It’s hot in the kitchen and the daring duo is preparing to make a meal of things
A cookery contest is sending Georgina into a spin and Jack is benefiting from his partner’s culinary expertise – or so he thinks…
This week we were thrown into the aggressively competitive world of ‘Kitchen Maestro’, a show where amateurs battled it out in the kitchen to become a sous chef in the restaurant of a celebrity chef. Jack was at his hilarious best as the calamitously tactless cop in charge of the murder investigation after a beautiful successful competitor was killed at the peak of the contest. Jack’s monologue at the start of the investigation was brilliant, especially as he urged the chefs to take the situation seriously then proceeded to lick a spatula like a child and proclaim his approval of the mixture. As Georgina was busy getting changed at home after Jack had made her spill coffee over herself in his attempt to pick up a gorgeous woman by colliding with her car, Georgina was pressed into service as a Kitchen Maestro contestant to study the competitors seeing as they didn’t recognise her. Among the amateur chefs were an obsessive quiet loner who refused to take off his coat or speak to anyone, an ill-tempered lady desperate to get ahead and an IT specialist who they portrayed as a nerd with a tendency to sniff attractive women. The gruff celebrity host of the show, Robert Randall, assessed each meal, barely disguising his contempt for each contestant’s food and his assistant looked on with scorn.
Georgina, having her social life (or rather lack of) mocked by Jack, became gradually obsessed and ridiculously competitive within her fake role, baking all night to ensure that her creations were perfect. Jack not only enjoyed the fruits of Georgina’s labours but he also used her skills to ensure that his new girlfriend Beth was smitten with him; claiming her delicious food as his own and impressing his lady into bed. With matters taking a dramatic twist as another contestant was found murdered and Robert Randall fell ill with a dangerous strain of E Coli, the search was on to find the murderer before they struck again and an offhand comment from a tired Georgina (having spend all night cooking) allowed Jack to unlock the case. His amazing comment of “In the words of the great Bon Jovi ‘Whoa, we’re halfway there!'” and a homemade risotto revealed the killer and cracked the case. Realising that Beth may be about to consume some of the contaminated food, the race was on to reach Jack’s house before disaster occurred. It turned out that she was only saying that she liked the food in order to get Jack into bed, causing him to dump her for deception – hardly fair considering he was using Georgina’s food and passing it off as his own making him just as bad. Georgina was crushed at the harsh criticism of her food but undeterred she had a good night’s sleep then took a leaf out of Jack’s book in order to get a date. Meanwhile, Georgina’s dad was causing mischief by getting details from Georgina’s case files in order to get more work for his security firm leading to disappointment for his daughter.
After a subtle dip in the comedy level last week, this episode was back with feisty hilarious humour as usual. Jack was just as roguish and ridiculous as always with his wisecracks and witty comebacks at every turn and Georgina turning into a crazed Liz Lemon of 30 Rock fame was a highlight of the show. Again, this series is turning out to be a real triumph and the chemistry between the two leads is brilliant, making the show highly watchable and very moreish. Thoroughly enjoying Vexed and looking forward to next week’s slice of silliness. Highly recommend.
