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KJ2025 Officers ZhengBei and Zhao Xiao Guang have come across a new drug while making drug busts. The bureau wants him to be on a special drug task force. He agrees if he can have his own people on the team. His choices are accepted but they want him to add one more. A forensic specialist already acquainted with the drug. His close friend od’d on it so he has a special interest in finding it and getting a top notch lab together that can analyze it and get it off the streets. Gu Yi Ran agreed to stay at the academy to have his own lab to work on it. These two meet at the end and both are rather reluctant to work with each other. The officer is surprised because he expected the father not the son. Gu Yi Ran was surprised because he is a loner that doesn’t really work with anybody. Lots of action first episode with just a bit of humor to chill out the heaviness of the drug scene. Fight scenes are well done and the image of his dead friend was all too real.
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Please Take Care of My Refrigerator Season 2 Episode 12
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Heo Sung-Tae is the other guest. His character is so loud and violent. This worldwide villain is like Chef Kang-Rok in real life😂 They are both rather quiet and look down while speaking. Chef So-Hee commented on how much they were similar. 😂 Mr worldwide villain thinks Chef Sam is the best one to be villain. He is scared of the chef’s canine reeth.😂 They show his snake dance on big screen and everyone is wondering how this is the same guy sitting so quietly at the table. He said the parts he plays let’s him let out his evil side legally.😂There is an ombrinho dance off at the beginning. They challenge Heo Sung-Tei to dance and he says he will if J-Hope does. The challenge is accepted and Eun-Ji added for a very fun intro before cook challenge. They all do well and J-Hope lets a bit of his cool side out quietly. Heo Sung Tae is promoting his movie Good Boy. 😁Ms do it right vs Mr slow for first round. Teacher Yo-Hee vs Student Kang-Rok after 12 years. They are really not wanting to compete against each other but the other two chefs volunteered first making them the last two. Everybody at the table however, are anxiously waiting to see how this contest plays out.😂 she threw him off with her bonus. She sent HIM the bonus chef and that wrecked his rhythm. He is calling his dish ‘leave me natto lone’😂 she is making an interesting twist on tteokguk. She finished with 2 mins to spare and now bugging Kang-Rok. 😂 He is very annoyed but trying his best to be polite to his mentor. She is one sneaky chef.😂J-Hope had small bowl of each and ate them both all gone. He said both craveable.Both chefs did very well and a winner was chosen. Now to the Italian round with chef Sam vs chef Hyun-Suk. Everybody really wants to see the winner of these two who are especially good making Italian dishes. The contest is going to be fierce and those at the table teasing chef Sam about his scary teeth.😂 Chef Sam is making a tuna pasta dish. He compared it to children’s dish to mildly introduce pasta. Chef Hyun-Suk is making a poor man’s Congolese even tho Heo Sung-Tei voted for rich man version. The chef opted not to add the egg because the texture he wanted would be changed. Heo Sung-Tae is a texture guy when it comes to his favorite foods. This is why he likes natto so much. The flavor is also important but I think he has equal assessment for them when choosing what to eat. His fridge was filled with many interesting textures as well as a variety of kimchi. This time Hyun-Suk tries out Sylvia for cooking the garlic. He adds the clam soup and everybody is waiting to see if the curse of Sylvia is broken.😂 Chef So-Hee compared the dishes as who you wanna date Brad Pitt or George Clooney 😂They were both excellent and polar opposites in taste. Watch to see which dishes the Worlwide Villain chose.
