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Crime Scene Kitchen: Catching Up on Culinary Competition's Season 2

On a night when FOX's Hell's Kitchen wraps up its 23rd season, we're also catching up with what went down during Crime Scene Kitchen.

Catching up on past TV? There are so many options, and when I came across three seasons of FOX's Crime Scene Kitchen on Hulu, I knew I'd found my next binge. I watched and covered the first season as it aired in 2021, then it broke my heart when it was TWO YEARS before there was any word on its return. Luckily, seasons two and three are streaming in their entirety, so without further ado, here are my thoughts on Crime Scene Kitchen season 2. Be warned, though, there are spoilers ahead.

For starters, the format is subtly different from the first season – each episode starts with a "safety bake," which grants immunity to the winning team as opposed to an additional clue in the main elimination round, as was the case in season 1. The rest of the format is generally the same: teams of two start in two groups that piece together clues in the crime scene kitchen and then bake the mystery dessert, with the two groups merging halfway through the competition.

This season's two groups were classically trained bakers vs self-taught bakers, and though there is a point to be made there, when "self-taught" competitors mention their day jobs are in bakeries or making highly decorative fondant cakes, it feels a little uneven towards some of the home baker teams, but that was also a complaint with the prior season (and many similar shows).

As for the actual crime scene clues, this season definitely leveled up the desserts and difficulty, though there were several times it felt like the frantic pacing and induced stress of the show threw too much at the bakers to the point where unless they knew exactly what they were looking for, there was no way they'd get all the clues or even the most important ones. There were far too many "red herrings" that were designed to waste bakers' time, which is the game, but it felt excessive.

It could just be the way it was edited, but it felt like the viewer at home wasn't shown the whole kitchen and clues—there were inserts and quick cuts. While we do want to follow the contestants, we also want a chance to figure it out ourselves instead of waiting until the end to see what clues are in the kitchen.

There were several desserts themselves that were "deep cut" classical (aka French) desserts, and while it feels welcome in the group of classically trained bakers, it feels a little dirty to throw clues for desserts nobody has heard of or made before to the self-taught bakers. Viewers don't like watching people set up to fail here (this isn't Nailed It), but when all but one team has heard of an "Atlantic Beach Pie" and given clues to decipher it, that feels a little over-produced.

Also over-produced is the script – yes, it is a cheesy baking show, but when the audience is reminded every 10 seconds that this is an elimination bake or that safety is on the line or that they might be safe even though the dessert is terrible if they guessed the mystery dessert correctly, it gets very grating. We get it, please show us more of the clues and baking and interesting parts of the show and less filler.

The finale was the first bake in the history of the show where no teams got the dessert right – how could they with the sheer number of ingredient options plus cake decoration and things in the kitchen? The judges frequently mention how teams are in danger of over-thinking clues and desserts, but when the dessert they're tasked with making is, quite frankly, a unique design with uncommon flavors and fillings (like a two-tier honey cake with gravity-defying decoration), how is it not expected?

On a personal note, elaborately decorated stacked cakes should not be in the Crime Scene Kitchen. There were too many of them this season, to the point where if nobody got the design right, it would fall to taste. If you're not a cake decorator and baker, it feels a little hopeless for the competitors, and that's passed on to the audience.

Yes, it is a competition, but when teams are expected to derive the exact pattern and style of a cake that's not something standard from vague clues, of course, nobody is going to get that they need to cut a slice out and decorate the inside of the cake from some colored icing remnants on a cake stand. These kinds of clues make sense once you know what it is, but with no idea and a time limit and a million other things going on, it doesn't make much sense. It feels unrealistic and somewhat rigged to an extent when a singular team gets it spot-on with the others rather off, though that's the game mechanic – if you're not versed in current dessert and cake trends as well as the classics, you fare no chance in the Crime Scene Kitchen.

The season winners have a fantastic interview that goes into detail on some of the game's mechanics. Overall, season two is an improvement on the first season in many aspects, though not all feel overly successful. Hopefully, Crime Scene Kitchen season 3 took the best parts of the prior two seasons and used them to help get over the sophomore slump.

FOX's Crime Scene Kitchen is a delightful show (that airs on Fox, also available on Hulu) that combines escape rooms and baking and usually manages to keep things feeling fun.

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