By Frederic Germay
This season of "Hell's Kitchen" has been, by far, the most unpredictable season yet. Does anyone remember the season premiere, where Jen nearly fainted, Ramsay scoffed at Bonnie, and Rock's frozen gnocchi was thawed by the scorching, disapproving glare of Ramsay? Rock seems to have instantly rebounded from his first fatal error, and continuously drove himself to display excellence. Jen remained in the background, not drawing any attention to herself (except for the garbage spaghetti incident), and when it counted, she displayed excellent leadership skills and talent. Bonnie, who has been placed on the chopping block an infinite amount of times and has consistently done horribly, seems to have changed overnight. Who would have thought that Barbie...er...Bonnie would be the dinner service's strongest cook?
After Brad got his rather premature dismissal last week, the teams were united into one solitary team. They were presented with a challenge of feeding a group of trendsetters, in other words, high school students. I don't mean to criticize the chefs' approach to feeding the young adults, but seriously! I don't seem to recall many times in my youth where I would yearn for fine dining as lunch in my high school. So obviously, Julia had her rather down-to-earth meal, and the kids enjoyed it more than any other dish (by 51% of the votes). Julia won a trip to the Green Rock Valley Resort in Las Vegas, and she took Jen with her along to meet Season 2 winner, Heather. It was wonderfully refreshing to see Heather again -- she was one of my favorite chefs in the entire series, a fact that was especially compounded when she nearly lost to the incredibly undeserving Virginia.
Rock, Josh, and Bonnie (the losers) were tasked with cleaning every single nook and cranny in the dining room under the dreadful rule of (drum roll please) -- Jean-Philippe! I thought it was hilarious that Josh didn't know how to operate a vacuum; the list of his ineptitudes keeps on expanding.
Then came the dinner service, and it was quite the spectacle! Bonnie alone managed to keep her head, and surprisingly it seemed as though none of her dishes were screwed up. Julia had problems of her own, and she seemed to have difficulty with the garnish. I'm hardly one to criticize her about her lack of fine-dining knowledge, but garnish should at least be something that she's mastered. Josh, once again, sunk to his usual level of failure, as he continued to overcook dish after dish.... and finally, Ramsay had enough of Josh. I finally understood why Rock hated Josh so much, but I didn't think that Josh's elimination was fair at all. That has to be one of the worst exits anyone has ever had to endure in the history of this show -- not even Melissa or Vinnie had it that bad!
Ladies and Gentlemen: We present to you the clash of the abrasive personalities. Everyone should now know that Rock has a short temper and a nasty ego, but I suppose that since his skill has encompassed his shortcomings -- people were willing to forgive him...were willing. I, for one, have had enough of Rock and his outbursts, and I no longer feel any sympathy for his character! On the other hand, Jen has seemed rather docile for most of the season, yet only recently we uncovered that she has had a lot of experience in the kitchen and she has quite an attitude as well (remember the Bonnie/Jen fight). A lot of unpleasant terms and names were thrown about, and what I found amusing was that the cooks didn't really seem to be looking at each other while they were fighting -- they were too engrossed in their work! Never-the-less, their voices carried to the fox-ears of Ramsay and he was not pleased to hear it.
Towards the end, Rock succeeded in turning all of the girls against him. It seems as though he had a brief bout of pity, as he cried while recalling the harsh argument between them. However, it was too little, too late, for me. Seizing once again on Julia's rather limited knowledge of fine dining, the girls put her, once again, on the chopping block. Against Rock's undeniably superb and consistent talent, Julia couldn't have survived, but it was clear that everyone wanted her to. It even seemed to me that Ramsay didn't take his usual glee in casting someone out, and he was quite sorry. He hugged her, and sent to culinary school, and insisted that she return to "Hell's Kitchen." I will miss Julia. By the time I finally decided whom I wanted to root for -- she had gotten kicked off. And then there were three!
This episode was quite unpredictable, shocking, and emotional. Few reality shows could capture all of those elements, and that why I give this episode a 9/10.
