'The Great British Baking Show' Season 8, Episode 5 Recap: "Pastry Week"

Last week's The Great British Baking Show was tough, both for those in the tent and those watching from home. The entire "Chocolate Week" theme proved deeply difficult, and Sura's subsequent dismissal from the tent (after serving the second-ever unedible bake in the show's history) was quietly devastating. The good news is, this week, the show goes back to something more fundamental: Pastry Week.

Unlike Chocolate Week, Pastry Week has been a long-time staple of the series, going back to its very first series (the one most Americans haven't seen). After disappearing from Series 2 and 3, it came back in Series 4 and has turned up every year since, somewhere between Weeks 5 and 7. Pastry week almost always demands the same skills tests, too, with choux buns (be it eclairs or religieuses), puff pastries (rough puff ho!), and the British staple of the Cornish pasty. This is also where Tart and Pie Weeks went to hide, in case anyone was wondering.

But this year, we'll start with the pasty, which the series has not done since that fabled Series 1. Eight identical pasties, any shape, any flavor, but make sure they are personal to you. And it's very personal to Marc since he's from Cornwall. As always, the Signature is judged on a pass/fail metric.