this season is slightly dated but adds so much more identity and atmosphere to it. even the aspect ratio being 4:3 somehow makes you feel much more involved as it feels more claustrophobic in comparison to other seasons. I know that was not an intentional decision but it does change how the season is enjoyed. it truly feels scary almost especially with the lighting and atmosphere within the show itself.
anywasyyssss this season was much better than I thought it would be, 6.5/10 for an HK season imo, almost every night had tension and many of the cooks were genuinely great and had me rooting for them (except micheal). from the beginning it's chaos and Dewberry and Jeff make it all the more better. Andrew was awesome to watch improve and obviously he wouldn't win but man let the poor dude rest. Mary Ellen getting kicked off was kinda ass but reasonable but CHRIS??? he would've easily made it to black jackets and was probably the worst elimination I've seen so far from the 9 seasons I've watched. Ralph and Jess were great, Jimmy should've gone earlier but I liked his comeback, Elsie was also insane and I hope they bring her back someday.
overall this season has a tension that as I said in my S2 review is just not as present in future seasons. Everything feels real and less played up for the cameras, I LOVE the pacing and slower editing, I think maybe a bit slower would be great but otherwise this is near perfect editing and I wish future seasons didn't cram constant noise at all times just to keep apebrain viewers entertained. I also feel like having less chefs is both good and bad, every elimination feels impactful rather with S8 for example, many chefs stick around long past their stay and their eliminations are inevitable yet they're still there, very frustrating sometimes. this season, rarely had that and i think keeping the 16 chefs format but doing at least 2 double eliminations throughout would get rid of the dead weight and make the show feel less redundant.
lastly the finals, been a while since I've seen a double episode final but it was much better than expected and probably the closest finals yet I have no clue how Ralph pulled through with imo the worst drafted finals team in HK. sad that Chris didn't even come back but oh well dewberry was funny
Review by NicoqwertyBlockedParent2023-10-20T23:03:35Z— updated 2023-11-20T15:15:47Z
this season is slightly dated but adds so much more identity and atmosphere to it. even the aspect ratio being 4:3 somehow makes you feel much more involved as it feels more claustrophobic in comparison to other seasons. I know that was not an intentional decision but it does change how the season is enjoyed. it truly feels scary almost especially with the lighting and atmosphere within the show itself.
anywasyyssss this season was much better than I thought it would be, 6.5/10 for an HK season imo, almost every night had tension and many of the cooks were genuinely great and had me rooting for them (except micheal). from the beginning it's chaos and Dewberry and Jeff make it all the more better. Andrew was awesome to watch improve and obviously he wouldn't win but man let the poor dude rest. Mary Ellen getting kicked off was kinda ass but reasonable but CHRIS??? he would've easily made it to black jackets and was probably the worst elimination I've seen so far from the 9 seasons I've watched. Ralph and Jess were great, Jimmy should've gone earlier but I liked his comeback, Elsie was also insane and I hope they bring her back someday.
overall this season has a tension that as I said in my S2 review is just not as present in future seasons. Everything feels real and less played up for the cameras, I LOVE the pacing and slower editing, I think maybe a bit slower would be great but otherwise this is near perfect editing and I wish future seasons didn't cram constant noise at all times just to keep apebrain viewers entertained. I also feel like having less chefs is both good and bad, every elimination feels impactful rather with S8 for example, many chefs stick around long past their stay and their eliminations are inevitable yet they're still there, very frustrating sometimes. this season, rarely had that and i think keeping the 16 chefs format but doing at least 2 double eliminations throughout would get rid of the dead weight and make the show feel less redundant.
lastly the finals, been a while since I've seen a double episode final but it was much better than expected and probably the closest finals yet I have no clue how Ralph pulled through with imo the worst drafted finals team in HK. sad that Chris didn't even come back but oh well dewberry was funny
Season 1 was solid, tension was good.