'The Great British Baking Show' Semi Finals Release The Krokan

Netflix has a problem. Ever since the streaming service woke up one morning to find that the Walt Disney Company was terminating its contract to give Netflix exclusive first streaming rights — one that took years to hammer out and implement and had been in effect for all of a year — and launching Disney+, it's been in a state of semi-panic. The company has poured billions of dollars into making content, regularly releasing 40-60 new titles (not episodes, but *titles*) every month. That means that sometimes, Netflix steps on its shows with... its own shows.

Such is the case of The Great British Baking Show's semi-finals, which we are recapping a day late due to Lacy and I dealing with The Crown. (Her review is up, and my official review can be read here.) But never fear! Though we are a bit off schedule, GBBO is not. These are the semi-finals; therefore, it is Patisserie Week, the show's go-to theme for the penultimate episode for every season save two. (Season 4/Collection 2, when the show called it French Week instead, and Season 6/Collection 3, when the semi-final was Chocolate Week.)

As I noted last week, this season has not been GBBO's best. There has been very little suspense from week to week over who would exit the tent; it's merely been a matter of how the contestant in question melted down. Even this week feels very rote; Syabira and Abdul are apparent shoo-ins, leaving the two at risk of going as Sandro and Janusz. The former has been trying too hard and doing too much while the latter has been consistently solid but never spectacular, and both have reached as far as they can go, so it's merely a matter of who Paul bullies Prue into dismissing.