Most of my hatred this season has been directed at Jamie and she was finally, rightfully eliminated last week, but watching Marcel crash and burn this week was just pretty dang satisfying. Dale might have picked Marcel as the other team captain because he didn't want to work with him, but it also perfectly set him up for failure. No one else wanted to work with Marcel either!
The difference between the teams were stark. Dale picked his perfect team: Richard is obviously fantastic, Fabio is Mr. Front-of-House, Tre's solid, and Carla, though she was last picked, has desserts in her arsenal. They had a great concept (that was very in line with the pop-up restaurant concept, as Dana Cowin pointed out), harmonious planning, and smooth execution. Richard wins his second elimination challenge, but I think Dale and Fabio were both quite deserving too. Dale was eliminated during Restaurant Wars during his season so this must have felt really redemptive for him. He did lose his cool momentarily with the wait staff, but I'm pretty thrilled at how he's been performing and handling himself this season. He and Richard are clearly the frontrunners at this point.
Whereas on Marcel's team, things start falling apart right away and they don't get it together during service. Tiffany found herself at the front of house but didn't really know what she was doing and her bubbly personality didn't translate well, and things at the back of house were just chaotic, with Mike and Marcel clashing and Angelo and Antonia just trying to get through the night. The team dynamics obviously affected the food, which was judged by an overwhelming majority of diners to be the worst of the night.
The problem with Marcel is that he just doesn't command respect. Period. During his original season, I thought maybe he was just immature and he needed time to develop his people skills. But it's been 4 years since then and he really hasn't changed at all. He says in his post-elimination talking-head segment that he didn't think he made any mistakes except in choosing his team. Um, delusional much? He doesn't know how to play well with others, never mind lead them. And will he ever quit making those stupid foams?
Odds and ends:
- I didn't think the Quickfire was that interesting but the disdain that fish butcher had for the badly prepped fish was pretty funny.
- Ludo Lefebve is not nearly as fun when he's not all manic in the kitchen.
- I did respect Angelo for at least trying to be supportive of Marcel. Marcel sucks, but the others could have at least tried to make things work.
- The judges didn't say a lot about Tre's dish, but Corona-lime sauce sounds delicious. And now I kind of want a Corona...
- Marcel is actually going to be the host of some food science-y type show on SyFy. Guess who won't be watching?
1 comment:
I really felt for Tiffany. She's not a front-of-house person and knows it. She was basically bulldozed into the position and didn't know how to work it. Her dish might even have been better had she been allowed to stay in the kitchen. Certainly, her eggs would have been better had she not allowed herself to be talked into using the immersion circulator instead of doing it the old-school way as she wanted to.
I'm just glad she survived to fight another day. And I won't miss delusional Marcel one bit.
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