The Great British Baking Show says goodbye to the bubble with a genial, gentle “Final”
The Great British
Baking Show has a few different modes it likes to choose from for its
finales. Sometimes the show goes all-out for an emotional, triumphant win, ala
series six (collection three on Netflix and season three on PBS). Sometimes
there’s a cat-and-mouse rivalry between two or even three real contenders. And
sometimes, to quote Eddie Izzard, a season-long favorite slowly collapses like
a flan in a cupboard. Thankfully, this season the producers opt for a
comparatively low-pressure final, setting fun, but very doable challenges. Perhaps
the show’s production bubble is wearing on everyone or perhaps the producers
anticipated that by the airdate, 2020 would be wearing on a good chunk of the
audience. Regardless, the producers and judges focus on delivering as feel-good
of a finale as possible, sending this unique season out with a cheery,
supportive wave.
The finale begins with a quick montage, reminding viewers of
some of our gone-too-soon favorites. It doesn’t linger, however—there’s tension
to build. Given Laura’s weak recent showings, it’ll take a lot for her to
contend. She has the chops if her day goes well, but with her weak presentation
skills, she’ll need Dave and Peter to falter in either flavor or execution. Dave
has stepped up his game over the course of the season, but has he done so
enough to take it all? And Peter may have been an early favorite, but he’s had
his off weeks, and overconfidence going into the final can be disastrous.
The bakers head into the tent for their final signature
challenge. They’ll have two and a half hours to make eight custard slices. These
must have flaky pastry on the bottom, nicely set, sliceable custard on top, and
be beautifully decorated. As the bakers get to work, Paul and Prue lay out
their expectations. The pastry must be laminated, the custard must be silky,
and they must use their refrigerators strategically, lest they fall prey to yet
another hot day in the tent. Laura’s going for refinement with her yuzu custard
slice. She’s using rough puff pastry, yuzu custard, lemon and coconut gel, piped
Chantilly cream, and fresh raspberries. Dave is returning to familiar flavors
for his caramel latte custard slice. He’s chosen rough puff pastry, coffee
custard, a caramel glaze, caramelized hazelnut spikes, and a chocolate drizzle.
Peter wants to distinguish himself with his custard slice, so he’s taking on
twice the work and twice the risk. He’s returning to the flavors of cranachan,
which served him well in “Biscuit
Week,” layering raspberry and whisky custards on top of rough puff pastry, with
fresh raspberries in the whisky custard and a caramelized oat topping. All
three sound absolutely delicious, and for the first time in a while, there’s no
overlap.
Because of the production bubble, the bakers won’t be able
to be joined by their families for the final, so they’re sent video messages
instead. Dave gets a video from his wife, encouraging him and reminding the
audience of just how far along the expectant mother is. Peter’s parents and
brother wish him well, and Laura’s husband and her father are as charming as
expected as they cheer her on. Back in the tent, Matt jokingly warns Peter of
the future waiting for him at university after the season airs. Peter doesn’t
seem to have considered that he’ll be
Bake Off famous when he returns to school, quite a change from his experiences
thus far.
Before long, the custards are chilling in the fridges and
the bakers have pulled their pastry back out, preparing it for the oven. When
they finish baking, Peter is happy, Dave is uncertain, and Laura is nervous. They
set to layering their slices and then it’s back to the refrigerators with the
assembled bakes. The custards look good going in to chill, but alas, they don’t
all set. Peter and Dave are rewarded with tall, solid custards, but Laura’s is
runny. As Peter and Dave carefully cut and decorate their slices, Laura
scrambles to present anything, her custard running out the sides of her pastry.
In a season as close as this one has been, this mistake is enough to put her in
a secure third place, and she knows it. After time is called, Dave checks in on
Laura as she hides her face in the freezer, gutted, and Noel comes over and
gives her a shockingly earnest pep talk. Her judging will not be pretty, but
Laura puts on a brave face and the episode moves forward.
Peter is up first with the judges. Both Paul and Prue compliment
his neat presentation. Prue loves the textural component of his oat topping and
while Paul says the custard is overly thick, the fresh raspberries in the
custard keeps the slices light enough. Dave is second and his bakes, like Peter’s,
easily pass the slice test. Even the sound as Paul cuts through is tempting, a
crisp top layer, smooth middle, and solid thunk as the knife cuts through the
pastry. The judges love his pastry and flavors, with Prue tempering Paul’s
critique of the custard as stodgy—apparently there’s a good stodgy? Compared to
Laura, though, he’s in great shape. Not only has her custard not set, her
pastry’s lost too much of its butter, making it tough. Paul loves the flavor of
her custard, as ever, but her pastry is not good. As Prue says, she’s had a bad
morning. Hopefully, it won’t become a bad first day.
