Top Chef: Seattle Recap

By David Mumpower

December 26, 2012

Funny unfortunately doesn't win Top Chef.

New at BOP:
Share & Save
Digg Button  
Print this column
Lonely Kristen has been isolated for most of the afternoon. This has allowed her to focus more in her preparations. This proves to be an unfair advantage as the judges love her matcha goat milk custard with macerated tayberries. The audience is even more receptive. People are shown coming back for seconds and thirds of the dish. As the ten other cheftestants hope for victory in their individual competitions, Kristen has largely aspirations that are quickly realized.

The judges announce that Kristen is victorious for the second time in the episode. And she already knows what she will do with her prize money. Kristen’s birth mother never returned after delivery (!) so she wound up being taken to the police and was later adopted by a family in Michigan. She wants to see Seoul, the place of her birth. The $10,000 she wins in the elimination challenge will pay for her trip. In the semi-immortal words of Green Day, I hope you have the time of your life. Also, please do not take Stefan as your Plus One.

There are no further surprises as the editing is honest for a change. The winners of the heats are all the people I had expected: Sheldon, Stefan, Brooke, Lizzie and Joshua. The losers discover this in awkward fashion as they are the first group asked to make an appearance at Judges Table. Most of them seem resigned to their fate so there is no false hope with this move. Even if John thought he might have won, seeing Danyele, Josie, Bart and Micah join him would eliminate the doubt. This would be the equivalent of all the 16 Seeds beating the 1 Seeds during the opening round of March Madness.




Advertisement



The judges focus their criticisms upon Josie, Bart and Danyele. They berate Josie for performing a cooking demo rather than focusing upon her dish. Given that Josie was experiencing a laser light show in her head, this is unsurprising. I hold out hope that she will be eliminated from the competition since she was sleepwalking through the elimination challenge.

I am resigned to the fact that Danyele will go home due to the crunchy nature of her dish. Both the attendants and the judges hated it, and that is why when Danyele’s name is announced, there is no real surprise. It’s a shame because I believe she is a better chef than Josie and maybe even Bart.

Danyele does have the opportunity to redeem herself at Last Chance Kitchen. She battles CJ in a sandwich making challenge. Danyele believes that this is to her advantage since she literally makes a version of the sandwich she prepares at least once a day. Alas, her advantage is negated by CJ’s creativity and culinary skill. CJ upends Danyele to remain alive in the competition. Danyele does receive a parting gift however as she takes her losing sandwich with her as comfort food. During Last Chance Kitchen, Danyele’s sense of humor shines through. She has a dark, caustic wit that I wish had been better highlighted during her run on Top Chef. Unlike Josie (whose elimination is probably just a challenge or two away), she will be missed.


Continued:       1       2       3       4

     


 
 

Need to contact us? E-mail a Box Office Prophet.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
© 2024 Box Office Prophets, a division of One Of Us, Inc.