Review: Terrace House T2019 Episode 2 – “The Tempura Incident”

Not a spoiler: Yama-chan got married!

The cynical and sarcastic commentator/comedian Ryota Yamasato has married actress Yu Aoi. We at Yeat wish nothing but the best for the happy couple and would like to remind you that true love exists off the set of a reality show. Their relationship will last a long time, especially since Yama-chan has seen all the worst things one can do in a relationship in his four seasons of Terrace House.

It’s been reported that Yama-chan may have started his advances with a first date under the guise of offering up the promise of Terrace House gossip. The second date was offering even more Terrace House gossip. We expected nothing less of Yama-chan to play to his strengths.

(A LOT OF SPOILERS AHEAD) Onto the episode!

So, where we left off in Episode 1, the cast have just moved in and shared their first meal together, consisting of a curry with rice, salad and sides of avocado, cheese and prosciutto. What I didn’t write last time, is that right at the very end of the episode, boy asked girl out in front of other girls and one of other girl looked put out by it. The commentators all believe their must be trouble brewing already, especially since someone took a weird posture right after. Here is Tokui replicating the pose.

Chilling.

This episode is named “The Tempura Incident,” so expectations are high going into this. Episode opens (the next morning) at the kitchen table where illustrator Kaori and fitness trainer Risako are sitting. Kaori is sketching while Risako is planning meals for her students, scheduling them and calculating the calories. She explains that one particular student is a performer trying to maintain muscle while shedding fat – hence planning everything out. Musician Kenji and Corvette actress Haruka appear to check in with Kaori and Risako. Kenji sits down with a bowl full of salad as his breakfast. Haruka and Kaori also get in on the salad breakfast.

While three out of four diners are eating salad, we learn about Haruka’s drag race event. Did we mention she drives a 2007 Corvette? Everyone is astounded that she’s not only competing, but in her own car. On the topic of cars, Kenji drives a retro mini school bus which also doubles as a mobile surf shack – yeah, I think that’s what it is.

Part-timer and skateboarder Ruka is working… part-time at a skateboard shop.

Haruka and Kaori make a dish from when Haruka worked at a cafe, a “natto curry baked casserole” which is just rice, curry and natto (a kind of fermented soybean) mixed together that you bake. Kenji comes home, confirms he likes natto, actually bought some more natto on his way home.

Over dinner we get some sweet graphic design nerding out between Kaori and Kenji – Kaori prefers to use calligraphy brushes and Coptic markers, while Kenji uses Illustrator and a tablet. They’re both interested in seeing how the other one works. You get the feeling there’s some vibes going on between the two.

Conversation switches, and honestly, hats off to the editors in making us feel how awkward the switch is. Haruka was being made into a third-wheel and she was having none of that. We get into guitars (something Haruka has in common with Kenji, but Kaori doesn’t) and this is where we get some prime editor-insinuated drama with excuses, leaving two people alone and distant glances that someone thinks we can’t see, but the f*cking editors can so we can too. Kenji helps Haruka play “Country Road” on the guitar, a song I only knew existed because of Mark Strong in Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Guitar peeps set a date to go to a show – as friends. We won’t hear the last of this.

15 minutes in we get the intro – nothing from the commentators at all. We also haven’t seen Shohei beyond when he was pretending to be sleeping with perfectly-styled hair.

Back to the show, Haruka gives Ruka some of the natto curry baked casserole and teaches him how to cook it in the microwave. Kenji and Ruka want to see the mythical girls room. Now we get panel.

Tokui explains the mechanics of Haruka drag racing, which is “racing straightforward” to “prove whose engine is faster and more powerful”. The panel is super impressed with Kaori, who went to Keio University, then to University of Paris, and then worked at financial and IT companies before going freelance graphics. Only the subtitles mentioned it, so the panel is very impressed with how humble Kaori must be, because they would definitely be bragging about that.

