For what the “Top Chef” finale lacked in surprise, it made up for with legitimacy.

There was virtually no shock about how the Season 4 wrapped up, unless you count Richard Blais’ self-described “choke” that felt eerily similar to that of Casey Thompson last season. Back in Season 3, Casey may have been on track to become the first woman to win the title, but didn’t seem to get much right at all for the final challenge. She while wound up being audience favorite and cashing in $10,000, the title that went to Hung Huynh made many viewers wonder “What if?” for another season.

The judges—much to their relief, I’m sure—had no choice but to award the victory to Stephanie. Richard himself admitted at the judges’ table that he didn’t execute as well as he should have; and even if Lisa invented sliced bread, there was no way the show could have retained a shred of credibility by bestowing the title upon someone who had been in the bottom bracket of the previous seven Elimination Challenges. (Yes, seven. In a row. Sheesh.)

That left Stephanie, whose four-course meal wasn’t perfect (see: failure of a dessert and mediocre second course) but far outshined those of Richard, who appeared more manic than ever, and Lisa, whose quiet calm was both eerie and impressive.

Good for her. She’s a class act who was consistent, gracious and kind. And she also appeared to make simple, accessible food in a style that was similar to that of perhaps the consummate “Top Chef” contestant, Season 1 champ Harold Dieterle.

In exhaustive detail, I analyze the season finale after the break.

Early in the show, Lisa gave us this gem in her private testimonial:

“I don’t care that Stephanie and Richard have, you know, won a bunch of Eliminations and I’ve only won one. Know what? I’m about to beat (them).”

Um, not so much.

No Quickfire was used this time around, and the Final Challenge was to create a four-course tasting menu for nine diners, with several hours over two days to prep. Stephanie seemed miffed that the fourth course had to be a dessert, which also brought about this happy sound byte from Lisa:

“I also don’t really like to eat cake.”

I believe that loosely translates into “I hate fun.”

Guest chefs April Bloomfield, Dan Barber and Eric Ripert volunteered their services as sous-chefs for the first of two days of preparation—except the contestants didn’t know at the time that the celebrity chefs would suddenly bail on the day of meal service.

Because Richard and Stephanie were tied with five elimination challenges apiece, Stephanie drew a knife to determine who would get first pick. She won the draw and picked Ripert, whom Richard called a “god” and probably would have picked for himself. Who knows how much of an advantage this would have been if Richard had some better luck, but he picked Barber next. Lisa was left with Bloomfield, which amazingly made for the best pairing, rapport-wise.

“I get to work with a woman,” Lisa said. “That’s awesome. Girl power.”

I also believe “Girl power” was the unofficial slogan for this season of “Top Chef.” Notice, none of the guys this year—even the most cantankerous ones—said anything to the effect of “I really hope a man wins for the fourth straight year.” Stephanie was great, which made the whole “girl power” season-long theme feel forced and unnecessary. Don’t cheapen her win, producers!

When all the contestants took to the kitchen for the first day of prep, Richard said he was waiting for the “lightning bolt” of inspiration to hit him. As much as I like a chef who waits until viewing his foods before planning a meal, it seemed like Richard was flat-out unprepared.

But he did redeem himself in front of the celebrity sous-chefs on the first day when he showed them a culinary technique that none had witnessed. Using liquid nitrogen to create Tabasco sauce ice cream for his oyster dish, Richard impressed a tough judge in Ripert:

“I’ve never seen such a technique. As a chef, the day you don’t learn anymore, it means you’re so (much of an) egomaniac, you’re blind.”

Richard, attentive as ever, picked up on Ripert’s admiration:

“I think I just showed Eric Ripert something that he hasn’t seen before. That’s (bleeping) cool.”

Still, by the end of the first day, Richard had no dish completed and told Barber he needed to “conceptualize.” Uh-oh.

