He should have taken command - but Spike clearly wanted to to Vietnamese food.

I hadn't heard of Crazy Bad - or, was it "Bad Bubby"?

You could have done a poultry based southern inspired dish for To Kill a Mockingbird. Quail or grouse would have worked.

Well, Markwise had a few favorite films that I have NEVER heard of. . .

It was mainly just killing me that neither of them mentioned any of the LoTR movies!

I'm surprised no one did a food-inspired film like "Ratatouille." Manuel came close to picking a food-based film with "Like Water For Chocolate," but didn't take command.

I'm glad they didn't. That would have been way too obvious, I think. But Spike's wanting to do Vietnamese food so proposing a film with "Vietnam" in the title and doing a dish that had nothing to do with the film (and was boring to boot) was idiotic.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" is a classic, although I'd be hard-pressed to guess what you'd come up with.

classic southern cooking with a twist.

I'm surprised no one did a food-inspired film like "Ratatouille." Manuel came close to picking a food-based film with "Like Water For Chocolate," but didn't take command.

Or Big Night, but not enough time for Timpani (?), I guess. A good risotto would have worked.

It was mainly just killing me that neither of them mentioned any of the LoTR movies!

I'm glad they didn't - I fear it would have been cringe-inducing given everything else Ryan was saying.

Well, I have to say that Spike can't be long for the show

I suspect the next time he takes charge and fails, he'll get the axe instead of the beta chef(s).

classic southern cooking with a twist

yum!

I'm envisioning something with smoked ham and spicy greens, maybe some cannelli beans or those super huge beans.

maybe some cannelli beans or those super huge beans.

Fava beans and nice chianti?

Fava beans and nice chianti?

only if you serve it with pate.

Yeah, Spike boot is long overdue.

Maybe, but Manuel has been really unimpressive. As with AI, I think the right person went home.

Also, I really hated that they were dissing something without having tasted it. Though it did sound unappetizing to me.

Pretty ironic for me that they had to prepare a vegetable plate for Boulud, since the only time I went to his high-end place for dinner was in my vegetarian days and there was no entrée I could eat.

Their Christmas Story dish was actually pretty cool though. From the comments during the dinner I thought it was going to do better than it did (i.e. top two).

Me too. I thought it was pretty lame that one of the losing teams was there for their story, and the "Top Secret" beef got into the top two. I thought their concept was about as film driven as Good Morning Vietnam's.

I thought their concept was about as film driven as Good Morning Vietnam's.

yeah, but their story was better. And their dish was good, whereas, the spring roll was just lame.