Nazotoki Wa Dinner No Ato De Episode 10 Recap

Well, I did take ample time to write this (to be honest, I totally stowed it at the back of my mind and forgot about it).... I remembered that it happened to be around Christmas when this was released, what a nice coincidence!

Note: This is not going to resemble anything like my previous recaps, it's just going to be a touch-and-go. 


Now, I have many complaints with the last episode. It seems like it has so muchhh potential for the scriptwriters to explore, and I was hoping so much for Reiko to finally wise up and show us that her pretty brain could be put to some good use...apparently I was mistaken, and this drama had decided to be a comedy (not being sarcastic here) right till the end. So, in light of that, I shall save my complaints for the end. 

Kageyama explained to Reiko that he was innocent and that the reason he hurt his hand was because he punched the ground in anger when he lost a baseball game/bet to the shopkeeper/chef of Noel, a cake shop. However, Kageyama sitll got brought back to the station by Katzamatsuri only to be questioned on the whereabouts of HouShou Rei (I kinda forgot about this, but remember? Kageyama pretended to Reiko's boyfriend in a few episodes earlier.)

 

Of course, Kageyama kept quiet about it and he was shut behind bars. Er, that didn't prevent him from having his tea though.

 

So Reiko was feeling really angry (and lonely?) that no one was at home on Christmas Eve and that she couldn't even open a bottle of wine/champagne for herself. Kageyama appeared and apologised for taking so much time because he wanted to prepare turkey for her, and she remarked that the power of the Hosho Group was really remarkable (she told her dad to get Kageyama out of jail). So we have the same routine again -- Reiko telling Kageyama what happened and Kageyama sharing with her what he was doing on the same timeline as her. 

Instead of like the usual, where he was in the vicinity and all, he was put together in the same cell with this really fierce looking cell mate so he went from this --

 

to this ---

 

Hahahaha. Fine, that kinda got me. 

Thanks to baseball though, he and the cellmate went on good terms and Kageyama realised that he needed to get out of his past failures. Stop dwelling on the past and move on. So he gave the cellmate the baseball that he had been holding on to (he wrote his name on the baseball to remind himself of the lost bet) and afterwards he was released. 

So we have all the deduction again, and Kageyama told Reiko that the true suspect was the editor and that he had been acting out double identities for years. The small girl who was the famous writer's daughter was actually his daughter too and Reiko was doubtful of that deduction but Kageyama was sure. That was because the Noel's chef told him that every year, there would be a girl who would buy a birthday cake (one with a panda figurine) instead of the christmas cake (Santa Claus) for her father. And based on Reiko's recount, the small girl would buy a cake every year, with a panda figurine on it from Noel. 

So it was a chain murder. And the editor was only responsible for the second one because the second victim had threatened to expose the secret to everyone -- that the famous writer was dead for yearss and that the one writing the murder stories right now was the editor. 

So off Reiko marched to the house and there they tried to stop the editor from doing more crazy, stupid things. Kageyama and the editor got into this 'fight' when he tried to get the editor to drop the knife. Reiko wanted to be helpful so she tried to heave a vase and throw it on the editor...but accidentally hit Kageyama instead.

 

AND SHE RAISED A HAND AND SAID "SORRY." I don't know to throw my hands up in exasperation or to laugh heartily at this. It IS quite a good poke at humour....but sigh, this is no where near my expectations.

Then, as if that comedy wasn't enough, the editor drew his hand up to drive the knife into Reiko, but she was saved by Katzamtsuri who lay in her arms and gave a -sob- touching speech about how nice it was to die in her arms.

 

After which he promptly fell asleep. =.= 

And you can't have me believe that Kageyama managed to survive that vase throw without any injuries! But there you have it, he sat up perfectly normal and accused Reiko of doing that intentionally. Kageyama pulled out the knife from Katzamatsuri and realised that it was his baseball which had saved his life (Katzamatsuri previously confiscated it from the cellmate thinking it would lead him to Kageyama since Kageyama was released without him knowing). 

Small girl came in and told her dad she knew it all along that he had been acting out double identities and it was fine because she felt that even if her mother was alive, she wouldn't have much time for her anyway. Editor told her she was wrong and showed a video from her mother which was meant to be shown to her only when she was 20. In there, the mother told her that she loved her very much, but her illness prevented her from being with her loved daughter. The small girl cried and thanked the editor for the wonderful present. 

The previous engagement that Kageyama was talking about earlier? Selling cakes at Noel. Reiko wanted to rush home in time for Santa Claus and so she changed into a costume to help him sell the cakes too. 



Kageyama smiled when he recalled Reiko's dad telling him that Reiko had a big secret and it looked like there was a flashback which was going to tell us what the big secret was, but it was just some murmuring and Kageyama opening his eyes in shock. So I'm only guessing here that Reiko's huge secret is that she believed in Santa Claus??

Then it started snowing, and they smiled at each other. (ahem, with no hints of any romance, just for your information)

-the end-


Okay, so it wasn't really a touch and go, but I hope you guys don't mind me taking out a lot of the details. 

So here come my complaints, which are pretty much toned down already because I've watched this some time ago. 

I didn't like it that Reiko didn't use her brains at all. I mean she was meant to grow up! Her father felt that she had become less childish and more like an adult, but that kind of growth is just not enough for me. There was a lot of hidden potential in the last episode but I've also realised that the scriptwriters wanted to remain true to their genre right till the very end. Still, it was very wasted...because there were SO many opportunities for the scriptwriters to take any conflict here and change it into something major. Take for example, that vase by Reiko. She could seriously injure Kageyama and then we will have some drama there, but noooo, we must have her apologising as if all she did was to step on his toe and then him recovering like he only got his toe stepped. 

It WAS funny, some parts of this last episode, in a what-the-hell-just-happened?! manner, yes it was...but I guess I personally take a stronger grudge towards this because I'm one for either good romance or good thriller or good mystery...I think comedy has rarely been my favourite. Oh I do like it, but unless it is mixed in with some other things, comedy doesn't capture my heart. 

So that being said, I really don't know where I could put this drama. It has no good romance, no good mystery and no good thriller bits. The (only) merits were that it's Kitagawa Keiko and Sakurai Sho, they acted to the best of their abilities, it was entertaining at the very least, and Reiko had nice hair and outfits. Haha^^

I'm sorry if any of you guys reading this are die-hard fans of the show. I guess I don't hate it! But I'm just mildly disappointed at how it turned out after all. 

Source: <3thoughtsramble