After a brief visit to the girls room and to fawn over Kaori’s illustrations, the three boys meet up. Immediately, Kenji informs Ruka that he and Haruka will be going to a concert – he didn’t want to be secretive about it, even though it isn’t a date date. He takes a lot of effort to explain his intentions and Shohei’s smile indicates that Kenji is trying too hard.

Cut to Kenji, like all musicians on the show before him, singing part of a song then telling his bandmates that he has moved in and making progress on friendships in the house. In true Terrace House fashion, he’s sparing no detail about what housemates have said to him and relaying it to the band to hear their opinions. Boom, cut to the Avex Artist Academy, Risako is teaching a class.

Now we get back to the food blog.

Cut to the house, Kaori is in the kitchen and Shohei has the ingredients for Taiwanese pork dish, lu rou fan. However, they are instead making nikujaga, a Japanese pork dish. Kaori peels a potato, remarking how pro she is doing it. Shohei fills a pot of rice with water. Kaori chops the daikon, and adds mirin (rice wine) and soy sauce to the pot. Shohei asks when Kaori is free. They add too much spice and too much mirin, to which Kaori responds with laughter, “My mother would cry if she saw this.” Shohei counters: “It’s not an exact science.”

Ducking out of the food blog, Kenji and Haruka appear, prompting Shohei to reveal that he sometimes writes lyrics and write novels. Writing is one of his passions, but he’s not tied to any one thing. Haruka takes issue with this and presses him on how it can be disappointing to not be defined by your craft. Shohei believes in the future, people will have to be generalists, and honing yourself to one craft is archaic. Haruka looks to Kenji for validation of her stance. Kaori tries to mediate that they are both right, because it depends on the individual situation.

Everybody, minus Risako, sits down to some food. The nikujaga turned out way better than expected, and everybody (minus Risako because absent) likes it. Haruka wants to continue the conversation and hear Kenji’s opinion. Cue the fight music.

Kenji and Kaori explain they shifted careers to focus on their respective passions and pursue them. Kaori felt she was looked down upon for having multiple interests. Shohei posits that people don’t always become experts by focusing on one field. Kenji counters that it has worked out for some people. Shohei says it’s a society thing, but his interests fluctuate, so he must be in the right.

For example, I love tempura, but it wouldn’t taste good if I had it every day.

Shohei

IS THIS IT? THE TEMPURA INCIDENT?!

Kind of? It’s not really an ‘incident,’ in my opinion. This is, after all, a very subdued show 95% of the time, so any disagreement or sparring is elevated. The Cheri vs. Taishi standoff in Aloha State was definitely an incident. Unfortunately, Shohei here reminds me of Yuudai in Opening New Doors when he was adamant that his values were fine (using dad’s emergency credit card to buy luxury streetwear) and others were foisting their values upon him (not using dad’s emergency credit card to buy luxury streetwear). That kid now is a kind-of chef, kind-of Instagram rapper, so…

The panel found the debate on work ethic to be enlightening and exciting. However, everyone conceded that Shohei lost many, many points with the tempura metaphor. Yama-chan thinks Shohei would have a convincing argument if he was more successful. The reasoning for this to be an ‘incident’ is because it happened in the second episode.

Back to it, everyone is together and having drinks – but that’s everyone with Risako, but without Haruka. Risako wants to hang out with Ruka, which makes him blush, they decide to see the Detective Conan movie and then prepare dinner for the house. That’s the end of the episode. Cue Snow Patrol to play us out.

That’s it for now, see you next later this week for episode 3!

Go check out Kaori on instagram to see her illustrations: @foxco_kaori

Here’s a new feature for the T2019 blog posts, local restaurants where you can eat meals similar to those on the show:

• Dosanko Japanese Restaurant (566 Powell St Unit #100, Vancouver, BC) serves nikujaga.
• Corner 23 (4008 Cambie St, Vancouver, BC) serves lu rou fan (braised pork).
• Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba (551 Seymour St, Vancouver, BC) serves soba noodles.
• Konbiniya (1238 Robson St, Vancouver, BC) sells natto, among other Japanese food, confectionary, beverages and goods.