Top Chef

So The Lovely Mary tells me about this National Blog Posting Month thingee and I thought it was a cool idea, so here's my official first post for the month (with not too much time to spare). Now I almost have an excuse for wasting time writing these things...

On to the topic for today:

One of the shows in our current cycle right now is Bravo's culinary reality show, "Top Chef". Last season was decently entertaining, with enough inter-chef drama to keep our attention. There is something to be said for bantor between a sommelier and a short order cook. Oh, there was a bunch of cooking competition too, I think...

Anyway, the second season of this show started this week, and I can already say with certainty that the producers of the show have spared no expense in bringing another diversly eccentric cast of characters to the kitchen. My early favorite for most controversial is Marcel, the young know-it-all with a degree in molecular gastronomy and a Japanimation haircut.

This week's episode brought some other personalities to the forefront. Specifically, Marisa's. My early assessment: she sucks. There was some challenge where the contestants were split up into two teams and had to go to the markets for ingrdients (cooking show, right, I keep forgetting). After checking out, one of Marisa's teammates, Otto, thought that maybe they had gotten some extra something-or-other, and mentioned it in passing. He didn't steal them. All he did was notice that they hadn't been payed for.

Anyway, this Marisa gets more and more twisted into ethical knots as the day goes on, and when one of the judges comes to visit, she not only tells him about the food not payed for, but implies that Otto was the one responsible, causing the judge to cast Otto off to return said items. Later, when standing before the judges, Marisa really throws Otto under the bus, referring to his "act of dishonesty" as a reason the "team is in jeopardy".

Mind you, Marisa knew about the unpaid-for items for as long as Otto did, and Otto was the only one with the wherewithal to even notice. Oh, and the dessert Marisa was in charge of was called a "substandard product" by the judges. But did she go home? Nope. For some inane reason Otto bowed out of the competition, letting Marisa off the hook. Good job, Otto.

In the previews for next week there looked to be a lot of swearing, and maybe even a stabbing with all the knives around...