[S9E12] Signature
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Shane first appears in the episode reprimanding a member of Star Chamber, Ethan, when he complains about needing more time in playing a computer game. Then, the Star Chamber headquarters is suddenly hacked into by Garcia, who storms into the building wearing her signature attire as \"The Black Queen\". Impressed, Shane comments that she lost weight before asking if she missed him. In response, Garcia taunts him by kissing the unattractive Ethan before telling Shane that they need to talk. Later on, when Garcia asks for the case file regarding Russell, he refuses and yells at her, to which she tells him that they need to talk like \"normal people\". Shane sarcastically agrees and tells her about his dead mother before telling her that he knows about her relationship with Morgan. Then, he tells her that the woman he loved was gone, prompting Garcia to leave.
This week's Power Rankings come to you from somewhere over the Pacific! Upside, only one week off since I can't get the show in China. Downside, no access to video for this week's rankings. Hopefully my memory's up to snuff.Though I've already touched on this in the comments, a word on Modernist Cuisine. Those who say it's absurd to spend that much money on a cookbook are absolutely correct. And those who say it's a stunning work that justifies its price are equally correct. I have a copy. I... um... couldn't help it. And in terms of both scope and presentation, it's the most remarkable cookbook I've ever seen. It's hard to predict these things, but in ten years' time, I'd be less surprised if cookbooks had gone out of fashion altogether than if this weren't considered one of the most important landmark food references of all time. It takes an entire generation's worth of culinary innovation, and not only comprehensively catalogues it, but attempts to test, understand and codify it as well. It can be had for $400 in some circles, and while that's a huge sum of money, it's six volumes, manufactured with the care of a fine art book, and backed by years of research and testing. My opinion is that as expensive as it is, the price tag is justified.So it's interesting to see which chefs are comfortable with modern techniques and which aren't. I'm often frustrated by those who insist that MG is smoke and mirrors, tricks and gimmicks. You wouldn't know if from Chris J.'s performance, but MG's true spirit lies not in using chemicals and newfangled machines, but simply in taking an open and innovative approach to cooking, and refusing to work with the given that culinary technique was perfected in 19th century France. The science isn't in the equipment and the ingredients, but rather in the method, which is one of exploration and experimentation. Of course, many if not most experiments will fail. That's science. MG has produced some stunningly bad food over the years. But MG's legacy will be in the techniques that survive the crucible and are adopted into the mainstream. In the end, it's all about being willing to experiment and sometimes to fail, and I'm always disappointed by the number of people who consider this a bad thing.Anyway, huge tangents aside, a good quickfire. And though I'm starting to sense that I'm in the minority, I loved the elimination, too. Oddly, it's the first challenge I can think of in which the chefs were really set up for failure, but I thought it was a good challenge anyway. Thing is, you don't just jump into BBQ. This isn't slapping chicken on the grill (though that didn't stop a couple of teams from trying). It makes total sense that somebody like Myhrvold would be drawn to BBQ, because it's very technical, very scientific, and very precise. And experience counts for a lot. Unless there are ringers hidden in the field, this is a very, very difficult challenge and pick any season, I'd expect a lot of mediocre food. But I like that this was difficult not because of some dumb tricks, but simply because making really good BBQ is difficult. I liked that they didn't dumb it down. And for as many seasons as we've had that could have taken place anywhere, I love that this season, they're really making a strong attempt to tie the show into the location beyond a few B-roll shots after the opening credits.All of that said, one losing team apparently used KC Masterpiece and the other used liquid smoke, so... you know... 30 lashes for all. Side note, if you ever need confirmation that the recipes can't always be counted on to be entirely accurate, look no further than the fact that you're instructed to smoke the winning team's BBQ at 300 degrees Celsius. Low and slow, indeed. I think most of these are thrown together on the fly, may or may not reflect what was actually cooked, and most certainly are not subjected to a rigorous editing process. Or maybe I just really don't want to believe that Ty-Lör actually mopped his ribs with KC Masterpiece and ketchup.Oh, and anytime the elves want to give the canned car comments a rest, that'd be fine with me. No better way to suggest (or reinforce, some would argue) that your entire show is a sham than by having your contestants recite bad advertising copy and acting as though it's fooling anybody. Product placement, I understand. But this is the apotheosis of lame.Not a whole lot of movement this week. Everybody looked bad except for Paul and two chefs who openly declared that they were simply executing Paul's vision. And while I love that they worked in BBQ, I'm hesitant to read too much into this week's elimination results...The power rankings are not purely a prediction of who is most likely to win, or an assessment of last episode's dishes, or a reflection of the contestants' historical performance, but rather a nebulous amalgam of all three, combined with a little bit of gut feeling, to provide a relative measure of current awesomeness.WinsTopBottom1PaulQuickfires232Last Week: 1Eliminations230...besides wondering if there's anything Paul can't do well. Have we ever had such a prohibitive favorite in the history of the show Don't get me wrong, it's gratifying to see my preseason pick romping like this, but really, when this qualifies as one of his less impressive weeks, there's perhaps an issue with competitive balance. And he's the only chef remaining who's never been on the chopping block. You know the phrase. \"One mistake...