Beverly wins the Last Chance Kitchen competition and comes back into the competition. No one is really happy to see her, which doesn't make much sense, because if they all think she sucks, they should be happy to have one fewer challenger for the prize.
Quickfire Challenge: Wear a blindfold to choose ingredients from the pantry, but they get to see while they cook. All of their chosen ingredients have to be used in their dish. The winner gets a choice: a Prius or an automatic bid to the finals and they don't have to compete in the Elimination Challenge this week. Beverly is pathetic in her blindfold and has to have Padma's help getting into the pantry (cheating!). It comes down to Ed (who mistakenly chose pork casings, thinking they were pancetta, and ended up using them to make stock for a soup) and Sarah, who made a corn soup with mushrooms and peaches. Seriously. And then she wins, so I guess it worked. Sarah is no dummy and she picks the guaranteed shot at the final round. Ed and Paul try to front like they wouldn't want immunity, but they are idiots. There's so much about the challenges that you can't control, and some fluke could send you home for being a dummy, dummy.
Elimination Challenge: Make a dish to impress your mentor. When the mentors are brought in, all of the cheftestants get very emotional, especially Paul who is crying so hard he almost can't speak. They really get to cook whatever they think best represents their culinary point of view, so it should be some good food. Here are the dishes:
Beverly: Gulf shrimp and BBQ pork with Singapore noodles. The judges are impressed that she cooked it in a wok when serving so many people, which can result in difficulties, timing-wise.
Lindsay: Seafood "stew" over toasted couscous and broth with emulsified cream. The judges think the seafood is cooked perfectly but are a little curious about why she used cream, and the seasoning is a little off.
Paul: chilled sunchoke and dashi soup with summer vegetables. At first, the judges are worried the flavors aren't balanced, but as they continue eating, they see that it's actually really well-balanced when taken on the whole.
Ed: braised pork belly and smoked oyster crème with pickled vegetables. The judges think that the plate is packed with flavor, but Tom hates the oyster sauce. They all agree that the pickles are great, though.
Paul and Beverly are co-winners, and Sarah has immunity, so it comes down to Lindsay and Ed. In the end, Ed goes home because his mistakes were just a little worse than Lindsay's, and also he was the only one who didn't cry when his mentor showed up. Not really. But maybe.
The cheftestants sit around outside, after the Pee-wee competition, and discuss which cheftestant they think will be returning from Last Chance Kitchen. They know it's either Grayson or Beverly. Ed says it'll be Beverly, and Sarah wonders why he would say such a horrible thing. They bet a pack of cigarettes and a banana on it. I don't know. They've been drinking. I'm sure it made sense at the time.
The morning, they report to the kitchen and Tom and Padma are standing there, waiting. And they're also about to find out which cheftestant will be returning. Ed admits that he doesn't want anyone to return. Of course. That's just one more person you have to beat. After prolonging the torture for a while, Beverly walks in. Sarah looks PISSED. I don't get why she cares. They aren't going to have team challenges at this point, and if Bev is so terrible as a chef, you'd think Sarah would be happy to have someone she knows she can beat. So either Sarah thinks Bev is a decent chef, or Sarah is just an asshole. Or possibly both. So then Tom tries to pretend like they didn't rig the whole thing so that Beverly could beat Nyesha and make it dramatic, since no one would care if Nyesha came back. Ugh.
Upon Padma's instructions, the cheftestants find that they've each been given a blindfold. They have to wear it and pick out their ingredients from the pantry. But they get to see while they cook, because that would be really unsafe. And they're saving that challenge for season. Padma explains what they could win: a choice between a new car or a guaranteed spot in the finals. If they take the car, they obviously still have to cook in the Elimination Challenge, but if they take the finals spot, they get to sit it out. What dummy would take the car? Lindsay says some nonsense about how some people might think you didn't earn your spot in the finals if you take immunity. Well, fuck those people. You're in the finals. Did Beverly earn her potential spot in the finals? She didn't participate in the last Elimination Challenge. I hope whoever wins takes the car and then gets eliminated. Enjoy your car, loser.
