'Top Chef: Las Vegas' - An Uninspiring Finale

Top Chef: Las Vegas wrapped up at last Wednesday night, leaving a rather bad taste in this viewer's mouth over the finale. Not only was the end result far too predictable, but the entire last episode felt like slowly drowning in quicksand.

This season of Top Chef initially seemed like it would be one of the best yet. The overall level of skill of some of the contestants was exciting and the whole Las Vegas angle was fresh. Within a few episodes, however, it was painfully obvious who was going to make the long haul and who was going to be packing their knives long before the finale.

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If I'd been asked to call the top four contestants by episode three, I would have most likely picked the Voltaggio brothers, Jennifer and Eli out of the pack. Kevin would have been my alternate. So when the brothers, Jen and Kevin ended up as the final four, it was really rather anticlimactic. The only real surprise was how dramatically Jen fell apart through the last few episodes, which eventually knocked her out of the running for the top prize. I would not have initially picked Kevin to beat out Jen and Eli for the final three, but by mid-season you just kind of knew he was the dark horse to beat.

As for Bryan and Michael, it was such a foregone conclusion they would both be in the finale that it bored me nearly to tears. Plus, they both irritated the crap out of me with their attitudes and airs of superiority. Yet, when the final three were announced, it was almost painfully obvious Kevin was not going to be the last man standing even before the last challenge aired. So I couldn't even really retain hope the Southern boy with a true love and passion for cooking would take home the Top Chef title.

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The biggest problem for me this season was the editing of the show. The way the episodes were cut to feature this contestant or that chef and which of their comments were selected to air almost always gave far too many hints about who was going to win the Elimination challenge and who was going to be sent home. The Voltaggio brothers were pushed to the front of the camera so often; you couldn't help but predict they would be in the finale without much of a doubt about it.

Of course, having such an unbalanced field of competitors didn't help. The pack separated out into the "good chefs" and the "bad chefs" right off the bat. Jen, Michael, Bryan, Kevin and Eli were the "good" and everyone else was just fodder for the grinding mill until they got knocked off one by one. I mean, come on, Preeti sunk her whole team at one point during a Quickfire because she didn't know how to shuck clams! Robin, who stuck around way too long, was so obviously unskilled it was embarrassing. How about a basic skills test for competitors before they hit the show?

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Before the finale started, I asked my partner who would win and her answer pretty much expressed my feelings - "It won't be Kevin." Why? Because no matter how good Kevin's food might have been, he just kept being portrayed over and over again as the "Southern" comfort food chef. In other words, it's tasty - but it's not professional. Michael and Bryan, on the other hand, were always shown as the worldly "pros" who knew how to make it look good, even if it didn't always taste the best. If I've learned anything from watching cooking reality shows over the years, looks always win over substance. Unfortunately, kind of like everything else in life.

Yes, Kevin did have troubles in the finale, but to me, bland food is the worst sin in the culinary world - and Bryan committed that sin with his dishes multiple times. Kevin may not have had the same finesse with his dishes as the brothers and his pork belly might have been underdone, but you didn't hear any of the judges calling his dishes boring!

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In the end, I'm at least glad it was Michael who won out over brother Bryan. Not because I really cared that much either way about their food, but because Michael was perhaps a little less insufferable than his brother and at least seemed to give something of a damn about the food itself and not just the prize money.

Of the final three, however, it would be Kevin's restaurant I'd want to take a table at and tuck in for what would surely be an incredible meal from start to finish.

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