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Please Take Care of My Refrigerator Season 2 Episode 11
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This episode has Li Eun-Ji as cohost. She still likes giving chef Jong-Won and chef Kang-Rok a hard time.😂 Chef Jong-Won holds his own better this time but Chef Kang-Rok is too shy for this show. There is a visiting chef So-Hee from Austria that is a mentor of his. She said that even as a child his head was down and mumbling.🤣 He can’t get a break anywhere. Today’s guests are J-Hope from BTS. He is just out of the Army and is promoting new song and concert. Nam-no was given a hard time because while he knew of BTS, he said not familiar with J-Hope. So J-Hope wanted to change that. He is very cute and takes it in stride when BTS songs are sung at him. 😂 The chefs are sampling his mother’s cooking.🤣They are trying fermented skate and it’s not for chef Nom-no 😂For those more knowledgeable than me it was a level three. That did not tell me anything but the chefs understood. Maniac and Poong are taking the skate challenge. None of the chefs really wanted this. But J-Hope grew up eating fermented skate and wants to try it in a different form. For him, this is an ingredient that brings fond memories. Maniac is going to make a skate sabayon and Chef Poong is going to try a sweet and sour dish. He has never cooked skate before and the rest of the chefs are skeptical at the result of that. He has lost five in a row so as much as I like maniac, I hope he finally wins one. Maniac looked like a beast tearing skin off the skate. He managed to peel the skin off both sides but it was a battle. He forgot his beautifully cooked shrimp for his dish but it looked good. This is the first time J-Hope has eaten cooked skate. They are all trying to deal with the smell.😂 Chef Poong’s dish looks good but there is no telling how it tastes.😂 He was teased relentlessly as he cooked. The chefs around the table are rather disgusted with these dishes….but J-Hope is truly enjoying them. The chefs got a surprise as the finished dishes tasted much better than they expected from skate smell. A winner is chosen and now to dessert round. Chef Seong-Jun and chef Jong-Won are going head to head dessert round for Prince of tiramisu😂 Chef Jong-Won gave him a bday candle with dessert. It was very sweet watching J-Hope make a bday wish.🥳🥰 The chefs all learned J-Hopes bday was the following day. He was very touched and pleased with this. Even tho both desserts made with very similar ingredients, the end result was very different. Chef Jong-Won had the richest taste and chef Seong-Jun had the freshest tast. Which one will J-Hope choose? The French vs Italian version of dessert and the Prince of tiramisu is chosen. I also noted that chef Poong did not use Sylvia this show😂
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Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty Episode 4
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General Lu and Sheriff Su have learned that west magic or hades grass is one of the main components in the tea. This is why such a demand for it. Magistrate Yuan is sure worried about the sherif. Is it concern or monitoring his progress? Sheriff and chicken Fei have found the flowers that make the preservative incense. They are stopped by the shopkeeper who says they are not his, but he refuses to say which businessman is the crop owner. General Lu show up in time to get a batch of the flowers and the doc proves it is indeed the incense they were looking for. General Lu learns Miss Pei thinks he is the one she loves that died in battle. We find that the background story is his relative was a womanizer and he had no time for the appointed date and got General Lu to go in his place. He wanted to confess immediately, but she was a nice girl and rather than hurt her feelings he did a sword dance and left. He had no idea the girl was in love with him. The sheriff sneakily suggests he does the sword dance again to comfort her. She is determined to marry the dead guy and I think they were hoping to delay her. But now the fake immortal has the bride list and has chosen her as next victim. This was done because charges were finally filed in court and he decided this would be the best revenge. General Lu is in trouble because of his investigation. He is directly ordered to be suspended and to reflect on himself. He chooses to reflect by sneaking out the window and seeing what vacant lots could produce the illegal herb used to make tea addictive. Chicken Fei is interesting character. He has doctor / apothecary skills and this episode he sells off a tablet of General Lu and gets coupler connections for the generals spear. He can carry it as a large dagger and extend it full length with them. Now he has multiple uses for it and it will be easier to carry . The general is so pleased with it that he fails to be angry his tablet was sold and considers it a worthy trade. The two are making progress and now knows the dates the tea will show and the brides taken. They do not know it will be the daughter of their friend yet. Another to imperial guards died trying to protect those poor incompetent deputies. They are embarrassed and want to do better so maybe the general will give them some training. I’m just not sure he will live long enough for them to actually become useful. 😝 The episode ends with the immortal laughing at his revenge for Magistrate Pei.
