Hell’s Kitchen’s finalists, executive chef, Rock and personal chef / nanny, Bonnie are ready to face off in the first of the two part finale. However before we begin the night’s competition we have to take a cruise back thru the whole season to see who went when and how they messed up to get eliminated. I suppose the producers didn’t think we have very good memories, or maybe they just had to fill time so they can make this a two part episode.
Finally we finish the walk down memory lane and Chef Ramsay tells Bonnie and Rock that they will now face their biggest challenge ever. A wall/curtain drops and divides the restaurant in half and he tells them they will each remodel their half of the restaurant from walls to dishes and then create their own menu.
They are then sent to the dorm for the evening and have an amicable time together. Rock says he always thought it would be Melissa and him in the end. Bonnie says her plan was to fly under the radar and when she strikes nobody would know what hit them. Rock says Home girl is a force to be reckoned with. He says things have been set up for him to be beat by a nanny. [This wasn’t said in a way to imply it was fixed, just that if he lost it would be embarrassing to lose to a nanny]
The next morning they go down to start plans for their new restaurant. Bonnie has everything figured out. She wants an European look, different colors, and mismatched plates. She wants lots of color and hardwood floors. The uniforms will be black pants, fitted for the girls.
Rock seems totally unprepared. He wants a black and white décor. He asked for Jeans as the uniforms but Jean Pierre talked up out of that but they never showed what he did settle on if he has. Rock wants a contemporary look, carpet and matched dinner service.
Mary Ann will be working with Bonnie on her menu choices and Scott will be working with Rock. Bonnie has a clear vision, Rock’s is very hesitant. Bonnie wants a linguini pasta as her main dish and Rock thinks he wants his fried chicken and crab cakes.
As they are overseeing their remodeling Chef comes in and says they are all going to Vegas and gives them five minutes to get ready. They fly in a private jet and they are very impressed. Bonnie says Las Vegas represents her future. Rock says the prize is so close he can taste it.
Chef talks to them on the trip and asks Rock about his hissy fits. Rock says he didn’t have hissy fits. Shots of all these blow ups were shown and Rock says he was just angry. Chef tells Bonnie the first time he saw her in the kitchen she couldn’t even fry an egg. She says she was shaking and nervous. He asks Rock if he’d ever serve him frozen gnocchi and Rock says no. He says he saw a lot of fire in Bonnie at the last service. He told Rock he knows he played the game from the beginning and asks why he nominated Brad. Rock says because he was his biggest competition.
Rock says may the best man win and Bonnie says woooooman. As they drove up to the Green Valley Ranch and Resort Bonnie says that the prize is right in her face. They went to the suite that will be come home to one of them and saw themselves on the TV screen and it was playing throughout the resort.
They met up with Chef Ramsay and he said they were going to have a quiet and relaxed evening at a VIP lounge. When he opened the door they actually walked out onto a stage surrounded by a crowd. They were both introduced by Chef as the finalists. Then they were told their final challenge was to prepare a dish representative of their signature dish and it would be judged by seven of the top Las Vegas chefs.
Rock made his surf and turf, fried chicken and crab cakes while Bonnie made Key West shrimp and lobster pasta. As the chefs were tasting the dishes the crowd kept cheering for Rock which bothered Bonnie. After the first four judges Rock was behind 3 to 1. The next judge was the first year winner Michael and he chose Rock’s dish. Next up was last year’s winner, Heather and she also chose Rock’s surf and turf. With the score tied the Head Chef of Executive Chef and general manager of the Green Valley but they could only cast one vote between them. The chef chose Rock’s dish while the GM chose Bonnie’s. After some whispering they awarded the final point to Bonnie. (FYI, Robin Leach was one of the judges)
When the challenge was over Chef Ramsay took them to the roof overlooking the Strip. He said well done, look where you are. The next time one of you come to Vegas it will be to run your own restaurant. He then invited them as his guests, to visit his restaurant London, in NYC.
They return to Hell’s Kitchen for their final meal together. They have a nice time and Rock says this hasn’t been an easy competition. He has to win but then he doubts himself. He tells her she has the killer in her but doesn’t know how to finish. She says this is our last supper, Judas and Jesus.
The door opens and the last six eliminated competitors enter the dorm. Brad’s thoughts … he wants Rock to win. Jen’s thoughts, she wants Bonnie to win. Julia is crying and nobody is sure why, but her thoughts …. She regrets not winning.
Chef Ramsay calls them downstairs and as the winner of the challenge in Vegas, Bonnie gets to select among the eliminated contestants to be part of her staff first. Her first choice was Jen. Rock chose Brad. (Both made great first choices .. it went downhill from there) Bonnie next selected Melissa and Rock took Vinnie. Josh and Julia were left. Both Rock and Bonnie were concerned about Julia’s emotions … even Ramsay questioned her about them and she said she was fine. (She also says to the camera she wants Rock to win, and it turns out if given the choice Rock would have chosen Julia) Bonnie then selects Julia and says they girls are back together. Rock is left with the volatile Josh.
Chef sends the teams back to the dorm. Bonnie says the women work well together and the men don’t. Rock is concerned about Josh and says he will micromanage if he has too.
