I'm a fan of -- gasp! -- a reality show

Dale seems a little off to me -- not as bubbly.

The more that I think about it, the more that Casey seems like a lock. They always say that Hung has one of the best dishes, but that his foood lack imagination or soul. At the end of the day, I don't think that they will want him to be the winner.

 

I think Casey got a free pass this time because of her performance in past challenges. Going into this last round, she was the favorite, and they weren't going to end her run based on this one dish. It was going to be Dale or Brian -- they had already set up the Casey v. Hung battle in prior episodes.

I do think, however, that her bad performance this time gives Hung a bigger opening. If she stumbles again and he has a great performance, he wins. Especially now that he's starting to talk about his family and humanizing himself. (Maybe I'm cynical, but I think they want to pick someone the audience roots for.)

The one comment in the previews that makes me think Casey is in trouble is where one of the judges said that "this is the best dish he has ever done." If they're talking about Hung, he wins. If it's Dale, that's more interesting, in my opinion. Could Dale really steal the win with just two good performances? He's never really stood out until now.

 

If Casey got a free pass because of her previous performances, then that again highlights their judging inconsistencies. If anyone should get a do-over based on history, it would be Tre (and I still contend that even if you take that one episode and discard everything leading up to it, Brian was more of a liability and a worse performer than Tre, who at least had one good dish while Brian offered nothing more than subpar service). But inconsistency seems to be the hallmark of the TC judges (the chefs need to break out of their boxes er I mean they shouldn't be doing things they're not experts in, being good enough just isn't good enough but we'll kick out the far better chef for one misstep instead of the guy flying under the radar, raw chicken is a mortal sin unless you're Marcel, we don't use past performance to determine who goes home but we'll kick Mikey out despite Marcel's death wing).

If anything, I think the "best dish he has ever done" line makes me think Casey's in better shape, because they like to put red herrings out there. They tend to be neon pink and green herrings with flashing NUDES signs over them, but whatever.

 

I agree with every part of that analysis, Meat.

I would only, humbly, add that I think the few "honest" deliberation shots we get -- the ones that aren't voice-overed -- show that Collichio has almost total control. Padma, Ted Allen and the chick from Food & Wine just don't challenge him. Only some of the guest judges do, and then, in some cases, it's Rocco DiSpirito and no one listens to him anyway.

Which is why Anthony Bourdain needs a permanent judge spot.

That said, I was impressed that he took the shot across Hung's bow this week. Textbook French preparations shouldn't win a competition like this.

 

Bourdain definitely deserves a permanent spot. He is smarter and more superior than curlique. Brilliant writer, too.

 

Kind of like what happened with Sam in the semifinals last year?? Best all season, one bad week where he went on the chopping block (the surfer's breakfast challenge) before Hawaii. And what he made then was universally considered good but according to Coldickio "He didn't cook anything"...

The producers, I am guessing, got what they want in the finals: the attractive woman who has shown the ability to cook, the high-energy first-generation immigrant with top-notch chops plus a bit of a grating personality and the wild-card gay dude with a bad haircut who, when he's on, can make damn good food.

Should be interesting next week.

 

I think they figured Casey would just be eye candy for a few weeks. Even the cast seemed to think that. I am really surprised to see her have advanced as far as she has (although, she deserves to).

I think she gets bounced out though in the next round, and it's Dale vs. Hung in the finals. The gay carefree kid against the bisexual cocky guy they thought was going to be Marcel.

 

Season 3 LIVE finale tonight!!

 

As a side note, I met Dale over the weekend. He's a waiter (yes, a waiter) in a pretty good restaurant in Chicago. All of the waitstaff had "Team Dale" tee-shirts on. He says that he's a partner in a new restaurant but it won't open any time soon -- they're still building it and it could take a long while. In the meantime, he plans on staying a waiter. I asked him why not become a chef somewhere in the meantime and he said that you don't make that much and he doesn't want to be working for someone else. Seems weird to me, but whatever.

He said that he doesn't know the winner yet and has no idea what the judges thought of his dish. He seemed like a nice guy and still sports the mohawk.

My guess is that Casey wins, because they finally want a female winner. Hung is too much of an asshole ... he's obviously the best chef, in my opinion, but the viewers hate him (69% wanted to vote him off last time) and Bravo (consulted on decisions, according to the closing scroll) probably doesn't want a winner no one likes. So it's up to Casey and Dale, and I think Dale is decidedly second-rate. Remember that gross potato puree chicken duet thing he made? He's really inconsistent, imo.

 

no discussion of the finale?

casey made like the mets

dale, i hoped, had a shot. but then hung was probably the best chef there and it makes sense he won

 

I suspect the whole three-chef finale was to guarantee a close finish. If it was Hung v. Casey, it wouldn't have been pretty.

Nice to see Hung, desperately painted by the producers as Asian Marcel, redeemed at the end. Hung v. Tre would have been the money battle, but oh well. And Tre must have been silently raging against his departure, because with Brian as one of the dinner guests and Sara N, CJ and Howie as late sous chefs, you'd think there'd be a spot for the prohibitive early favorite.

Naturally, the Bravo viewers voted overwhelmingly for Casey. Because ... she's hot? I guess. But she was way out of her league, at least this week.

 

casey won the last couple and i thought she did ok. but, i guess, she wasn't in the same league as hung

you're right, tre was the only one who could really give hung a run for his money

if could get a meal from any of them, it would be tre