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Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty Episode 3
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The episode begins with Sheriff Su needing deputies to help with a case. They are all most reluctant until they are told a benefactor will spend a good sum to have case solved. This results in many of the bride corpses being recovered. General Lu has taken a different route. He is arresting any and all having deals with Chang’an tea. His arrests have been noted by superiors and he is being asked why so thorough an investigation. His superior general is not enthused he won’t drop the matter but allows him to investigate..with the stipulation that no imperial troops can be deployed. Magistrate Yuan keeps showing up. First he informs the Sheriff that they are being responsible for taking on prisoner overload thanks to General Lu’s broad net of arrests. The official wants to know what to do with them all. The sheriff tells him to release them. That was far from the answer the official expected. The sheriff reminded him that while the male royal did not drink the tea, his wife did and did they really want her grieved with them? He shamed General Lu into taking the fable books and trying the infamous tea. The general looked the tea over and smelled it but didn’t drink it. The sheriff shamelessly charges him for it anyways.😂 He used the money to pay off his deputies and tells them the general is their benefactor. This gives him an opening with the general to hitch a ride to ghost market under the guise of supplying troops. Lady ShiYi is running the place serving the tea. I think it is more the one that borrowed her face. They are hosting various officials and royals by getting them addicted to the tea. The general is deciding how to approach the situation when the sheriff’s deputies take control of the situation. They are completely incompetent, but at least spring most of the traps. While the general is fighting off arrows, the sheriff tried a different approach. He has a strip of the burial cloth with the odd spice on it and is trying to locate the source. While talking to a seller he notices the chicken thief and follows him instead. The thief recognizes the smell and thinks the sheriff is a ghost😂 He leads the sheriff through under ground tunnels and they both find themselves coming up through the floor of lady ShiYi’s establishment and joining the general in his cage with a shower of arrows coming at them. The sheriff tells General to follow and he takes an arrow to protect thief. It turns out the thief has medical skills and they have a clue about the preservative incense used on the brides. They escape ghost market and once again magistrate Yuan is showing up pretending concern. The general is paying the thief a chicken a day for his help with the poisoned arrow. Interesting swirl of events the sheriff and General keep circling around. If they would only work together instead of counterproductively they would have made lots more progress. Their contest of who the better Di disciple is, is costing them extra effort and time to get to the bottom of things. Here the general is better equipped but even his head General thinks it is out of his purview and will cost him his career. He is warned that if he pisses off the royals that even he won’t have the influence to have General Lu’s life spared. Both of these diehard investigators aren’t going to stop and so far they are still using more time to show each other up than get the case moving along. It is time to compare notes gentlemen.😝
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This episode gave all the feels. Kai returned, but the other chefs were no in a forgiving mood. None wanted to cook or eat anything Gaku had a part in. Kai and Goku had their four courses planned. The mentor made the bargain that if any did not move him that Kai would never cook again…and Kai agreed. When I heard this I was annoyed at the arrogance of the mentor. Who gave him the right to have so much power over someones\’s destiny? I was equally annoyed at Kai for accepting the bargain. Was he really going to end up an herb farmer?😝Magoroku was the only one that actually asked what they were cooking. He realized the importance of it and backed his friend by persuading all of them to show up. Kai was physically worn out from the travel and planning stages of the meal. His chefs rallied with him to create the next level meal. The mentor quietly ate all four courses and then called Gaku and Kai to the kitchen. He then prepared his famous dish for Gaku who had never tried it. Gaku was transported by the flavors and apologized to Kai for failing to surpass the god. Here the mentor surprised me some. He discovered that when the door opened to next level that the path continued to infinite doors. That the both had cooked delicious meals and that was enough. Gaku got in his face a bit and asked if that was all he had to say to Kai. He asked Gaku what he was thinking after he had tried the dish. His response..how to make it better. Exactly…the mentor said that once Kai went there he had successfully surpassed his god. That his food was delicious and he loved it. He went on to describe his finding and keeping Kai as his apprentice and had become a son to him. He said it was a fear of letting him go and watching him be sick that made him believe Kai shouldn’t cook. But now he knew he would not be alone so he could leave after charging Gaku to take care of his son.He looked Kai in the eye and told him to do his best.🥰 it was a very touching father/son/best friend moment. After the meal the chefs wished each other to do their best. They each had a destiny to fulfill to make them the chefs they were meant to be. This left Kai and Gaku alone but they are doing well. They have a little hole in the wall restaurant that only certain customers know about. The three girls are keeping an eye on their guys😂 And may Director Saimon never cross their doorway. 😝 This was a very fun journey to watch. The actors and production staff did an excellent job and the audiences was moved with all their efforts. If you enjoy cooking shows this gives a different perspective that focuses more on the chefs than the dishes. I found this a very interesting perspective.
