Drink Masters

I only made it through the second episode. I got a little irritated when one of the contestants made a comment of people of color being in the cocktail industry. If they had made the show more about the actual cocktails I would have watched more of it. It is largely being overrated in my opinion when it is an average one at best. There were a few cocktails on there that I would have loved to take a sip of. I thought this show would be a good one to watch but I was so disappointed. A few were voted off that didn't deserve to be. The judges were something to be desired for. Pass this one up and watch something else.

Netflix really does have a way with screwing up these unique competition shows (Blown Away) to fit their agenda to the point where it's so blatant and obvious and almost a turn off that you don't even want to watch anymore. Every elimination is carefully calculated and not solely based on who did the best, worst, whether it was their second time in the bottom or first, whether they keep underperforming, etc. It's about being as inclusive as possibly throughout the duration of the show. Let's be real, recently, shows like this are skewed towards minorities advancing onward. It's about making the underrepresented represented. Which is a good thing, but when it starts to become more about representation then who did better in a challenge, that's when it gets frustrating. I myself am gay, and this is something I've picked up on. In the first episode, I already knew the people who would get picked off in the beginning and the ones who would go far solely based on their edit and their sob stories about what a challenge it is for them to work in a male and straight and white dominated industry. In that moment, it no longer became a show about skill and talent. Let people compete naturally and be judged and eliminated fairly, or let them judge the cocktails blind. Other than that, the show looks good and the drinks are cool and the show has a nice flow and concept.

Many of the bartenders that we enjoyed got dismissed prematurely, I think it would have helped to have more transparency in the scoring so that we can better understand why our contenders were ejected.

I personally disagreed with the discharge of 3 specific individuals, and found that 3 other individuals were kept on too long. I found the final winner to be a bit 'safe' and unexciting - though I wondered if their drinks were especially 'tasty' which is completely subjective. Their drinks tended to be visually mild - but maybe the tastes were superior?

I think the show has immense potential and I'd love to see more history about the spirits provided. I would also welcome a website hosted by the showrunners offering drink recipes, technique videos, and so on.

In terms of cinematography and visually pleasing elements, I was very entertained. The concept is exciting and unfamiliar which is what pulled me to the show to begin with.

Despite offering me a mindless, fun watch, I believe many, many things could have been better excited. As many other reviewers mentioned, there should have been more transparency regarding the way the judges marked the drinks.

Two, and this comes out very, very obviously to a non-American viewer, but there's a blatant sort of play on minorities, identity and marginalised groups. This is not strictly a bad thing, but when it comes to the marking, it becomes apparent that there's some agenda in the play. This is a competition. It should depend entirely on skills and concepts and very, very, VERY little on background.

I felt like the elimination process was not entirely fair. There were some really strong competitors unfairly knocked out in the early battles, and some who I was frankly shocked to see advance.

Lastly, for the finals, the least likely competitor won and I could not understand it. Some pointed out she played the race card, and perhaps that could hold some truth to it, but regardless of that, there was only one display that truly and clearly blew the judges away, and blew us the viewers away, so unique and creative, and somehow didn't win. I'm simply shocked, there could have only been this one winner.

Over all, entertaining show, but I sense some bias and the ending was far too abrupt for the build up.

They eliminated the top challenge winner too early on and kept people clinging to the bottom week after week. But these cocktail artisans are incredible, visually stunning and marvelous to watch. And Tone is hilarious!

Suggestions for next season: STOP over editing. -Show us more of the contestants vibing after challenges backstage (we want to see friendships and alliances born behind the scenes!) -like project runway and top chef. Easier to route for people and get inspired as viewers this way!

-Have more clear and consistent judging criteria. Felt muddled and not in a delicious mojito way.