2 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I will preface my comment by saying that maybe, I didn't know Tony as well you guys did.  I loved him and watched a lot of the seasons, but, not as many as most of you.  But, to me, I just got the impression that Tony was not that impressed with things or was not feeling well during this episode.  I know he said the food was awesome, but, I don't know.  Maybe, he knew this chef so well that he was just being more candid.....I'm not sure...but, I kept wondering if he was really having a good time.  Or, perhaps, he's always been that way and the narration tempered it.  

I've watched Tony continuously since "A Cook's Tour" on Food Network back in the early 00's.  I even saw him in person once when he toured with Eric Ripert.  To some degree, yes, he was always a little "that way" (whatever that is) but for me he seems more so in this episode.  More inward, not as spontaneous, more serious, less energetic.  When he did seem "happy" it felt like it was a real effort for him to manage it.  I even feel that there was a difference in his demeanor from the previous episode in Africa.  Considering he narrated that one, perhaps some time had elapsed between filming that and this one.  I'll have to go back and watch some of the Africa episode with the sound off and see how I feel.

5 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

The lack of music reminded me of the Buffy episode where her mother died (they used no musical score for the entire episode). It was especially noticeable whenever they came back from commercial and showed the show logo silently.

Yes!  And when they did use music it was very moving, like the shot of the bubbles dancing in the frying pan to the sound of Spanish guitar music.  Magical.