. He gets to go to the beach with bikini-clad Padma, uber-hottie Janine and ultra-cool Sara. That may be better than the $125,000 and title of Top Chef.

Nina suffers the first bad break of the night. Unlike last week, this wound is not self-inflicted. Nina acknowledges that she is by no means a dessert expert. Still, she intends to use the delicious produce she discovers at the store to craft an ice cream dish. When Travis gets to the kitchen, he notices a problem. There is no ice cream machine available. She now has ingredients for a dish she cannot cook. Frankly, this is the fault of the production team as an ice cream maker should be provided. Hopefully, the issue will not prove costly to Nina.

Both chefs have team meetings in order to clarify their plans. The focus among the key players is unmistakable save for Jason, who continues to be flaky and self-centered. Then again, Nick is so uptight that a little levity in the kitchen may be a positive. Nick could seriously give Richard Blais a run for his money in terms of stress.

A hilarious moment occurs when Emeril and Tom visit Nick in the kitchen. Tom inquires as to whom Nick selected with the first overall pick. When informed that the answer is Jason, Tom cannot hide his surprise. Jason gets defensive about it, showing off his dazzling dimples in the process. Tom cracks a wide smile, knowing that Jason’s egotism hides a deep set insecurity. He also realizes that Nick was the only person out of the final ten who would have chosen Jason at all, much less first overall. We all have blind spots where our dear friends are concerned.

When Tom enters Nina’s kitchen, he exhibits the only behavior of his that truly annoys me. Nina recounts the circumstances that led to her deciding upon a secondary dessert. Tom asks, “Did you have to do a dessert?” What he means by this is that he believes she has made a mistake. Historically, when Tom determines a chef has incorrectly chosen, he is difficult to move off of that opinion. I fully expect Nina’s dessert to be poorly received by him.

The surprise of the evening occurs when Nina and Nick are escorted to dinner by Emeril and Tom. As they prepare to sit down, they are joined by their loved ones. Nick’s wife and mother are followed by Nina’s husband and brother. I find myself wondering if Louis and Shirley’s loved ones are also on the island somewhere. After all, they were a part of the competition only a day ago so this could not have been a quick bit of planning by the producers of Top Chef. But I digress.

Nick relays that his father suffered from Parkinson ’s disease while his mother works in special education. I instantly understand why Nick has placed so much pressure upon himself this season. Nina’s brother provides a hilarious anecdote. He still lives in Saint Lucia. After the first episode of the season aired, he was constantly accosted by people asking if he was Nina’s brother. Nina is apparently a hero of her people, which is awesome.

After enjoying a delicious meal with friends and family, all that is left for Nick and Nina to do is cook the meal of their lives. Check back for our recap of how that goes.