 |
Woot!
Okay, I know, I know, I no longer live in Chicago. But when Chicago chefs go six for six in the qualifying round to take up thirty-eight percent of the bunks in the house, I get a little verklempt.
I'm a little late to the party here, so I think most has already been covered in the comments. Also, I'm trying to focus my time on getting the rankings going. So we'll keep this one brief, and I should have some substance for you shortly.
Discuss!
 |
Okay... I'm strongly considering the possibility that that was the best elimination in Top Chef history. There must be some other contenders, but man, I'm having a hard time coming up with one I enjoyed more. And I enjoyed it almost as much as I enjoyed that five of the six Chicago chefs are already in. If Beverly Kim can survive next week, Chicago takes more than a third of the bunks. Love it.
It's a bloodbath! Though nowhere close to what next week will be like. Ten left to cook plus four on the bubble means fourteen chefs going for five remaining spots. I want to think about it a bit more, but I think I like this format. As somebody who always wants to see the cream rise to the top, I'm much happier with the judges making the final cut down to 16 than I am with casting having that say. And for a couple of episodes, I think it's a fun diversion before we get to the meat of the competition. I found it diverting, anyway.
There's some chaff, to be sure, but once again, there are a lot of strong bodies in this field. Almost makes me regret not doing the preseason rankings. But watching all of that research going down the drain all at once next week might've been too much to take.
I was a little burned out at the end of last season, but I have to say, I'm feeling re-energized by the premiere. Let's stick with a postmortem for next week, and then I'll dig deep and do sort of a combo preseason/episode 1 rankings going into episode three.
A good start, I think... discuss!
 |
Are you telling me I have to research 29 chefs for the preseason rankings?!?
Can I, uh... wait until they cut down to 16?
Consider this open season on Top Chef season 9 discussion! Preseason rankings... sometime.
UPDATE : Eeeeeeeehhh, maybe not so much with those preseason rankings. With apologies, I'm going to beg off, folks. Combine the XL field, my schedule the past month and the fact that I'm in the middle of vacation at the moment, and I'd really rather be writing about some of the fabulous stuff I've been eating. The rankings will go on, and there'll be a postmortem after episode one as usual, but with a little bit of shame, I'm admitting defeat here. I just don't have it in me to research 29 chefs right now. Try to find it in your hearts to forgive me!