Prue has selected the final technical challenge, and as with
the signature round, she advises the bakers to make good use of their
refrigerators. The bakers will have two hours to make eight walnut whirls,
small discs of a walnut cookie base with a thick dollop of coffee ganache piped
on top, a swirl of marshmallow wrapped around the ganache, and a tempered chocolate
coating. In a nice finale change, the bakers all seem familiar with the bake
and at least Dave and Peter are excited to dive in. Paul and Prue break down
the challenge, which Prue notes will be tricky because of the whirls’ small size.
The biscuit base needs to be thick enough, the ganache needs to hold its shape,
the marshmallow needs to be beautifully soft, but still hold a distinct swirl,
and the chocolate will need to set, no small task when dealing with
temperatures in the tent around 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).
The bakers seem on track at first, finishing their walnut
sable biscuit dough and resting it while they infuse their cream with the
coffee beans to make the ganache. Then it’s time for the biscuits. Here the bakers
begin to differentiate themselves. Dave decides to use as much of his dough as
possible for the eight small discs, resulting in thick biscuits. Peter rolls
his thinner, then opts not to reroll the dough when he decides his are likely
too thin. Laura starts second guessing herself and lags behind the others, heading
into a detrimental headspace. She rushes her marshmallow and has to remake it,
while Dave and Peter start assembling their whirls. Peter’s ganache has a flat
rather than triangular tip and his marshmallow is too thin, leading to a rather
lumpy shape, but Dave and Laura’s look good. The bakers put their whirls in the
fridge and start tempering their chocolate. This is a painstaking process even
when the tent isn’t absurdly hot. The bakers eventually manage it, but Laura,
having lost time to remaking her marshmallow, just barely finishes and her
chocolate isn’t able to set.
Fortunately, the judges take into consideration the
temperature while looking over the bakes. Laura is dinged for her freshly
poured chocolate, but Dave, whose chocolate is nearly set, gets a pass. Laura’s
biscuit is crisp, but there isn’t enough textural difference between her soft
ganache, soft marshmallow, and melted chocolate. She winds up in third. Peter
fares better. His shape may be off, but his chocolate is set and his ganache is
perfect. He’s in second. That leaves Dave in first, whose whirls look great.
His ganache could be better, but he has the best biscuit and his chocolate is
just about set.
Going into the showstopper, the judges are clear. Laura is all
but out of contention. Both Dave and Peter would need to make major mistakes on
their showstoppers for her to overcome her weak first day. She knows this, though,
and is focused not on winning, but on pleasing herself and going out with a
great final round. For the last showstopper challenge, the bakers have four and
a half hours to make a massive, four-tier dessert tower based on their
experiences on the show. The bottom layer must be a large cake, but the other
three can be whatever the bakers would like, as long as they demonstrate at
least three different disciplines of baking. The bakers are encouraged to
repeat challenges from earlier in the season, showing off everything they’ve
learned rather than stretching new baking muscles.
Laura plays to her strengths, making a carrot and walnut cake,
chocolate and orange Chelsea buns, lemon macarons, and mini key lime tarts. She’s
going with a rainbow theme, looking for the bright spot on her rainy finale.
Peter takes a risk, throwing caution to the wind with his Bonkers Bake Off Bubble Cake. He’s making a Victoria
sandwich cake, lemon and blackberry crème diplomat-filled choux buns, and a
puffed rice Christmas tree on top, decorated with chocolate and orange biscuit
presents, to resemble his “Cake
Week” Battenberg cake, and spiced friand Christmas puddings. As for Dave,
he’ll be rectifying past mistakes, reworking bakes he struggled with earlier in
the season. He’s making a fraisier cake, mini chocolate babkas, white chocolate
and macadamia nut brownies, and raspberry profiteroles. Once again, everything
sounds delicious, so the question will be execution.
The finale builds two main narratives. Will the winner be
Dave, the expectant father, or Peter, the life-long Bake Off fan who’s living his childhood dream? Overall, the round
goes well. Peter has a couple minor hiccups first with his Battenberg biscuits
and then his puffed rice tree, but both times he gathers his thoughts and
manages to right the ship. To hold up their higher layers, the bakers are
making nougatine, which they’ll shape into dessert trays. Laura eventually runs
out of time for this, but both Dave and Peter manage it and begin their
assembly, pulling their final bakes out of the oven. Everyone’s feeling the
crunch as time ticks down, asking for time checks left and right, but Dave manages
to complete his tower with a few minutes to spare, Peter delicately places his
Christmas tree topper in the final minute, and Laura places her rainbow just as
Noel and Matt call time. These aren’t the most visually stunning final
showstoppers in Bake Off history, but
they’re charming and homey, and that’s the tone the series has gone for all
season.
