Carême ‘The Contest’: A cooking competition inspires an empire

Carême Season 1 Episode 5 Recap and Review

Last week’s episode was a goodbye to the Antonin-Henriette pairing, we just didn’t know it at the time. The two of them looking like a couple of sweet kids, cuddling, declaring their love for each other – their work trip functioned partly as a vacation from reality. Even Antonin finding out that Henriette worked for Fouché only served to bring them closer. Now, back at the Hōtel de Galliffet, back to the daily grind of espionage and survival, their relationship ended with an eff you.

It could have gone better. We almost had a poignant goodbye if not for an ill-advised short scene.

But, the plot first. Talleyrand was hosting this year’s annual Almanach des Gourmands contest at his house. He expected Antonin to win. He wanted his house to be known as the house with the best cook in France. He wanted everyone to want to dine at his table. As with most things Talleyrand did, making people want his invitation was an exercise of power and persuasion. If even people who did not like him liked his food, he had an avenue to ensnare them into whatever plot he was cooking at the time.

The problem was, Antonin was not in the mood for cooking, competition, or doing anything for Talleyrand. He was mourning his father. He was angry. He wanted Fouché’s head, and Talleyrand could not, or would not, give it to him.

Agathe tried to get him excited, but he was snappy and unkind to her. When Agathe found out that her mentor, the one who taught her everything about cooking, Auguste Larcher (Bruno Henry), was also part of the competition, she switched teams. 

I know there are plenty of Antonin-Agathe shippers — and the show has been telegraphing them getting together since the first episode but especially the second — but I liked that Carême did not tone down Antonin’s attitude. The kid is a jerk, arrogant, condescending, unappreciative of those who help him on a daily basis. That doesn’t mean that he could not be kind, sweet, gentle, all that. The consistent blend of light and dark on the main character serves the series well. 

Besides, Agathe could handle him. She had studied past winners and gave Larcher her strategy. She and Larcher won the first phase of the competition. By the second phase, however, Talleyrand managed to wake Antonin enough so that his genius came through.

The second assignment was to create Napoleon’s favourite dish, chicken marengo. Agathe cooked it perfectly, classically. Antonin, however, updated it and used veal instead; the inventiveness won two of the three judges.

It was then that Josephine intervened. She has not forgotten how Antonin betrayed her, and she came to dish a petty sort of revenge. When she could not convince Grimod to change his vote, she turned to Cambacérès and dropped her husband’s name with a not at all veiled threat to block his justice reform proposal. He caved. Larcher was declared the winner. 

But, Larcher confessed that Agathe was the true champion. He showed them the injury in his hand and said he could not cook anymore. Agathe did everything. As much as I appreciate giving Agathe the credit she deserved, the win was already tainted by Josephine’s intervention. Agathe deserved more than that. It would have worked well to have her declared the winner, the real winner, especially given Talleyrand’s belated scheming.

His plan to have Louis give up the crown so Napoleon could have it did not quite work, but Antonin’s laurel wreath, part of his dish presentation, gave him an idea. Napoleon could not be king but he could be an emperor. Since the winner would be tasked to cook at the coronation, and Bonaparte would not allow a woman to cook at such an event, Antonin was declared the winner again.

Did it matter, in the end, who won the competition? It did. Talleyrand told Antonin that Fouché was so careful, he only ate at his own table. But, he would make an exemption and would come to the emperor’s banquet. Talleyrand was giving Antonin his chance to kill Fouché. But, by this time, Antonin had already agreed to run away with Henriette.

Catherine told Talleyrand that Louis seemed to lean toward agreeing to the deal, but something happened to change his mind. Talleyrand had his man Courtiade tail Henriette; Courtiade saw her meet with Fouché. But, Fouché also had at least one of his men tailing Henriette; he told her she was followed. 

Henriette was cunning. She came to Talleyrand herself, gave him a bottle of perfume, and told him Fouché talked to her. He supposedly asked what was going on in the house, and she said there was a cooking competition. Talleyrand gave no indication that he did not believe her, but Courtiade later accosted Henriette in her quarters. During the course of the assault, the bag of coin Fouché gave her earlier fell from her dress. Courtiade violently tossed her to her bed and threatened to tell Talleyrand if she did not give in. Henriette hit him on the head with a nearby bust. Courtiade died.

