Hung Wins, of Course

Finally, it was time to serve, and it became instantly clear that this wasn't going to be Casey's night. She seemed to be having a big problem with roe; the judges complained about its intrusiveness in two dishes, though when put on the spot at judges' table, she blamed one of them on Howie. But to be fair, you need to point out two things: (1) those weren't fish eggs, they were just drops of congealed sweat that had rolled off Howie's brow, and (2) on a salad they're usually delicious.

I forgot to mention that recent loser Brian was asked to come to the final dinner, and he couldn't have looked more out of place. Even his introduction was weird: It was clearly done in postproduction, as Padma sounded different, as if she were reading lines. I suspected that he'd snuck into the meal, and when the producers discovered him in the footage, they had to pretend it wasn't an accident. He didn't have much to say during the meal; he just feverishly nodded at others' opinions. I kept waiting for everyone to shut up and just stare at him until he stood up and cleared the table.

Ultimately, it was Dale and Hung's food that got all the praise. Both had two dishes that the judges raved about, but both also had their dings: Dale's gnocchi was deemed inedible, and Hung's traditional chocolate cake was considered tasty but uninspiring, which is also what one says when served fried Mary-Kate Olsen. As the judges deliberated, Tom pulled for Hung, saying he would always pick an unenterprising but delicious treat over something just awful. I'm not sure if he meant that as a political metaphor, but I suspect that Fox News will be hiring him as an on-air election analyst by Friday.

On the live show, it was Hung who was named Top Chef and feted with the most anemic confetti drop I've ever seen on TV. It was as if they'd tethered Rip Taylor to the ceiling and told him to go crazy. (I wouldn't be surprised if these confetti strips were the leftovers from a challenge left on the cutting-room floor. ''Chefs, you have to feed a cadre of expert tasters with extremely refined palates, and all you'll have are these knives and this colored paper. You have an hour!'') I respect the decision: Casey was a mess this round, and while Dale kicked partial ass, his cooking had only become remarkable at the tail end of the competition, while Hung was a star throughout. Still, it is interesting that picking Hung over Dale completely goes against Chef Tom's theory: Didn't he say that he would always choose the innocuous over a complete failure? I guess once again Hung has to be glad that you can't taste personality.

What do you think? Did the right person win? Do you think the judge should reward innovative failures or stick to the results? And how many of you are disappointed we don't have a woman Top Chef?

See why EW's Ken Tucker made the season finale of Top Chef a Reason to Live this week in Take 5