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Gaku worked so hard to become the chef Kai wanted him to be. However, that was not the chef Gaku needed to be. Once he achieved the sight of next cooking stage, he looked around to see staff and customers gone. He had quite effectively isolated himself as his mentor and his mentor’s mentor had done. But unlike them, he saw beyond. Gaku’s father was in the hospital from an accident and there Gaku told his father how he had failed. His father pointed out that his strength was not the same as Kai’s. That he needed people. He pointed Gaku in the right direction and spurred him on. Swimming friend called Gaku out of the blue and had the right words to nudge him to correct path. He needed a true friend to guide him. She was sad for his circumstances but reminded him that life can be both hard and beautiful. She reminded him to love cooking and that he was her hero. Energized by their encouragement, he sets out to find Kai. He tells him how he failed and drove the others away because they could not understand his vision. It took great persuasion, but Kai saw and understood the direction their combined talents could go. That together they could continue path to challenge god. They return to restaurant, but Ranna is quite set that Gaku has no place in the kitchen. And here is where the episode leaves us.😝
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Kai is facing what appears to be insurmountable odds…a brain tumor with losing taste as a side effect. Does he risk losing even more with medical procedures or accept his current limitations as status quo? Gaku is being introduced to the management side of house and it is floundering. He has been fortunate to gain the favors of many investors but they are still losing ground between expenditures and gains. Gaku knew this unfortunate truth early on with his math skills. But as smart as he is, he is still basically barely out of HS and being asked to not only manage the cuisine for the restaurant, but to keep it afloat without input from Kai. Director Saimon…..the bad penny that keeps showing up. He has access to money, but he is a petty, grudge bearing little man that really makes you want to flatten him like the cockroach he is. 😝He has come foreword to be an investor but wants exclusive management control. The loathsome jerk he is, he happily shares Kai’s medical records and how Kai has deserted them. After soul searching with the chefs, they unitedly chose to refuse the offer and to request he not return. He will be a pain in the ass til the bitter end but I hope that he has a nice case of karma we are privy to before drama ends. He has selfishly plagued this kid since HS and he needs to be on his way. We are given some of Kai’s painful childhood memories. For his poor situation, he is actually rather stoic. He meets his mentor who molded him to stay alone and trust no one as he climbs the tiers of chef mastery. He did not give Kai a way out to progress with less pain. He befriends him now but even Kai taunts him to stick around and see the monster he created. Gaku was the finishing piece of Kai’s quest to surpass god with his cooking…his pre and post self. Gaku’s swimming friend has called from the airport. She lied to spare painful goodbye, but after Kai’s disappearing act she opted not to give Gaku a repeat. He is very sad because his friend will be gone. He appreciates all his fellow chefs but like math friends, they are colleagues or mentors but not really friends. He has achieved peerless stature and sees the gray for what it is. Leading with no friends. This is a lot for a 19 yr old kid to deal with. No wonder he is breaking under the pressure. Waiting to see if his math genius can come up with a solution for the totality of the responsibilities placed on him. Kai’s friend I think likes the spunk of the chefs fighting to stay with Kai in spite of his absence. Except for director cockroach who is openly antagonistic to all three top chefs, everybody else wants these underdogs to succeed.
