Wickedly Perfect, Episode 2: Flour Power

Previously on Wickedly Perfect: 12 people stormed New England to win the chance to spread their wealth of domestic knowledge around America. Or something. For some reason, after the credits, we get more scenes from last week’s episode. “That’s fabulous!” “If he’s a finish carpenter, I’m the Pope.” Tom was angry. Kimberly was weepy. Tom went home. If you want the full story, you can read my recap.

It’s morning at the Domestic Domicile, and everyone is getting ready for the day. Kimberly is under a lot of pressure to prove herself. Darlene says that Tom was a dictator because he spoke loudly and often, so now they’ll have a democracy.

Hostess Joan Lunden greets the competitors and talks about dinner parties. She gives them their new challenge in the form of clues. The clues are “red,” “white,” “big, “little,” “French inside,” and “American outside.” The Beavers get to choose first; they choose “red,” so Team Artisan gets “white.” Artisan picks “little,” and the Beavers get “big.” The Beavers pick “American outside,” leaving Team Artisan with “French inside.”

Joan decodes the clues: “red” and “white” refer to wine; the Beavers will serve red wine at their dinner party and Team Artisan will serve white. “Little” and “big” refer to two different kitchens. Artisan gets the small kitchen upstairs and the Beavers get the big one downstairs. “French inside” means that Artisan will serve inside, and their entertainment will be… a French mime. Sacré bleu! The Beavers will serve at the pool house and will have a team of synchronized swimmers as their entertainment.

Each team will serve a three-course meal to be judged by David, Candace, and Bobby. They will make enough food for 12 people, and the judges will visit each party twice – once for appetizers and once for the main meal. Each team gets $2,500 to pull this off. They’re way too excited about this. The teams will be judged on creativity, presentation, and taste. They only have 36 hours to pull everything off.

As for individual projects, everyone is responsible for a gift bag for the judges. They get $40 each for these bags. Joan reminds us that the creators of the two least impressive individual projects on the losing team will be on the chopping block.

The Crafty Beavers start brainstorming in the pool house. Mitch wants to go “‘50s style, Thurston Howell.” Huh? There’s some disagreement, and Amy says they have “a team full of egos.” She names Mitch and Mychael as the two worst offenders.

Michelle talks about a lobster dish she can make, then starts speaking French and naming French dishes. Darlene says that yesterday Michelle was a baker, and now she’s a cook. She wants to trust that Michelle knows what she’s doing.

Mychael suggests a water theme, such as something involving seafood. Mitch suggests deviled eggs and Mychael counters with deviled quail eggs. Mitch says he hates those, so Mychael gives in. At least she’s compromising and not trying to force anything on her team.

Margo suggests lamb with rosemary and mint jelly. Kimberly bargains her down to losing the jelly. Denise and Heather call the synchronized swimmers and asks if they would be willing to pass around the hors d’oeuvres trays. They agree. Heather is excited about the flowered swim cap she’s going to wear to the party. I’m not sure why she brought that with her, but okay.

Margo wonders, “Do mimes have telephones?” If you think about it, that’s a good question. She calls to “book a mime” as Kimberly wonders who actually likes mimes. Another good question. The mime seems to have a number of different routines in his repertoire. Well, that’s good. The only thing worse than a regular mime is an unprepared mime.

Mychael places Mitch in charge of flowers. I’m sure he appreciates that. Heather tells Mychael that they can all work on things together. Denise reminds Mitch of the branch fiasco from last week. She interviews that he’s “pushy and aggressive.” She challenges that he might not be able to arrange flowers better than she can. “Bring it on,” Mitch interviews.

Kimberly and Michelle shop, spending $1,008. Darlene is shocked to hear the amount when they return, noting that they spent over $1,000 on 12 people. Kimberly points out that they were shopping for 24 people, since they’re giving everyone an option between lamb and lobster. Maybe they should have gone with something less expensive than lobster. Also, if you’re going to give people a choice of main courses at a dinner party, shouldn’t one of them be vegetarian? Oh, I’m sorry, I’m not the expert on dinner parties. Carry on, then. Darlene wants the team to get started on cooking, but Michelle and Margo want to go out and get more stuff. Darlene points out that she hasn’t been able to get her fabric yet. She interviews that no one really gets her because she’s older than everyone else.

It’s 4:30 a.m., with 15 hours left. Mitch explains how he’s attaching leaves to something that looks like a garbage bag to make the table look… well, I don’t know if “pretty” is the word. Denise tries to help straighten the tablecloth out and Mitch is, of course, not happy. He says that he hasn’t commented on any of the things she’s done. Denise says that she’s not going to let him do whatever he wants. She says that she didn’t freak out when he tried to rearrange something of hers. Denise is cutting leaves off branches during this conversation; she starts gesturing with the scissors and Mitch asks her to not point them at him. That’s a reasonable request, and yet I can’t help loving Denise’s response: “Oh, stop being a pansy.” She interviews that he’s a moody snake. Mitch makes a dramatic exit, but the others don’t seem to care. In an interview, Mitch complains about Denise, announcing that he’ll blame her if they lose. Way to subvert our expectations, there, Mitch.

Dawn reiterates the challenge. Michelle says that she’s in charge of the baking. Margo asks about hors d’oeuvres and Michelle says that the others are responsible for those. “Do they know that?” Margo asks. She certainly knows the right questions to ask. Of course, they don’t know that. Michelle tells Darlene and Dawn how to make tomatoes stuffed with shrimp. Darlene says that she didn’t want to do that appetizer but wound up doing it because Michelle made the decision at the last minute. Darlene says that Michelle is bad at delegating.