But first, oh boy had I forgotten how much I HATED series 8 of Hell's Kitchen. If you invite in a bunch of enormous drama queens and confrontational bitches to do the show you know exactly what you're getting. You're getting conflict, conflict and conflict. if there's time, maybe some cooking. And let's not forget, not only was this the series that brought us Raj, but he lasted 4 episodes. 4! Sabrina made it halfway! And it turns out one chef has a moderately good palate, so sure, give them a $250k job. But while you talk about Nona's palate and determination, I'll bring up her "yee-ha" southern style, which is not a bad thing but is far from right for the prize, her bad attitude and the HAIR. No-one with hair like that should ever run a restaurant. Also, apparently she has a big d**k. Can't say I'm surprised.
Good for Christina, she seems to have flourished just like Chef Ramsay hoped. She was less than fully mature in her series but....kudos.
On to the final five, and Ja'nel...I guess that's what bad weeks look like on her planet. She was letting Susan do more than her fair share of the work, and I think she's done so well thus far that people are deliberately trying to make sure there's trouble...but subtly, because she is Ramsay's favourite. Either that or it's become so obvious no-one can hold a pitchfork to Ja'nel that the producers are desperately trying to edit in any negative.
I kinda see why Cyndi wanted to do meats, to show that she can overcome what is always the stumbling block for the kitchen, but it was still a stumbling block with her. To be able to run the station perfectly is awesome, but you need to know what you can do and do it perfectly. Susan wanted to fall on her face on meat: let her. Especially because being a phenomenal meat cook isn't the be-all and end-all. To my mind, Barbie from last season was the best ever, and she finished 4th. I just realised I advocated gameplay, which I'm meant to hate. Whatever, maybe I'm a little bored with this being a cooking show. Can't say she did a horrible job, just not a great one, and she was probably the weakest cook of the night.
Susan didn't do a bad job at all. She was almost forced into being a floater in the kitchen, and she did it well. There actually weren't any mistakes on that station, apart from the problems with the timing on the capellini. Even then it was well cooked and on time. And like I said, from the limited and heavily-edited version of events I saw, she shouldered a fair bit of Ja'nel's burden on hot apps. One of her better services.
Jon was as solid as ever, and got a few compliments for his fish. It was a quietly very good service, which works for him, and there was nothing wrong with it, but it wasn't the best performance of the night.
For me, and not for the first time, the star of the kitchen was Mary. I didn't see a single problem with her station (although it was garnish), and she managed to do all the things in one service that really make a great chef in her position. She pushed forward with the communication, led, worked more than one station (helping Jon on fish) and when it came to designing dishes, the entire appetizer and half the entree were her idea. Also, people on Hell's Kitchen usually get good camera time (a good dish, a compliment, winning a challenge) or bad camera time (a bad dish, being yelled at, losing a challenge, arguing with team-mates.) Mary's had both, and now she's getting something unusual: camera time which is neither good nor bad. I mean, they were never gonna edit out the pregnancy storyline, but the last episode had a lot of weirdly unnecessary but, really unusually for HK, sweetly entertaining footage of Mary. Ramsay talking about her voice was the best example and, much as it sounded like an insult, I think it was because he's considering her as a contender. I think everyone should be. The "previously on Hell's Kitchen" opener called her "an underdog on the rise." I genuinely see her as the dark horse, while the other chefs seem to still consider her a donkey. In this episode, at least, she did a really great job.
So the black team lost to......the team wearing black, and I could see why Susan and Cyndi were nominated, because like I said in my last post they are the weakest. The fact Ja'nel wasn't even in the frame for nomination suggests editing hurt her on the "lazy in the kitchen" thang, especially since she seems to be a type-A overachiever based on all the footage I've seen. in which case yeah, Susan and Cyndi were the right nominees, with Cyndi being the clear candidate fo elimination, but after such a good service, if Ramsay wants to keep them all, fine. But that was episode 18, and I think the series is too long now.
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