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A Tent Full of English Short Crust: The Great British Baking Show

Alixsar

Alixsar

The Shogun of Harlem
(He/him)
I felt like this was an episode where pretty much everyone did a good job, so it ultimately came down to who had the most issues, and literally all of Freya's were "it's okay, buuuuut..." It's kinda wild to me that Amanda is still there; she's kinda just always scraping by while someone else does worse (literally this week). George is getting into trouble pretty regularly too.

Meanwhile the dynamic duo of Giuseppe and Jurgen keep going. They've both had bad bakes but like...only relatively speaking? They just keep killing it? It's their game to lose, at this point.
 
Egarwaen

Egarwaen

(He/Him)
Alixsar said:
Meanwhile the dynamic duo of Giuseppe and Jurgen keep going. They've both had bad bakes but like...only relatively speaking? They just keep killing it? It's their game to lose, at this point.
Click to expand...

Yeah unless they have enormous holes in their repertoire the finale is going to be Giuseppe, Jurgen, and a mascot character who stands around in awe as they unleash their ultimate attacks on each other.
 
Phantoon

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
Alixsar said:
I felt like this was an episode where pretty much everyone did a good job, so it ultimately came down to who had the most issues, and literally all of Freya's were "it's okay, buuuuut..." It's kinda wild to me that Amanda is still there; she's kinda just always scraping by while someone else does worse (literally this week). George is getting into trouble pretty regularly too.

Meanwhile the dynamic duo of Giuseppe and Jurgen keep going. They've both had bad bakes but like...only relatively speaking? They just keep killing it? It's their game to lose, at this point.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Freya wasn't much of a surprise.

I'm hoping somebody rises to compete with the big two, it's much more interesting when there's three who can win.
 
Egarwaen

Egarwaen

(He/Him)
I really wish Prue would stop giving technicals that are nigh impossible to complete in the time allotted. For example, here’s German week. That literally gives them 15 minutes to interpret the minimal recipe, devise a plan of attack, and for all necessary chilling and setting.
 
SabreCat

SabreCat

Sabe, Inattentive Type
(he "Sabe" / she "Kali")
I'm guessing it's intentional. They want a lineup of amusing disasters for that part of the show.

Folks have mentioned in this thread that they don't weight the technical very heavily for judging, which is probably for the best!
 
Egarwaen

Egarwaen

(He/Him)
That was a great episode. Matt seems to be really trying hard to be a more balanced host, and they did a great job of getting clips of Paul interacting with the contestants like a human being. The technical was tricky but not impossible. The results made sense.

Oh and someone clearly realized Paul has a hard time keeping a straight face so the other hosts fed him a nonstop line of double entendres all weekend. Prue’s “two holes” was especially good.
 
Alixsar

Alixsar

The Shogun of Harlem
(He/him)
The star baker choice for this one made total sense, but beyond that I was kinda at a loss. I think the final choice ultimately made the most sense; Lizzie has struggled the most overall in that episode AND going back episodes. But it did feel kinda weird having Lizzie kill it in the last event and doing their best work, possibly saving themselves, and then...get voted off. I think the final four are the four who have overall been the best and most consistent, but it was definitely a weird one.

Also like...the entire thing felt weird because a few weeks ago they kicked "the vegan" off and then they're like ITS VEGAN WEEK and it's like hmmmmmmmmmmmm. I imagine they determine all the topics ahead of time but still.

Overall everyone did well though, and that was nice to see
 
Phantoon

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
Alixsar said:
Also like...the entire thing felt weird because a few weeks ago they kicked "the vegan" off and then they're like ITS VEGAN WEEK and it's like hmmmmmmmmmmmm. I imagine they determine all the topics ahead of time but still.
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Yeah, she'd have smashed it this week. Ho hum.

I think this week was too close to call, so in the end they made the right decision. In other series I hate it when somebody who's clearly excellent has a bad week and bombs out.
 
Egarwaen

Egarwaen

(He/Him)
I wish they’d make better use of the idea that they can skip sending someone home one week and send two home the next. This week’s results seemed so close that they’d have been well served by breaking it out.
 
Alixsar

Alixsar

The Shogun of Harlem
(He/him)
This one was brutal. Another one where everyone killed it; going into the end I figured Chigs/Crystelle were up for star baker and safe. I guessed Chigs but it was a total guess and I was wrong obviously. But what a world we live in where Giuseppe and Jurgen were the bottom 2?! They were both at the top of the technical, but I felt it coming. But even then Jurgen still did great this week and I was debating if they were gonna break the rules and had 4 in the final. But I guess not. I think this is the strongest final four they've ever had? There's usually 1 or 2 dominating bakers, and it started out that way, but C+C Baking Factory have just steadily improved as it's gone on. Wild stuff
 
Egarwaen

Egarwaen

(He/Him)
Patisserie week has been a disaster ever since the move to Channel 4, and this year was no exception. Baffling judging, incoherent challenge themes, and incoherent narrative are, sadly, par for the course.
 
