Buddy vs Duff 2 episode review: Can you beat Big Bad Buddy?

After taking a lead last week, Buddy vs Duff 2 looks to sink a winning put. In this episode, can Duff really beat Big Bad Buddy?

In Buddy vs Duff 2, these cakes have gone from the depths of the ocean to the top of the world. While each week’s theme seems to push the two teams to the limit, the creativity is impressive. In some ways, it is astonishing that these displays are really cake.

For this week’s challenge, Buddy vs Duff 2 takes on playable mini golf holes. The theme is interactivity. Who would have thought that real cake could become a real mini golf hole? In some ways, the phrase play through has changed to eat through.

Even though the themes change from week to week, there are certain consistencies in this Buddy vs Duff 2 season. Buddy continues to go big, bigger and biggest. In this week’s challenge not only did he create a life-size Buddy, he made an additional 26 cakes (in varying sizes). That amount of work in just 24 hours is staggering. Buddy definitely out “caked” them.

Before discussing the Big Bad Buddy, those 26 cakes seem to represent the longevity of Carlo’s Bakery. The cakes show the various styles throughout the years. From colorful to simple, these cakes have been part of many people’s happiest moments and biggest celebrations.

While the Big Bad Buddy was the centerpiece of display, the display as a whole was the star. Watching everyone play through the hole made it fun. Cakes, themselves, are meant to be fun and bring smiles. This display captured the cake fun but also the mini golf fun.

To say that this hole was a whimsical bakery wonderland is an understatement. As everyone played through the experience, they felt the joy that cakes can bring. Although, no one said if you could eat the cannoli around the course.

https://twitter.com/FoodNetwork/status/1252055635694419969

Duff kept to his idea of making cake into edible art. In this case, Duff’s display looked like one of the more difficult mini golf holes. It would definitely be a par 5 on the scorecard.

In some ways, Duff excels in balancing the special effects with the creative appearance of the cake. The animals in this display were adorable. From the expressions to the fiberglass look, this mini golf hole looks as if it stepped out of an old-school display. It made everyone stare in disbelief that it was cake.

Unfortunately, the judges criticized Duff’s lighthouse for blocking some of the other characters. While the display is similar to a real mini golf hole, there is a point. The stork, whale and shark were more impressive than the lighthouse (although that element was important to the hole).

While everyone loved the kitschy part to Duff’s display, it was a little difficult to play through the hole. From some empty space to not being able to get the ball into the lighthouse, the playability suffered. Given that playability was part of the theme, Duff was in trouble.

As the scores were announced, it wasn’t shocking that Big Bad Buddy won, but it was shocking that he won by such a large margin. Duff not only bogeyed, but he double bogeyed this challenge. The score was 29 to 24.5 in honor of Buddy.

By adding that score into the totals, Buddy has a commanding nine point lead. From last week’s penalty for Duff and this week’s defeat, can Duff catch up with only a couple more challenges remaining?

Looking ahead, it seems unlikely that Buddy can continue to a point of an unsurmountable lead. That idea doesn’t make for good Food Network television. It seems likely that Duff will make some type of comeback next week.

Still, there are big differences between Buddy vs Duff 2 and the previous Buddy vs Duff season. Putting aside the team aspect, the weekly challenges in Season 2 can create this big point difference. The baking challenges from Season 1 seemed to keep the competition closer or allowed it to close the gap more quickly.

Maybe, if there is a Season 3, the baking/tasting element challenge could return. After all, aren’t cakes and desserts meant to be eaten? Just think of the creativity that could have happened in some of this season’s challenges.

While the scorecard has Buddy in the lead, watch out for Duff in next week’s challenge. As the teams head to Knotts Berry Farm, it could be another roller coaster of cake.

What did you think of this week’s Buddy vs Duff 2 episode? Do you think that the score card reflect the competition?