Two Thumbs Up!

This week's episode opens with more ominous foreshadowing surrounding Zoi/Jen. As Manuel talks about how hard it is for him, missing his kids, Jen again talks about how lucky she is to have Zoi there for her. This is really the first time it's dawned on me how much of an advantage this is for the two of them, I guess I really wasn't thinking about that before, the disadvantages? More on that later.

Quickfire opens up with guest chef Daniel Boulud, another amazing chef that I am just in awe of. The quickfire challenges the chefs to present a plate made mainly out of a basket of vegetables while displaying 4 different culinary techniques. Most of the chefs seem unfazed by this, but Lisa and Zoi complain about their lack of formal training. In the end, it's not an issue for Zoi as she ends up in the top 3 with Dale and Richard, while Lisa is a bottom dweller along with Manuel. Dale wins, immunity and the chance to pick his team are his prizes.

Onto the challenge. I really liked the idea of this challenge, make a dish inspired by a movie. The chefs draw knives to decide both their partners and the course they will serve. 

First up is Andrew and Richard, with Dale choosing to join them. They choose Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Next we get Spike and Manuel, who pick Good Morning Vietnam only because Spike makes Vietnamese food, bad sign right there. Next we have Ryan and Mark who have apparently never seen a movie before in their lives, finally they come up with A Christmas story so they can make duck . Then it's Jen and Nikki picking Il Postino and making some sort of Italian . Zoi and Antonia go on and on about the vibrancy of Talk to Her (great film BTW) and then serve up a boring looking lamb chop. Rounding out the 6 courses we have Lisa and Stephanie making an amazing looking New York Strip/apple combo based on the cow scene in Top Secret. 

Team 1 and Team 6 are the top teams, with Richard getting the win for an inspired pairing of wasabi, white chocolate and salmon. This was an interesting dish to see and I really wish I could have tasted it, mostly because it sounds awful, but hey, the judges raved so...

Anyway Spike and Manuel end up in the bottom along with Zoi and Antonia. After stating their cases, Manuel is sent packing. The judges just felt like their dish wasn't that good, while Z & A at least made good food, but didn't have the tie to the film that they had chosen. 

Thoughts on this season so far:

1. Zoi is starting to piss me off. She ends up in the bottom (again) and then stomps around whining about how, she can't cook the wasabi/chocolate combo, and if that's what the judges want then she's never gonna win. Well, hey honey, you know what, the judges want good, innovative food, if you can't deliver, then you may as well go.

2. All this foreshadowing of Jen and Zoi (how i wish they had longer names so I could combine them for maximum wittiness a la Tibette from the L word of PBJ from the office, here all i get is Joi or  Zen....lame) and their relationship does not bode well. Now that I finally understand the advantages, I can easily see that Jen will be the one thrown off her game by having the other there. Jen is by far the better chef of the 2, Zoi's sucking will start to wear on her as well as Zoi's whining. Eventually Jen will stick up for her and it's really going to piss people off. Trust me I would bet a small fortune in smoking machines and foams.

3. WTF Andrew and the Oompa Loompa? That's kinda all I can say about that.