awww and then he got kicked off, boo!

gronk and paddys flirting at the beginning was a bit awkward

adam getting too much airtime on LCK. i feel like hes coming back.

has there been an episode since katsuji got kicked?

no back tonite

hipster midget tried to foie without knowing how to foie

inexplicable.

Although I really hate them giving 3 hours to do this challenge. Julia was all about the all-day braises, if they give them five hours we see much better dishes.

That wouldn't have helped the foie though.

i am blown away. wonder if they did it to make it an intense LCK. Not sure who to root for to come back. all i know is i want lesbo asian out. she blows. shes only here cuz she keeps making her veggies POP wtf

every reality show has the clear cut #4 when they get down to this point. whatsherface (don't want to call her Asian Lesbian) has zero chance of winning, she's just there to eliminate someone next week

#2 Asian is her name I think.

Katsuji's personality totally grew on me; bunch of nice ppl this season but he was the only guy who could be actually funny. That said, Doug would prob get my fan favorite vote (in a bland season personality-wise). No real complaints about the overall cooking though. The main reason I still watch TC because I like watching the judges solve the food, Tom C is maybe my favorite reality show host.

my pref for winner:
Gregory > Mei >>> Doug >>>>>> Adam (eh) >>>>>> Melissa (meh) >>>>>> George (bummer)

What a huge mental mistake for Dougie. Probably selection bias here but it seems like historically contestants always get kicked off for effing up something they've never cooked before.

It's too bad really since George's and Melissa's braises were both hot messes.

Reminds me of when Kevin Gillespie real late in the competition asked one of the voltaggios how to sous vide

I want to eat Meis dish more

Mei seems like she needs therapy.

Her culture imo

My gf's brother is very similar to hers and let me tell you that the strongest human on the planet would still go ape**** dealing with him under any kind of pressure.

My gf almost had a meltdown while watching the episode. She was so tilted by the brother.

well the 3 most deserving made the finale imo

IS TOP CHEF, NOT TOP CURRY



Pretty pissed Gregory didn't go home. He didn't even try to be innovative, that should be a huge knock on his dish. Especially when George really did try to cook in the spirit of the challenge.

yeah Greg was a little lucky to get through, seemed like he won partly on body of work. But if the other dude doesn't hammer the octopus then I definitely think they give it to him. I'm ok with result bc I think Greg makes for a better final episode.

Seemed like Doug was probably gonna win LCK but you never know. If he does then I'm glad for any of the Mei/Doug/Greg trio to ship. Melissa's cooking has obv been crushing lately but her personality as a frontrunner rubs me a little wrong and I want her to win the least; that said she's obv not a villain and I'll bet she's more chill away from the cameras.

Overall I think Mei has the most moves & best odds, with round numbers I'd cap it at like:
Mei 40% Greg 25% Melissa 20% Doug 15%
...hm maybe should knock doug down to 10 and bump melissa to 25, just because doug's ceiling seems the lowest and probably at least one of the other three is going to kill it. But whatever, inevitably top chef will do some weird format thing to get it down to a F2 or F3 so gotta figure Doug has better than 1 in 10 chance.

looking forward to finale, by some combo of cooking ability and likability these were my favorite three chefs of the season. Almost don't care who wins, just hope it feels fair and they all do well, and that Top Chef doesn't trot out some goofy gotcha format, and that the sous chefs hold up their end. If Gronk gets invited back and he bends Padma over a griddle then that would be fine too.

On the whole Top Chef as a show obv is on the downslope, not sure if that's bc the top talent isn't drawn to it anymore, or maybe they're casting diverse backgrounds/personalities over cooking stars, beats me. And if they're trying to cast on personality then they sort of failed this season, overall it was pretty bland group. That's actually fine by me because I mostly watch to learn about food and to hear Tom and Gail, but I got sucked into Top Chef during the Vegas season and to me it's never been quite as good since. Still a solid way to kill an hour, bummer that it's impossible not to eat/drink like 1000 extra calories when it's on.

I think they need to do a top chef international season

I wish Melissa were in the final. I kept forgetting Doug even existed until there were like 7 people left.

There should be Last Chance Kitchen if you get knocked out at the point Melissa did.

gotta think that the smart money is on Doug for Fan Favorite. Katsuji seems too polarizing, especially to the typical housewife taking the time to vote on her rotary phone.

Yeah I guess. I mean, out has to be out at some point. But it's too bad, she was just so happy all the time. She was fun to root for. And it really sucked that she a) was eliminated on the first time where LCKisn't an option and b) that she was eliminated on such a stellar dish