david_hokey_16

I've seen a lot of complaints about the season thus far and I'll admit that when I watched the previews I was wondering... where are the pumpkin carvers? I'm going to use this review to address both the changes and the complaints I've heard/seen from other people.

1) no pumpkin carvers! This is definitely a negative change. I can't presume to know why they made this decision, but some say it was because the pandemic forced them into production before pumpkin season was going. All that really matters is that without pumpkin carving it isn't Halloween Wars. Not only do pumpkins and carving them scream "Halloween!" but it's one of the things that made Halloween Wars unique compared to Food Networks other holiday competitions. The fact that three people skilled in three different mediums had to cooperate to create a unified piece was amazing. Without this aspect it doesn't feel right...

2) New hosts and judges. This is both good and bad in some ways. It's great that Shinmin Li stuck around and the other two judges are fine (I haven't seen enough of them to judge them myself yet) but I am a bit disappointed they don't have a guest judge. Even though most of those guests weren't really all that famous or important to the realm of horror it was still nice to see someone new every episode and have a fresh set of eyes to offer a new perspective. As far as Jonathan goes... well I don't miss him. I was never bothered by him like some of the other viewers but never thought he was an integral part of the show either. He wasn't even in the first few seasons anyway. As far as the new guy goes... it's kind of cool to have him pop in on the tv and surprise the bakers but ultimately they could've just done without and the show might be the same.

3) no spine chiller or tasting element... I don't know if these were left out simply because they made the first two rounds qualifying or if they decided to do away with them completely. If the latter is true then, well, that sucks. The spine chiller was important for two reasons... it gave the gift of an advantage which made the competition more intense, and it gave the artists a chance to show off what they could do on a smaller scale with less time. It often helped them to learn what they should focus on in the bigger, more important round. As far as tasting element goes... as one reviewer pointed out it was cool because they could incorporate it into the stories of their displays. It wasn't just a cake flavor but another element of the overall piece. It also wasn't a necessary game changer... it was important but didn't tip the scales as drastically since Halloween Wars is about creating pieces of art more than decadent sweets.

So is the show bad now? No, not at all, and I'm willing to keep watching and see what these amazing people can create. But is it still Halloween Wars? Also, no, not really, it has been altered too much from the original formula to really be considered the same. The contestants won't know exactly how it feels to have to merge their own craft with that of two others to make a cohesive piece. That was the biggest challenge of Halloween wars. And they might focus too much on what their cake should taste like rather than what it should look like. This isn't a typical baking show after all, and we viewers are always more entranced by what we can see rather than what we can't taste.

I would like to address a couple things I saw in other peoples reviews however... what's with the pointing of fingers at 'woke culture.' What does that have to do with any of the changes we saw? I saw one person make a comment about how there were no white men... I honestly saw plenty. Are we really paying that much attention to how many white or black, etc. People there are on the show? From its inception there has been a widely diverse group of contestants. Men, women, white, black, Asian, Hispanic, gay, straight, old, young... all that mattered really was their skills and anything else they brought with them was just an entertainment bonus. The host was a white man replaced with a white man and the only judge that's been on every season is still Asian! So we have a black judge now, so what? When did diversity become a bad thing? Anyway I'll keep watching and will hope they revert back to the original formula next year.