Last nights intro was all about working us into a state over Mike Isabellas chances.
Will he or wont he?
The odds say yes, but his opponents tried to persuade us otherwise.
Antonia pooh-poohed the boys club.
Theyre just expecting to dominate, but thats not gonna happen.
Blais, a notorious worrywart (/worryglasswort), claimed he wasnt worried at all about Mikes winning streak.
he said, in the tone of voice that means exactly the opposite.
TheQuickfireChallengeseemed like a chance to even the playing field.
The chefs had to assign each other a classicTop Chefchallenge.
Translation: capitalize on each others weaknesses.
Mike got first pick.
Canned foods and dry goods.
Adequately screwed, Antonia chose Blais as her victim.
She threw him a softball.
Hot dogs are amazing even when theyre terrible!
This was a classic example of the unlimited pans/limited pot fallacy.
In actuality, even the most extravagant pan users can limit themselvesif the challenge demands it.
If you find this page, that means its a very real counter-fallacy.
It all screamed Twist!
in the most obvious, untwist-like manner possible.
This time, the chefs had to dole out another round of classic maneuvers, some worse than others.
Here they are in numbered form!
Blais got to go first since hed gone last previously.
This was his chance to sabotage!
He took away Mikes hand tools instead.
Mike spent the rest of his cooking time congratulating himself for not really needing tools anyway, and laughing.
It was frustrating to witness, because Mike laughs like this: Aheeheeheeheeheeheehee.
He used two, count em, two hands.
In stark contrast, Blais tried desperately to cut a lime with one hand.
The lime wobbled in defiance.
NEXT: When is a currywurst not a currywurst?Meanwhile, Carla surfaced as Antonias helper chef.
Why do they have to cut people from this reality competition show?!
Eventually, guest judge Wolfgang Puck did his rounds.
Very strong, Padma managed to choke out.
Blais mangled (tried to Europeanize?)
the pronunciation of his condiments: A little kay-chap man-is.
Wolfgang was not sold on any of it.
He insisted on framing Blais currywurst as nothing more than sausage and ketchup.
Wolfgang was the only player.
Wolfgang: I think I could feed that to my kids at home, huh?
Blais: …huh.
Wolfgang: They would love that.
Blais: Thats good…I hope…?
Wolfgang: Theylovesausage and ketchup.
Ten to one, Blais did not want to call his hot dog that way.
As for Antonias soup, good but too concentrated.
Elimination Challenge:The chefs went to a fantastical place called the Cloisters.
They picked the All-Stars.
Since Mike was still leading, he got to assign pairs.
Never mind that Morimoto and Wolfgang look like action figures of themselves.
Mike picked Michelle for redemption, not out of fear of the alternatives!
He is very noble that way.
Still campaigning to off Antonia, he paired her with Morimoto, a man she found really freaking scary.
This left Richard with his old friend Wolfgang.
It was like a reverse therapy session, with everyone in danger of getting blamed for mistakesexceptthe mothers.
The diners gathered to jointly imagine that three of them would die later on.
1 came out for Chef Morimoto.
It featured tuna instead of hamachi, since the hamachi Antonia magically owned had gone rancid.
It wasnt clear if Morimoto loved the whole thing or hated it intensely.
All he said was that the miso soup was salty.
Then there was the random lady at the table (theres always one).
Shed written a book on pretend last meals and said things like, Im visual.
You guysknowthat about me.
She loved Antonias rice.
She actually did the really difficult part rather well, agreed Michelle Bernstein.
As for Morimoto, hed said his piece on the salty miso.
Next up: Mikey.
It also suited Mikes purposes of not taxing himself too much by figuring out how to make a biscuit.
The only issue was that the fry batter kept sliding off the chicken.
Gail blamed this on Mikes flabby white meat, even though there was no need to get personal!
NEXT: There can be only oneBut there was still the matter of the unchosen.
Padma gave them a sympathetic look, asked Remember this?
and held up an envelope printed with the wordsTop Chef.This happened about three times.
It wasnt clear what she was asking them to remember.
That they were onTop Chef?
That there are occasionally envelopes?
Probably it had something to do with twists.
I honestly have no idea what is in the envelope, Antonia told us.
This definitely seemed like it was going to suck for them.
Multimillionaire chefs are probably deeply competitive.
At last the bites arrived.
Call it the Dick Cheney of bites.
Mikes tempura lobster over beef tartare with caramelized olives and chimichurri sauce got even mixed-er reviews.
Padma counted off the votes.
It was a very deliberate three to three, almost like it had been planned that way!
Wolfgang, what do you think?
Wolfgang took his time responding.
If tomorrow I will wake up, which flavor will I remember?
It will be Antonias flavor.
First of all,iftomorrow I will wake up?
Its not really your last meal, Wolfgang!
Second, that sounded like a win for Antonia.
It did, right?
Despite Wolfgangs poetry, Mike made it, not Antonia.
We were meant to expect one thing and accept another.
Such is the thrill of a Bravo season.
So what now,Top Cheffans?
Its down to two chefs, and whatever you might say about their personal quirks, theyre both uberskilled.
Can either be discounted?
