Top Chef Chicago: Wedding Wars Review

In season one, Top Chef contestants were asked to cater an entire wedding with only one night to prepare and cook. This daunting task proved to be one to difficult for even the talented cast of Top Chef to achieve, as every dish presented was met with criticism and dismay. Perhaps because of this failure, the wedding challenge was shelved for two seasons and seemingly forgotten by the creators.

Well consider the wedding challenge forgotten no more. The look of terror on the faces of the chefs said it all. From the beginning this was a very entertaining episode that really challenged the chefs left.

The Quickfire - Last season, immunity was taken out of the game with eight contestants left. So it should have come as no surprise that the same happened this time as well. The Quickfire competition was the "race" competition and it was a close one. I'm not exactly sure how close Nikki was to finishing her mayonnaise, but it came right down to the wire and was much more fun to watch than last season's (I wonder if Casey has finished chopping those onions yet.)

That being said, the prize for winning seemed to be pretty weak. Choosing which side to cater for would only be an advantage if the chefs knew what the bride and groom both preferred before choosing. And seeing how the losing team got the groom, their choice, there really was no advantage at all.

And then there was Dale punching a locker. What did the locker ever do to him?

The Elimination Challenge - Unlike in season one, the contestants did not have to make a menu to impress than follow it no matter how ridiculously impossible it was to create in the time limit given. They got to choose their own menus and make changes as they went on. That made the challenge doable this time around.

One of the most well-done parts about Top Chef is the video editing. Right from the start there was major foreshadowing that Nikki would face problems due to her leadership and Dale would be in hot water for taking on too many dishes and sulking. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. Even better, the entire episode seemed to indicate Dale would be on the outs, when in fact Nikki got the boot by the end.

On the other hand, the bride's team excelled in just about every dish. Their cake, while said to be less delicious than the groom's, looked like a real wedding cake. And that is impressive given the paltry effort of season one.

In the end, the most important thing about this episode was it did, again, entertain me. Dale's outbursts and Richard's humility were great contrasts of the two strongest chefs, in my opinion, on the show. And that makes for great television. Add in a difficult challenge and ten extra minutes of footage, and this was the best episode of the season thus far.

Score - 9.5/10