The contestants were bummed, but not terribly surprised, when Tom Colicchio showed up on the second day to reveal that the celeb sous-chefs would not be in to help them finish their meals. Richard was frazzled, Stephanie was preparing her dessert for only the second time, and Lisa was calm and collected. It’s the bizarro kitchen, evidently.

Lisa said her meal would mirror her personality: “Very big, bold, spicy, sweet, salty, sour….” Hmm, one of those doesn’t seem right.

During the next commercial break, viewers learned that what appears to be the final Bravo season of “Project Runway” will debut at a new time—9 p.m. EST—on Wednesday, July 16. Lifetime better not change a thing when the series moves there after this season; when I find out if this is the case, it will mark the first time I’ve ever watched anything on Lifetime.

Back to “Top Chef,” where the chefs were about to meet and serve the nine diners: They’re the regular judges: Tom, host Padma Lakshmi, Gail Simmons, Ted Allen; the celebrity sous-chefs Eric, Dan and April; Alfredo Ayala, owner and head chef at Delrio; and Tim Zagat, founder of those ubiquitous Zagat guides and inspiration for one of the most ridiculous “Saturday Night Live” sketches of all time (think an excitable Chris Farley in drag and a defeated Adam Sandler as an old man).

I’ll spare you the details of the four-courses, but it appeared by the sound bytes of the nine diners that Stephanie won the appetizer and third course (with her roasted lamb medallions earning perhaps the most raves), Lisa won the second course and Richard and Lisa split votes on the dessert. It seemed Richard’s dessert was actually the favorite, but Padma smacked him down at the final judges’ table a notch when she confirmed that he won a previous dessert challenge with a scalloped banana. (Ouch.)

The forced quote of the entire episode came from the otherwise-lovely Gail Simmons: “They’ve all won.” Pfft.

The final judges’ table of Tom, Gail, Padma and Ted listened to final words from the contestants. Stephanie said she shouldn’t have second-guessed her dessert; Lisa said she hopes the judges recognize that she “deserves to be ‘Top Chef’”; and Richard dropped an honesty bomb that hasn’t been seen since Evangelos “Spike” Mendelsohn said bad scallops shouldn’t have been made available in the kitchen of a critically acclaimed restaurant:

“I feel like I choked a little bit.”

I felt a knot in my stomach, and it was not from the thought of Tobasco ice cream on oysters; Richard, at his best and most organized, probably would have won “Top Chef.” But it was arguably his worst performance in weeks. And he knew it. In a way, revealing this to the judges was a smart tactic, making them aware that he has been and is capable of much better. But because his dishes were arguably in a distant third place, that was too much for which the judges could compensate.

That left Lisa and Stephanie and the way the judges’ table was edited, it was a lot closer than it initially appeared. (Talk about overthinking!)

Back in the Stew Room, Lisa left viewers with one more classy and probably inaccurate remark before the judges made their announcement, saying in front of both her competitors that she won the second and dessert courses—as if Richard’s highly praised dessert were turd flambée.

No matter how pregnant Padma tried to make the pause before declaring Stephanie the “Top Chef” for Season 4, it was obvious she would win. But for his final private testimonial, a teary Richard—who earlier stated he had “everything to lose” with a new house and baby on the way—was heartbreaking when he admitted that losing “sucks” when coming so close to the title. There was a little relief, though, when his a smile crept through the sadness and said “Cut!” as if directing his own dramatic clip.

Stephanie said the win was “reaffirmation” that being a chef is her destiny. And that’s very cool.

I guess Lisa said some stuff too. But she lost. So that’s good.

Unlike last year’s finale, whose winner was revealed live, “Top Chef” taped it this time around. I assume this is easier to pull off as far as production values are concerned, but harder to keep leaks from springing. It seemed like everyone knew Stephanie was going to win it all this year; but it’s unknown what combination of her obvious skill, the show’s need for a female winner and spoilers played a role.

(Photos by Virginia Sherwood and Rafael Pichardo for NBC/Universal.)