Everyone dons a blindfold and tries to find the pantry. Ed immediately heads to the baskets of produce. Lindsay is looking for the seafood, and she finds a whole fish. I don't know how she knows it's a whole fish, since it's sealed in plastic, but she figures it out. Meanwhile, Bev is in some fridge that just contains water bottles, and she's of course apologizing to the water bottles. Look, if it were someone like Nyesha, who didn't actually compete in that many challenges in this kitchen, I would understand. But Bev has been there a LOT. She's just clueless. Padma actually has to help her get into the pantry, which seems like cheating. Let her wander around out in the Stew Room or whatever.
Sarah explains that she's going to make a soup because she thinks she can work whatever she finds into the dish. Ed doesn't know what to do because all of the meat is sealed in cryovac bags, so you can't touch or smell it to figure out what it is. That doesn't seem quite fair. Bev and Paul have an intimate moment in the corner where he narrowly avoids dropping shit on her head. Sarah and Lindsay find all of their ingredients and start cooking first.
Bev, Paul, and Ed are all at one refrigerator. Something in Beverly's basket has come uncapped and is just pouring all over the floor. The remaining three remove their blindfolds and start to cook with about twenty minutes left. Bev admits that she ended up with an avocado that she didn't mean to grab. What did she think it was? An avocado has a pretty distinctive feel, right? Tom asks Paul if he's going to take the car if he wins, and Paul claims that he will, because he didn't come on the show to be safe. Don't be a dummy, Paul. Tom moves on and asks Ed if he ended up with any ingredients he didn't really want, and Ed admits that he took pork casings, thinking they were pancetta. Tom and Padma find this hilarious. Ed thinks he's screwed. He knows he wants to make udon noodles, but how will he use the pork casings? They're kind of inedible.
Lindsay grabbed marscapone instead of crème fraiche, which isn't quite as bad as Ed's error. Sarah is making a soup with both mushrooms and peaches and I'm not a big mushroom fan or a peach fan so I can't imagine that will taste good. Beverly hasn't even started cooking her fish yet and there are only five minutes left. Ed realizes that he can't serve pork casings, but he can use the broth he cooked them in as the broth for his noodles. He really wants the car. Because Ed is a manly man, and he won't take immunity!
Time to serve! Beverly's up first, and she made striped bass with avocado, lime, and jalapeno. Hey, something not Asian from Beverly! It's a miracle! Tom and Padma both note that the fish is uncooked. Yeah, she probably should have left more than five minutes. Paul made sautéed prawn with Thai-style tomato salad. Tom asks if he thinks the prawn are undercooked, and Paul says they're right where he likes them. So Tom thinks they are undercooked, right? Otherwise, why would he ask that question?
Ed serves "udon" with ribbons of zucchini, mushrooms, and scallion. He's pleased that he found a way to use the pork casings that didn't involve serving them. Sarah made corn soup with onion, red chili, roasted mushrooms, and peaches. That sounds weird and feels like the tenth corn soup that Sarah has made this season. And she's harping on Beverly for constantly cooking Asian food? Padma asks if she's ever done this combination before, and Sarah admits that she hasn't. Linday made fish with bulgur wheat, marscapone, and broccoli rabe. Just fish? They aren't going to tell us what kind of fish? That's weird.
Tom gets to talk about how the chefs did. He thinks Ed had the most difficult task, and he did a great job figuring out how to use the pork casings. He liked the balance of flavors in Paul's dish, but felt the prawn was undercooked. I told you! Tom likes Beverly's avocado best, which was the one thing she didn't plan on making, and thought her fish was undercooked. Tom likes Lindsay's bulgur wheat and thought her fish was perfectly cooked. He admired that Sarah forced an ingredient into the dish, and it somehow worked. So the top two are Ed and Sarah, and they will have to make a choice for their prize. So who wins? Sarah. And because she's not a complete idiot, she chooses immunity and the guaranteed spot in the finals. Ed bitches that Sarah's decision means that she lacks confidence. No, it means she's not a macho dummy like you, Ed. Now she gets to relax and hang out going into the finals, instead of being worried and anxious and exhausted like the rest of you chumps. Sarah claims that she doesn't care what the others think, and Sarah's not my favorite, but good for her.
