I'm watching Idol, or watched Idol.

TC: YESSS!!!!

I never saw that asshole the first time around, and I've been wanting him gone for weeks. He's been making Mike I. look like a nice guy. That takes some doing.

eta Do I need to clarify who I'm referring to?

NO.

And count me as another who is glad he is gone.

Huh. So I see Marcel as being chiefly socially tone-deaf and I kind of blame Mike I for not dealing with him well. And I blame him because of what he said at the end which suggested (to me) that he realizes that Marcel is inept socially but was not mature enough himself to not rise to the bait. But aside from that: it was interesting that none of them did a very good dish. It's like the spirit of disunity that they began with completely frelled their ability to cook anything decent.

I'm very happy that Richard won - I had completely forgotten that Dale had been eliminated for his season's Restaurant Wars.

ION, I just found this feature in the Chicago Reader: a chef is challenged with an ingredient - then challenges another chef with a different ingredient, etc. Lots of fun. Link is to the first challenge: Grant Achatz with a se Asian nut.

I think you are absolutely right that Mike did not deal with Marcel well, and I would probably blame Mike more if this was Marcel's first time at the rodeo. Marcel, at least what we saw in the footage, doesn't seem to have internalized how he may negatively affect people and puts the burden on other people. Mike wasn't right, but it isn't like if Mike had behaved better, this would have been a successful team. They couldn't even function well when they were setting up the menu.

Dale is an evil genius for making Marcel the team captain. And I'm just glad they didn't get rid of another woman.

Dale is an evil genius for making Marcel the team captain.

That was well played. And I loved Richard talking about doing the "back of the class" thing when he was hoping Marcel wouldn't pick him.

Oh, yeah, Dale played that very well.

Well, I'm just happy that we didn't have another gang of people attacking Marcel for whatever reason. Somebody other than Mike may have dealt with Marcel better. For example, no matter how much Richard didn't want to be on Marcel's team - I bet he would not have pouted if he wound up there.

Fabio was just so excellent in dealing with FoH - both in managing his waitstaff and being the host. I think he is the best FoH person that has been on Top Chef.

Yeah, absolutely. He actually managed the FoH, and did it well.

And I also have to say that I don't hate Marcel but the entire time he was on the show I kept waiting for something terrible to happen. He just should not be in situations where people can't get a break from him. And I don't think he understands that he is very annoying because he doesn't seem to read people well. I'm not sure that this is the sort of thing that you actually learn, is it?