Carême ‘Trompe l’oeil’: Fouché redirects young Antonin's rage

Carême Season 1 Episode 6 Recap and Review

It was Talleyrand all along. The question of why Bailly was arrested has been a topic of discussion amongst fans since Carême’s first episode. I even wrote about it here. What the show initially implied — that Bailly was arrested because Antonin turned down Napoleon’s offer to work for him at his palace — did not pass the smell test on its own given how smoothly Antonin was able to glide from the Tuileries Palace to the Hōtel de Galliffet. But did Fouché’s revelation make sense? 

Fouché was disappointed at having been outmanoeuvred by Talleyrand and Antonin in the bombing case. Using his exquisite culinary skills, Antonin was able to persuade Cadoudal to name the Duke of Enghien as the brains behind the attempted assassination of Napoleon. Fouché did not buy it, of course, he was convinced it was a plot between Louis XVIII and Talleyrand, but there was little he could do given such a confession. He needed to close the bombing investigation. Before he did, however, he performed some due diligence that he should have done before since he suspected Antonin so much — he looked into the circumstances of Bailly’s arrest, on how this patisserie owner ended up in custody. It was a chain of information that began with the late Coutiade, Talleyrand’s man. 

Has Antonin been helpful to Talleyrand since Bailly’s arrest? Yes. The carrot Talleyrand has consistently dangled on Antonin was his assistance toward Bailly. When Bailly died, Talleyrand dangled the allure of vengeance. Talleyrand has been able to make Antonin dance to his tune using his love for his father. The question was, was it necessary for Talleyrand to go to the extreme of having Bailly arrested just to get Antonin’s cooperation? Would tapping into Antonin’s ambition not have been enough? Talleyrand knew that Antonin was a good cook, but was he even aware of the extent of Antonin’s brilliance before he worked at the Tuileries Palace? 

More than the first five episodes, Trompe l’oeil focused Carême on its two strongest characters, Talleyrand and Fouché. Talleyrand was an enigma because he was often everything you could think of about him, all at once. Was he a political opportunist? Sure. Was he truly concerned for the welfare of France? That, too. When he embraced Antonin following their successful scheme to persuade Cadoudal to name the Duke of Enghien as the mastermind behind the bombing, there was genuine warmth in his greeting. Later, when Antonin confronted him over making him believe that Napoleon would not execute the Duke (he did, along with Cadoudal), Talleyrand laughingly asked, ‘You really believed me?’, as though even he was surprised that Antonin could be that foolish. Often the williest man in the room, with the weight of unnamed responsibility on his shoulders, Jérémie Renier’s Talleyrand was brilliant in his inscrutability.

And then there was Fouché. As the Minister of Police, Micha Lescot’s Fouché was delightfully campy, injecting energy even on some truly grim scenes. When he led his men in the pursuit of Cadoudal, that walk, that top hat, that theatrical conduction of his hands, he looked like a character who had wandered from a musical, in a very good way. 

Fouché was the focus of Antonin’s rage. When Antonin offered to set a table for Fouché as well during that lunch he and Agathe served for Cadoudal inside the prison, there was a malevolent promise behind his polite words. Antonin had been experimenting with poison and its delivery. He blamed Fouché for his father’s death and was determined to make Fouché suffer. When Fouché came to his kitchen at Hōtel de Galliffet, Antonin immediately attacked him, shoved him down and held a knife. Antonin was a son who had been drowning in his grief. Fouché came to give him a new target. What made it effective was that Talleyrand getting Courtiade to start a string of gossip to get Bailly arrested and Antonin desperate enough to do anything he wanted was a rather Talleyrand thing to do. Whether he actually did it or not, I guess we’ll find out. 

And what of Antonin this episode? Outside of the political games and vengeance, Antonin and Agathe finally slept together. Okay, not sleep, they did it in the carriage on the way back to the Hōtel de Galliffet after serving lunch in prison. They both looked quite tense when they first got in, understandably so, and Antonin was once more drinking his opium-laced cocktail heavily. It was nice that Agathe initiated it. That it happened whilst Antonin was trying to put himself in an opium haze, that Agathe was now part of Talleyrand’s machinations with Antonin, gave me pause, but I will wait for the show to lead us where this is going. 