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Gaku was totally freaked out at presenting his food to his classmate idol. He had the typical nightmare where he was seen as a failure in math and cooking. His friends helped him along to regain his confidence and plan the perfect menu for the event. His sports friend was also dealing with a challenge. She was offered a place in Australia to train as a professional swimmer. Her coach wanted to know why she would pass up such an opportunity to stay in Japan. One word….Gaku. She had always crushed on him and was hoping he would return those feelings. She surprised him with a visit to let him know about the opportunity and he wished her well and rejoiced for her. He asked to swap hoodies, she could only say…Kitada…you are so…Kitada…and laugh and shake hands farewell. He will be her fondest memory and she will be his dearest friend. We meet his HS idol who is a genius for sure, but also an arrogant ass. He chats with girl math genius and proposes most unromantically over the phone because it is most rational.😝 He is surely a piece of work. He is so pompous he doesn’t even realize how absurd he appears. He truly doesn’t care. He has visions of marrying the girl and having Gaku as his assistant to bring math to the world. He truly expects Gaku to follow him to Princeton and be his disciple. 😝 The girl genius sees her fate, and like swimmer girl wished Gaku saw her as a girl.😅She already recognizes his gift for food via math but Mr obtuse is too busy eating gummies. I don’t eat superfluous food when I’m traveling. He was in a five star hotel eating gummies and had the audacity to give his plate to Gaku because he didn’t have time for his dalliance with cooking and fully expected Gaku to leave with him on a big math quest. Gaku is overwhelmed and ready to give up. The entire kitchen rallies and encourages him to go down swinging. Magoroku tells him to figure it out the way he always does. What could he personally create to show idol his new form of math and get him to eat it? He uses the painting on swimmer girl’s hoodie to inspire him. Even Kai rolls up his sleeves to help him. Let’s surpass perfection.😁 The dish he creates wakes up his narcissistic friend. He literally sees and recognizes the math on his plate and sees the potential. He acknowledges that his friend is an equal genius with cooking and that he must master this for the good of the world. It was interesting to see that Gaku saw no math answer from his colleagues. The numbers just piled and disappeared leaving him alone. He shares this with Kai who definitely understands. Kai did not share his own collapse and chat with doc telling him to stop cooking. He did not share this with Ranna either but did inform her that Gaku would be his successor. Kai tells Gaku he will be in charge of restaurant for two weeks while he goes to Paris to open a new location. Gaku said it was all a lie and that it was the last time he saw Kai as the episode ends.
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Kai’s restaurant is catering a party at a local hotel for the guests of a competition. It is a high end affair and the chef that represents the menu will receive publicity and accolades. It’s a big deal and gives huge bragging rights to promote career. Gaku has pretty determinedly decided he wanted to help his friends not compete against them. The only one of similar mindset was top sous chef who had been removed from competing. As time went on, Gaku was made to realize that if he truly wanted to be a chef, he needed to explore all opportunities to advance his abilities. If he wanted to cook beside Kai, he needed to push harder to reach that degree of mastery. Top sous chef shared his best dish ideas with Gaku who made a unique dish for party. Appetizer soup and protein could be combined in succession to make a cohesive meal. Literally a party in a bowl. Kai as usual, has a direct and harsh way to wake chefs up to their true potential. He made his top sous chef realize that as good as his signature dish was, he had ceased to advance in his cooking. He was instrumental in Kai’s success by being his relight hand man and support. But this had come at the price of giving up his own place as a signature chef. He had stopped thinking and reinventing his dishes to placidly following Kai’s lead and enforcing the menu around others’ taste profiles. He ran the kitchen but he had stopped adding to the menu. All the chefs had to acknowledge that even tho he was the newest chef, Gaku continued to twist the norms and create new levels of cuisine. His math skills and drive pushed him on to new heights and clarity. He instinctively created the next level dishes as he saw in his domino method. Building on the old to reinvent the new. Kai handed him the paperwork of who the guests were and what the hotel expected. Gaku learned it was the ceremonial dinner for the math award winners. This was the contest he ran from and he faced in his mind the math student that made him realize his true limitations as a mathematician. The stress caused Gaku to literally collapse as the episode ends. He has to face his worst fear alongside top sous chef. Kai gave them both opportunity to pursue their best selves and overcome the fear that held them back. I am very curious how Gaku’s dishes will go over with his old math colleagues. And I want to know if top sous chef settles for that honor in Kai’s kitchen, or chooses to explore what direction his cooking could go if he took time to think about it.
