Review of Shokuzai Ep 4

The story now shifts to Yuka (Ikewaki Chizuru), the last of the quartet who had been close friends with Emily. At the time of the murder, Yuka had gone to report the case to the police. As a result of this encounter, Yuka started to have an unexplainable infatuation with the policeman she met that day. It could be due to the fact that Yuka was practically ignored at home because her sickly sister Mayu hogged their mother's attention. Whenever Yuka went to the police post to turn in lost items she found, she was basking in the attention and praise the policeman showered on her. However, this did not last as the policeman was transferred to another place.

Compared to her other friends who had been seriously affected by Asako's threatening words, Yuka declared that she wasn't going to do Asako's bidding and would live the way she wants. I don't think that it necessarily means that she's emotionally stronger than the rest. Due to the fact that Yuka had been neglected by her mother at home, she had no choice but to toughen up emotionally or put up a front to show that she wasn't affected at all.

15 years later, Yuka becomes the owner of a florist shop (probably due to financing from a married man Noguchi who seems to be having an affair with her) while her elder sister Mayu is already married to Murakami Keita. Due to the fact that her shop is near her sister's place, Yuka starts to know more about Keita and finds out that he's a policeman. This ignites the dormant infatuation she has always held for policemen and the jealousy towards her sister for having the things she has always wanted. Yuka then seduces Keita and even becomes pregnant with his child. This causes Mayu to collapse from the shock and Keita scurrying to save his marriage. At the same time, Asako sends a letter to Yuka, asking to meet her because she doesn't want her words to have the same undesirable effects on Yuka like how her friends suffered. However, Yuka doesn't go to visit Asako immediately and only does so when she uncovers a clue to Emily's murder.

Frankly speaking, among the four episodes so far, I think Yuka's story is the best in terms of pace and developments. Sae's story took a long time to develop and was bordering on being too draggy at times although I enjoyed it as a whole. Maki's story likewise suffered from a similar problem and the half-hearted ending not talking much about her fate feels like unfinished business to me. Akiko's story left a lot to imagination and we couldn't even be sure whether she was reading too much into the situation or those events did happen. Yuka's story dealt not only with her own feelings of feeling victimised and suffering from the side effects of favouritism (of course, she wasn't the pampered one) but also the dynamics of her relationship with her sister even after they had grown up and how far she was willing to go in order to achieve her aims. I don't think she really likes Keita but his being a policeman and her brother-in-law just made her go all out to snatch him from Mayu.

The title referring to the 10-month pregnancy period seems to be suggesting that Yuka might undergo a change in her character after being a mother. It isn't that significant but I think her stand did soften a bit. She initially wanted Asako to exchange her husband for the clue on the killer but gave it to her readily after Asako sent her to hospital following some complications with her pregnancy. Coupled with the fact that Yuka pushed Keita to his death, it could have meant that she felt that there was no more reason to hold on to the clue and she owed Asako a favour after all.

Now that Asako has a clue to the killer, looks like we are in for a showdown between her and the culprit. It does seem that Emily wasn't kiled due to chance so there should be something linking Asako and that man. If this happens to be true, that means Asako also has a duty to make amends towards Emily for her past actions?