'The Great British Baking Show' Doubles Down on Its Choices in the Season 15 Finale

The Great British Baking Show's move to Channel 4 has finally run into the problem most assumed would occur much earlier. When Mary Berry left the tent (along with Sue and Mel), the critical consensus was that Paul Hollywood's ego would be allowed free reign. Within a season or two, viewers would stop watching—not because they couldn't stand Paul but because they would stop being able to trust the judge's opinions. You cannot spit upon people and insist it's raining for very long; eventually, they'll notice.

That the series managed to sidestep that in those opening seasons (Seasons 8 and 9, to be precise) on Channel 4 was a minor miracle, caused mainly by very good casting choices. If all three finalists present bakes that reasonably suggest any of them could win on a given Friday, whether or not Paul favors one or the other won't matter because it is easy to believe they deserve to win. Season 10 was when that started to fall apart, but the show was also handed a pair of distractions just at the right moment: Sandi Toksvig not working out as a host; her replacement, Matt Lucas, encouraging co-host Noel Fielding's worst impulses; and of course, the pandemic.

I have repeatedly praised the show's casting of Alison Hammond as Lucas' replacement and continue to stand by that assessment. I also don't think it was the worst choice to nix the "National" theme weeks after the Mexican disaster; it was also a minor miracle that Japanese Week hadn't blown up in their faces two years previous, and every Jurgen fan knows he was sent home for telling Paul to his face the show knew nothing about German baking. However, the series fixing the distraction of hosting issues has left Paul's behavior as the one thing still wrong with the series. No one believes his judgment because he is painfully biased towards his favorites. Until now, when we hit the last episodes, the person being pushed by him either failed before the finale or (like Dan) collapsed in it. But this season is different, and perhaps the edit Georgie got last week, painting her as deeply sympathetic when she wanted to quit, should have been a sign.