‘Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen’ episode 7: Did Jamie Lynch earn redemption against Jim Smith?

Thursday night’s new episode of “Top Chef” was one that bore witness to one of the gutsiest moves in the history of the show. Jamie Lynch, knowing that his chicken dish was the reason why his team was in danger, opted to give up his immunity. As a result of that, he ended up going home. Maybe he thought that he could win his way through “Last Chance Kitchen” and get back in there, but in order to do so, he had to defeat someone in Jim Smith who we were stunned to see go home at the time in which he did.

The idea for this challenge was to use similar ingredients as the ones in the challenge where Jamie found himself out, but the fundamental different here is that he didn’t have to take the peanut butter. Much like we saw in the first showdown tonight between Jim and Silvia, the end products actually ended up being surprising similar in that they both used butter-poached lobster and a number of similar ingredients.

You could tell throughout this that Jamie was especially determined. While we don’t think that he necessarily regrets giving up the immunity, at the same time he realized that he had even more to prove during his time in the kitchen. If he didn’t manage to impress Tom Colicchio here, maybe the move would be an even harder pill to swallow.

Luckily, Jamie did pull out a win here! It was a close one, though, and it seemed to be mostly the result of one simple mistake that Jim made: Accidentally over-seasoning the top of his dish wish salt. That overwhelmed it when it comes to the aftertaste, and that was enough to cost him his spot.

We’re glad for Jamie that he gets to keep on fighting, since we do think if nothing else he proved himself an honorable guy by taking his lumps during the episode itself. We’ll see how he does moving forward. Admittedly, we’re also going to miss Jim given that he came across as such a soft-spoken, likable guy the entire time he was around. We’d love to see him on another season. Grade: B+.

Are you happy with the results of this episode? Let us know now in the comments! (Photo: Bravo.)