It was a short week but a satisfying week as Season 2 of Talia in the Kitchen came to a close. Storylines were resolved, traitors revealed and new battles set up for Season 3.

This week, we escaped to Spice Island as both Jayden and Talia made their way to the Florida Keys to refill their spice supplies in advance of the upcoming Spice Battle.  The week started with Jayden and Mike trying to send Talia and the gang off to the Panhandle to look for the spices, which are apparently only available one day per year (when the spice plants bloom).  Rocky and Julie had bugged the Grub Brothers Food Truck, but unbeknownst to them, Jayden and Mike discovered the bug, and, as such, kept feeding them misinformation.  A map conveniently discovered by Dolores suggested that the blooming spices were actually in the Florida Keys.  So the Scooby Gang takes off in Dolores’ car.

There’s mischief afoot as Frenchie has brokered a deal with the Grubs to take over Lola’s should close.  Frenchie on a hiking trip is a hoot – he had with him a hypoallergenic pillow, a TV/DVD player (they still make those) and all sorts of non camping gear.  Val quickly uncovers his ruse and she ends up leashed to him (a nice throwback to Frenchie leashing Julia in the opening episode).

Tyson and Talia take quite a plunge into the lagoon and finally share their first kiss (ironic it was in water since every time they tried to kiss, Dolores dumped water on Tyson).  There’s some very good outdoor filming and shots here.  Jayden soon joins them in the water and informs them that they need to swim through an underwater cave to get to the blooming spices.  We learn that SpiceMasters can hold their breath for quite a while.

They soon arrive at the blooming spices – there’s some mumbo jumbo about some greenish looking poison gas that zaps both Talia and Jayden.  What we don’t get to see is Talia actually procuring the spices which makes this part rather anticlimatic.  It was nice, though, to see Talia debate getting the spices as opposed to helping Jayden, which will assumably will continue to generate friction between Tyson, Talia and Jayden. Dolores and Debbie arrive on the scene as well (the Dolores/Debbie in the scooter scene is a riot). And before you know it, we are back at Lola’s and Fuccinelli’s.  Talia leaves some spices on the Grub’s truck doorstop.  Little does she know the SpiceMaster battle is on.

Surprisingly, Tyson disowns Frenchie in one of the final scenes for his duplicity in helping Talia find the spices.  We always knew Tyson was a standup guy.

Some pet peeves:

1. One of the scenes with Dolores’ car driving through the “Keys” was repeated twice.
2. When Dolores’ car is shown, assumably with Frenchie, Val, Tyson and Talia, you can clearly see only a driver in the car.
3. Watch carefully when Tyson, Jayden and Talia are swimming towards the underwater cave. Tyson starts to count from 1 (holding up one finger), then says 3 (holding up three fingers) and counts back to one.

Some props:

1. Rudy’s fire for Talia still burns brightly.  Its been rekindled if anything.
2. Rudy as the tough guy makes an appearance at the end.  And we get a revisit to the Tyson/Rudy rivalry: “No hug necessary.”
3. Excellent outdoor shots in the Keys.
4. And we believe our characters motivations.  They have been a constant throughline throughout both seasons.  The decision as to whether or not to help Jayden reflected Talia’s core desire to help people.
5. It was good to see how Debbie evolved over the course of the season to a determined, and talented, baker.
6. Frenchie is still “evil” to the core – he’s lost Tyson and I don’t doubt Debbie will be too far behind.
7. Line of the week: “I’m healed!  I’m healed!” [Frenchie]
8. Line of the week #2: “Stop playing dumb.” [Tyson]
9. Line of the week #3: “I hope she beats you and you just go away.” [Tyson]

As with the final episode of Season 1, Dolores utters the line “The hug of the group.”  This line speaks volume for the show.  Its a good group – and I, for one, can’t wait to see what is cooking in Season 3.