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Gaku’s dad comes to visit. He gets friends to join them for an outing. Sports friend is jealous of math friend. And Magoroku let’s both girls know he’s available.😂 I think he was partial to sports girl.😂 He tell the history of French toast which later inspires Gaku. Ranna is offered a chef position by the one who wants to buy restaurant. He is a bad penny always showing up and always with a grudge.😝 Gaku has a chat with Ranna’s mom and asks for help to encourage Ranna to not be alone. That liar who tried to trick her into contract. He had been defeated before and I think he wants to have property for a bigger project. He personally went on a bad comment wave to get Ranna’s mom cancelled. And then the louse had the temerity to act like he was helping daughter revenge mother by getting Kai fired. Omg he is such an ass. 😝 Fortunately Ranna was wise enough to take time to consider, and he was arrogant enough to let her take it—he was that sure he had the deal in the bag. Ranna’s mom may never choose to cook professionally again, but maybe now she can enjoy it on her own terms. Ranna had reason to fear committing herself publicly, but times are changing and she did not back down from the chance to lead. She is now just about ready to take her place as top sous chef. I cheered along with the guys for her. It’s been a long time coming. She is back in Kai’s kitchen where she belongs and things seem much brighter for everybody. Kai unexpectedly grabs Gaku by the collar and tells him to step it up. To not depend on the others and aim high. In the present time we see him acting like Kai. He is willing to fire the entire chef and he has not found harmony in his cooking. It is just out of reach and he is panicking. Kai isn’t around and everybody thinks Gaku has flipped and they are now on Titanic sinking fast. From what I’ve noticed about Kai while eating….i think he is losing his palette and can’t taste properly. And I think that ass with the contract knows. I believe this is why he is lighting the fire under the feet of all of them for them to step up to their top game while he can help them. I don’t think singling out Gaku was the right move, but he’s running out of time and desperate. If it’s not a health issue something has him on a tight leash for time and we will hopefully find out what it is. I hope Ranna can find a way to get Gaku on track like he did for her. In spite of peerless meaning having no one…..I want this team to figure out how to make an exception to the rule.
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This episode let the best chefs focus on a menu for a specific food critic. Their restaurant always received high praise. However, it always lacked the highest praise of critic wanting to frequent restaurant. Here Ranna shares a bit of her knowledge with Gaku. To believe in a flavor rather than analyze every individual customer. Make your dish great for customers yet to be seen. He learns she doesn’t go out to guests because prior experience soured her to their comments about women chefs. She knew her dishes would be appreciated more and evaluated higher if they thought she was male. Gaku learned only 1% of female chefs made it and pointed out she was alone in this kitchen. Circumstances had them meet in a Chinese restaurant where they tried one of the specials. They both came away with ideas. Kai gave specific chefs lead on the courses and Gaku was given appetizers. After Ranna helped him realize he needed to please more than food critic he blindly chose figs. He figured a unique way to prepare it and the critic was impressed. However, in spite of the rave review Gaku failed to have it complement the soup coarse. What was supposed to invite the diner to a grand experience was ruined by the clash of the first two coarses. After adjusting the liquid to a sauce on top, he retained all the flavors and complemented the next dish. Ranna’s lamb packed the punch she wanted and Kai talked the critic to try revised appetizer. This won them the coveted want to frequent comment. At the end of the episode Ranna drops an unexpected bomb. She told Gaku that this was her mother’s restaurant and that three years ago Kai had stolen it. Jaw dropping end of episode.🤯
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Kai tries to invite Gaku and the one refusing to give name on an outing. When Gaku accidentally trashes that idea Kai changes plans to have them cook a meal for acquaintances of Gaku. He doesn’t realize that it’s a school donor and his math friend from school that found him boring. She always believed that she was the one that chased him away from math. What she did do was make him reevaluate his math potential and recognize he wasn’t finding it fun any more. One of Kai’s sous chefs wants to launch her own idea for a restaurant. She created a beautiful dish combining synergies of seafood and pork. It was done so that the flavors truly complimented. Gaku loved the idea and decided he wanted to try for the meal. He was sabotaged by his sous chef who wanted to launch one of his ideas. Gaku had too much info and first dish a disaster. He quickly creates another that the sous chef ate. Whether true or not he said the food was delicious but the presentation awful. He then cuts lose with anger that a novice could create such a dish. He admitted being jealous and hoping to use his ideas. Gaku worked with him to show his friend the beauty of math via food. She found this Gaku interesting. The sous chef revealed his name as Magoroku. He told Gaku his father had yet to call him by name in the kitchen. It was always ‘hey you’. The two bond over washing dishes. He let his friend know that she had no part in his decision to run away from math. That he now loved cooking and used math to create recipes. After the dinner she was convinced and felt she had regained her lost friend. At the end of the episode the time moves forward and the chefs decide to mutiny against Gaku. He is losing it so it is not without reason. One thing that he told his friend when at their Tokyo-esque restaurant was that he felt lonely. That was unexpected this early. He is seeing in advance the cost of being peerless.
