Monday Media on Thursday, 3/7/22

[owlmoose]

Top Chef: We somehow missed that the 19th season premiered at the beginning of March, so we're still catching up. As of this writing, I've seen the first four episodes (including the related Last Chance Kitchens). Top Chef is the only competitive reality show I've watched religiously, starting with Season 3 (I went back and caught up on Season 1 later, but I heard Season 2 was a rough watch, so I skipped it). It took awhile to hit this balance, but I feel like it's really matured over the last few seasons. It seems like they've stopped trying to cast for conflict and drama -- I can't remember the last time I really disliked a cheftestant and couldn't wait for them to be eliminated. I don't love them all (Gabriel from Season 18 comes to mind), but it's more like "roll my eyes" irritation than "omg get this asshole out of here." It also feels like they're putting more effort into bringing in a diverse group, rather than just a couple of token chefs of color, as well as diverse culinary backgrounds -- there are more chefs who are open about their Asian, Latin, and especially African influences, and the judges are also paying more attention to how those influences show up in their dishes, rather than just expecting classical fine dining all the time. It's great, and I hope it continues.

Exandria Unlimited: Khymal: Let's do a poodle! I always enjoy a good heist, and clearly the players do, too. I thought the flashback token mechanic was an excellent choice to move the gameplay along. Aabria said it was inspired by the Blades in the Dark system, and it works really well there, too. I had hoped that having a second active adventuring party would open up the storytelling opportunities for Critical Role, and I'd say this miniseries was proof of concept and more. I'll watch as many Crownkeepers games as they give me.