"Hell's Kitchen": Rock victorious

By Matt Klein on August 15, 2007

I thought, for a moment, that I saw a glimmer of hope for Bonnie in the Hell's Kitchen season finale on Monday night.  Judging by the way the season had been going though, she really didn't have much of a chance and, as expected, Rock won despite his comparatively poor performance in the final service.

To jump right into overanalyzing the final decision, I'd start by pointing out why Bonnie was doomed: she had basically made her way into the final by squeaking past eliminations, so much so that by the final episode Rock had an excess of momentum. I'd also like to say why that shouldn't necessarily matter: Rock, in a less active sense, also piggybacked on his teammates' poor performances; he made the final not necessarily by being good but by being more consistent than his shifty and incompetent teammates. He just didn't come as close to elimination as Bonnie did. Also, throughout the show and the finale, it wasn't really clear that Rock could, you know, cook any better than Bonnie. 

I think Bonnie should have won, or at that the thing shouldn't have been a foregone conclusion, but it was. Rock's team (they chose team members to assist with the final dinner service from the last six to be eliminated) performed poorly; Josh was a sweaty mess and burned crab cakes, which wasn't Rock's fault. Though Rock showed some leadership skills in the kitchen, he ultimately didn't do all that much for his team.

Bonnie had issues with Julia, who, in an uncharacteristic move, whined and bitched all night. That aside, she had a better menu and put out all her food faster than Rock.

It ended as a fairly unsatisfying close to an unsatisfying season: there wasn't enough to make me care about the characters, and, though I always appreciate Gordon Ramsay's accent, temper, and oddly worded insults, they weren't really enough to keep me more than nominally interested.