I just can't see Michael going out as gracefully as Eli did last night.

Whatever the case may be, he won, didn't he? I think the judges felt that even though he kept it simple, he at least served food that tasted good, and, seemingly more importantly for this challenge, his portions were consistent across the board.

Jen probably would have won if she hadn't been sloppy with both the portioning and the cooking of the fish. Michael had the bone in one of his portions, and the tasters unanimously agreed that his garnishes (or at least one of them) sucked.

Exactly. If there had been flaws in his dish, I think Bryan definitely would have taken it home. When it comes to simple dishes, execution is paramount, and he did a good job. If it had been a question of concept though, Bryan would definitely have taken it home.

On Tom's blog, he said that Jen had the best garnishes, in terms of execution and concept, Michael had the worst concept and poor execution, and Bryan had the best concept but couldn't execute it. Kevin still had an extremely thoughtful construction, but his execution was flawless.

I'm definitely hoping to see Bryan, Jen, and Kevin in the finale. I think that will probably make for one of the best finales we've seen so far.

Yeah, usually Im pretty much done at this point and just finishing the show out, but pretty excited about the final... Pulling for Kevin but I wouldn't be disappointed if Bryan or Jen won. I don't even really hate Michael all that much but his recent comments have been pretty much bs so I would much rather have one of the other three win.

Michael is a total colostomy bag, but I still want to see him in the finals along with Bryan and Kevin. The brother competition is entertaining to me, and I would get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing Bryan one-up him. Part of me is really pulling for Kevin to win it all, though.

I like Jen and it is clear she is very talented, but I don't know if she is strong enough to step up for the finals. She just can't seem to stay focused for an entire episode now that the pressure is so much greater. I think this final may end up being a sausage fest. At least, for the first time since I started watching it, I can say that whoever ends up in the final 3 deserves to be there.

I can't recall every season's finalists, but surely last year Stefan, Josea, and Carla were all deserving of being in the finals.

I would disagree. I liked Carla a lot and thought she did some things well, but overall I don't think she was a great chef. Truthfully, I don't know that any of those three were as consistently good as Kevin, Bryan, or Michael have been. Not that they haven't had any issues, but in terms of overall vision and execution.

I haven't seen the latest episode yet. We're a week behind up here, where it's shown on the Food Network.

Surprisingly, Jen snaps out of it enough to survive

My guess is Kevin or Michael to win.

I don't know about Michael for the win. One thing about his cooking - it doesn't really come from the heart. It's more like, he knows so many different techniques, and just routinely applies them. Even though his food might seem original and nuveau, it just comes off as boring to me.

Kevin on the other hand, always seems to have a lot of himself in every dish, and they always have tons of personality.

I concur. Michael's food comes off too sterile and soulless.

Well, I think there's two separate things here. Last year's chefs do not compare to this year's, that is for sure, and Carla may not be a great chef. So in that sense, she didn't deserve to be in the finals. But in the sense of relative to the rest of their "cast", she did, IMO. Carla was actually the best chef over the second half of last season. I agree that Stefan (and Hosea to a lesser extent) were more well-rounded chefs, but Carla most certainly earned her spot last year and belonged there.

If Carla can impress Jacques Pepin, then she is a great chef!

I think the funniest thing about Top Chef is how it elicits such strong responses from internet posters such as "so and so should have won" or "he/she is a horrible chef". None of us viewers have tried the food. It's like arguing who should win American Idol with the sound turned off.

I would argue the analogy more than the point of your argument here. American Idol is "supposedly" judged by the American population and is largely influenced by popularity factors such as attractiveness, the pull of the backstory, etc. The judges give commentary, but don't make the decision about who goes home. (Strictly talking about the finals, not the selection process.) Top Chef is the reversal of that, there are no hometown visits and it doesn't matter if they hot or not because they don't have to be marketable.

For the record, I don't think that anyone who makes it to Top Chef is bad or they wouldn't be there. It isn't like they are scouting at the local McDonalds. They may be less experienced or not as versatile as others, but they do something well or they wouldn't be there.

What a great part 1.

They really knocked it out of the park with this final 4.. Jennifer sadly gone, but I believe tom called it, she was a little unsure of herself, but the other 3 rocked it out of the park.

Going to be a great finale.

It was nice to see Bryan take one home. Glad he hasn't gone soft on us. I think it's down to him and Kevin now.

I'm rooting for Kevin but would be okay with Bryan winning.

Now that Jen is gone, we're pulling for Bryan.

Over the course of the show, Kevin has come across like a bullshit artist - there's a challenge with sustainable foods and he's all about sustainable foods; there's a challenge with TV dinners and he says he loves "well-crafted frozen dinners"; last week he said the chef-judge wrote a book that "changed" his life. Whatever.

My house is Team Bryan.

I think that Bryan is the colostomy bag. But then again, what do I know. Rooting for Kevin here.

I'm rooting for Yukon Cornelius.

For sure team kevin. He's full of win

Another vote for Kevin. His meat dishes always look so good.

Kevin always makes me think of this:

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