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Jonathan’s attempt to do something with the words “burnt sienna, depressed and avocado,” is next, with a mesquite-grilled chicken with French fries, yams, avocado and grapefruit. He explains that this is the kind of dish he would cook to pull himself out of a depression. It looks beautiful and very homey. James says that there’s no great epiphany of flavor, but one of the actors loves that it’s just meat and potatoes.

Susur goes last with a dessert based off of chocolate, lust and peanut. He serves a chocolate mousse with coriander along with a peanut butter mousse with chocolate crumble. It looks absolutely amazing. There are tons of “mmmms” going around. Jay notes that the comedian troupe has been silenced by the dessert. James loves the emphatic flavor and back in the kitchen, Rick tries it and proclaims it to be, “killer…like really, really good.”

I think Susur won this. I also think that Rick made the biggest mistake by undercooking his pork loin.

The Masters go in front of the critics for judgment. Gail loved the layers of spice and flavor with Rick, calling the oysters “beautiful.” James criticizes the pork roulade, saying that it was “to the point of being raw.” Rick maintains that while the texture of the pork may have made it feel raw, temperature-wise, it was cooked.

Marcus loved the challenge, but Jay and James knock his dish for not having been edited enough. They do, however, like his tuna and found his sauce to be fantastic. “Thank you for those two things,” James says.

Jonathan jokes that he “won the lottery” with his word choices. Jay loved his chicken skin, but wonders whether the dish was complex enough for this stage in the competition? Jonathan argues back that the skits by The Groundlings were not overly complex. Thus, having used them as an inspiration, he just wanted to make his dish “entertaining.”

“Fair enough,” Jay replies.

Susur believes that sex and food goes hand-in-hand (hopefully not in the same hand in the same time, I write to myself). Gail thought that regardless of whether his dish was “immature” or not (with his mousse being plated in the shape of a “bikini” as described by Susur and “a vagina” by a Groundling), Susur delivered interesting, sophisticated, adult flavors. Jay asks whether or not his raspberry puree was “overkill,” but Susur replies that he wanted to bring a more feminine flavor into the dish.

I think Susur won this thing. I think Rick is going home.

In the end, Susur and Marcus end up on top. Susur gets 4 ½ stars from Jay, 4 from Gail and 4 from James. With 4 ½ from the diners, he has 17 total. High scores but not unbeatable.

Marcus gets 4 ½ stars from all three critics, plus 4 from the diners. Before this episode, Marcus hadn’t won a damn thing. Now he wins both the Quickfire and the Elimination Challenge – good for him!

There’s only one spot left in the finale and it’s gonna come down between Jonathan and Rick. Jonathan’s chicken dish gets 3 stars from Jay, 3 from Gail and 2 ½ from James. With 3 from the diners, he only has a total of 11 ½ stars.

Rick gets 3 stars from James, 3 ½ from Jay and 3 ½ from Gail. The diners give him 3 ½ and DAMMIT! Rick is stupidly onto the finale with a total of 13 ½.

I’m really not happy; I was definitely rooting for Jonathan to beat Rick for the final spot, but it looks like he fell victim to the same criticism that sent Susan home last week: the dish was not complex enough to merit advancement in the competition. Sigh.

Jonathan says that the saddest part of leaving is not being able to work with his fellow Masters in another challenge. He remarks that over the course of the show, he’s tried to help Rick lighten up, told Marcus not to throw so much on his plates, and learned a lot from Susur. He’s proud that he made money for his charity and considers his time on Top Chef Masters a job well done.

I’ll definitely miss Jonathan but for now, BRING ON THE FINALE!

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