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Review Wed Jan 04 2012
Top Chef, Episode 8: Making Mama Proud
We're bringing a majorly late recap of this episode to you after a long holiday week(end)(-ish). It's like a gift you waited a long time to open--like a coffee mug from your boss?
The episode picks up in the "Top Chef" schoolyard, as all the cheftestants react to the double elimination of Nyesha and Dakota. The camera pans to a relieved but battered-looking Heather (who nearly met her 86-ing) as her rival Beverly dodders on about karma and its power--okay, thanks for the foreshadowing, Captain Obvious. The energy in the room turns to glee when it's revealed that the show is going to Austin. The chefs get into their product-placed Toyota Siennas to skip town.
The Quickfire challenge is a dish dictated by directions tweeted by fans of the show; the chefs begin with the mere direction of cooking with bacon, but after adding in a hash component and a randomly chosen ingredient selected by another contestant (sriracha, maple syrup, etc.) the resulting dishes look about as appetizing as a Barbie doll with all its hair cut off. Paul, who plays up his Austin roots, wins $10k and upped street cred with his trio of clams, asparagus, blackberry and bacon.
The cheftestants retreat to a bar for drinks and a surprise concert by--naturally!--Patti LaBelle, who sings a few bars of her calling card "Lady Marmalade" for the room. Padma introduces LaBelle as the next guest judge for the episode's elimination challenge--a "tribute dinner" for the person(s) who taught the chefs how to cook. The chefs return to Whole Paycheck and scramble for ingredients as they plot their meals--things with adobo, fish, short ribs, sausage, etc. The door to Heather's obvious elimination begins to creak open as she voices concerns that the beef she chose for her stroganoff is not the quality needed. The judges give nice shout-outs to Sarah's cabbage, Beverly's short ribs, and Ed's bibimbap. Sarah walks away with the win; good work, I like her.
It was a Great Lakes Letdown with the bottom three: Graysons's mammoth, supper club-esqe portion of fatty steak got gripes ("But that's how we eat in Wisconsin!" she earnestly responds), Ohioan PrettyChris's salmon was coated in gross albumin and his vegetables were overseasoned, and Heather's dish was all kinds of mess; the judges even got in a straight-faced Beverly comparison/dig when chastising Heather for not using a pressure cooker while prepping her dish. Aw, snap! Metaphors everywhere.
As the dismissed Heather walked in after her elimination, Sarah let out a gasp as the fallen chef said "Don't be upset, it was a crucial mistake..." and begins the hugging and platitude-filled exit speech. Beverly cracks a half-smile, satisfied as she later concludes that Heather's attitude--particularly towards Beverly herself, exemplified by a little montage of Heather's barbs--earned her firing. The triangulation is strong with this episode: even Nyesha was patting herself on the back in the Last Chance Kitchen episode that followed TC for defeating Heather. True, Heather was grinning--even giggling--as she walked into the Last Chance Thunderdome, realizing that her skills would be given a second chance. In a voiceover, an irritated Nyesha vows to "wipe the smile off [Heather's] face." When you're in the drama--the raised verbal pitchforks, the tense interactions with coworkers or friends who are clearly The Problem--it's a defining moment when justice is served and the bully exits the stage. But when you're merely watching it from afar, you're merely waiting for the monster's replacement. It will happen, I'm sure. Stay tuned.