Was it necessary to include sexual assault in this episode? I understand that Henriette in her position was especially vulnerable to men like Courtiade. But if you’re going to include something as serious as sexual assault to the story, it has to be treated with care. It can’t feel like a casual addition to the story, which this does, unfortunately. It came out of nowhere, and the victim was one who, just last week, told the heartbreaking story of her assault by the man who took her in as a child. That she killed that man was precisely what Fouché held over her head. Were the writers going for tragic parallelism here, of a woman who again found herself subject to what she fought against as a child? Okay, but where’s the scene that shows that? Henriette and Courtiade could have just fought, his death could have resulted from that. 

Antonin helped Henriette carry Courtiade’s body to the stables. What the story was going to be over the death of Talleyrand’s man, we did not get to. I don’t even know what the point was of covering Courtiade’s body with hay, except to buy a little time; his body was wrapped in a blanket, it could only have come from inside the house so the scene of the murder would be obvious. Henriette told Antonin that he needed to leave, that Fouché was going to arrest him. He asked her to come with him, and of course she was game, she had earlier hinted that she wanted them to leave. Once Talleyrand dangled the possibility of vengeance on Fouché, once he burnt the incriminating parchment in front of Antonin, the young chef just had to stay. An angry Henriette rode off.

After last week’s excellent episode, ‘The Contest’ felt a bit of a let down, at least at first. Thinking about it, however, this episode had a lot going for itself too. The character work on Antonin was strong. Grimod provided pockets of humour. Larcher was an old master who knew it was time to step off in favour of his protegé; Bruno Henry was a picture of restrained dignity. Since her first appearance, I’ve thought there was something interesting about Liliane, the old servant who was the receptacle of the house’s secrets. Here, she found a photo amongst Bailly’s things that she brought to Talleyrand; what the secret was involving Antonin’s mother, we do not yet know. The episode was a patchwork of stories that, due to Carême’s usual quick pacing, at times felt abrupt rather than smooth flowing. But overall, it still goes down well. It’s still Carême. And I still look forward to the next episode. 

Strays

🧑‍🍳Antonin received Bailly’s things from a lawyer. The pâtisserie was seized by the government, so he did not inherit that. 

🧑‍🍳Antonin has been heavily drinking that opium-laced cocktail.

🧑‍🍳The cooking judges were Grimod de la Reynière, Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès, Second Consul of France (Frank Williams), and Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, magistrate and journalist (Anthony Paliotti). 

🧑‍🍳Antonin told Talleyrand that Fouché had the itinerary that he copied by hand. Talleyrand had someone (Kélian Maréchaux, Bailly’s unnamed guard) steal it. 

🧑‍🍳Francois-André Laguipirre, Napoleon’s chef, was also a competitor. 

🧑‍🍳Antonin cooked with Noël (Gabriel Donzelli). When Noël injured his hand, instead of calling one of the many cooks in his house, Talleyrand helped out Antonin himself. He said he had to cook whilst he was in exile. 

🧑‍🍳Fouché told Henriette that he would arrest Antonin that night. Henriette offered to bring him in; Talleyrand has disappointed him, he might cooperate. That was her way of buying some time for Antonin.

🧑‍🍳Antonin and Noël’s lapin à l’istrettu, plated with a wreath to hold it together, was what inspired Talleyrand’s scheme to make Napoleon an emperor. Agathe and Larcher’s winning dish was the aziminu. 

🧑‍🍳Agathe’s last name is Guichardet. I wanted to mention this here since I don’t think it’s been included in my past recaps. 

🧑‍🍳Antonin and Agathe’s first kiss happened on this episode. Antonin told Agathe that he was leaving, and he was leaving the kitchen to her. Antonin pulled her into a hug and thanked her. She kissed him. She told him he had been named best cook and that he would need to cook for the coronation. He looked tempted, but as he thought he was about to be arrested, he told Agathe he had no choice. It was then that Talleyrand walked in. The chemistry between Antonin and Agathe through the episode was excellent; if we get a season two (I hope so!) the writers should include more scenes of Antonin (gently) grabbing Agathe’s arm because that was hot. 

🧑‍🍳Agathe: ‘When are you going to admit that you need me?’ Antonin: “When you admit that you need me.’

🧑‍🍳Antonin promised Henriette he would catch up with her later. 

🧑‍🍳What was that that Antonin must never know?

🧑‍🍳Fouché’s fury was now on Henriette.

🧑‍🍳Fouché’s number one suspect on the bombing, Georges Cadoudal, had docked in Quiberon.

Rating: B-

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