Padma reminds them that this Elimination Challenge is their last chance to make it to the final four, and Tom adds that they've brought in someone who had "a small hand" in the cheftestants making it this far. Dumbo Beverly thinks "small hand" means it's her son. Yes, because you are the only one left with kids, so that makes sense. Dumbo. Instead, Padma brings in the cheftestants' mentors. Paul immediately starts crying. What? That's kind of weird. I mean, he's got tears flowing. Each cheftestant introduces his or her mentor, starting with Sarah introducing Tony Mantuano, one of my favorites from Masters. Why is he so awesome and Sarah so crappy? I guess he taught her how to cook, not how to be a human being. Lindsay introduces Michelle Bernstein, like we haven't heard enough about her this season. Beverly introduces Sarah Stegner, and no one has a clue who this lady is and she looks like she doesn't want to be there. Paul introduces Tyler Cole and can't even get through his introduction because he's crying so hard. Everyone else starts crying too, except Beverly's mentor, who might be a robot. Ed introduces his mentor, Frank Crispo. Ed says he had long hair and an attitude and Frank whipped him into shape. Yeah, now he has semi-long hair and a sometimes attitude.
So anyway, the challenge is to make a dish to impress the mentors. The winner gets a car, since they have an extra one hanging around that Sarah didn't take. Sarah doesn't have to cook, and just gets to hang out with her mentor instead. To start prep, each cheftestant meets with his or her mentor and talks about what to cook. Beverly's mentor claims to think Beverly is talented but she seriously might be a robot that the producers programmed to pretend to like Beverly. The mentors are really supportive as they send the cheftestants off to shop.
After a quick car commercial, the cheftestants arrive at the grocery store. Beverly starts sprinting around with her shopping cart, bumping into things and apologizing. She's such a weirdo. Ed is looking for oysters, but they don't have any fresh. Instead of reworking his dish (which is the right option), he finds smoked oysters in a plastic tub. He claims they're in a can, but they're not; he finds them in the refrigerated section with the prosciutto and other cured meats, along with things like feta cheese and pickled herring in glass jars. You know that part of the grocery store. I'm just saying, they're not canned. But they're also not fresh.
Beverly plans to do a wok dish, which is risky in terms of timing. Stir fries have to be made at the last minute, and you don't get a do-over. But she thinks it best reflects her cooking style, so she's going to give it a go. Lindsay, like Ed, is having trouble finding some of the components of her dish, like calamari or octopus. But instead of using inferior ingredients, she's rethinking the dish slightly. Meanwhile, Sarah and Mentor Tony are eating lunch in a restaurant and drinking tequila. Wow, thanks for the Sarah update. I was totally concerned about what she was doing, and where she was.
Ed claims he'll be really pissed if he gets eliminated and Beverly takes his spot. Ed needs to work on his story; either he's so awesome that he didn't need immunity, or he's so worried about his skills that he might lose to Beverly. I know he's just answering questions that some PA asks, but it seems inconsistent. Lindsay is worried about the number of components in her dish, and also that Michelle will fire her if she does badly. Somehow I think that's not going to happen. Michelle has been on and around this show long enough to know that everyone has bad days.
Very little cooking is shown in this episode. I feel like we went right from planning the dish to there being three minutes left. Ed is running out of time, and says that he's trying to make the oyster crème perfect. Lindsay is making chicken stock but doesn't have time to let it cook for as long as it probably should, so she packs her stock with all of the vegetables inside it to let it sit overnight. That's actually a good idea; strain it tomorrow. I like how Paul is quietly helpful to Beverly, like when he helps her chase down an onion that is flying across the floor. He doesn't make a big deal out of it, but he also doesn't ostracize her like the others.
That night, Beverly is happy to be back in the house. She sets up all her photos in her room, and then she joins the others for dinner. She keeps asking probing questions like, "Did you guys know someone was coming back? Were you surprised it was me?" She doesn't really want honest answers to those questions, so why ask them? Is she hoping that some of them had personality transplants while she was gone? Lindsay interviews that she's not a huge fan of Beverly, but now she just hopes to beat her. That seems like a healthy attitude; treat her as any other competitor. Ed the asshole says that they were all pissed when Beverly came back because they thought they were the final four. Honest, but not really necessary to say.
