Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Hell’s Kitchen: It Really Was A Shocker
Usually when they say Most. Shocking. Elimination. Ever. in the promos, they’re full of hyperbole up to their eyeballs. But the elimination of the hands-down favorite to win? That was indeed a surprise.
In the context of the season, anyway. Not at all, in context of the episode.
So. The challenge. A tough one it was, too, but the kind of thing a great chef can hope to do with no help from America’s Test Kitchen. Taste someone else’s dish, then recreate it based on what you see and taste, with no recipe.
I knew Virginia had it when she used white beans instead of potato; that made far more sense to me. And grapefruit? How inspired. Makes sense, though; citrus and fish.
It says something good about all three of them that they were able to create similar dishes that looked and tasted great, but Virginia got the reverse engineering completely right. That’s astonishingly good.
Lest we forget that the contest is as much about running a restaurant, about the leadership and business end, this episode culled Keith on that very basis. We’d wondered if he could run a place, and maybe he could learn, but then… maybe not as readily as some.
Besides the normal food service aspect, this episode was about running the kitchen, calling and keeping track of orders, directing the other chefs, and providing quality control.
To his credit, Keith caught the overcooked spaghetti. However, he had a total lack of leadership and ability to stay on top of the orders. I was surprised how bad he was.
Heather was better. She’s still inconsistent, but it wouldn’t bother me to see her win. She can learn and improve. She caught the lumpy potato but didn’t send it back, tripped up on the quality control element. To Heather’s credit at the end of the episode she had gained respect for Virginia and recognized Keith’s failings, even though she went through with the plan to nominate Virginia for elimination.
Maybe Gordon’s pointers helped. Maybe her newfound confidence helped. Maybe it’s what she’s better at than running a food prep station. Virginia was easily best at the being in charge test. Salmon versus bass was an easy QC catch, but she did it and reacted decisively.
In the end, Virginia deserved to stay. Keith didn’t. You could see how tough it was for Ramsay to send him packing. I think he expected Keith to win. So perhaps as well that Keith let his true colors show, with his ridiculous sassing and attitude about being dismissed.
And so it’s Virginia versus Heather! Seeing Heather in the finale is no surprise. It has seemed almost inevitable from the beginning. Keith wasn’t initially obvious as a finalist. Virginia was never obvious as a finalist, but she’s come into her own. I have serious doubts Heather can beat her. I expected Heather versus Keith, with Keith winning. Had Sara hung on, I’d say Heather versus Sara, Heather would win. Heather versus Virginia, though… I’d probably put money on Virginia winning it, if I were required to place a bet. And no way I’d have seen that coming a few weeks ago. It’s a close competition. Can’t wait to see what happens next week!