Praise Buddha, Manny is gone. He's a nice guy with an exceptional palate, but the reason he couldn't make a dish that demonstrated his growth is because he didn't experience any. He cooked safe dishes, often poorly, the entire time. He was the classic "I don't need to swim faster than the shark, just the slowest person" competitor. There is one almost every season.
I agree that any of the four could win, but I still have Danny as the favorite. Even in the rare instances when he can't get his head around a challenge, he cooks well enough to avoid serious consideration for elimination - "good fails" as Tom calls them. He'll make it to the final 3 on talent alone, and at that point, it should be all about the cooking with no challenge to navigate. Savannah crushed it this week, but I think she'll have to be perfect and have Danny make a mistake to win. Taste matters most, but all things being equal, the judges tend to reward technical skill and creativity, which I think favors Danny.
Dan needs the break more than anyone. It's hard to make good food when your brain can't decide what's on the menu. Lets hope he is able to regroup and bring his A game to the Love Boat.
If everyone is mentally in it, it feels like Laura is the most likely to misinterpret the final four challenge or to overcomplicate a dish, but she can cook as well as anyone when she makes good decisions.
We'll see what happens. It should be fun.