box of Jack

This post is all about the second-last episode of Top Chef Chicago where four chefs are reduced to three. If you don’t want spoilers then you better just mosey on along. Go and hug your children. Sit them down and make them go through a Top Chef marathon with you.

I’ve been getting too analytical about Top Chef lately. I can’t enjoy it moment-to-moment as a reality show now and the editing is starting to make itself obvious to me. You can usually tell who they’re going to eliminate by the amount of air time they give to each contestant. It might be unscripted but the producers go to great lengths to try and carve a storyline out of each episode. They also work really hard to try and make a chef’s post-elimination retrospective to be really soulful and capture what cooking and competition is all about.

One thing the producers don’t work hard on is the music. Seriously, it’s the same damn cues: whimsical bass riff when they’re goofing off, screechy noise when someone says something surprising, exciting guitar as they rush around for their quickfire or shopping, and slow inspiration music when someone talks after being eliminated. Can’t you guys do something like what all the drama shows do and cross-promote pop music? You don’t have any shame in promoting cars or phones, so music can’t be a big leap.

I can see a lot of people getting miffed over tonight’s decision to send Antonia home (like poodlegoose :-D). They set us up for it though. Antonia talks a lot about the stress she’s feeling and how her kid wants her to win so badly. The chefs, especially Richard, talk about a “fatal flaw” and how one stupid mistake can mean being eliminated. And that was the crux of tonight’s episode, Antonia decided to let all her dishes sit on the one plate and she undercooked her peas. It sounds like such a ridiculous thing to send her home for and why is Lisa still there because Lisa is a big old sourpuss and maybe they only keep her around so that audiences have someone to hate.

Personally, I like Top Chef because one thing the producers don’t have much sway over is the judging. Head Judge Tom has said so and I believe him. Don’t get me wrong, the producers try really hard to milk whatever drama there is and they do edit things so that each person becomes a caricature but in the end, I think the best chef wins. If I was judging by personality alone, I’d have voted Lisa off but I wasn’t there and I didn’t eat what they had so who the hell knows.