Laura is first up for judging, and while her presentation is
once again, not great—her bake is very straightforwardly a set of tarts and
macarons stacked on Chelsea buns stacked on a cake, she needed spacing and
height to make a strong visual statement—each of her bakes is delicious. They
judges don’t have a single harsh word for her. Had she done better the previous
day, she could have taken it. Next is Peter, whose showstopper has the best
proportions of the tent. The judges love his cake, though it’s a little dry,
they have nothing but praise for his choux buns, and they like his biscuits,
though his friands are a bit stodgy. The weight of Dave’s upper layers start to
distort his fraisier cake, and he would have benefited from a few well-placed
dowels, but his bakes are lovely nonetheless. Paul and Prue rave over his cake and
finally, someone nails brownies. However, his babkas are slightly over and too
tough, and his choux buns have a few issues. It will be close between Peter and
Dave.
The bakers head out of the tent with their bakes, sharing
them with the assembled production bubble. Since the bakers’ families and the
eliminated bakers can’t return for the finale party, the production has brought
together everyone in their bubble, from the medics to the production team to
the hotel staff and cleaning crew. It’s convenient for the needs of the episode,
but it’s also a lovely way to thank the hardworking team who’ve been stuck
together for the past six weeks. The judges’ deliberations are entertaining, if
a bit simplistic. Suddenly Peter’s slightly dry sponge is perfect and his good
biscuits need work, and there’s no mention of Peter’s slight edge on Dave in
the signature round or Dave’s first place technical finish. This isn’t as close
as the judges are painting it, essentially calling it a draw, but the producers
are going for an everyone wins finale, so Laura’s showstopper is a triumph and
both Dave and Peter deserve to win.
In the end, after much anticipation and build up, Peter is
declared the winner, the youngest ever winner of The Great British Baking Show and the first ever Scottish winner.
His experience growing up with the series gets plenty of play and despite a few
weak showings here and there, he has been a strong contender all season. He’s a
very likable winner, and a deserving one. Laura’s happy with her showstopper
and as for Dave, runner up is nothing to sneeze at. He’s still happy with his
experience on the show. Besides, much more important developments are waiting
just around the corner, as the season-ending montage will show.
Peter’s closing interview is heartwarming, and if the shots
of 12-year-old Peter starting to bake don’t get you, the closing dedication
will: “This Baking Show is dedicated to everyone helping us all get through
2020. Thank you.” The producers knew exactly the tone they wanted to hit with this
season, and they nail it here. The closing montage feels even more emotional
than usual, celebrating the hard work and dedication of the bakers, the
friendships found, and in the final moments, the birth of Dave’s son, Ronnie,
and the life of the recently deceased Luis Troyano. This may not have been the
best season of Bake Off, for reasons
both within and outside the production’s control, but it’s been a reliable, comfortable
watch and in a turbulent and stressful time, sometimes that’s enough.
Stray observations
- This concludes The
A.V. Club’s coverage of this season of The
Great British Baking Show, but I’ll be back next week with a truncated double
write-up of the 2019 Christmas and New Years’ specials, which Netflix will be
releasing as The Great British Baking
Show: Holidays season three. - While I miss Sandi—she’ll be back for the 2019 holiday
specials—I’ve enjoyed Matt as a cohost this season. He and Noel have a good
rapport and they play off each other well. - Dave shows very good baking instincts throughout the
technical, from his biscuit height to his marshmallow to his decision to dip
his whirls in the chocolate. It’s a great example of exactly what the technical
is supposed to demonstrate. - The walnut whirls seem delicious, but for a production that
loves its innuendos, how did they manage to go a full round with these and not make
one poop emoji joke? - I have no patience for Paul mess shaming Laura. Some people work
best with a clear bench, or a clear desk, and some work best amidst the
clutter. As long as you clean up when you’re done, it’s no one’s business how you
work. -
Channel 4 will be again airing two
holiday specials this year, with returning favorites Helena, Henry, Jamie,
and Rosie from series 10, Ruby and Rahul from series nine, James from series
eight, and Nancy from series five. Paul, Prue, and Matt are on hand for both
specials, but Noel was on paternity leave when the Christmas special was
filmed, so Tom Allen stood in for him. He’ll be back for the New Years’
special.