Hell's Kitchen - Rock Gets The Job
Finale Recap by Brian Sikorsky
August 15, 2007
This week on the nail-biting season finale of "Hell's Kitchen" we finally find out who will walk away with the big prize and who will be kicked to the curb. Before I get too involved in this recap I wish to point out that throughout my scoring of this show I have ranked Rock #1 every week since the show began except for last week and only because I think he made a grave mistake in picking his old blue team chefs. Bonnie on the other hand enjoyed this climb, #6, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. I didn't realize until this point that I have moved Bonnie up one position every week except for the first two. So will Rock's dumb-ass mistake cost him his dream or will Bonnie take the top spot by dumb luck? Keep reading to find out.
Of course the episode started off with recaps of the entire season. We then see Bonnie and Rock getting their teams up to speed. Rock is clear and organized as he explains his menu and his goals to his team of chefs. Bonnie on the other hand is laid back on a couch and has no recipes for her chefs to review before service.
Okay, at this point, forget what I said about Bonnie having a chance a winning. Rock will win. It's a done deal. I was stupid last week. Forgive me.
In the kitchen, Bonnie and Julia are not working well together and are a little abrasive to each other. As Bonnie is dealing with Julia, she is told that the designer ran out of wallpaper and will have to make some changes to her design. She impresses me by pointing out some mistakes in the construction and gets them corrected. In the blue kitchen, Rock is coaching Josh and trying to motivate him to give a great performance. Back in the red kitchen, Bonnie is now having trouble with Melissa as she is overcooking the prawns.
The chefs then have to prepare their menu for Chef Ramsay, who will judge them and give them the final okay. He doesn't care for Bonnie's dessert and thinks there is too much garlic in Rock's mashed potatoes. He also corrects Rock's cookies and milkshake dessert but overall is impressed with the menus.
As the construction crews put the finishing touches on the dining rooms, Chef Ramsay pulls each of the chefs aside to get a feel for what they were hoping to accomplish with their restaurants. Bonnie's restaurant is warm, inviting and classy while Rock's is elegant and comfortable. Gordon asks Rock about the lack of salt and pepper on the table. Rock tells him that the dishes will be seasoned properly, in which Gordon tells him that he hopes so.
As service is about to begin, both chefs are working to motivate their teams and prepare for the most important dinner service of their careers. The guests start to arrive and appetizer orders are starting to come into the kitchen. Both teams start out strong and get the appetizers out at the same time. Bonnie calls out the next order and does not receive a call back from her team. She yells for them to respond. Julia is already getting frustrated because she feels that she should be in Bonnie's spot instead of being eliminated. She says that she wants to go home so she isn't paying attention to Bonnie. In the blue kitchen, Josh is burning the crab cakes and argues with Rock when he is told to have the re-cook done in 30 seconds. Jen is responding to Bonnie in the red kitchen but Bonnie isn't hearing her and as a result, starts lashing out at Jen for not calling back. Julia asks Bonnie a question but Bonnie isn't responding. Gordon comments on the lack of communication in the red kitchen and tells Bonnie to get it back together.
Rock isn't faring much better either on the blue side as Josh is still overcooking the crab cakes AND is sandbagging them like he did before when he was eliminated. Brad hasn't sold an item in 30 minutes and is still burning the crab cakes. Chef Ramsay pulls Rock aside and tells him that he is sinking and needs to take action. Rock decides to coach and motivate Josh once more but when he has no success he moves Josh off the station and switches him with Vinnie.
In the red kitchen, Melissa tells Bonnie that she is running out of the fresh fettuccine and only has enough for four more orders. Chef Ramsay isn't too happy with the news, especially when Bonnie says she is going to have to cook "box spaghetti". A few moments later, Melissa calls out that she is low on prawns and when a prawn spaghetti dish is returned for being cold and undercooked, there are no prawns left to give the guest. Gordon asks her how many she had to start off with and didn't know. Frustrated, Bonnie calls out an order but doesn't get a response again. Bonnie cries out, "Have I lost my team?" to which Julia replies that she is giving Bonnie everything she has and she should be happy with it. Facing issues in his own kitchen, Rock has started to take matters into his own hands and jumping on the line to help his team out.
The drama continues in the red kitchen as Julia and Bonnie argue because Bonnie wants Julia to wrap up a bowl of goat cheese and Julia doesn't want to because there are others not doing anything. The chefs are pushing to finish strong which they do. Julia apologizes to Bonnie for her attitude and they hug it out while Rocks wife and kids come to the pass to congratulate him.
After the service, Chef Ramsay each of the chefs what they would do differently if they could do it over again. Rock says he would have won the Las Vegas challenge so he could have first pick so he could have had Jen instead of Josh. Bonnie says she would have double checked the prep. He praises both of them for not giving up and completing the service. He says that both of them showed great leadership and that his decision will be hard. Chef Ramsay retired to his office to study the customer comment cards and makes his decision.
In the dorms, Bonnie and Rock are tired and beat down. They are stressing the final decision. Rock thinks his team let him down and Bonnie won but he continues to pray.
In Chef Ramsay's office, standing in front of the torched frames of the fallen chefs, he praises them both again and instructs them to face their doors. He tells them that only one door will open and that chef will be the winner. He tells them to put their hands on the handle and tells them about the prize that is at stake. After a countdown from three, the door opens for Rock. He collapses in joy. The crowd below goes wild in celebration. His wife is all smiles as their daughter is sleeping on her shoulder. Bonnie comes around and gives Rock a big hug in congratulations. Gordon sprays Rock down with champagne and celebrates. In a final moment, Rock holds up his son and announces that he will be the winner of "Hell's Kitchen Season 12".
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