S01.E16: Scenes From An Italian Restaurant

[Trini]

Next episode:

(1.16) "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" -

When the God Account sends Miles and Cara the name of Sophia (Stella Maeve), a sous chef, they decide to help when they learn that her dreams of opening her own restaurant are in danger of falling apart. Also, Ali and Miles are concerned that the Diocese sent Rev. Carver (Gaius Charles)
to replace Arthur, and Rakesh gets closer to Simon Hayes (Adam Goldberg), on GOD FRIENDED ME, Sunday, March 10 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

This one is directed by Joe Morton!

[Kimmmmmm]

I just love this show soooo much! That's all

[mommalib]

Another great episode tonight as always but I have to skip to the end. When Miles and Cara agreed to just be friends I was kinda pissed. They faked me out because I really thought they would leave it there. But in the restaurant when it was said you had to kiss who you came with I knew it was back on. They did the little first smooch and both they're faces said damn I want more and then they really went in. I loved it.

[stonehaven]

Oh I love this show. Glad the Dad is being elevated and not pushed out, Glad for that awesome kiss at the end and my heart was warm in the Dad selling his eatery for his daughter..that's parental love.

[Nilknarf]

What an amazing show. I was kind of sad to see how awkward their date was. I was really invested in Miles and Cara as a couple and I was bummed to see they had decided to “just be friends” But that kiss.... ah, it was worth the wait!!

[zoey1996]

On 2/17/2019 at 10:55 PM, zoey1996 said:

... Worried about the dad, because it sounds like he may be pushed out.  Or he may be promoted to a diocesan office...

I called it!  That never happens, so I'm a bit giddy!  😊

Enjoyed the rest of the episode.  I too thought it was probably her dad sabotaging her efforts to get the restaurant up and running, so glad it didn't end up that way.

[redpencil]

Yet another episode of this show with me grinning the entire last 10 minutes. Like clockwork.

[Brian Cronin]

Another good episode, but I think that the "happy ending" with the daughter and the father wasn't particularly well-considered. In the highly competitive restaurant market, to sell a successful restaurant to fund a startup just doesn't make any sense. It would have made so much more sense to just re-brand the original restaurant under Sophia's management/menu. She gets the built-in audience from the classic restaurant and gets to do what she wants. It's a much more pragmatic solution. 

[Trini]

On 3/10/2019 at 8:31 PM, mommalib said:

Another great episode tonight as always but I have to skip to the end. When Miles and Cara agreed to just be friends I was kinda pissed. They faked me out because I really thought they would leave it there. But in the restaurant when it was said you had to kiss who you came with I knew it was back on. They did the little first smooch and both they're faces said damn I want more and then they really went in. I loved it.

Yes, this was me too! "Just friends"?! I was going to riot. Glad they're back on. (Though I get the feeling this is going to still be a slowburn kind of relationship.)

In other plotlines:

So Arthur is going to get promoted? That was a happy twist. I wonder if they plan on keeping the new reverend as a semi-regular.

I'm still not really invested in the God Account/Henry Chase mystery, but I wonder how soon they plan to bring him in since now he seems to be an active player in the story.

I not an expert or anything, but not having the liquor license seemed like a relatively minor thing to lose investors over. Obviously not ideal, but it shouldn't be a dealbreaker, when it seems like something that could easily be fixed in time. (Maybe someone who more familiar can comment.)

20 hours ago, Brian Cronin said:

Another good episode, but I think that the "happy ending" with the daughter and the father wasn't particularly well-considered. In the highly competitive restaurant market, to sell a successful restaurant to fund a startup just doesn't make any sense. It would have made so much more sense to just re-brand the original restaurant under Sophia's management/menu. She gets the built-in audience from the classic restaurant and gets to do what she wants. It's a much more pragmatic solution. 

Yeah, I was glad that the father and daughter made up, but I didn't like the solution to the situation either. Selling the entire restaurant and retiring wasn't necessary. Her becoming the new chef would have been ideal. Or the father could have still invested some of his profits for her new place.

 

 

Interview with Violett Beane about the Miles/Cara relationship:

Quote

TVLINE | Figuring out when to get your couple together on a show is such an art form. There are shows that wait until the last season, or they wait several years. You guys didn’t wait that long. Was that exciting for you? Or were you worried that maybe you’re pulling the trigger too soon?

There’s no denying that, oftentimes in shows, when characters get together, either they don’t know what to write after that, or the chemistry between the characters is just different. But I feel so confident that Bryan [Wynbrandt] and Steven [Lilien] know what they’re doing. We’re just about to finish filming the last episode of the season, and I can tell you just from what we’ve been working on that it doesn’t affect the friend group and the ultimate goal of what they’re doing. I think they’re going to do this pretty well.

