With “Top Chef’s” brilliant Elimination Challenge to make chefs create a dish inspired by their favorite movies, Manuel Trevino’s decision to go along with Evangelos “Spike” Mendelsohn’s suggestion of “Good Morning, Vietnam” seemed like a disaster from the start.

It was obvious from the beginning that Mendelsohn wanted to make Vietnamese food because it was convenient, not because the Robin Williams dramedy was his—or possibly anyone’s—favorite flick. Top that with a mediocre plate that was considered across the board to be the worst of the six courses, it was only a question of whether he or Trevino would head home.

I’m not sure I get the logic of the judges here; in fact, I think the “Project Runway” judges would have ruled the exact opposite way. Nina Garcia, Michael Kors and Heidi Klum more often punish a group leader for not only poor execution but also for coming up with the failed concept. On “Top Chef,” Trevino got the boot, perhaps for not speaking up and/or properly integrating his areas of expertise. His Bottom 3 finish in the previous Quickfire Challenge didn’t help him, either.

Or perhaps Mendelsohn stuck around because he made for a more interesting “villain.” Hmm.

Regardless, Trevino handled himself with class and certainly returns to a successful venture at Dos Caminos in New York City. So, I’m not exactly worried about him.

More about the rest of last night’s “Top Chef” episode after the break.

Trevino opened the episode talking about how much the cheftestants missed the previously eliminated Erik Hopfinger, who spent some 15 years living in Chappaqua:

He’s a big guy with a big heart and (I’m) definitely sad to see him go.

I figured out Trevino was heading home pretty early in the show. Not because he necessarily demonstrated inferior culinary skills after his Bottom 3 finish in the Quickfire Challenge, but because the episode featured so many of his sound bytes.

Random tangent: Movie critic Richard Roeper and actress/comedienne Aisha Tyler not only sampled the movie-themed dishes presented by the contestants, they also hold the distinct honor of existing in my category of Celebrities I Don’t Often Think About But Always Have Liked. More celebrities from this category will be announced as I realize them.

How weird was it that the random drawings for all six teams for the Elimination Challenge broke down into gender-exclusive teams? Courses 1, 2 and 4 were all made by male chefs, while 3, 5 and 6 were made by females. Wild!

Andrew D’Ambrosi is talented and often cracks me up, but also makes me shake my head. Although he was a part of the “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” winning team with early favorite Richard Blais and Quickfire winner Dale Talde, I don’t want to hear anyone describe food in a way that would make diners “culinarily crap in their pants.” That’s not exactly an appetizing thought.

I also doubt that D’Ambrosi’s idea of serving the food as Oompa Loompas would have gone over very well. That would have evoked only one of two reactions from head judge Tom Colicchio: a smirk and a shake of the head; or just a ruthless, unending glare.

The other dishes were inspired by “Il Postino” (Jennifer Biesty and Nikki Cascone), “Talk To Her” (Zoi Antonitsas and Antonia Lofaso), “A Christmas Story” (Ryan Scott and Mark Simmons) and “Top Secret” (Lisa Fernandes and Stephanie Izard). Fernandez endeared herself to me as she did her best on basic cable to explain a hilarious “Top Secret” sequence involving a cow, which inspired their savory beef dish.

Better still was judge Ted Allen’s mild critique of the dish that wound up finishing second:

Does it say ‘Val Kilmer in a cow suit’?

If I had to make a dish inspired by my favorite movies—and I had any idea how to cook—I’d either do some marshmallowy dessert inspired by the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man in “Ghostbusters” or some old-school, beer-based sauce inspired by the rooftop tarring scene in “The Shawshank Redemption.”

I haven’t been a huge fan of Mendelsohn to this juncture, but he did touch on an interesting point. In so many words, he explained how there was a slight advantage for couple Zoi Antonitsas and Jennifer Beisty. They have the morale boost of having a significant other at the competition while everyone else is separated from their friends and family. And as Mendelsohn added, even a slight advantage in this competition goes a long way.

That said, it’s a freakin’ cooking show, not a happiness competition. Make the best food and you win.

After the start of the episode featured a clip of Mendelsohn muttering about the supposed unfairness of having a couple on the show, at the end of the show, he actually wound up bonding with both of them about the unlikely success of the winning dish over a tall glass of Haterade. Say what you will about their personalities, but give Richard Blais and Andrew D’Ambrosi their due. They’re constantly cooking excellent dishes.

I’ve decided that from now on, I’m only going to list my favorite few “Top Chef” contestants remaining in the competition. Partially because I don’t really dislike any of them outright and I feel much more passionately about the ones I like.

Favorites: Andrew D’Ambrosi, Stephanie Izard, Mark Simmons, Richard Blais.

(NBC/Universal photos by Chuck Hodes)