'The Great British Baking Show' Season 8 Finals Recap

The late start to this year's edition of The Great British Baking Show had the unintended consequence of landing the finals over American Thanksgiving. It is a moment to give thanks for the heroic lengths the production went to in doing a lockdown edition in the middle of a global pandemic. And yet, there were unintended consequences. Ever since moving to Channel 4, the show has slowly changed. These kinds of incremental moves aren't noticeable up close. But the strain of these conditions threw them into stark relief.

Lacy wrote yesterday that judge Paul Hollywood is the series' elephant in the room, and she's not wrong. When the series began, Mary Berry was the pre-eminent personality on the show. Since she left, that automatic respect has been conferred to Paul with apparent deference to his opinions. The show's acknowledgment of its 100th episode, for instance, was deeply uncomfortable, as Prue Leith, Noel Fielding, and Matt Lucas practically simpered at Paul for being the only one among them to have been in all of them.

But the problems extend further. The ability to go home and practice and rest for the contestants has covered many sins since moving to Channel 4, balancing stressed-out contestants crying and challenges designed to create trainwrecks. The loss of the practice time (and the condensed filming schedule from ten weeks to five) highlighted just how mean the production has become. The original Baking Show changed reality competitions for the kinder. The revelation that Love Productions never meant for the show to be so lovely is almost as big a betrayal as having watched them shake down the BBC for £25 million back in 2016. And unlike behind-the-scenes drama, viewers can't miss it.

This season's final Signature challenge is custard slices -- laminated custard, eight of them. After Noel is banned from the tent (we wish) for distracting puns, we get down to business. As always, the Signature is judged on a pass/fail metric.