Top Chef: "Last Supper"

I tuned in to this week's Top Chef thinking that I would be watching the finale. Where did I miss the announcement that only two of the All Stars would compete for "$200,000 furnished by Buitoni and the title of Top Chef"? No matter. I'm quite happy to stretch out this, my favorite TC season, a little longer. In fact, I'm hoping that all future seasons of Top Chef will be rearrangements of previous casts. I never want to see a new Top Chef contestant again! Okay, maybe that's a little extreme, but I have always wanted to see a season made up of chefs who were eliminated first. That's not too far-fetched, right? Culinary pipe dreams aside, I was on the edge of my seat for most of this hour, so let's get to the Good, Bad and Ugly, if my trembling hands will cooperate.
The Good:

• Twists & turns. When Padma pulled out the dreaded envelope after Judges' Table Lite, my first reaction was similar to that of the chefs or Gob Bluth: come on! They had worked hard, made their dishes, and I wanted them to be judged accordingly, rather than giving them one more shot to make it or break it. However, after mulling it over a bit, I'm actually glad this final twist was thrown into the mix. I really think the end result was the same (Antonia's last supper dish did not seem to be as well-received as Mike's), but pushing the chefs to the upper limits of their abilities (and sanity) is what this show is all about. Not to mention that this is the All Star season, so the stakes are higher. If you can't think on the fly and cook to perfection, then get out of the kitchen.
• The quickfire. Not only was bringing back some of the most difficult past quickfires a fun idea, but allowing the chefs to assign them to each other was even better. It reminds us that Top Chef is not just based on skill and skill alone. You have to have an ace up your sleeve to make it to the end.
  

The Bad:

• Richard's strategery. It's not that Richard is too nice to stick his competitors with a tough challenge. He clearly intended on giving Mike a hard time in the quickfire, but his logic ended up backfiring. Blais may have the hair of an evil villain, but he's definitely lacking the killer instincts.

• Mike's tableside manner. Mike Isabella reminds me of a used car salesman. There's something that seems so genuinely sleazy and falsely humble about him when he presents his food or accepts accolades. There's no question that he's stepped up his game since arriving in the Bahamas (more specifically, The Cove at Atlantis, in case you didn't know), but I would rather that Mike just serve his food with closed lips, lest he start rambling about low, low payments of only $99 a month.

The Ugly:

• Editing spoils. I'm sure editing a reality television show is a daunting task, but in a competition, it's really quite telling when you show clips of a teary-eyed contestant in the very beginning of the episode. I pretty much knew as soon as Antonia was wiping tears from her eyes and talking about how much she wanted to be in the finale that she was going to be the one packing her knives tonight. Mike's interviews, on the other hand, were all cheery and bright (to use one of Gail's favorite words), even when he was talking about the final one-bite twist. And if the familiar Irish jig in the background while Richard was cooking and presenting his food didn't clue you in to the fact that he'd also be winning the challenge, well, then you must not have watched a lot of Top Chef.

So, there's one more week to go, and it looks like it's going to be epic. Restaurant Wars with the entire cast as sous chefs and, presumably, front of the house staff...I can't wait! Are you happy with the last two chefs standing? Who would you rather see in their place? I personally would have enjoyed a Carla/Richard showdown, but I'm definitely rooting for Richard because I don't think the man handle the weight of another disappointment. Until next week!