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, Brian Cronin said:

Another good episode, but I think that the "happy ending" with the daughter and the father wasn't particularly well-considered. In the highly competitive restaurant market, to sell a successful restaurant to fund a startup just doesn't make any sense. It would have made so much more sense to just re-brand the original restaurant under Sophia's management/menu. She gets the built-in audience from the classic restaurant and gets to do what she wants. It's a much more pragmatic solution. 

This bugged me too, because old school Italian restaurants with long histories in NYC are gold mines and people don't just close them for reasons like this.  I didn't hear him say he was going to sell it to continue as the same restaurant either - It sounded like he was going to close it.  He would do better to sell to new non-family owners with the promise of keeping the same name and original recipes like John's of 12th Street, an old Village place that has been there forever.  But why sell at all?  I thought for sure he was just going to come up with the investor money himself but not close his restaurant.  I don't think merging his restaurant with her style would work either because iconic places like his thrive on being old fashioned and introducing a very new and different kind of cuisine into the mix is not the best route.  The show made it sound like Sofia's new place would put her father's restaurant out of business, but that's ridiculous too because no way would her style of cooking be any kind of competition for an old fashioned red sauce palace.  They don't exist in the same category, not even close.  There are restaurants on every corner in Manhattan so one more with a very different style isn't going to make any difference to that place.  I did love the nod and wink to "Top Chef", though.  Again, my worlds collide with this show.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Yeah No

[MissLucas]

Yeah, I was also struggling with the restaurant plot for all the reasons mentioned. Also: what about the folks working there? It's possible that the new owner would rehire them but I still would have liked that to be mentioned. It wasn't simply a family business decision to sell - it was a decision that touched upon the livelihood of many folks.

I enjoyed Miles and Cara's struggle to make the jump from platonic to romantic but I was more impressed by Rakesh and his plot. He was impressive by fending off the attack, did not forget his friend's request  and in the end asked the pertinent question about the God account. Also: Simon Hayes is definitely holding something back. Yet Goldberg isn't playing him shady but rather wounded - if that makes sense. I'm intrigued.

[Empress1]

6 hours ago, Trini said:

Yes, this was me too! "Just friends"?! I was going to riot.

I was like "FRIENDS? What the fuck?!" And then when the kiss had sparks I smiled. I've often thought "Kiss her, you blockhead" (TM Sally from Charlie Brown) when they have their Moments so I'm glad that was the answer.

5 hours ago, Yeah No said:

This bugged me too, because old school Italian restaurants with long histories in NYC are gold mines and people don't just close them for reasons like this.  I didn't hear him say he was going to sell it to continue as the same restaurant either - It sounded like he was going to close it.  He would do better to sell to new non-family owners with the promise of keeping the same name and original recipes like John's of 12th Street, an old Village place that has been there forever.  But why sell at all?  I thought for sure he was just going to come up with the investor money himself but not close his restaurant.  I don't think merging his restaurant with her style would work either because iconic places like his thrive on being old fashioned and introducing a very new and different kind of cuisine into the mix is not the best route.  The show made it sound like Sofia's new place would put her father's restaurant out of business, but that's ridiculous too because no way would her style of cooking be any kind of competition for an old fashioned red sauce palace.  They don't exist in the same category, not even close.  There are restaurants on every corner in Manhattan so one more with a very different style isn't going to make any difference to that place.  I did love the nod and wink to "Top Chef", though.  Again, my worlds collide with this show.

I agree with everything said here. The restaurant plot was ... kind of stupid.

[shapeshifter]

17 minutes ago, Empress1 said:

I agree with everything said here. The restaurant plot was ... kind of stupid

Or maybe the restaurant story was cut/gutted for time—with 3 other plots to cover (romance, church changes, and chasing Henry Chase). Or maybe there were a couple of lines about something like ongoing structural repair issues, but maybe they would've given away the happy ending. Still, the dad could've mentioned facing expensive repairs at the end, but I guess the editor thought the shorthand of Dad retiring was sufficient—even though it really wasn't. 

Edited March 11, 2019 by shapeshifter

[mythoughtis]

On 2/18/2019 at 10:51 PM, Yeah No said:

I didn't find that segment all that believable.  I've worked with IT people in big companies and even if they were sympathetic to this guy and each other they certainly wouldn't let that be known to someone that supervises them.  Rakesh acted like he was powerless and all alone, and that if he told his superiors it would only look bad on him.  Not if he presented it the way it went down.  Management usually sticks up for the manager in situations like that.  That's his lack of confidence talking, not reality.

I didn’t find it any of it believable.  As an IT application developer... hacking would get me fired, nor promoted.  Having a hacking contest with my subordinate would get us both fired. Watching such a  contest would get me fired. Telling my boss I’m just not going to do the work would get me fired.  

Believe it or not - Most of us aren’t Penelope Garcia or Rakesh. We aren’t hacking, we are coding.  We are developing applications to meet the company's business need. 

