Posted by NPR on December 09, 2009 at 09:17:28:
'Top Chef' Closes Out Its Best Season
December 9, 2009
Bryan and Jennifer were two of the top four chefs of the season. Three of those four will face off in tonight's finale. (Virginia Sherwood / Bravo)
by Linda Holmes
Some reality-competition shows (I hate that phrase, incidentally -- "immersion game shows"?) manage to remain solid over a long period of time, but I don't think I've ever seen one put out its best season as late as the sixth go-round, as Bravo's Top Chef has done this season. Tonight's finale tops off what has been an enormously satisfying, if predictable, run, demonstrating that you don't have to be shocked by who does well in order to enjoy the ride.
A discussion of the season to date, but no spoilers about the finale, after the jump.
What's remarkable about this season is how much fun it's been despite the fact that the top four chefs appeared to be (1) totally obvious and (2) head and shoulders above everyone else from the very start. You had the two Voltaggio brothers, Michael (the arrogant but apparently brilliant show-off) and Bryan (the much nicer, less showy one); the high-strung, never-satisfied Jennifer; and the darling, down-to-earth Kevin (whose name I almost never remember, because my friend and I called him "Beardy" pretty much exclusively). Everybody else was an afterthought, and yes, they were picked off in whatever random order in a seemingly unstoppable march to victory.
It's pretty obvious that these four people make great food. They also have very impressive resumes: Jennifer works for uberchef Eric Ripert, for instance. They're very, very good at what they do.
The difference is in their styles, and the show has done a great job of highlighting that fact and making it appear that any of the three who are left -- Jennifer left last week in the closest elimination of the season, it seemed -- would be perfectly valid winners for entirely different reasons. Michael is the most daring; Kevin makes the most consistently satisfying food; Bryan is more conservative than Michael but more adventurous than Kevin.
There's really no villain: Michael is kind of a blowhard, and he likes to make snotty remarks about Kevin's simpler cooking and how it's the kind of stuff he makes on weekends. But rather than dwell on that as meanness, the show has highlighted it as foolishness, teaching over and over again that Michael refuses to learn the lesson that it's not just about making the most complicated thing you are capable of; it's about making the food that tastes the best to the people who are eating it.
This season's challenges have succeeded in highlighting specific things people did that didn't make any sense and got them booted -- such as contestant Mike Isabella's belief that you could call a leek "protein" when feeding it to vegetarians by slicing it and trying to make it look like a scallop. For the most part, the things that happened made sense and were judged fairly (take a hint, Project Runway!), and the result is that the best three contestants are facing off in the finale, and I actually care who wins, and it's not because I hate anyone.
Though I will admit I am pulling for Kevin, who has been my favorite since the first episode. Git it, Beardy!
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