This season of Top Chef on Bravo has been marred by stupid controversy. The whole Otto/Marisa/stolen lychee thing. The "did someone cheat? Let's eliminate nobody" challenge results. Mia's going postal a few weeks ago. And now Cliff's attempted prank on Marcel gets him booted from the show. Shenanigans. ...

Mikey, Mikey, Mikey -- we've been poking fun at this guy, mostly because we like him. He's a goof. Reminds us of some of our college buddies. Forgets his eggs in a breakfast challenge. Is overly thrilled at his sloppy, greezy steak sandwhich in the firehouse challenge. Enjoys throwing out somewhat tired concepts like a twice-baked potato (during the "Thanksgiving innovation" challenge, no less) and surf & turf appetizers. And who can forget the snicker/cheeto lollipop? ...

Oy, gee. We're sick today. We feel like grade-A crapola, and it may color our review of the last episode of Top Chef just a tad. Not to mention that we're about 10 lbs. heavier than when we watched this episode last Wednesday on Bravo, which is making us even more pissy. This episode was a 'very special Thanksgiving' episode. And it was pretty special--Tony Bourdain, the well-known chef and world-traveler, was the guest judge, and yes, we love his bad-boy image, his wry personality, and he writes a hell of a good fictional book along with his spectacular non-fiction. Sorry if we're judging this man on his image, folks, along with his writing and cooking pedigree. Oh, P.S. -- he's had some swell adventures recently with our own Mary Ladd/Jalepeno Girl, which you should check out here and here....

If "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds," then the folks over at Bravo's Top Chef sure have some huge brains. Because this season reeks of inconsistency. And it's starting to piss us off. Major, major misstep, Tom, Gale, and co. (Let us state up front: it's only because this show can be, is often, and should always be so freaking good that these missteps get to us). Let's give credit to some of elimination-style reality shows--we've seen episodes of The Apprentice and Rockstar where the judges weren't afraid to make a bold move and eliminate more than one contestant. But never -- NEVER -- have we seen a show like this wimp out and send NOBODY packing....

Welcome to our thoughts on last Wednesday's episode of Top Chef on Bravo, which we hope will help psych y'all up for tonight's episode. We must say that this episode was a vast improvement over the previous one, and we're again psyched to continue watching season two. You might even say this episode kicked four teeth and a gigantic ass....

Is the sheen off the apple, or was this crappy episode just a one-time thing? Gosh, we hope it's just the latter, because we'd like for this to remain our favorite show. Why were we displeased this show? Guest judge Ming Tsai was kind of a schmuck.Marcel, who we hoped to continue loving to hate, seemed to take a pill. Oh, and the ridiculous "steal the crate of fruit" melodrama? Handled poorly by everyone....