Episode Report Card Keckler: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Day 2
By Keckler | Season 3 | Episode 2 | Aired on 06.10.2007
Before opening the restaurant for service that night, Ramsay picks Aaron to serve the night's special -- pan-fried Dover sole -- tableside to the guests. Oh god, I can see it now -- it's going to be sweaty Jimmy, "Stop toushing yourself!" all over again. This is going to be a mess.
The Girls and Boys busy themselves with prep, and we get more scenes of Aaron's...issues. As Ramsay and Jean-Philippe are explaining tableside deboning to Aaron in the dining room, his eyes to glaze over and he appears to go catatonic slightly. Can you be slightly catatonic? Aaron sways on his feet and Jean-Philippe notes, "He's not here." And then, Aaron falls down. Into a chair. In a sitting position. When Ramsay leans over and asks if he's okay, Aaron smiles and says, "I just passed out for awhile, sorry!" Hey, do you know anyone who can pass out with their eyes open? Because I sure don't. This whole Aaron thing is getting weirder and weirder. Is he related to one of the producers or something? Because otherwise I can't understand how he manages to stay as long as he has with very little of Ramsay's wrath coming down on him.
If we thought Aaron could save himself by being some sort of master deboner in the dining room, we were wrong. But really, did any of you really think that? Yeah, me either. First off, to Ramsay and Jean-Philippe's great chagrin, Aaron goes around dorkily and awkwardly introducing himself to all the customers. Even ones he won't be serving. It gets even worse when Aaron takes a full fifteen minutes to debone fish for two customers. By the time they finally eat their fish, it's cold. Finally, as Jean-Philippe learns from every single customer who ordered fish, Aaron is leaving a bunch of bones in the wake of his deboning. I honestly can't believe Aaron is lasting longer than Dewberry, who was kicked out in the second week!
The Girls, apparently led by Jen, get through their service with very little problem. Bonnie does almost screw up a scallop order and has Ramsay calling her, "Fucking Barbie," and Joanna forgets to cook her lettuce for a garnish but beyond that they do much better than the Boys. Melissa tries to take over again and starts cooking the garnish for Joanna -- without Joanna's consent, it would seem -- but Ramsay sees what's going on and tells her to mind her own station.
On the Boys side, Eddie royally screws up the spaghetti, Vinnie burns fish after telling Ramsay it was fine, and then Eddie then ruins the risotto and is pulled off his station. Next, Josh overcooks the Beef Wellington, which I really can't believe because every season of Hell's Kitchen has had the same damn Beef Wellington on the menu -- why aren't these people practicing it to death before they arrive on the show? Brad is the next one to ruin the risotto, but it's Josh's desert-dry chicken that sends Ramsay over the edge. After Josh swears the chicken isn't dry, Ramsay storms over, prods the chicken himself, and smashes his fist on the plate, sending the desiccated breast skittering for cover. (I think there's a Janis Dickinson joke in there.) At this point, Ramsay's is completely beside himself and, after lining all the Boys up and giving each of them their own expletive-accented diatribe, he throws them out of the kitchen and tells the Girls to take over their service. Even though Brad irritably comments to his team, "We're all chefs, they're not even cooks," the Girls ably complete the Boys' service. Suck on that, Brad!