and the dish was a brown blob (or something like that).

I still think this HAS to be the last week for Robin. She keeps sneaking by with a very conservative dish that neither stands out or stinks. We're quickly reaching the point where she can't hide in the middle of the pack, and I think that several better chefs are already gone because they took a gamble and lost.

Wasn't it around this time last season that Carla went from consistently on the bottom 3/4 to consistently in the top 3?

Read this morning in the newspaper (synopsis of TV guide interview) that Laurine felt Jen should have left as her timing led to all the problems.

Agree. But I can't help but wonder if she's getting some sympathy votes from the judges.

I know he's a better chef, but I wouldn't mind one bit if Mike I. went home next week.

It's clear though that if you fail at the front of the house, you really fail. She had to be almost as bad as the Indian girl from last season. I knew the whole "I'm going to send it back" was never going to happen, and she shouldn't have said it. I think that was the judges main reason to send her home.

However it is true that both Jen's dishes were messed up. I really think that this is the judges bias showing a little bit through, since we all know that they say they don't consider past achievements, but I always feel like they do, and excuse as "future potential".

The lamb dish was not only bad, but unsafe. And a chef that does not know how tell medium rare??? 140 degrees. Simple. Jen was over her head, but that was a team organization problem as much as her own. Lauraine was just bad on too many points. The blog confirms this.

I liked the ending!!! But I'll wait for the West Coast and read comments in the morning.

I haven't been a fan of Mike I. since the beginning, but he did not deserve to go last night.

It's at times like this that this show pi$$es me off. They clobbered Jen's dish, and her lack of confidence, and said her dish looked like a garnish and yet she stays. IMHO, it's all about making sure there is at least one woman in the final three and I think that was the main criteria for not getting rid of Jen last night. I know Colicchio in his blog says that the rest of Mike's dish was terrible too, and not just the leeks, and he says that Mike depended too much on his belief that as long as Robin was there, he, Mike, was safe. Although I have to berate Mike for saying that he never watched Seinfeld!

And what the hell qualifications does Natalie Poretman have to sit in on Judge's Table? Why wasn't Bartolotta at judge's table instead of Portman?

disagree, he was arrogant even more so last night (if that was even possible), to say to the judges, "whatever, whatever"???!!! Besides his attitude the dish sucked overall, not just the undercooked leeks. He stated he had over 20 dishes on his restaurant's menu that were vegetarian and a mother that was a vegan, so how he messed up so bad is a mystery, he should have nailed this challenge and he didn't even come close.

AGREED!

Portman said she was a vegan which is a person who excludes the use of animals for food, yet she ate Jen's dish with the butter sauce

As one can tell from my current taglines below, I am not a vegan

It looks like Kevin could put unheated Spagettios on a place and win at this point. Maybe he wouldn't even need to open the can. They could just all look at it and comment on his cleverness, while they applaud a little.

Glad Mike is gone, came across as an arrogant SOB, and he deserved to go for no other reason than he throught his dish would actually WIN! However, I agree that Jen probably should have gone based on her salad she tried to pass off as a main course.

What's up with the brothers' perpetual gloom and pouting - bad childhood?

And, amazinginly, Robin survives to cook another week. No sign of the "Carla Bump", she just manages to have second-worst every time.

I found it odd that more people did not use beans or some other legume in order to add protein. Mike talked about using the leeks as a protein substitute(ala Fabio's banana scallops last season), and was called out on the fact that leeks are not a source of protein.

No tofu, no beans, other than a few lentils on Eli's plate.

I was really quite happy to see Mike go home. Rather than focus on his own failings, he was all about Robin and how horrible he considers her to be.

I'm also getting tired of Michael V. Whiny and arrogant.

I would like to see a final three of Kevin, Jennifer, and Robin. Not because I like them so much, but because they are the least whiny and pissy(yes, Jennifer gets down on herself, and Robin can be a Chatty Cathy), and seem to be focusing on the food, and not the stardom.

He was whiny and arrogant, but he was also right. Michael V's dish looked the most inspiring and creative. I've probably cooked a similar dish that Kevin's made before - glob of veggies + mushrooms. So it's looking like Kevin will win TC for making good safe food.

The question is not just whether it looked the most inspiring and creative but whether it tasted the best too. If the judges truly thought Kevin's flavors were that much better then he should get the win, no?

I liked Mike I and will miss his NJ/NY sense of humor.

Michael V has shown himself to be an arrogant, whiny prick. I know that editing plays a big factor in how someone is presented, but he has treated others, especially Robin, with an amazing amount of contempt. I have liked Kevin since day 1 but this last episode showed why. Every time someone needed something, whether it be bread or a lemon or whatever, he lent a hand. MV just pushes people out of the way like a bully. I hope for her sake that Robin buries the passive aggressiveness tendancies, grows a pair of balls, and goes after MV for the way he talks to her. She needs to get in his face, tell him to go eff himself, and keep in his face until he backs down. Just like dealing with a bully in the third grade.