The morning, Paul calls his girlfriend which makes me nervous that he's going to be eliminated today. Then they all pack up and head to the Hotel Valencia for their final hour of prep. Beverly reiterates how nervous she is about wok cooking for a crowd, since it will all come down to the last ten minutes. Paul says that his food is all cooked and prepped, and today is all about assembly, since he's making a chilled soup that will be poured over vegetables. Lindsay is working on her seafood broth. Ed is frying up some pork belly skin to use as a garnish, and the oil pops and hits him in the face. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has that problem. He just wants to make the final four, since it's been such a long journey.
The judges and mentors arrive for their meal and Padma says that it's the last meal in Texas. Where are they going? Or maybe they're killing everyone off and starting over with four new finalists. That would be the most interesting thing that's happened on this fairly boring season. They should do a challenge that's like, "You're on Death Row, and you have to cook what you would want for your last meal" and then kill them all off "accidentally". Maybe I'm being too cruel. Anyway, Beverly's mentor talks and everyone pretends to listen but really they're thinking, "Who are you again? Do you work at a shop selling unicorn candles and pewter dragon statues?"
Beverly races to finish, and she admits that her dish doesn't look great, but she thinks the judges will be impressed by how she cooked it and how good it tastes. Her dish is Gulf shrimp and BBQ pork with Singapore noodles. Hugh Acheson (remember him?) seriously can't wait to dig in. Beverly hasn't even walked away from the table and he's shoving a giant shrimp in his mouth. Calm down, Hugh! Slow your roll! You've got a lot of food to eat. Bev's mentor says blah blah blah (like she's going to say anything bad) and Tom is impressed that she cooked in a wok for that many people. Yeah, but she didn't have to, so I don't feel like she should get extra points for it.
Michelle Bernstein talks about how nervous she is for Lindsay and she just wants her to be happy. Tom comments that it sounds like she's breaking up with Lindsay. Ha, Tom. He's got jokes. And then he laughs way too hard at his own joke. Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Lindsay is regretting emulsifying her sauce with cream, and isn't sure if her dish will get her through to the round. Lindsay serves seafood "stew" over toasted couscous and broth with emulsified cream. It's got a lot of different types of seafood in it, and Michelle thinks it was all cooked perfectly, but she doesn't know what's up with the cream. Another diner thinks there was a raw thyme flavor at the end that was unpleasant. Uh oh.
Paul's mentor talks about how Paul was such a fast learner and so driven to succeed. Back in the kitchen, Paul is trying to refrain from adding more to his dish just for the heck of it, since he has the discipline to know when his dish is finished. Paul serves chilled sunchoke and dashi soup with summer vegetables. Michelle Bernstein notes that when she ate her first spoonful, she thought it was too salty, but Hugh adds that when you eat it with the vegetables, it's perfect. Paul's mentor is super pleased with the dish because it's exactly what he taught Paul: balance. Tom notes that it's very different from what Paul has served most of the season, but still great.
Edward's mentor says that Edward was really green when they first started working together, but he's shown determination and drive, and he made it onto the show. Edward serves braised pork belly and smoked oyster crèma with pickled vegetables. Gail thinks the plate is packed with a lot of flavor. Tom isn't a huge fan of the oyster sauce, but everyone else loves the pickles.
Padma thinks it was a wonderful meal, and Tom says that they made tiny mistakes, probably due to nerves. The cheftestants come out to applause and get to hug their mentors goodbye.
Weird interstitial. In the Stew Room, everyone teases Edward about not crying when the mentors showed up, since everyone else did. Edward admits that he was emotional but he doesn't cry. He's a man! Whatever, dude.
Sarah returns to the Stew Room to hang out with the other cheftestants while they wait. Edward talks about how he can't believe they were doing the Last Chef Standing thing the whole time the rest of them were competing. Padma comes in and asks to see everyone at Judges' Table, except Sarah.
