* I'm sad that Mike I. is so good at hitching his wagon to a Voltaggio star. He may think of himself as one of the top guys, but really, if he had not been able to benefit from the reflected glory of Michael last week and Bryan this, his record would be pretty pedestrian. It was Bryan who told him how to deconstruct that béarnaise; I have no faith he could have done it on his own. I know I'm prejudiced (I was so relieved he won neither quickfire nor elimination), but I still think he's a remora who'd be lost without the bigger fish.
* As for Mattin, I was sure he was going to be eliminated because he had so much more camera time than ever before, but I guess that was just because he's French. Still, he almost bought it--which I knew was going to happen as soon as he said he was going to use bacon in his velouté--and now has revealed himself as a liar as well as an unreliable cook. For his own safety, in fact, I was hoping he'd be told to leave, since I feared for his life if he stuck around: Ashley looked murderous when he claimed he hadn't pooh-poohed her suggestion of using asparagus in the velouté. How awkward for him that his vehement rejection was caught on film.
* Michael and Jennifer--what a dream team! I loved the way they worked together: each so confident in the competence of the other that they barely needed to speak. Compare that to Robin's frenetic chatter (she came off as somewhat loony, I thought, as well as suffering from an attachment to passé slang).
* I lust for knives as sharp as the ones these guys use. I almost wept at the ease with which Hector was able to trim that fillet. Too bad he didn't know how to cook it.
DISCLAIMER: I had not read the last page of this thread when I wrote this. I now feel very redundant but figured I'd post it as is anyway.
