So, now that I've had enough time for the outcome on Top Chef to sink in, I am ready to write about it. I'm a huge fan of the show, and have been since Season 2--and all in all this was a pretty good season. I thought the challenges were fairly good and non-ridiculous. The major (and dumb) exception to that, for me, was the challenge of catering for the Foo Fighters with only toaster ovens.

But in general, the challenges did a pretty good job of separating a "top chef" from a "pretty good cook." I think one of the characteristics that was important for success was the ability to be a leader-- for example Radhika, whose food always looked consistently good but who failed abysmally to lead her team in restaurant wars; Ariane, who instead of leading her team in the farm challenge apparently let Hosea and Leah boss her into doing something she had no idea how to do (I say apparently because it was a little difficult to figure out from the editing); and Carla, who chose to ignore her own instincts and comply with her sous chef's plan for what and how to cook in the finale (I know there's also some ambiguity in the editing on this one, but it seems clear Carla simply failed to lead in developing the menu).

Point being, these eliminations, for example, although not strictly or only for the food (although of course the food played a part), made sense from the perspective of the "game." And of course there were eliminations for simply crappy food. So I do feel like in general the process of the game worked as intended.

Yet, for some reason, I feel robbed. I was bummed to begin with when my girl Jamie was knocked out, although I couldn't really fault the decision for that episode much. She screwed up, it happens, and went home. Sad to do so over braised celery but so it goes.

For me, though, the finale was going to be a chance to see Stefan shine, and Carla bring her passion, and Hosea lose. Not that I think Hosea's a horrible chef or anything-- he did pretty well throughout the competition. Nor do I care in any way shape or form about the Hosea-Leah show, aside from feeling sympathy for their respective ex-SOs.

It's just that I never felt like Hosea was really bringing his A game. After the first episode, when he served nasty canned crab (and he's a seafood chef!), I always sort of felt like he doesn't have the intensity of passion necessary to be truly great. Jamie showed that passion (and the flip side, which was that when she wasn't inspired she could totally half-ass a dish!), Stefan did too (and also ditto on the half-assing), and so did Carla (LOVE!). But Hosea. I don't know. It could be the edit he got, but I would think Bravo would want their winner to look a little better. Who knows.

Anyway, there will be another season soon enough.

For my readers who don't watch, I really do recommend Top Chef as a fun show to watch. It's manipulated TV, of course, but quite entertaining nevertheless. I also love a couple of the TC blogs: SkilletDoux and AmuseBiatch. Check them out for much more comprehensive post-mortems of this past season.

Hey all.

My commentary here's going to be minimal for a while, since I am deeply and fully swamped with studying for finals. In the meantime, here's a funny little vignette for all you Top Chef fans.