5×11: Holy Shit! I’ve procrastinated doing my write up of this episode because I was going to do it right before I was going to see 5×12 on hulu, but that episode was never posted, so I thought maybe Fox had skipped a week with the show, then tonight I went to see if 5×12 had been posted yet, only to find 5×12 and 5×13 waiting for me, which sucks because the air date for 5×12 was last week, which means that hulu’s been holding out on me, but which is also great because now I have two new episodes to look forward to. Yin and Yang and all of that shit, or, probably more precisely, the silver lining on my cloud of not have seen new Hell’s Kitchen in awhile.

So, 5×11: Andrea is still fucking annoying and the contestants got to go to the Borgata in Atlantic City to see where the restaurant one of them will be heading up is located – a big empty room. So, Andrea is still annoying, and it’s clear she can’t walk the walk, yet she still won the individual challenge which got her a free pass from elimination, which sucks because it would probably be her that would be next to be eliminated. So Andrea got the free pass, but she sucked at dinner service, which resulted in Ben going up on the chopping block and it looked like he was going to be eliminated, until Chef Ramsay decided it would be unfair to punish Ben when Andrea was so much worse, so he didn’t eliminate anyone, most likely because Robert had voluntarily left the show, so Ben, and Andrea, live to see another episode of Hell’s Kitchen, or I get to see them in another episode, a glass half full of water, half empty sort of thing.

Which brings me to Robert, who decided to leave the competition because he started experiencing chest pains in Atlantic City, because of which it was discovered that he has, or is likely to have, heart disease, so he left the show to get better. For my write-up of 5×10, I was surprised at that episode’s cliffhanger, which was Chef Ramsay’s decision to close Hell’s Kitchen, which I thought was a good ploy to make the contestants shape themselves up and do dinner service all by themselves to prove to Chef Ramsay that they are up to the job, especially since they sucked so hard in last episode’s dinner service, but it turned out the closing of Hell’s Kitchen was to allow the contestant’s to go to Atlantic City to check out the Borgata, which was not nearly as cool as the alternative I had imagined. Anyway, after Chef Ramsay told the group that he wasn’t closing the restaurant for the sheer purpose of shutting it down, but rather to send them to Atlantic City, Robert revealed that he had nearly had a heart attack at the shock of the closing of the restaurant and the snatching away of his dream of winning the competition. Heart attack? Chest pains? Any correlation maybe? Did Chef Ramsay cause, in part, Robert’s health problems and his decision to leave the show? Seems like a possibility…

Now, back to Andrea, who kind of doesn’t know what she’s doing, i.e., crab earrings? Rosemary spears for her chicken? I was a bit surprised when Chef Ramsay choose her dish, during the personal challenge, above Danny’s and Paula’s, who obviously know what they’re doing. But Andrea’s dish, which was just tuna or something covered in green tea leaves? Really? I’m beginning to suspect that Chef Ramsay might have chosen her dish, giving her a free pass from elimination, with the knowledge that she would be the next to go, and especially after both L.A. and Lacey left in the same episode, meaning the series would be one episode short for the season, I think Chef Ramsay choose Andrea’s dish knowing she would be next up for elimination, at which point he would decide not to eliminate anyone, in order to keep up the episode order for the season, but then Robert decided to leave, which happened before the personal challenge, which means someone still left the show this episode and this season is still one episode short, so who knows, maybe I’m just over thinking things, but I sure do hope Andrea is the next to go. The bitch is getting more annoying and whiny with each episode. Just put her out her misery, my misery, already.

5×12: Finally, thank god Andrea is finally gone. She calls it assertiveness, I call it annoying.

Anyway, so it’s down to Paula and Danny as the final two, which they deserve, because they’ve been the most consistent throughout the series. I was about to write that they’ve been the most hard working, but honestly, I think that Seth and Ben were the most hard working, but only because they had to make up the skills that they lacked, whereas Paula and Danny don’t have to work that hard because they’ve got what it takes.

I also love how the final two contestants were the most low key throughout the competition. They weren’t flashy or trying to show themselves off like the other contestants were – Paula and Danny were just trying to do a good job.

I did find it kind of funny how Paula was kind of nervous about appearing on that morning show in L.A., and that Andrea and Danny were excited about her appearing on television too, but these people are on tv, but I guess at the time it didn’t feel that way to them.

Also, I love how the final three were all surprised at seeing their family members. Have none of these people seen the show before? Hell, I’ve only seen season four and I guessed what was going to happen, but I guess my opinion just might be as a viewer watching the events as they happened, while the contestants were experiencing them as they were unfolding around them. Different perspectives and all that.

But anyway, I can’t wait for the finale, because I don’t know who the hell is going to win.

5×13: Not much to say about this episode, since this was the first hour of the two-hour finale and no one got eliminated. It’s too bad that Paula lost the personal challenge since it means that Danny gets first pick of the six eliminated contestants that have come back to help with the final two with their final dinner services, but I guess I would be saying the same thing of Danny if he had lost. I wonder how it must feel for the contestants that have returned to help out – is it humiliating for them to come back and help the final two win the prize that they had fought so hard to win themselves? Is it personally rewarding for them to help out their old competitors win such prize? Do they just want more screen time? Do they just want to do one final good job and end their Hell’s Kitchen experience on a good note? Or do they just want to get trashed on free champagne at the closing party? Deep questions…

Speaking of the six contestants that have returned, I knew it was them under those things that cover fancy plates (whatever they are called) before they were unveiled. “Six ingredients,” six returning contestants that anybody that has seen previous seasons would be expecting… just saying.

I wonder what goes through the minds of the other contestants that got eliminated early on when they watch the show and have to see themselves in the opening credits and wonder what could have been. Especially Will, who was the first to be eliminated and has to watch himself in the opening credits whenever, if ever, he watches this season – I’m guessing it might hurt inside a bit, I know it would if it was me. Instead of keeping all of the eliminated contestants on the opening credits throughout the season as if they were still on the show, if I were one of the producers, I would just ‘x’ them out on screen to let people know that they are gone. ‘X-ing’ out such contestants might even be solace for the eliminated contestants, the final nail in the coffin, the ripping off of a band-aid, so that such contestants will stop daydreaming of what could have been and realize their failure.

Anyway, one episode away from the end and I predict Paula’s going to win, just because Danny, as good as a cook as he is, is still a bit of a redneck, as evidenced by his desire to have booths and mounted dish in his portion of the dining room for the final service, not exactly fine dining.