I guess someone has to say something about the last installment.
* No more Alex. He did pretty well for a guy with only six years of experience (I was unaware of that detail till this show). I will miss him slightly, because he was the only one of the remaining contestants who was occasionally vaguely entertaining. He did make my skin crawl a little bit, though, especially when I realized he has the wide-eyed stare of a chronic liar (such a damning tell that is).
* Amanda is now going to be the only reliable source of amusement, and no doubt she's next for the block. She sure said some dopey things this round. I mean, how many mystery box challenges has she faced in her life that she could describe this one as the hardest? And she wants to vamp the KGB? And how about the tasteful Helen Keller remark? (About which: since the dishes were supposed to taste like the originals, surely HK should have been able to identify them all?) She is a dum-dum who is consciously trying to be cute. Still, I hate her less than Leah of yore, and out of sheer orneriness I wish she'd trounce everyone. But she won't, 'cause she sort of sucks.
* Kelly irritated me hugely this week by putting air quotes around the "twenty thousand" of "twenty thousand dollars." What, were they virtual numbers? Stupid. And I was appalled that she had never cooked Chinese food before. And what about the whole "Yuck, I have to cook my rice on top of the stove" and "Boo hoo, how can that possibly be done in only thirty minutes?" (yeah, yeah, I know she's used to high-altitude cooking--big deal) crapola? (Why do I like convoluted and often awkward syntax so much? It's such an obnoxious affectation. Sorry.) Still, she, like Kevin with the Indian food, managed to do a good job with a cuisine with which she was totally unfamiliar, and I must acknowledge her competence.
* Could not believe Angelo used frozen puff pastry.
* Was shocked--SHOCKED!--that both Wylie Dufresne and Eric Ripert ate off their knives. What goops!
* Tiffany strikes me as a tad smug, anyway, and I think she'd better be careful: four wins in a row might go to her head.
* Important final observation: during a Stouffer's commercial I was forced to endure on Hulu, a frozen, microwaveable sub was described as being made with melted cheese.