Henriette was still in the picture. Talleyrand told Antonin that Henriette would have betrayed him (‘Love. Beware of him. He’s a bad adviser.’). Henriette sent Antonin a letter and asked him to join her, if he meant what he promised. Fouché and his men were still after Henriette, though. I hope we see her again before the season ends. 

Whilst this episode’s excuse to cook was just so-so – why would Napoleon agree to have the best chef in France serve a meal to the person who tried to kill him? – everything else that surrounded it was strong. I am genuinely excited for the season's last two episodes, and I hope there will be a second season because from everything I’ve seen, Carême deserves that. There are more stories to tell here, more threads to pull, and the cast is outstanding. See you on the next recap, and thank you so much for joining in these weekly Carême updates!

Strays

🧑‍🍳 I’m sorry this recap is posting late, I got home feeling quite tired and unwell and could not write anymore. 

🧑‍🍳Antonin used a rat and a cat to experiment with poison. He told the rat it would not feel anything at first. The cat later ate the rat and died. 

🧑‍🍳Talleyrand told Catherine that Cadoudal only saw Antonin, not him, and that Antonin would not betray him. Catherine was not convinced, and told her husband to make sure Antonin disappeared, or she would.

🧑‍🍳 Um, has Talleyrand forgotten that Antonin already betrayed him? Antonin wrote to Fouché about Charlotte, which led to Napoleon forcing Talleyrand to marry Catherine. 

🧑‍🍳Catherine told Antonin he had bewitched her husband, and that she had less influence on him than the cook. She gave him a bottle of what I assumed was poison. 

🧑‍🍳’You’re getting soft in your old age.’ ‘Was it that hard? Really?’ Naughty talk by Catherine and Antonin at Talleyrand’s expense. 

🧑‍🍳After Courtiade’s body was found, Antonin came clean. He claimed he would have told Talleyrand and was just waiting for the right moment. Though Talleyrand was skeptical of Henriette’s claim, he smoothly covered up Courtiade’s death as an accident when he tried to saddle his master’s horse.

🧑‍🍳Was Talleyrand truly giving Antonin a way out? Maybe. Or, maybe Talleyrand knew Antonin would not take it and planned it this way so that he would remain in Talleyrand’s employ with the impression that he chose to remain.

🧑‍🍳There was a clerk (played by Baptiste Carrion-Weiss) who mildly protested at the torture and interrogation of Cadoudal. I wanted to mention him in case we see him again later in the series.

🧑‍🍳Fouché’s assistant was Chazot, played by Eugène Marcuse.

🧑‍🍳The Duke of Enghien opposed Bonaparte but never took arms against him. He did, however, wrote a lot, especially about Louis XVIII’s weakness, so Cadoudal would not like him. Later, Talleyrand told Antonin that the Duke was a crazy anti-Bonapartist, and that one day he would be a problem. 

🧑‍🍳Antonin: ‘Food can be more eloquent than words.’

🧑‍🍳The scream as Antonin and Agathe entered the prison was a stark reminder of what a nightmare going to that place, where his father was tortured and killed, must have been for Antonin.

🧑‍🍳The first course at lunch was lamb (sacrificial lamb). The second dish was puff pastry galette, filled with almond cream, served with a grand cru of Ethiopian coffee. Fouché thought a secret message was hidden in the pastry but it was actually in the sugar cubes placed in the coffee (the Enghien coat of arms). 

🧑‍🍳Cadoudal saw that Fouché was getting to Antonin, with his ragging about Bailly, and cut the tension with a confession. 

🧑‍🍳Cadoudal and the Duke of Enghien were both executed by firing squad.

🧑‍🍳The Pope was coming to France. When Antonin asked Talleyrand if he would have killed the Pope, he said no. ‘But what we believe is more important than what’s true.’

🧑‍🍳Young Noel, don't tease Liliane, she knows more secrets than you do recipes.

Rating: B+

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