Episode Report Card Daniel: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Time to Kick Some Pass
By Daniel | Season 10 | Episode 18 | Aired on 08.27.2012
"I'm pumped," she says. "If there's a gear past fifth, I'm there." You mean sixth? She's confident and in control immediately, and Ramsay's appreciative: "Finally, a voice on the fucking hot plate," he mutters, although he's less impressed when she calls Dana "Buddy." "When was the last time you heard me call one of my brigade 'Buddy'?" he says. Yeah, Christina! Try "fuckwit"! I found the "Buddy" thing funny mainly because "Buddy" in Newfoundland is practically a pronoun, and has a range of meanings, one which is "asshole."
Anyway, Dana's screwing up her fish station, and Ramsay urges Christina to forget their friendship and push the team, and then he makes Christina call Dana up to the pass when she serves up yet another undercooked cod. There's no food getting out! We're fucked, says Ramsay! DANA, DAMN YOU, GET THE COD WALKING RIGHT NOW!
"Buddy, little high-five? Little hug-it-out?" says Ramsay to Christina, whose anger at Dana is growing. "Fuck you, this is a competition," Christina tells us, saying Dana can sink herself.
Ramsay's quality control test is serving an arugula garnish instead of spinach, and by this point Christina's so frayed that she starts cursing at the garnish, all "What the fuck? ARUGULA?" and bringing it back to the kitchen. Ramsay tells her, "That's more like it. Well spotted."
The service wraps up, and Ramsay tells them to go upstairs and have a "bloody good discussion" on who deserves to stay and who deserves to go. By this point, they're all pretty good chefs, but as Barbie points out, Dana screwed up her station and had difficulty with the pass.
That's why I laughed -- deep and loud and long -- when Dana transparently ventured, "I feel like nobody stood out as, like, bad," prompting eye-rolling from Barbie and Justin. Barbie tells her she "drug" on the ticket. "I can't make it cook faster than it cooks," she says, defensively. She knows she's on shaky ground. Barbie outright asks her if she has ever worked a pass before, and Dana admits she hasn't. Barbie feels like it showed. Christina says she usually disagrees with Barbie but tonight feels like Dana couldn't handle her shit. Dana is now naturally of the opinion that who gets booted out isn't about just about tonight but about the whole competition. It's a harder argument to make when you're already down to the four consistently best chefs of the competition, but Dana's grasping here.
So the chefs reassemble in front of Ramsay, who wants them all to say why they should stay. Barbie talks about learning and growing and having passion and motivation. Justin says he gives a hundred and fifty percent. His shaky grasp of math means I don't think I'd trust him with a recipe, though! He says he knows he has what it takes to lead. Dana says she's excelled in the challenges and in the services, even if tonight wasn't her best competition. Christina says she started with her mouth shut and her eyes opened but has progressed as a leader (thanks to Ramsay, she adds, good little apple-polisher).