Next week it all comes to a conclusion. Either the nanny or the head chef will see their dream come true. Whose door will open and whose will remain locked? Come back next week to see who wins and how they get there.
I had to look up the word "anticlimactic" before I could write this today. I had gotten ready with a pad and pen to write down the details of the foods they would prepare and I found myself writing only odd little notes. The most telling of all of these was the following, "It's halfway through the show and they haven't prepped or cooked anything!" Indeed, if the show's producers had gotten me to watch this far, they had suckered me in for the whole show. I confess to feeling somewhat used.
We did learn a few things last night and they are worth pointing out. First, on the replay, we find that it was Ramsay himself who referred to the women as "Hell's Bitches." I was surprised because Rock has been taking some heat for saying that on some other HK commentaries. If nothing else, this is a good lesson in group dynamics: when the person in charge affects an attitude or phrase, he or she legitimizes it for the rest of the team. This is especially true if he or she has a strong personality like Ramsay.
It is important to watch or read Jen’s exit interview because this woman is genuinely sweet. In her interview, she says that due to cutting the video, it doesn’t show that the first thing she did when she spent the $1000 prize last time, was buy both Rock and Bonnie a present, a knife set. Personally I think that would have made good TV, but then maybe the decision to cut her would have turned the TV audience against the show. She may have her faults, but caring isn’t one of them.
I noted that Bonnie said to her father, something I didn't completely catch last time, "I don't think I'm gonna’ be a teacher any more, Dad!" I have to wonder what exactly this comment means. I have always been suspicious of what culinary jobs Bonnie has actually done. We hear she is a personal chef and nanny, but we also know that she doesn't clean and she whines incessantly when she gets the chance. Hence, despite her outward attractiveness and overt emotionalism, does she even have much depth in the food business? She clearly has the best emotionalism, and hence, good TV, of any of them, but she doesn't seem to have much depth in the job world. Was she going to be a cooking teacher or even (gasp) a public school teacher? I guess we will never know. I wouldn’t hire someone to head a restaurant without genuine verifiable restaurant experience.
When the restaurant is divided and they have to develop their own ambience and menu, Bonnie quickly develops a clear vision of what she wants while Rock struggles. Rock goes for the simple and classic, with black and white themes and classic place settings. Bonnie sees it as having “a doll house and a charge card,” both of which with I gather she has significant experience. Bonnie’s vision seems to be a clear winner as far as ambience is concerned. She may seem scatterbrained, talking about having each place setting different, but at very least it will be colorful and fun. Rock tended to regard this as a chore where Bonnie thought it was a time to become creative. I think Rock’s vision, instead of being classic and clean, will be somewhat somber and ho-hum.
I wasn’t all that keen on the signature dishes for either of them, but I found Bonnie’s pasta and shrimp dish more appealing than Rock’s fried chicken and crab cake. I guess it’s something one has to taste, but Bonnie’s sous chef at least thought the dish sounded interesting, even after the negative reaction she had when Bonnie tried to hug her, which was pretty funny. I just hope the entire menu is more interesting than it sounds.
In Las Vegas, when Bonnie won the challenge, I couldn’t help thinking that winning the challenge was the kiss of death. The only other comments about the trip worth making are that, first, Robin leach is an ass, and second, I always wondered what they were pouring for champagne: it was Louis Roederer. Unfortunately I couldn’t tell if it was the premier brut or the cristal, but either one isn’t a bad way to end an evening, the difference being that one costs $45 and the other $250. Cristal is very nice if you are a drug lord or someone else is buying. It does tend to be bone dry, something many people do not prefer in their champagne. For reference, you always hold a champagne flute by the stem, unless the champagne is too cold.
I was excited by Ramsay inviting them both to his restaurant in NYC for a chef’s table. For those who have never been, a chef’s table is fairly rare. It is usually in the kitchen and the chef prepares things for a group, usually at least 6. Typically he asks what you like but the better the chef, the less he or she asks. You will never leave saying you haven’t had enough food. The accompanying wines are usually pretty good too. It isn’t cheap but it’s quite an experience if you can find one that is good. Ramsay’s restaurant is in the old Righa Royal, now called The London, which offers a stunning view of the Hudson River at the top of some 70 floors. It is supposed to have an excellent cellar, an odd word at this height to be sure. Personally I would buy a plane ticket just for the experience.
Rock and Bonnie toy with each other with Bonnie maintaining aloud that she is a force to be reckoned with and someone usually overlooked until it is too late. She is a broken record on this point. Rock flashes back with some digs of his own, but it is Bonnie who so slyly says, “This is the last supper: who is Jesus and who is Judas?” Interesting comparison, but, I hope, inappropriate. Maybe this is Bonnie’s surreal world coming back at her.
After this, they got to choose their cooking mates. Brad looks defiant and Julia is teary eyed and upset. Bonnie gets first choice because she won the competition. As it turns out, it is the classic guys over the girls. I would have chosen Julia over Josh or Vinnie on Julia’s WORST day, but both avoided choosing her because of her apparent despondency. Rock believes that with his low key kitchen management technique, he can get the best out of the guys. I hope so. Bonnie gets her girls together. Let’s hope Melissa gets a hair net or at least ties her hair back. We have to wait until next week to find out which one can make his or her team work better.