Edited March 11, 2019 by mythoughtis

[tennisgurl]

I was about to be super annoyed when Cara and Miles decided to go back to being friends, but this show wouldn't play with my feelings in such a cheap way! I have faith in it! Looks like that gap wasnt missed at all. 

Fun seeing Julia from The Magicians as Sophia, and she and her dad and their re-connection was really sweet. However, like others, I have a lot of questions about this restaurant. I think it would make sense for her to just take ownership of restaurant and put her own spin on the food, closing a popular old school Italian place thats been in their family since the 30s just seems sad and unnecessary. And a place that has an established reputation and costumer base will most likely do better than a new place,which there are billions of on every block in New York anyway.

Still loved the episode, I love seeing how every God Account story will go, and the relationship between Cara and Miles is very lovable and real. Them feeling awkward on their first date made sense (people put so much pressure on actual dates!) but I loved them realizing that the spark was still there, and they had more to find out about each other and had more in common than the God Account. 

Simon Hayes is definitely hiding something, but I dont think its the God Account, and I dont think its anything sinister. He just isnt coming off as angry or creepy to me when he talks about his old friend, he just comes across as hurt and confused. Besides, this isnt really a show that lends itself to "villains" with the exception of some minor characters who create some minor conflicts in the midst of a bigger one, like the jerk chef in this episode sabotaging Sophia. Some big bad just seems weird. 

Arthur is getting promoted! I was afraid he was going to get pushed out, this is much better for everyone. I dont know, he might not want to leave his church though.

Edited March 12, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Yeah No]

Some thoughts after seeing this episode a second time - Miles and Cara were friend zoned for so long that their chemistry was solely channeled through their work together on "The God Account".  It was very realistic for them to feel awkward on a formal date.  While watching this episode my husband kept saying, "Oh come on, all they need is a drink and the sparks will fly".  He was right and thinking of the way our relationship began.  We were platonic friends for several months before going on our first date and it was just like that until we had a drink together that lowered our inhibitions.

I'm beginning to wonder if the Henry Chase they're finding in the system is actually Henry Chase at all, or if he is there but with Simon Hayes' permission and Simon is not being honest about that for some reason.  Why wouldn't he and Priya still be in contact too and she figures into this somehow?  This may just be a smoke screen to throw Rakesh off track.

Ladurée is an actual place (unlike the restaurant in this episode) and now I know why it looked so familiar - My husband reminded me that we've been to their Soho location before.  One of hubbie's clients once gave us a box of their macarons and we later went there to get more.  From my love of macarons, to old school NY red sauce palaces, to Episcopal churches, etc., etc., this show continues to intersect with my life.

[shapeshifter]

14 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

I didn’t find it any of it believable.  As an IT application developer... hacking would get me fired, nor promoted.  Having a hacking contest with my subordinate would get us both fired. Watching such a  contest would get me fired. Telling my boss I’m just not going to do the work would get me fired.  

Believe it or not - Most of us aren’t Penelope Garcia or Rakesh. We aren’t hacking, we are coding.  We are developing applications to meet the company's business need. 

Everything in this show is presented as a surrealistic, magical fantasy. Simon Hayes's brief lines of "Rakesh, what the hell are you doing? -- Get the hell away from my computer, or I'm calling security" don't create as much dramatic tension as they could because they exist only as a brief acknowledgement that none of this could happen in real life.

The senario with Miles' dad being promoted is probably just as annoyingly unrealistic to those watching who know better.

And, yes, as with any show set in NYC, the size of the apartments is disproportionate to the likely salaries of the occupants — but this show is unrealistic on a much grander scale in every aspect of their lives.

I was annoyed with Miles' and Cara's get-a-room level of kissing in the restaurant, but at least they did the blur special effect to signal that this too was not actually happening in the eyes of real people.

Upthread the unrealistic outcome of the restaurant business situation has been dissected too.

And yet, somehow it all gets woven into a fairytale ending each week that gives the viewer a sense of satisfaction like a child with a chocolate bunny in a basket delivered by a bunny.

[andromeda331]

The way the restaurant was resolved was the first time I didn't really like how the problem was resolved. The dad clearly loved his restaurant. I really didn't to see him close and sell it. I thought they'd either go with them combining his old school recipes with her new ones. Or we'd see her open her own restaurant and they both happy running their own restaurants. 

That aside I still loved the episode. I did think it was her dad who called the inspector on her. I'm glad it wasn't.

I liked Miles and Cara's date ended up being the God Account suggestion. It did make sense that it would be a little hard to switch from friends to dating. I'm glad the kiss at the end changed their plans to be just friends. Which is good. I would have been so mad if that did that.

I love that Arthur wasn't getting pushed out but being promoted. That's great. I love how far Miles and Arthur have come since the first episode.