Phantoon

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
Nah, we called it in our house. We knew exactly who was going, and can't complain

I'm in mourning though

All credit to Chigs, the guy is a real natural. He's been doing it for a year???
 
Jeanie

Jeanie

(Fem or Gender Neutral)
Alixsar said:
I think this is the strongest final four they've ever had?
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Honestly yeah. Like any combination of three would have a Finale where I'm not sure who's going to win and I wouldn't be upset at who did. Though I'm still a little salty at Jurgen dropping that tray on the floor and still putting it out, but it's a moot point now.
 
Rascally Badger

Rascally Badger

El Capitan de la outro espacio
(He/Him)
It was kind of sad to see Crystelle mess up her focaccia so bad, because otherwise it would have came to the reveal with any of the three liable to be the winner. Still, I'm happy with how it turned out, even if all three seemed to be slightly off their game in the final.
 
Phantoon

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
I think the right person won. Seeing him break when his dad told him he'd surpassed him in the video message basically fully sold him to me. It's a shame Crystelle buggered up her focaccia so badly, but these things happen. The postscript really showed what's special with the Bake Off, with the contestants still visiting each other. A reality show where the people aren't dicks? Who'd have thought it?
 
Egarwaen

Egarwaen

(He/Him)
I think that had she not messed up an element Crystelle would’ve been the clear favorite, but she not only utterly failed on the focaccia she had no plan B. Makes me wonder if Guiseppe wasn’t the only one having trouble with the ovens… But Chigs! If you had to cut a decorative element, cutting the Cheshire Cat’s smile? The only thing that’s left when it disappears?

Matt needs to be robustly uninvited and at this point I wouldn’t be sad to see a broad overhaul.

Also the technical doesn’t matter. Just flub your way through it, turn out something that’s good enough, and save your stress for rounds that actually count.
 
Phantoon

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
It was a shockingly close final, and without the focaccia disaster we probably would have had another winner.

Mel and Sue were perfect, it's a shame they aren't doing it still.
 
muteKi

muteKi

Geno Cidecity
Egarwaen said:
Also the technical doesn’t matter. Just flub your way through it, turn out something that’s good enough, and save your stress for rounds that actually count.
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If they're going to pick these non-fundamental bakes and then expect us to care about their performance they really ought to at least SHOW the bakers what the finished product is the way we get to see.

I don't care if it makes it too easy. Bakers will still screw up and the judges can remove recipes steps if they absolutely have to. I mean the final's "combine the ingredients. Bake. Decorate with icing" is fucking bullshit! Doubly so after "make a carrot cake. PS You won't have enough time" for the signature! I would like this competition to at least appear fair, you know! When all the bakers, extremely talented ones, fuck up, it's because the challenge is bad!
 
Alixsar

Alixsar

The Shogun of Harlem
(He/him)
I'm just taking the approach that "episode 9 was the finale" and everyone won. The last one was kinda...off. I agree with Phant's take; one less misstep and we have another winner. It was clear they were pushing for Giuseppe to win from a narrative/editing standpoint, so even as things looked like Crystelle was gonna pull it off, you knew she wouldn't. The final challenges and bakes were all just slightly off, it felt like. Paul even said "Oh I knew this guy would win right away" and it's like...huh, cool.

Whatever, episode 9 was good so that's the end. We did it, high fives all around.
 
Adam

Adam

the :motion: stands
(He/Him)
We've got another good season! It seems that the show has attempted to pull back from influencer career-ready contestants in favor of people who I'd actually consider to be Home Bakers, and it's made the show a lot more interesting.

Alison is a fantastic host, and she really brings out the best in Noel.

The best part of this season is that they stopped aiming for memeable shitshow Technicals and started actually giving the bakers enough time to get things done correctly.
Except for the most recent episode, where the definitely sowed what they reaped. When not a single person succeeds at the Technical, it's the producers' fault, not the bakers. PAUL.
 
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Phantoon

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
Now that Matt Lucas and Noel aren't mugging around making crap jokes and we're actually spending some time getting to know the bakers instead of watching their nonsense it's much more like proper Bake Off.

Alison is a big part in this, she's actually interested in the people in front of her.
 
lincolnic

lincolnic

can stop, will stop
(he/him)
Phantoon said:
Alison is a big part in this, she's actually interested in the people in front of her.
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My girlfriend and I have only watched the first two episodes so far, but we've both commented on how great she's been already. Hosts are best when they care about the bakers and give them a chance to shine rather than using them as people to bounce bits off of.

Also, as an aside, as Americans we have no idea who Alison is and don't want to google for fear of accidental spoilers since we're behind in our watching. What's she known for?
 
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