"Hell's Kitchen: How to De-Bone a Fish

(reposted from the now-defunct poweredbyshows.com)

Last night’s second episode of FOX’s glorious guilty pleasure cooking competition Hell’s Kitchen finally put the show back on track with its former seasons. Gone were the whimpering shenanigans of last week’s show, where the 12 new contestants, all vying for Chef Gordon Ramsay’s affection and the ownership of a high-class restaurant in Las Vegas, pretty much told us what we already know: Chef Ramsay yells a lot, makes you feel inadequate and is all-around terrifying as a boss.

Now that those people who weren’t already fans of the show are caught up with what the show entails--I often sense fans of Bravo’s Top Chef tuning in, getting very frightened of what they’re watching, and turn the channel back to reruns of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy--last night’s episode finally gets down to the nitty-gritty of the restaurant trade.

The teams, split up once again to men-versus-women (which will last at least half the season if the show follows it previous formula), found themselves thrust into another tough night of service, struggling with the menus pushed at them by Chef Ramsay. This week, each group finally learned to work together as a team (for the most part), and it was mostly a welcome relief. Last week, both kitchens were an absolute disaster as the dichotomy familiar to the show came forth. This dichotomy, of course, is between the contestants who know their way around a reality television ensemble and do their best to stand out, either by being horribly antagonistic to their teammates or acting as pathetic but memorable failures (respectively Vinnie the night club chef and Aaron the retirement home chef this season), and those who have the potential to be great cooks but have little personality (about one-third of the contestants).

Once Ramsay puts said people in line--you can’t get by on this show without knowing, say, how to cook Beef Wellington to perfection--the results are a great deal more interesting. Despite a great improvement between the two weeks, though, there always has to be some conflict in Hell’s Kitchen, and that boiled down to kidney disease-sufferer Eddie being pushed around the men’s kitchen by nearly everybody, costing him his chance to continue on with the show.

Most viewers, of course, want Aaron to go, not only for his constant tearful breakdowns (he even fainted for a moment last night) but for his inability to de-bone a cooked fish for the restaurant patrons in any time less than 15 minutes. This is FOX, however, and such an odd character won’t go away that easily. We need our entertainment, and a large Asian 48-year-old man who can’t stop crying is at the same level as some of the “talent acts” on NBC’s America’s Got Talent.

If Hell’s Kitchen continues to improve week-after-week at this quick rate, we’re looking at the best finale so far for a reality show that doesn’t get the great ratings it deserves.