#succession s4ep6

[bluebeewings]

I won’t be able to say anything about tonights Succession episode after this barry one I’m sorry. I’ll also not be able to talk about barry’s episode either other than the fact that I’m devastated

[horrifically]

raw (2016) // succession s4ep6

[clarythericebot]

Food Wars S5E7 Reactions: ok so magic and violence are allowed now(?) (ft. another megumi/soma parallel)

I’ve heard that there was going to be some weird stuff going on in the fifth plate of Food Wars, and now I finally understand. What the fudge with this “Cross Knives” ability?

Every character we’ve encountered so far has their abilities either explained or earned. Erina and Hayama have a mutant sense of taste and smell respectively; that’s weird, but still within the realm of belief. Every other chef either gained their abilities through trials (whether or not said trials are depicted onscreen). But an ability to copy a chef’s talent by stealing their tool? What sorcery is that?

It’s so aggravating, considering there is an explanation right there. 

From S4Ep6, Soma telling Saito how he won: I’m just a normal freshman, but I’ve competed with many different people. That might be why I’m able to come up with all these ideas. Everything I’ve learned from everybody at Totsuki helps me be where I am now.

Couldn’t that just be Asahi? Couldn’t him taking people’s tools be him pettily filching trophies like Mimesaka, and he’s an extraordinary chef because he’s put himself out there because of spite and vengeance? (That’s what I’m assuming his motivation is for now. I do think it’s interesting that season 5 is exploring Joichiro’s failings as a father--namely, the abandonment aspect.) 

The thing is, every antagonist to Soma represented something. Shinomiya was excessive perfectionism and refusal to learn from others. Mimesaka was the belief that a single failure can destroy the work of someone who was truly passionate. Azami was snobbery and the conviction that creative and beautiful food can only be made - and fed to - the ‘refined’. 

What the fudge is Asahi supposed to be if he’s magic? What is it that Soma has to overcome?

It is possible I’m judging too harshly. I’m only on the seventh episode. Maybe his ability will be justified somehow...? Asahi certainly doesn’t seem to have had the ability when he was training with Joichiro. (I can’t even with how he beat up [dueled i guess but they literally looked like they were in a brawl] the other Cuisiniers Noir, and how it looks like they’ve kidnapped Isami? I think this is the first time Food Wars had actually resorted into actual violence.)

What I’m actually afraid of is that, considering Asahi has a ridiculously superpowered ability, Soma is going to have a ridiculously superpowered ability to beat him. I’ve already read a criticism that Soma doesn’t seem to earn his victories in this season, and I think I might already be seeing signs of that. Whenever Soma beat an opponent, he usually attributed it to his growth in Totsuki. It’s his weirdness and love for ordinary ingredients and dishes that is attributed to his time at the diner (as well as a few key techniques). When he beat Sarge, however, Soma and his dad doesn’t chalk it up to what Soma’s learned this past year, but a sensational skill he learned during his diner days.

“Before Soma got into Totsuki, he was fulfilling challenging requests almost every day for 365 days in a year...It is important to have universality in order to do that, in addition to the ability to continuously create surprising new dishes.”

We already know that about Soma--we’ve had four seasons to watch him come up with fun and exciting ways to explore what gourmet food can be. But this quote is used to justify how Soma managed to best someone who by all rights should be far above his skill level.

This is weird. If that’s always been the case, how did Soma lose to Hayama, for example,  who’s closer to his own skill level? We know that a lot of Soma’s ability is from the baseline of skills he learned in his family’s diner; we know that in the beginning of his journey, those skills are enough to tie with one of the Elite Ten (Isshiki) when the latter was taking it easy. We know that the diner is where Soma gets his ability to be unorthodox. But anything beyond that has to come from his growth and Totsuki. Otherwise, his past failures would make no sense.

And the thing is an explanation for how he managed to beat Sarge was also just right there. 

Megumi in S1E12 on why she used allspice for her dish: All of you have been evaluating and eating a lot of dishes since yesterday. And allspice works to help with digestion, so...I wanted to serve something that would be easy to digest. (Dojima’s commentary: Although it was a battle, Tadokoro cared about the people eating her dish.)

Commentary on Soma’s dish in S5E7:

Megumi: ...Rice syrup is good for your health, so it has been used as a sweetener since ancient times.

Commentators: He didn’t use any sugar? Why did he go through all that trouble?

Soma: That’s because the people anticipating my dish are the three judges that are sitting at this table right now. Since it’s such a hot and stuffy summer day, I believe they would want to taste a more refreshing cake. If it were me, I’d also want to eat the same thing.

Soma has learned to not only impress the judges, but to care for their needs and comfort. Those lines positively screamed Tadokoro and her influence, and I really, really wanted the anime to point that out. He learned that from her! Their learning from each other is a two-way street! 

(Mini SouMegu plug: This is also why their pairing work so well thematically. They each have what the other needs. But maybe that’s another meta :P )

Also, on a larger scale, the attribution of Soma’s success to both his ingenuity, his work, and learning from his friends also works out a lot better thematically. How is Soma stronger than before? Not just because he polished his own skills, but because his friends are stronger and he helped them. Asahi clearly works alone; Soma works in community. If the Fourth Plate’s theme is about rejecting perfectionism and a “one true way” and understanding that food is for everyone, then the Fifth Plate can be about how craft grows when people grow together. Considering that it is the last season, it’d also be a pretty great theme to tie up the future, and it differentiates him from his dad by taking him a step further--Soma will understand that to keep growing as a chef, he’ll always need friends, both old and new, to keep sharpening him. 

[bluebeewings]

This is my way of saying tomshiv fight will not end in tomshiv hatesex but tomgreg hatesex instead

What does big tomshiv fight mean for tomgreg when Tom’s relationship with Greg is directly related to how he feels neglected in his relationship with Shiv?