So I watched the finale of Top Chef yesterday. I think that no one could have predicted that Marcel would be in the final two; he almost got kicked off numerous times for unsuccessful dishes. But Marcel is not as bad as all the other contestants make him out to be. He lacks social skills, sure, and he has a strange insecurity about him that the other contestants sniffed out and fed upon like playground bullies, but in the end Marcel doesn't mean anyone any real harm--he was always baffled that the other contestants despised him and sabotaged his dishes. I can't say the same for other contestants who made it their mission to slander Marcel every chance they got (Betty). In reverse, Betty's hatred of Marcel led her to fawn over other contestants like Ilan--it was sickening and immature. And Marcel changed a lot during the show. He gained more confidence, he became more open to the other contestants, and I think his cooking improved (or at least the judges liked his food better toward the final episodes).

Yesterday's NYT article about the show likened the cast assembly to a microcosm of a high school; the constant ganging up on Marcel proved that this was only too true.