So, thanks to Jen, I have a new addiction: Hell's Kitchen. (I can see that reading her blog is going to increase my TV viewing by a considerable number of shows.)
I have no foldy thing, so this may be spoilerish. But it aired on Monday and, well, having been a DVR slacker myself, sometimes you just have to suck it up and know how things turn out. :)
This was the 2nd episode I watched (having seen last week's) so I missed the first however many episodes (not really sure). Anyway, they were down to 5 women, 3 men at the end of last week. This week Ramsay started out by taking ...Heather (I'm pretty sure - still lost on some of the names) and putting her on the blue team, so it's no longer just the boys.
That seemed to accomplish two things: shaped up the blue team but good and discombobulated the red team disproportionately to what you'd expect.
There is now a massive power struggle going on between Rachel and Sara on the girls team. Except that Rachel doesn't actually seem to be struggling for more than just an ability to help the team and Sara is a conniving b-word. How she stood there and let Virginia get reamed out by Ramsay after she (Sara) told Virginia that the turbot (what is that?) was ready and waiting for her call, well, b-word. Big, huge, amazing b-word. And it's annoying that Sara doesn't seem to take anything seriously. I don't think an executive chef can afford to dink around - and if, just if, the people who work in the restaurant that's up for grabs at the end of the show (unless it's brand new, but even still, people who might apply for said jobs there) are watching, and if Sara wins (which if that happens there is no justice in the world) I'm guessing there won't be many people left who are willing to work with her. Cause she's shown her true colors and and has only proven that she thinks of the word "Team" and gets "meat."
That said, I have a few (potentially rhetorical) questions:
Question: How in the name of all that can be cooked did Tom ever even make it on the show, let alone last this long? The man is useless. Glad he's gone.
Question: Does Virginia have the chops to stand up to this? More so, is there any possibility that she could actually run a kitchen? She seems to be a rather shy, retiring sort, which makes a good sous chef (possibly) but maybe not so much a good executive chef.
Question: Does anyone actually think that a team of all women is going to be able to accomplish anything successfully? Seriously - you put x competitive women in a contest and tell them to work together and all you're going to get is a lot of backstabbing and no competition.
Final thought: with Tom out of the way, I think Blue is going to start seriously rocking the llama from this point forward.
6 hours ago
Question: Does anyone actually think that a team of all MEN is going to be able to accomplish anything successfully? Seriously - you put x competitive MEN in a contest and tell them to work together and all you're going to get is a lot of backstabbing and no competition.
ReplyDeleteActually, with a team of all men, you're more likely to get posturing and showing off - but at least they'd be working instead of conniving on how to be as catty as possible without getting caught.
ReplyDeleteI have not liked Sara from the beginning. She is a conniving witch and I definitely would not to work with or for her in a kitchen. She is a kitchen nightmare.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that Ramsay sets her back next week after he learns of her sabotage. He's big on teamwork in the kitchen and what she did is a big no-no to him.
I think Virginia has potential, but she's young and not quite secure enough right now.
Heather is the clear leader, imho. It's her competition to lose at this point. She's shown that she can run both teams pretty effectively. I'm thinking the blue team will demolish the reds next week because the reds are not working well together.
I haven't seen this show, but the ads make it sound like a bunch of insults flung at chefs. Am I wrong? What's the compelling factor I'm missing out on?
ReplyDeleteJen, I totally agree and hope that you're dead on with Sara getting hers next week. I did think the whole cake-on-the-floor thing by the red team sous chef supervisor chick was perfect for Sara lazy-daisy attitude.
ReplyDeleteMichelle - Hmm...it's kind of like Survivor: Kitchen Island. You like Survivor, right? Though there are definitely insults being flung around, generally they're deserved (though Tim occasioned to ask as he walked though and only heard the bleeping didn't look at the screen, "Are you watching COPS?") So there is liberal bleeped out profanity. That said, the general premise is that Gordon Ramsay (who's a pretty famous/talented chef/restauranteer) has a new restaurant opening in Vegas that he needs an executive chef for. These are the try outs. Teams are put together b/c restaurant chefs don't work in a vaccum and the meals they're making are pretty standard fare for snazzier menus. They have training on the dishes and then the goal of each competition is to get through a complete dinner (or lunch) service and fill all the tickets - i.e. making the apps/meals/desserts properly (and to Ramsay's standards) before the patrons get up and walk out (sometimes it looks like the food takes hours to get anywhere. The team that fails to perform has to vote off a member, so they're then performing short handed (unless he balances the teams) and they have a penalty task (bussing tables or laundry or something like that.) So there's an element of Iron Chef, there's an element of Survivor, and it's an interesting look into the inner workings of the kitchen of a fancy restaurant. And at the end of it, I think Ramsay's ultimate goal is to make these people who want to be chefs the best chef they can be - or help them realize that this isn't the best career choice. Give it a try. :)