To celebrate the fact that I finally got a few eps of Sushi Pack up on youtube, here's a new post.
Poached Salmon
This ep opens with Ikura practicing his fighting techniques, in particular a new move he calls The Super Salmon Slip. Unfortunately, the execution of said technique leaves the area he's practicing in (and Tako and Maguro) covered in orange balls (Tako's wording, not mine). Tako and Maguro yell at him for this, and Ikura accuses them of not being alert enough to avoid his attacks. Maguro tells Ikura to think before he acts, but will he listen? I think not. Will this be important later? As in, before the commercial break? Oh yeah.
Kani demands they all see what's on TV, and Ikura leaps into action, accidently landing on the remote, changing the channel to the Bear Channel (all bears, all the time), which freaks him out. Kani chastises him for not looking before he leaped, and starts to explain about the special she was really watching (and Ikura freaks out again, thinking she meant the Bear Channel, and Kani facepalms): apparently White Oleander, who is a returning villain, even though this is her first appearance, is busy throwing dinner parties. On TV, Oleander delays her Lard Trough How-To in order to
Before the end of her show, Oleander not-so-subtly tells the Sushi Pack to stay away from her shindig. Ikura takes offense at this and is all fired up to go take her on, but Tako tells him to chill. Maguro theorizes that Oleander plans to use the turkey dinner to capture the mayor, police chief, and editor, once they fall asleep after their meal. But Kani points out that Oleander's "all about eating and eating us," so what's her real plan? Whether she has a plan or not, they should go check out her studio, says Tako, although he only seems to be concerned about the mayor. So it's off to the studio!
At the studio (where the parties are not only held, but televised), there is no audience, just the three main guests snoozing away, tied to their chairs. Tako wants to play it safe and starts devising a plan, but Ikura takes off on his own to rescue the mayor. And falls right into Oleander's trap: sticky honey all over the floor! Oleander shows herself, and I never noticed until I started this snark, but when she's on TV, she has a completely different voice, all sweet and homey, unlike her regular voice, which is gravelly. It makes sense that she'd do that, but I just never noticed before. Probably because this is the only episode where we've seen her on her show. Anyway, she addresses the now-hiding members of the pack: Give themselves up and nothing will happen to the mayor and the others, but if not, she'll deep fry Ikura! She even ties him up and sets him on an eggbeater that slowly cranks him ever closer to the hot sesame oil, complete with an hourglass to show how long both Ikura and the mayor and the others have left.
While Ikura's in a bind, the others gripe about how he brought this on himself by being so headstrong. Kani even comments, "I could just pinch him! ...very gently." XD! But they still think up a plan to save him, while Mission Impossible-type music plays and there's a kinda cool semi-circular camera pan around them. Also, Tako uses, "Wasabi and I," to end a sentence. Is this the writers' fault, or is it just showing that Tako's pretty pretentious? Which he is, no doubt about it, but is it intentional? We may never know, as the scene shifts back to Ikura, who laments the fact that he's about to become just another saturated fat-filled treat. And he has his epiphany moment where he realizes that plans are a good thing and he was really, really stupid for not realizing that sooner. And I apologize, Ikura, but I found this scene terribly amusing.
His almost-emo soliloquy is interrupted by Kani, who tells him she's about to cut the string. Ikura is not very enthusiastic about this plan. But it's okay, because Maguro uses mind over matter to move the fryer lid into place before Ikura hits the oil. However, Oleander was merely waiting for such a rescue attempt, and she's ready to strike. Until she's distracted by Tako and Wasabi, that is. She wards off their attacks with oven mitts and a pan lid, causing Wasabi to flare up in anger, and despite Tako's efforts to cool him down, he has a meltdown, literally! Maguro does not relish the thought of cleaning Wasabi up.
Oleander advances, and the rest of the pack attacks, but she reveals her secret weapon: a switch that will open a trapdoor under the mayor and the rest, dropping them into a vat of chocolate mousse! For some reason, Wasabi brings up macrame, and Ikura suggests they come up with a plan, much to the others' amusement. Ikura summarizes the lesson he learned: "It's dumb to do anything without thinking about it first." Wasabi pulls himself back together, and Ikura comes up with a plan...
While Oleander stands poised at the switch (sweating for some reason. Is she nervous or just hot?), Maguro uses her telepathy to lift a pitcher of water and spill a stream so Ikura can use his new technique from the beginning of the episode. He ends up shooting a stream of roe at the ceiling fan, sending a never-ending barrage right at Oleander. Wasabi heats up the switch to the trapdoor, so much so that when Oleander tries to throw it, it burns her oven mitt right through. While Oleander's distracted, Kani and Tako get the mayor and the rest out of the studio. There's more fighting and Oleander accidentally hits the switch and nearly falls into her own vat. It looks like she's safe, but Kani sneaks in and pinches her foot, causing her to fall into the mousse. Not such a bad thing, since it's made with Belgian chocolate.
Later, the mayor thanks the Sushi Pack for saving him and the others, and comments on how they probably should have thought twice before accepting Oleander's invitation. Which just begs the question, what did she do in her debut? I thought she just went up against the Sushi Pack, but if it was something that the mayor knows about, but obviously didn't take seriously (and neither did the network, since she still had a show...), then who knows? Ikura pronounces that he's learned his lesson again, and the mayor gives them all a medal. A big heavy medal. A medal so heavy, in fact, that the Pack has to give themselves a pep talk in order to pose with it. Which they do.
I don't know what it is, but something about Oleander rubs me the wrong way, which is weird, because the idea of a foodee villain really intrigues me.
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