[Empress1]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

And, yes, as with any show set in NYC, the size of the apartments is disproportionate to the likely salaries of the occupants — but this show is unrealistic on a much grander scale in every aspect of their lives.

We haven't seen Cara's apartment but at least the show mentioned that she has a roommate. I get so annoyed when editorial assistants live alone in giant SoHo lofts. (Editorial assistants make about $35K/year.) I like to play "How Much Would That Apartment Cost In Real Life?" when I watch anything set in NYC.

[lh25]

5 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Or we'd see her open her own restaurant and they both happy running their own restaurants. 

That's what I was hoping for.

I had an issue with the investors pulling out without knowing why the liquor license had issues.  They immediately assumed she'd done something wrong.  It could have been a simple mistake on the city's part, or of course sabotage.

[Yeah No]

To the idea of merging Sofia's cuisine with her father's restaurant - I disagree that that would ever work.  First of all, she explicitly stated that she didn't want to be a part of her father's restaurant in any way and wanted to go out on her own.  Secondly, from all I know after watching every single "Kitchen Nightmares" and every other restaurant show out there, you have to stick to one thing and do it right or it never works.  New Yorkers take their old school red sauce palaces very seriously and tourists come to NY wanting to experience this in its purest, most old fashioned form possible.  I didn't like the message in this episode that the old ways need to be updated.  Surely that works in some cases with some restaurants, but when it comes to iconic historical restaurants like this one it doesn't apply.  New York is full of very old restaurants that have not changed in any big way in many decades, even over 100 years in some cases (hello, Peter Luger's).  And that's not necessarily a bad thing nor do I think it was in this case either.

Plus, Sofia would never get to be the boss in her father's restaurant as much as he loves her.  She wants to be the boss to be able to exercise her creativity without any restriction, and I don't blame her.  I was frankly surprised that she took crap from the head chef because usually in family owned restaurants the children of owners are treated with kid gloves by staff.  That was yet another unrealistic aspect of this episode.  Given how her father really felt about her I doubt he would have ever let that chef treat her that way, nor would she, to be honest.  Yet another unrealistic aspect to this episode. 

Sorry, I just needed to get that off my chest, lol. 😉

[kirkola]

On 3/11/2019 at 3:00 PM, mythoughtis said:

I didn’t find it any of it believable.  As an IT application developer... hacking would get me fired, nor promoted.  Having a hacking contest with my subordinate would get us both fired. Watching such a  contest would get me fired. Telling my boss I’m just not going to do the work would get me fired.  

Believe it or not - Most of us aren’t Penelope Garcia or Rakesh. We aren’t hacking, we are coding.  We are developing applications to meet the company's business need. 

They need to get someone on to consult on their IT language as well.  I'm pretty sure at some point they had Rakesh said he would attack with HyperText Transfer Protocol and I was thrown out completely.  You're going to attack a guy with website?  I'm only peripheral IT and even I know that is where we get HTTP. 

Either Simon or Henry is testing Rakesh (still!) or none of these IT people are very good at their jobs.

[jhlipton]

On 3/10/2019 at 6:31 PM, mommalib said:

When Miles and Cara agreed to just be friends I was kinda pissed. They faked me out because I really thought they would leave it there. 

On 3/12/2019 at 12:00 AM, Yeah No said:

Miles and Cara were friend zoned for so long that their chemistry was solely channeled through their work together on "The God Account". 

Actually, I was VERY glad that they didn't bring up the fictional "Friend Zone"!  These were two people who liked and cared for each other as friends, and would continue to do so regardless of where their relationship went.  The "Friend Zone" was invented by Nice Guys who pretend to care about women thinking they will be "owed" sex, and when they're not, they quickly show that they were never truly friends with the woman in the first place.

So I'm glad for the kiss, but I'm even more glad that the time they spent in the "gap" wasn't spent complaining.

On 3/13/2019 at 7:37 AM, kirkola said:

They need to get someone on to consult on their IT language as well.  I'm pretty sure at some point they had Rakesh said he would attack with HyperText Transfer Protocol and I was thrown out completely. 

I know, right?  Maybe later he'll take an XML to it -- that'll learn it!

[Lonesome Rhodes]

I was angry at the anvils being tossed our way to understand the plot.  TPTB were clearly playing to samplers (new audience) and treating loyal viewers as infants. 

The biggest issue for me is that Rakesh is now indispensable (absurd, but that's where we are at) to Simon.  As such, his life is no longer his own AND his compensation just vaulted astronomically.  IRL, his relationship with Mara (now there's a NY mash-up name!) is ovuh.  

Joe Morton used some interesting angular moves in shooting some of the scenes.  There were a lot of foreground objects in, for this show, the unusually wide establishing shots for conversations.  Good stuff.

I hope Smash remains in the cast.

Dean Martin was certainly a generational Pavlovian catalyst for a kiss or three   😉