apocalypsos: (food junkie)
tatty bojangles ([personal profile] apocalypsos) wrote2008-06-10 08:58 am

Thinky thoughts

I just saw the preview for this week's Top Chef finale.

So here's the thing. I was rewatching the second-to-last episode and it's starting to become more apparent the more I watch that Richard is completely polite to everyone, including Lisa, until she made that crack about getting congratulations last episode. Which obviously was when she won the right to make it into the final three.

I know that all of us were sitting at home thinking, "Goddamn it, the fucking producers and their need to have a villain in the final three."

You know what? I think that's the exact same thing that Richard is going to say at JT to the judges' faces.

I'm not going to say he's smug, because I don't think he is. Spike was smug. I'd call Richard more proud of his abilities and more expectant that he's going to do a good job, which there's nothing wrong with. All of us are good at something and enjoy doing it, and that's Richard's thing. Richard's problem (if you want to call it that) is while I think he watched every season of the show, understood the competition and desired to participate in the challenge, I don't think he gets how reality TV works. So while we're all at home grumbling that Lisa's in the final three, he's there in the competition with her and he's the one who has to put up with what he probably sees as a weakened competition due to the fact that one of the final three is a lousy chef with a bad attitude.

I think he knows damn well that he's pretty much handing Stephanie the win by saying it. You know what? I don't think he gives a damn at this point. I think it's going to take him standing up there saying to Gail and Tom and Padma, "We don't have three Top Chefs here, we have two Top Chefs who've won multiple challenges and the villain the producers thought they needed," before Bravo even acknowledges how often they pull this shit. And I sincerely hope that if I'm right and if that is what he says, they do a poll question asking if he's right because I will bombard those motherfuckers with, "Goddamn right, I do," answers and I'll probably put up a link here to ask others to do the same, because I'm sick of this kind of lousy crap.

I hate this "But you need someone to root against!" crap, I really do. I don't need a bad guy. I want to be able to judge the prospective winners on their talents, not their attitude. If they're a good chef with a bad attitude, that's one thing. But Lisa's an untalented hack whose wins and losses (one win for making bacon, one trip to JT on the winning side, and six trips to the losers table) pale in comparison to Richard and Stephanie's. Especially Stephanie, who aside from three trips to the losing side of JT has gone to the winning side of JT every damn episode. No, seriously.

I think Richard is going to call them on it. And I think they're going to hem and haw and say, "Oh, no, we don't do that," and it's going to come off as complete bullshit because we've all seen the "Producers may step in and assist at JT" warning at the end of every episode.

And considering that I pretty much knew beforehand that Lisa was going to the finale when there was a line in one of the previews for the finale where Richard said something about Lisa "going crazy and losing it" when she was fairly well-behaved last episode (well, up until the "congratulations" crack), I don't think she's going to take the implication that she's only in the finale because she's a hardcore bitch very well.
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[identity profile] allegraconbrio.livejournal.com 2008-06-10 01:06 pm (UTC)(link)
It is sad to say, but yes. You have a very good point. I have not hated Lisa the way her competitors and you have, but after watching this show for an entire season I can name many chefs I would rather see in the final three. She is not up to par with Antonia, let alone Stephanie and Richard.

I kind of love Richard a lot. He has grown on me.

[identity profile] apocalypsos.livejournal.com 2008-06-10 01:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Seriously, look at the people who got eliminated whenever Lisa made it to the bottom. Antonia, Spike, Dale, Andrew, Mark and Jennifer. I'd rather have ANY of those chefs back than Lisa. Hell, even Jennifer had a better track record than Lisa did when she was eliminated. That's just pitiful right there.

Richard's such a lovable weirdo. I'd definitely go to any restaurant I knew he was cooking in. And I still want to try that Willy Wonka dish he, Dale and Andrew made for the movie challenge.

[identity profile] scary-being-me.livejournal.com 2008-06-10 01:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm more tired than I thought.

I read the title as Kinky Thoughts.

Then I read the first line and was ALL confused.

[identity profile] storydivagirl.livejournal.com 2008-06-10 03:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I hate Lisa. I love how everything bad that happens to her, or every spiteful comment that she makes is actually someone else's fault. I just...grrr...I hope they do call them out on it. Because Lisa should not be near that final three.

I love Richard, but I'm rooting for Stephanie to win.

[identity profile] apocalypsos.livejournal.com 2008-06-10 03:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, yeah. Someone's always sabotaging her, the judges just don't get her food, she thought her meal was really good and the diners told her they did too so the judges must be on crack ... it's never, "I made bad food."

And really, she spends the entire season with the attitude of, "This isn't a popularity contest, I don't give a damn what anyone else thinks," and all of a sudden at the end of the last episode she gets all, "Why's everybody always picking on me?" Bitch, please.

Yeah, I want Stephanie to win too. I'd be thrilled if Richard won, but Stephanie's been my pick since day one.

[identity profile] offtheceiling.livejournal.com 2008-06-10 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
oh god, jenn, i spent TWO WHOLE DAYS on my mom's couch watching the WHOLE SEASON of top chef on her tivo. CRACK. IT WAS LIKE CRACK.

[identity profile] apocalypsos.livejournal.com 2008-06-10 10:06 pm (UTC)(link)
I KNOW, RIGHT? I can remember before the first season came out being all, "Why would I want to watch a reality show about chefs?!" and then I watched the first episode and CRACK. CRAAAAAACK.

I'm sooooo watching the all-day marathon tomorrow before the finale. Go, Team Stephanie! \o/

[identity profile] jamjar.livejournal.com 2008-06-11 10:21 am (UTC)(link)
I hate this "But you need someone to root against!" crap, I really do.

It's such bollocks, that. You don't need someone to root against, you need someone to root for -- you only need a villain if you need to make everyone else look "good" in comparison, and if you're at that point, you've already made a mistake in casting.