Top Chef Episode 2: Thoughts on the Zoo

I finally got to watch the second episode last night and Cooper, who missed the first ep, watched with me. It's so early in the season, there wasn't even much to catch him up on.

No big recap today, but we did have a couple of thoughts as we watched. They are all over the place:

• During the Quickfire, Richard was all "I'm going to win with my fancy science because Wylie Dufresne ALSO uses fancy science!" It seemed that he expected to coast through on his technique, whether or not it was really executed well. Seems like he was working under some probably incorrect assumptions. I'd assume that any attempt at using molecular gastronomy would have to be pretty flawlessly executed with Dufresne as a guest judge. He knows better than most what results innovative techniques can produce, and I would think he'd judge accordingly.
• What's up with all the lame hats??? Especially in the talking head attractions for next week. Everybody looked like a reject model from one of my 8th grade Sassy magazines.
• Separated at birth #1: Valerie and Rachel Dratch?
• Speaking of Valerie, I knew she lost from the very beginning. Know why? Her nose was red in her talking head. She'd been crying. It's OK, Valerie. I'm blotchy when I cry, too.
• Also speaking of Valerie, and she did seem like a nice girl, though maybe a little out of her league, her pronounciation of "blini" was driving me crazy. It sounded too much like "bellini". The first time she said it, Cooper wasn't looking at the screen (where the name of the dish was written.) He heard "black olive bellini" and had such a ridiculous look of disgust on his face as he said to me, "Don't you make those sometimes? With peach?"
• Separated at birth #2: Nikki and Nelly Furtado? Or the girl from that Mitsubishi ad? I know, I know. It's the hat.
• And speaking of Nikki, I really can't understand why they didn't just pull the mushrooms. If there's one thing I've learned from the past seasons, it's that it's better not to serve something you're not proud of, than to serve it and "not stand behind it".
• Finally, in the very beginning, when Mark was hysterically running around the farmer's market, Cooper was like, "that guy seems like kind of a dick." I think Mark totally redeemed himself though, later in the episode, by busting out some of the patented CP Hammer dance moves. I'm not kidding, either. I'd love to see them on the floor together at a wedding.

And...that is all. I like this season, I think. So far, I'm fairly entertained (despite not really knowing the characters) and I think the food seems strong.

Next week...will the lesbians break up? My guess is...no. Of course not. But I bet the producers wished they would have.