\" And yet...2SarahQuickfires031Last Week: 2Eliminations232Though it's disappointing that the regional BBQ dream team fell flat, I'm not sure how to judge a week in which one of the three goes down with heat stroke. I certainly hope Sarah didn't present her egg yolk raviolo as innovative as the edit made it appear. That's five years behind the curve even in her own city, where Michael Carlson over at Schwa made it a signature dish. Which isn't to say that it isn't so completely totally worth doing. Good is good. But this one's starting to wander into molten chocolate cake territory. Let's not present it otherwise, please. 3EdwardQuickfires011Last Week: 3Eliminations132I'm a little surprised to hear myself saying that pre-slicing the brisket was one of the lesser sins this week, but especially considering the circumstances, even if it was the wrong call (and it was), I can't get all bent out of shape over it. And though Ed let the jerkitude fly, I will say two things in his defense. First, I didn't see people lining up to defend Jamie when she cut herself last season. Is it okay to question the severity of somebody's injury/illness or isn't it Something to think about. Second, despite the 'tude, when the moment at JT came when he could have grabbed Sarah by the collar and gleefully thrown her under the bus, he instead walked a very fine line between defending himself and blaming her. That's not for nothing, I think.4Ty-LörQuickfires220Last Week: 5Eliminations114There's an up and down week for you. I really, really, really hope his sauce wasn't actually KC Masterpiece and ketchup. I mean, ketchup as a BBQ sauce ingredient, absolutely. Many a killer 'cue joint gets ketchup in the mix. But that's like sweetening your corn syrup with granulated sugar. Ick. His quickfire, however, was a great example of MG being used for good rather than evil. It's a really simple dish... an amuse, really... that gets a little technical tweak to lend some character and interest. But the flavors are simple and classic. I can understand why some chefs were rolling their eyes, but I suspect part of the reason Myhrvold chose his watermelon was precisely because it illustrated what I was talking about above. And though it isn't really here nor there in terms of the rankings, I will add my voice to the chorus of folks who think Ty-Lör is showing himself to be a quality human being. Love that phrase, by the way.5BeverlyQuickfires023Last Week: 4Eliminations023*sigh*... maybe this is where Beverly really belonged last week. I'm not prepared to put her lower right now despite the fact that she's still the only winless chef. Her hits have just seemed too strong for that. Still, her ups and downs are starting to get comical. Is it really just a matter of not playing well with others There isn't a direct correlation, though it's hard to ignore the trend. That doesn't exactly bode well for next week. Still, I find her awkwardness kind of charming, and I really do find myself hoping she succeeds. I know there was some mention of a comment from Gail that there's a big transitional moment in store for Beverly. It doesn't appear to be in her blog, and I'm offline so I can't find it, but I'll cop to being intensely curious.6LindsayQuickfires120Last Week: 6Eliminations111Seven episodes into the regular season, and still waiting for Lindsay to distinguish herself positively or negatively. In its own way, this is almost as amazing as Paul's dominance. She gets screen time, but it's like her food is invisible. It's odd, and this week doesn't help any with that impression. Elimination win! And the admission that she was happily carrying out Paul's vision. Which is great, I'm not knocking that. If somebody on the team has a great plan, I say go for it... take the back seat and shoot for a true team win. I find that rather admirable, actually. But I still don't know what the heck to do with her in the rankings.7GraysonQuickfires122Last Week: 9Eliminations132And Grayson picks up yet another win that's chock full of caveats. They're the same ones that apply to Lindsay, above. I want to give her more credit than this, but we really are given the impression that this challenge was the Paul Qui show. I just can't bump her much. 8ChrisQuickfires012Last Week: 8Eliminations023Chris made it easy to let her move at least a little bit, though. I know some thought Myhrvold came off as a jerk with the \"I grow it in my basement\" line, but let's be completely clear about this. Chris speaking to Myhrvold as though he's introducing him to miracle fruit is like a physics grad student going up to Stephen Hawking and saying, \"So there's this really cool idea called String Theory...\" Whether he was pushed to go into full explanation mode for the cameras, or whether he felt he needed to for Padma's sake, it's hard to say. But consider the possibility that what he did was on that level. The dish itself... well, the horse is long dead, but again, this is Chris and Moto all over again. I've yet to try it, but the whole concept of miracle fruit is amazing. Still, the concept isn't enough. Here's a lemon and some lemon soda and a pill. Great. Whether this dish was meaningful or pure gimmickry lies in the cheesecake component, and unfortunately there's no recipe to refer to. But one gets the impression that he was just so in love with the concept, again, that he didn't stop to consider whether this was the best way he could express modern technique. And then he screws up cooking all three meats. Which, in his defense, was really, really, really hard. But still... not an impressive week for Chris. 9MalibuQuickfires021Last Week: 7Eliminations113Malibu is a really nice guy. A really, really nice guy. So much so that from some of the supplementary materials, it appears he threw himself under the bus when the judges were trying to decipher who was most responsible for the failure of his team's meats. Inedibly salty We all know how that story ends. The only question was who was going to take the blame, and it sounds like Malibu fell on his sword. Admirable, I suppose, but too bad... though his successes have been few, I've found them more interesting than anything Chris has been doing.WARNING : MINOR EPISODE TEN SPOILERS AHEADOh yes, ladies and gentlemen... it's time. And man, they're setting it up to look like a total train wreck this time. Boys vs. girls! *groan* And nobody seems happy, least of all Lindsay, or anybody who's dealing with Beverly, actually. They're kind of telegraphing Beverly in trouble, which makes me think she's probably fine. But we'll see what happens.Discuss! Posted at 03:00 AM Permalink Comments (37) 59ce067264