TV Review: "Carême" (S1, Eps. 5-6)
The stakes continue to rise for Carême as he enters a cooking contest and schemes to get his overdue revenge on the ruthless Fouché.
Hello, dear reader! Do you like what you read here at Omnivorous? Do you like reading fun but insightful takes on all things pop culture? Do you like supporting indie writers? If so, then please consider becoming a subscriber and get the newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. There are a number of paid options, but you can also sign up for free! Every little bit helps. Thanks for reading and now, on with the show!
Warning: Spoilers for the series follow.
I don’t know if this is clear by now or not, but I am absolutely captivated by Carême. The storytelling and the performances in this show are just universally excellent, and the fifth and sixth episodes in particular excel at showing us the heightened stakes of our title character’s dalliances with the wealthy and the powerful. In the France that Napoleon has created, even something as seemingly innocuous as a cooking contest becomes yet another site in which power can be exercised, and the stakes grow ever higher when Fouché captures a noted ist and attempts to use him to get to de Talleyrand.
When the fifth episode begins, Carême is still grieving the death of Bailly. This leads him to be dismissive of and curt to everyone around him, including Agathe who, for her part, is more than happy to puncture his self-indulgence. The heart of the fifth episode, though, is a cooking contest and, not for the first (or probably the last) time, Carême’s arrogance and thoughtlessness end up getting him into trouble, costing him the title that he finally discovers that he wants, after all.
In large part, this is due to the malign influence of Josephine herself, who makes an appearance to exert her influence. Even though she is a secondary character in the series, I love every minute that she is on the screen, and Maud Wyler excels at capturing the many shades of this enigmatic yet vitally important character. Throughout the scene, Josephine makes it abundantly clear that she hasn’t forgiven our chef for his little trick from a few episodes ago and that stealing his crown is but one piece of her plan to get revenge on the man who humiliated her and attempted to wield power over her. Once again, the series demonstrates the extent to which the personal and the political continue to intertwine and overlap.
Things are never simple where Carême is concerned, though, and he ultimately gets appointed to be the one who will cook the coronation dinner at Napoleon’s acclamation as Emperor of the French. As de Talleyrand reminds him, this gives him an opportunity to finally get revenge on the man who killed his father, particularly since the wily schemer manages to get his hands on the itinerary, thus removing the Sword of Damocles that Fouché has been able to wield so effectively. This whole sequence once again maintains the exquisite narrative tension that allows Carême to gain at least a bit of agency over his own destiny, even as he’s reminded, again and again, that he’s swimming in some very treacherous waters and that there are many bigger fish who would be happy to devour him.
For her part, Henriette has also shown once again that she is no wilting flower. She might be indebted to Fouché, and she might be spying on de Talleyrand for him, but that doesn’t mean she does everything they want. Even though she ends up fleeing–having killed de Talleyrand’s servant while he attempts to rape her–I’ve no doubt that we’re going to see more of her before the season draws to a close.
I love the way that this show just catches you up in its narrative, immersing you in this heady world and all of its beauty and its fear. At the same time, this is also a show that very much succeeds thanks to the extent to which it helps us to understand these characters. Everyone, hero and villain alike, has their own motivations and their own backstory. This is true even of Fouché. Say what you will about him, but he really does seem to believe in the principles of the Revolution, even if this leads him to commit acts of great cruelty, up to and including torturing a royalist to try to get him to reveal who paid him to bomb Napoleon’s carriage.
For me, though, de Talleyrand continues to be the most fascinating character. He is someone with a keen sense for which way the wind is blowing and, though he might not have been able to get a kingly crown for his dear First Consul, he does get a bit of inspiration from Carême’s dish, seeing in the crown of leaves an echo of the Roman emperors of old. In this way, Carême, for all that he is a humble chef, manages to have an influence on the unfolding of broader historical events. Who’s to say whether, in the show’s imagining of events, Napoleon would ever have sought to claim an imperial title, if it hadn’t been for one chef’s attempt to impress the judges of a cooking contest.
At the same time de Talleyrand is also absolutely ruthless, willing to sacrifice an innocent member of the royal family if it means that he won’t lose his own position (and the scene in which Carême uses food to send a coded message to the imprisoned royalist is one of the most tensely-paced moments in the entire season). For all that he is willing to manipulate Carême, however, one gets the feeling that he really does care about and wants the best for the young man. Theirs is a strange bond, but this is precisely what makes it so compelling to watch.
Then there’s the little mystery of who, exactly, Carême’s mother is. As so often with this character, there is clearly much more to him than meets the eye. As the series enters its final stretch, it remains to be seen just what we may learn about him, just as it remains unclear whether he will succeed in getting his revenge on the man who has taken so much from him.
By the time the sixth episode has come to a close, yet another move has been made, with Fouché telling Carême that it was de Talleyrand who was responsible for Bailly’s arrest in the first place. Say what you will about Fouché, but the man is a keen and canny strategist, and I continue to be in awe of the way that he can scowl and sneer his way through any scene, his eyes gleaming with malice and triumph. He is like a villain straight out of Victor Hugo or Charles Dickens. You can’t help but hate him, even as you also can’t help but admire the sheer skill with which he manages to manipulate others in the little game of cat-and-mouse that he continues to play with de Talleyrand and his chef.
If I have one complaint about these two episodes, it’s that Carême and Agathe end up having sex. I wrote before that it was actually rather refreshing to see a male and female character who didn’t get sucked into some romantic drama but, alas, it seems that that was inevitable. I suppose it’s not all that surprising, given that Carême isn’t exactly skilled at keeping his libido in check. Let’s just hope that their little dalliance has some sort of payoff in the end.
That said, I am devouring Carême as eagerly as any of his patrons do his exquisite culinary creations. There’s only two more episodes left, and I can’t wait to see just what happens next!