Tom tells them that the judges and mentors were all impressed with the food. Padma asks Paul if it was nerve-wracking, and Paul says that it was a lot of pressure to make sure he didn't make his mentor look bad. Tom thinks it took balls to cook a soup, which is pretty simple, but Paul showed a lot of restraint and the expertise of someone much more experienced. Gail says every bite showed great flavor. So Paul's the winner? Tom asks how Beverly made stir fry for eight people. Bev says she used two woks, and Tom agrees that it was really risky, and Gail says that noodles can be really greasy and soggy in a wok, but her flavors were totally clear. Padma announces that Paul and Beverly made the two best dishes, so they are through to the finals. They hug in celebration. But who wins the car? Paul, of course. He'll need it to carry home his cash. Paul thanks the judges and says that this is the type of challenge that led him to want to do the show. Padma hands over the keys to the car, and Beverly has to whine about how she was at the bottom and now she's not and it's awesome. Padma's like, "Stop talking now, Beverly. See ya."
Once Paul and Beverly get back, Sarah wants to know what the judges said about Ed and Lindsay, but Paul tells her that they didn't talk about their food at all yet. So it's time for that! Hugh tells them to be proud of their food and how far they've made it. Gail says that Lindsay's dish had a great aroma and a beautiful balance of seafood, but wonders why she added the cream. Lindsay says that she thought it needed fat, not realizing that she was adding brown butter to the fish, which would have accomplished that. Hugh adds that the dried herb flavors permeated the dish in a bad way, and Tom says that the dried herbs were a mistake. Gail was impressed that Lindsay took the dish on and adds that Michelle was proud. Lindsay starts crying and says she feels like an idiot and then they do that weird "beg for your life" thing they've been doing lately that I hate.
Moving on to Ed. Gail says that his dish was great but there was something off about the oyster sauce. Hugh asks if they were canned oysters and Ed says that they were smoked and canned, because there were no fresh oysters to be found. Everyone at Judges' Table is like, "Oooooooh, that's why they tasted like crap." Hugh thinks the plate was a little busy, but there was a great dish in there somewhere. Gail says that his mentor was proud, and Edward thinks the competition has opened a lot of ideas for him, and it's been a great learning experience. But only one of them can move on. Well, Lindsay cried so obviously she wants it more. As they walk back to the Stew Room, Edward whispers that he's the one going home. Once back there, Lindsay is still crying and trying really hard to pull it together while Edward is chuckling over the whole thing.
Tom thinks that Beverly earned her spot. Padma recaps that Sarah, Paul, and Beverly are moving on, so they have to decide if Ed or Lindsay will join them. Gail thinks their dishes showed how much they've grown and where they are now, but they both overthought their dishes and did too much. Tom makes the point that they've all moved on from where they were when cooking with their mentors, and perhaps they tried to go back to that former place and it screwed them up. That seems like a stretch, but Tom seems like he speaks from experience.
Hugh thinks that Lindsay had a vision on what she wanted to do, but she had a number of missteps. Tom points out that she knew what was wrong with the dish, but Gail counters that she did know, and she didn't do anything to try to fix it before bringing the dish out. In Lindsay's defense, she says that she figured it out as she was walking out for service, so it's not like she could do anything at that point. She would have had to remove the cream somehow, or take out the dried spices. Really, the only way to fix it was to start over and she didn't have time.
Gail thinks that Ed should have just not served his terrible oyster sauce. Hugh thinks Ed is great but he has a busy mind. Tom can't believe that Ed took canned oysters as a substitute for fresh instead of reworking the dish, since there was no law saying he had to cook oysters. Hugh thinks he should have done what great chefs do - see what's great at the market and work from there. Or at the very least, make a substitution. I mean, the oysters weren't even the main part of the dish. They were just in the sauce, and there were a lot of other ways to get a smoky sauce without oysters.
Ed and Lindsay come back out and Tom doesn't give his usual speech about why each person failed. Instead, Padma just tells Ed to pack his knives and go. Ed immediately tells Lindsay that she deserves it and thanks the judges for the opportunity. Well, at least he had a classy exit. Lindsay is excited to make it to the finals, even if she wishes she could have done better for Michelle Bernstein. They walk back into the Stew Room and everyone hugs Ed. He leaves, and the final four cheftestants toast him. And week, they're going to British Columbia and it's going to be really cold and they'll be doing that skiing/shooting event from the Olympics? Interesting, I guess.