'Hell's Kitchen': Francisco returns as the women go down in flames

It is nice to know that despite the tweaks that have been made to "Hell's Kitchen" this season some things remain the same. You have still got your infighting. You have still got your imploding. And you have also still got your sparkalicious party planner, Francisco. Who could ask for more?

How did the Red team possibly start the night mourning the loss of Colleen? They seemed to believe that they really needed her as their "cheerleader." From what we saw of Colleen, she was pretty incompetent, perhaps a half-step better than Lacey, but only a half-step. I know Ramsay said that at the last service Lacey was "shining," but I think he got all confused with the difference between real gold and fool's gold. Lacey is not real gold.

Tonight's challenge was to impress a boy (Max), and his mother and grandmother with fine dining versions of a hamburger, brisket, and chicken soup for the young one's upcoming Bar Mitzvah. Mom and Grandma were allowed to taste the food, but it was the soon-to-be man who got to make the decisions. That definitely favored the Blue team with the soup, because Grandma loved the Red team's soup, but apparently Max didn't. It almost goes without saying that with the next dish, the brisket, the boy went with the Red team.

Every single time these challenges come down to the last dish and it has to be a setup, it just has to be. But, whatever the case, in the end Max went with the men's burger. If Carol hadn't put blue cheese in her burger (as Andrea told her not to do) the women would have won. With the blue cheese however, the women were out and the men were off to a spa.

Speaking of setups, Francisco was back as the party planner this year (do you remember the "sparkalicious" Sweet 16?), and Jean-Philippe wasn't amused. I have to tell you, I love Jean-Philippe, seeing that man get frustrated and then get angry is a huge reason to watch the show. If I was in charge, I'd have a Jean-Philippe spinoff in the works. The man is a genius, the way he went off on Francisco during the service after Francisco "accidentally" dropped Max's cake, just fantastic.

While there was no way that Ramsay was going to shut the kitchens during a Bar Mitzvah, I think he was pretty tempted to tonight (no matter what he later said). Coi was on burger duty and she kind of forgot to have them ready to go and then kind of failed to cook them properly. In general, that kind of thing is par for the course on "Hell's Kitchen," but the burgers in question were for Max's table, so it was wholly unacceptable (but still par).

By the middle of service, I think Ramsay had realized his mistake stating that Lacey had been "shining." The woman completely fell apart reheating brisket this week. The brisket was already cooked, Lacey just couldn't figure out how to get it hot again and plate it. She should have just handed it to the Red kitchen and had them place it between Carol and Andrea, because those two were both breathing fire towards each other. That particular fight had been going on all night, and as the two of them explained it, has been raging for several weeks now.

After the service, Andrea tried to apologize about her horning in on Carol's french fries, but Carol wasn't having any of it. Carol explained to Andrea that when Andrea had tried to help out, she wanted to punch Andrea "in the neck." I've always been a fan of rabbit punches to the kidney myself, but I guess the windpipe isn't a bad choice.

The Blue team came away as the victors tonight in a squeaky race based, according to Ramsay, on their ability to fight back and overcome adversity throughout the service. Andrea was declared best of the worst, and later, in front of Ramsay, tried to humble herself by saying that she was only as good as the rest of her team (they had beaten her up pretty good while she was deciding whom to nominate). For a moment I thought Andrea would get the heave-ho for not accepting her responsibility, but Ramsay pushed her again for the nominees instead.

Surprisingly, Andrea didn't nominate Carol, instead throwing up Coi and LA, and that was when it got dastardly. After fighting for herself, and just before Ramsay was about to make his decision, Coi piped up and told Ramsay that Andrea was the worst in the kitchen during service. LA agreed with her, and when asked, Carol did too. Only Paula backed Andrea, declaring Coi the worst.

Coi may have been eliminated tonight, but that women's team is coming apart at the seams. Unless Ramsay rejiggers things next week, I think they could be in for a horrible run. Not that I would mind, I don't particularly like them, but I still think Ramsay should take a look at changing things up.

Just one question tonight -- the Harlem Globetrotters came to perform at Max's Bar Mitzvah. Are they still cool? I mean, I know I love them, but I thought I was the only one.

The TV and Film Guy's Reviews - still sparkalicious!