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Kai does not know how to understand the young man that has pages of math to explain how long it takes to wait in line. He knows that Gaku has a unique perspective in the world because of his math obsession, but this makes it difficult to be understood by people that use language to communicate.😝 Gaku is a complete mess in the kitchen and is learning by literal trial by fire how to meander through and survive. He notes that doing chores and making comfort food doesn’t earn him recognition. They all refuse to tell him their names because they don’t see him lasting there long enough. His lodging is set up at Kai’s place which introduces him to a worldliness he has never been exposed to.😂His friend from high school stands by him and even when injured she brings him food from home. This Bento box of home serves as his muse for worker’s dish. Kai originally gave him a month and then reduced it to a single week. To stay employed every employee must like his dish unanimously. He is down to the last two days and has finally figured out what to do. He raises the bar of Japanese cuisine to make it international and appealing to the chefs sitting around the table. All of them know a bit is missing for perfection from their homeland, but he makes every single one of them think of home no matter where that is. He has broken his glass ceiling of understanding and is now able to deliver unique and top quality dishes. As Kai watches his mentors dine, he is told that when you become peerless, your really are. He is reminded that it is truly lonely at the top. Young Gaku was happy to discover food through math. His love for both came out in his food. The sous chefs were determined to not give him any assists. They threw everything at him to sink or swim on his own. Not one of them thought Kai should have hired him. It was not until his Nostalgia dish that they understood the talent Kai knew from first dish. He has earned everybody’s name but one. At the end of the episode, that one is trying to get Gaku to eat and fighting with him about losing himself. They want their friend back and not this shadow perfectionist version of himself. I hope he will break through this new ceiling and find the real him soon. The story is composed of a very interesting juxtaposition of his young self and older self. By seeing the optimistic and pleasant young man, we can grit it out through this less than ideal version of himself to see what happens when he reaches the other side. This is a very interesting drama about growing pains and career ambitions and what is most important in life.
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The episode starts with a chef berating a sous chef for not ‘seeing’ that the dish isn’t made correctly. The chef seems very driven, aloof, and has himself alienated from everybody. His perfectionism is sought after by customers but dreaded by colleagues. The story then backs up to introduce Gaku Kitada, the top student at Weis and expected to be a math genius for UTokyo. His parents both wished him a happy life and at a very young age Gaku decided math made him happy and he wanted to be as good as Fermat. His father supported him in this endeavor and did everything possible to earn money to help him make his way to UTokyo when the time came. He worked in a diner and made a dish for him and a co-worker. He was watched very carefully by a man that had entered. After completing the dish, the customer wanted a plate made for him. Gaku refused because it was made for workers and he did not consider it suitable for a paying customer. The man grabbed a fork and proceeded to eat Gaku’s lunch.😂 Gaku didn’t know what to make of the guy who introduced himself as Kai Asakura. He was a Michelin star chef and he wanted Gaku to come work for him. Gaku politely said no thank you because he only loved math. When Gaku was taking the exam for the math competition, he realized that while he loved math and was quite good at it, that his dream of being a great mathematician was beyond his abilities. He saw it clearly and at that moment decided to end his goal of math. The Dean of the school gave him an option to enter the contest at a different school, but Gaku politely refused. The response from the school was to expel him before graduation and to pay back the 4.5million yen he owed the school for investing in him. The boy is distraught and Kai shows up with a single chance to change his fate. To cook a dish and win over the school officials dining at his restaurant or not try and go home a failure. The boy accepts the challenge and Kai tells him he can reverse engineer the dish he made to create a recipe. He made it perfectly and heated up the silverware. The Dean was then put in the position of thanking the chef for the excellent meal and reenrolling him in school. Gaku graduated top in his class and even was accepted at UTokyo, which he refused. The Dean and his dad were not happy with his choice. When the episode shows scenes of father and son, dad was always cooking. Without realizing it he wanted to be more like dad. He left to study cooking with Kai and his new adventure begins. The end of the episode is where it began…Gaku is a completely different person and not the sweet kid that loves math and cooking. I truly hope this is not the end of his story.
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