Egos run wild, recyclables get sorted, lobsters get their revenge--all sorts of new things taking place this week! In the end, though, this week looks a lot like last week, except this time Melissa finally gets the hell outta there.
First things first: Melissa’s hair has not gotten any better since last week. And actually, Bonnie’s has gotten worse. Maybe the reason they keep screwing up the risotto is that they’re accidentally stirring their conditioner into it? Anyway... Melissa heads over to the boys’ dorm to bond with them, and while Rock tells Melissa she’s welcome on the team, he says to the camera “Melissa’s still going down, without a doubt.” Josh, ever the perv, is more focused on the fact that “the sex barrier has been broken,” which honestly sounds like what happens in bad teen movies right before they have to visit the abortion clinic.
Also, random! Jen was a pastry chef at Morimoto, which she has been keeping secret the entire time. They never actually told us anything about the chefs’ backgrounds-- Waffle House, naturally, excepted--but clearly the other chefs didn’t know about it either. And hey, way to go Jen! She’s been the quiet force behind the red team for a while, and now it’s looking like she might be the silent threat to the louder stars like Rock.
This week’s challenge, as promised: lobster! The crazy crustaceans are crawling around in the tank without rubber bands on their claws, and the chefs have to pull them out by hand. Bonnie, ever the girly-girl, can’t handle the idea of cooking them, though she man’s up and throws one in the pot anyway. They get to come up with their own dishes again, which is as fun to watch as ever, and each team presents three dishes.
Bonnie’s grilled lobster salad triumphs over Melissa’s poached salad (win one for the good guys!), and predictably, Rock’s lobster tempura wins over Julia’s risotto. Hilariously, though, Julia literally guessed on how to cook the lobster, and she nearly won. So, surprise surprise, the teams are tied, but Jen’s traditional bisque beats Brad’s fancy schmancy version of the same thing. (Josh had to sit out the challenge in order to even up the teams)
As the winners the women get to have a photo shoot at InTouch magazine; the way they react, you would think they’re both on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ and that InTouch is Vanity Fair or something. Seriously, ladies, you’re going to be in an issue that’s discussing Nicole Richie’s pregnancy in-depth. You’re supposed to be real chefs! In any case the blue team is definitely worse off, left to sort the kitchen’s recyclables. A tie-in with Live Earth and the green movement in general, or just random tasks? We may never know. Rock is infuriated with the loss-- surprise!-- and is even angrier when he’s summoned to the photoshoot to empty the garbage there. Insult to injury, yes, but the man proceeds to break all the glass in the garbage can-- machismo run wild!
Dinner bell rings! Josh is made the “lobster bitch” for the night, kind of like when he was made to run out and get water but with bigger claws. The teams both seem to be getting their acts together this time around, with the men maybe acting a little stupider. And then, because she knew there wasn’t enough drama, Bonnie sets a large kitchen fire! OK, maybe not intentionally, but it sure gave them something to promote in the commercials, even though it was easily put out by Ramsay. Josh is in the process of destroying the mashed potatoes when-- the power goes out!
OK, their power doesn’t go out, but mine does. More specifically my boyfriend’s does, and since I’m watching his television, that’s a problem. It’s summer in New York City during a heat wave, so yeah, the power is gone. Thus begins 10 minutes of me walking frantically to my own apartment while calling everyone I know with a television to see if they can give me the play-by-play. Eventually my mom--hi, Mom!-- pulls through, though since she’s never watched the show she’s left to describe Josh as “a man with curly hair” and Melissa as “a woman with really long hair”, standing in a dining room doing...something. She tried, though, and that’s what matters.
My roommate caught me up on what I missed, and it seems to be: Julia freaks out a little but recovers (hey, Waffle House!), but the blue team continues on their downward spiral, with an entire table of six eventually returning their plates. Ramsay, understandably, shuts down the blue kitchen’s service, and the blue team is left as the evening’s losers.
I get back in time to see Melissa, the obvious loser, ousted-- on her second chance she still couldn’t manage to bring it. After Melissa is gone, though, Ramsay brings Josh and Brad up for a browbeating, only to send them back in line. Cruel! Though I can’t really imagine what they would have done if they had left Rock alone on the mens’ team, I was kind of ready to see a double-elimination kind of night.
So we’re back to where we should have been a week ago, with two reasonably well-matched teams up against each other (and one silent threat in Jen, pow!) The women really are looking like the team to beat, with even “nanny with a palate” Bonnie showing her stuff. Now that there aren’t any blatant kitchen disasters going on, and everyone is managing to actually act like chefs, ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ is actually becoming quite pleasant!
Next week: same old stuff, but with paintball! The gimmicks keep on coming, and I for one plan on enjoying them for a long, long time.
