Spoilers ahead for this episode of SBC!

This episode made me sad.

First of all, the Preheat was a team challenge, which, as you know, I always kind of hate. Not because teams aren’t fun to watch, but because, no matter how long it’s been since I finished school, I will never fail to get a painful full-body cringe and wave of nausea each time I hear someone utter the phrase “you’ll be paired up into teams.” Ugh! I always feel especially bad for those who don’t seem to click with their teammates.

Like Paul and Priya. I like them both independently, but they were hardly a match made in heaven. – Although, I didn’t think Corey and Mary-Frances would click, either, but they absolutely wiped the floor with the competition! These two were the stars of this episode, for sure. Corey broke out his grandma’s peach cobbler recipe and his Bob Ross painting skills, and nailed it in both flavor and décor. (Invoking the power of the Dead Grandparent!) And, Mary-Frances seems to be here to stay! She really brought out her big guns midseason!

Lisa and Raveena seemed like great teammates, anyone could see that they get along swimmingly; but, I guess their napoleon wasn’t as successful as we would have hoped for, from such strong competitors. Their pastry was “bendy inside,” according to Duff. (Also, Lisa claimed that the west coast is the superior US coast, which, I’m sorry, is just false. :D)

But Paul and Priya! Yikes! Their Preheat dessert – that might have been the single worst judging I’ve seen this season, perhaps this whole show. Too harsh! Not a single kind word from any one of the judges. It was basically “you suck, you also suck, this sucks, this really sucks, hate it. Okay, thanks so much!” Ouch. This whole first challenge was a major cringe. It made me so sad.

The Main Heat wasn’t much better. Freaking lemongrass?! Again with the stupid twists! I support the idea of a twist, but can we stop making it flavors that completely screw up everyone’s dessert on purpose? There is simply no way to make coffee and lemon taste good together!! In fact, the only contestant whose dessert flavors actually could have worked with lemongrass was Priya (triple citrus, pineapple, macadamia) – but her cake was dry and didn’t have enough citrus flavor!

I was excited to hear that they were going to be judged blind for the Main Heat. That seemed like a good move! But, as it turned out, it seemed to just make the judges harsher! Did anyone else notice that? It was like, because they weren’t critiquing to a baker’s face, they just straight up talked all the shit that they would otherwise try to temper with a bit of kindness. And we, the viewers, had to watch the poor contestants suffer while they watched the judging from another room. It hurt! Especially Paul!

Poor Paul. As I’ve said before, I really feel like the language thing is causing problems, for Paul. I feel so bad for him. Although he’s impressively fluent in it, English is not his first language, so I imagine it’s harder for him to process verbal instructions in English, especially under pressure. “Blitz puff?” He’s a French pastry chef, he probably never makes that! “Tabletop cake vs. sheet cake” is another subtle distinction that I wouldn’t expect a non-native speaker to know.

For the first time this season, I disagree with both the winner and the loser here. Lisa was great, too, obviously, she always is, and her “wood grain” piping on the sides of that cake was genius; but, I really thought Mary-Frances had a better judging, am I right? Maybe this was just the way they edited the judge’s comments for TV, though. The editing really made it seem like the judges were happier with Mary-Frances. And I was kind of looking forward to seeing her win again. Because Mary-Frances worked an absolute miracle and, God knows how, made the lemongrass twist work! In a freaking chocolate hazelnut praline cake! How on earth?! I don’t know, but the judges liked it! That alone deserved the win, IMO. And they’d said that Lisa overdid it on the lemongrass, right? Lisa’s extremely good, but I kind of thought Mary-Frances was more impressive here!

And I’m so disappointed that this whole episode seemed to screw Paul over. He deserved better. Priya’s cake wasn’t even finished! Shouldn’t that have sent her home instead?!

One last thing that annoys me that I saw some of in this episode: when contestants say that they want to win “for my kid” or “to show their kids that x y z” (that you can do anything you set your mind to, that you can overcome challenges; etc.). That makes it sound like, if they go home before the final, they’re teaching their kids that you can’t do anything you put your mind to, and you can’t overcome obstacles! That their kids will be disappointed in them and they will have failed as a parent! As a parent myself, this always tweaks me a little. I’m not hating on any contestant who says this on camera. I’m sure they’re under a lot of pressure to say something TV-friendly – I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re even being asked, “What do you want you kids to learn from you in this competition?” If I were asked that, I’d probably give the same answer! I wish the show would stop making it sound like a baker’s success as a parent depends on them winning the championship.

High point: When Jesse announced, after the Main Heat baking time was up, that he had another surprise for the contestants, and Corey just goes: “WHAT.” in that absolutely exasperated, ‘don’t f*ck with me anymore, I’m at my limit here’ voice. I felt that in my soul! That was my reaction to this whole episode, too.

Low point: Priya fighting with Paul in the preheat over that stupid blitz puff pastry. I couldn’t even look, that was so painful. I understand she was stressed, and I could tell she was trying to be polite even while she was yelling at him, but this was just a really terrible interaction to watch.

The dessert that I would most have liked to eat: Corey’s tabletop cake! Normally I’d go for chocolatey cakes, of which there were two this challenge, but, this one sounded really special: almond cake with cream cheese mousse, almond crunch, and mixed macerated berries (a nod to the “woodland path” theme, brilliant) – plus, those decorations were beautiful. And I think this is one case where lemongrass could actually kind of work.

My official prediction for who will go home next: This is tough. It kills me to say it, but I think either Priya or Mary-Frances. In the final we’ll have Corey, Raveena, and Lisa, with Lisa being the winner. I’ve been saying it since day one; I’ll be really surprised if Lisa doesn’t win!

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