‘MasterChef Junior’ review: Did Alexander, Dara make second part of finale?

“MasterChef Junior” tonight could not have been any more dramatic. Where else do you get this much intensity from watching people try to cook eggs? This show has been quick about its journey to the finale, and we now know the young home cooks who are going to be squaring off in the final episode.

After the first challenge, we admit that we did not have much hopes that this was going to be an impressive hour of television. After all, nobody really managed to successfully produce a soft-boiled egg; as a matter of fact, Troy only won simply because he was the best of the worst. Granted, this is not an easy type of egg to create, and besides… who really eats these anymore?

But from here, we went from the egg to the whole chicken with an extremely-ambitious challenge where Troy picked a kind of chicken for the contestants to work with, and they then had to execute it. Knowing that Alexander was the great one (pun intended) of the kitchen, he forced him to do something with the liver … which he still managed to somehow execute. Meanwhile, he took the thigh for himself to challenge his own abilities, handed the wing to Dara, and the breast (the easiest one to execute) to the youngest chef in Jack.

We’ve been pretty straightforward for weeks now about how this finale seems destined to be a battle between Dara and Alexander. The latter came into this a little cocky, but we’ve really enjoyed him being brought down to earth a little bit, and he now may be the most likable person left since he seems to understand himself a little more. Alexander, of course, is going to the finale.

Now, we turn to the final showdown. Troy under-cooked his chicken, and there was no hope for him; this was really between Dara and Jack, and the latter really tried to make things interesting with a great chicken breast, but the moment that we heard a confessional from Jack about how he felt confident (reality TV 101, people!), he learned that he was going to be heading home. We have the finale we all saw coming, and the heartbreak of seeing Jack go home. Troy was at least able to be there for him, since he did at least know that it was coming.

These kids are all going to go on to do some great things, and we’re really excited about the finale. we think that for now editing favors Dara as the winner, but anything can happen on the finale next week. Grade: B+ (mostly because of it being so predictable).

Photo: Fox