top chef season 6 finale

We just finished watching the Top Chef finale.

I've been a fan of Kevin and rooting for him all season long—the guy has a heart of gold and how can you argue with his four quickfire wins, five elimination wins, passion for local and sustainable cooking, and not to mention his MAGNIFICENT BIG ASS RED BEARD.  While I'm disappointed that he didn't win the whole thing, I really can't say that Michael wasn't deserving since the Volts really brought it, too. However:

I know it's not a reality show without stupid curveballs (knife-draw for sous chefs, mystery box, and surprise fourth course), but with the caliber of chefs in the top three I would've rather watched them cook the meals of their lives without all of the twists and turns.

About those sous chefs: Bryan got lucky. Poor Kevin was totally screwed the second he pulled out the knife with Preeti's name on it. As TJ said, even he could chop vegetables better and faster than her.

Inviting the moms to the table then giving them the boot after the first course: um, rude? Also weird and awkward.

Padma telling Kevin "you are not Top Chef": seriously, what was the point of that? Unnecessarily cruel and humiliating.

It would've been nice to see Bryan collect some cash since he didn't win any quickfires. Maybe I'm not remembering correctly, but it seemed that the way the finale was edited showed Bryan winning two courses vs. Michael winning one. So there I was trying to recover from Kevin's loss and thinking that it really seemed that Bryan was going to win and feeling that I would be fine with that, too . . . and they give it to Michael? So misleading.

If Kevin doesn't win fan favorite, I will eat my hat.