Episode Report Card Daniel: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Listen All Y'all, It's a Sabotage!
By Daniel | Season 9 | Episode 12 | Aired on 08.29.2011
On the Blue side, Paul is in charge of the scallops. He gets Will cooking them, and Tommy's plating them. But the greens are a little wet because Tommy's salad has water in the bowl and Paul just about loses it on him. Doesn't look like an unfixable problem, though.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth is shutting down already. She's not responding to questions, so Jennifer has to take charge, and she and Elise save the day, getting the scallops out. Ramsay chews Elizabeth out mildly. "Ramsay obviously didn't like the way I was leading," says Elizabeth. It's true; the "I give everyone the silent treatment while fighting back tears" technique isn't for everyone.
The next course is twelve risottos. Elise is in charge for Red, and she plans to execute with all her heart, y'all! They're plated, and beautiful, says Ramsay. The dish get rave reviews, and the Red team moves on to Jennifer's capellini.
Meanwhile, Tommy is saying he's still six minutes away from finishing the risotto. Will is doing some backseat cooking, which Tommy takes offense to. Will talks to us about some sort of bus-driving metaphor (complete with honking-horn sound effect) and backs off Tommy, but of course Tommy has fucked it up and the three different pans of risotto have yielded three different tastes. They refire, with Will stepping in to make sure it's done right, and the risotto gets out.
But the women are already plating the capellini. Jennifer can't decide who the biggest waste of space is: Elise or Elizabeth. Ramsay pops his cork over the lack of consistency from plate to plate -- some have much more lobster than others. There are shots of guests looking on in amusement and amazement as Ramsay gets pissed, and Jennifer wonders if the other women are trying to sabotage her. Elise says she doesn't need to sabotage Jennifer, because Jennifer's fucking up bad enough on her own. Ramsay looks on in amazement as Jennifer snaps at the other women to back off so she can do it on her own. They've completely squandered the large lead as Blue Team, led by Will, gets the lobster capellini out first.
Next up: Paul on chicken. He barks out directions to the team. Elizabeth's already got the chicken ready, five minutes too early. She lamely tells a flabbergasted Ramsay that she wanted to give the chicken "time to rest," but he says they're done perfectly now. After a few moments, he orders James to get the capellini plates cleared, even though a few people weren't quite done. Pity no one wears monocles anymore, because I would have loved to see a few popping off amidst indignant sputtering. Once again, she goes silent and has to be forced to give any tasks to her teammates to help get the chicken plated.