I miss the Sunset Rubdown sound, but I agree, this is pretty great.

I wanted to weep.  I rewatched that sequence four times in a row.

‎"There were phrases of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony that still made Coe cry. He always thought it had to do with the circumstances of the composition itself. He imagined Beethoven, deaf and soulsick, his heart broken, scribbling furiously while Death stood in the doorway, clipping his nails. Still, Coe thought, it…

That is absolutely terrifying.

Also, now that the season's over, thanks, Emily, for providing these intelligent and sometimes-hilarious episode reviews.  At the season's lowest points, you provided a great space to commiserate.

I'm pretty sure that, out of all of the seasons, Paul is the nicest guy to ever win Top Chef.

With a decent finale and a triumphant Paul, Texas narrowly avoided ranking as the worst season of Top Chef to me.  I hope the Charlize Theron-guested episode had super-high ratings or something, sending a clear message to the producers that the gimmicks, non-stop group challenges, and punitive restraints on cooking…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…
Charles Yu's "How to Live Safely…" is a clinic on how to marry concept with execution.  His characterizations and world-building are suffused with a sense of wonder at both technology and people, and the foibles of both.

Thank god no one will be fetching a rug.

Yeah, Cardoz was the last Top Chef: Masters winner.  I'd never heard of Takashi Yagihashi before; according to wikipedia he was on a show called Great Chefs.

Everything's coming up Zulkey!

As Emily mentioned in her review, it's even more disappointing to have a challenge like this after the awesome Charlize Theron/evil queen feast.  That challenge, despite also being a shameless tie-in, managed to involve a celebrity who enjoys eating good food and bring out the best in the chefs.

"It smells like…rainbows!"

The joke wasn't that bad; you don't have to kill yourself for it.

I also think Edward was extraordinarily dickish, but I actually sympathize with him.  The fact that he had to deal with someone that passive-aggressive for that amount of time, under extreme pressure, snapped through his coke-frayed nerves (did you see his jaw reaction at Judges' Table?)

The preview for Restaurant Wars makes it look like six people could go home at the same time.  Maybe that's what the judges want.

Cokejaw Edward is my favorite.  Both of those dudes have sliced their hands and kept on cooking or trying to cook.  Coincidence?  Hey, maybe being a badass in the kitchen is what wins challenges.

I think what the judges were getting at was something more along the lines of: even if you give the responsibility of handling the main protein to someone else, it's still the main protein, and you should check on it before the point of no return.  I believe that that's a reasonable criticism, no matter how much I…

Yeah, or Ms. Galactus.

Heather is like that one insufferable girl who connived her way into becoming secretary or treasurer of your high school student government by eating the other candidates and absorbing their passive-aggressive powers.