Charlie and Rex investigate a long list of enemies belonging to the vitriolic celebrity Chef Gregory Ramon when a severed human thumb is found inside his beef wellington during the recording of the latest episode of his cooking show Seared.
Tropes:
- Accidental Murder: What Molly tries to paint her killing of Aaron as. She claims to have went to his office looking to expose his lies and set the story straight for Daniel, only to find him not there. When he came back, the two of them got into a fight that ended in Molly accidentally bludgeoning Aaron to death with a fire extinguisher. However, Charlie points out that what with everything else she did afterward (cutting off Aaron's thumb and planting it in Chef Gregory's beef wellington, burying Aaron's body in Chef Dave's garden, and framing Gregory, Dave and Pamela for the murder), it is very unlikely that anyone will buy what she did was an accident.
- The Atoner: After the case is solved, Chef Gregory is mentioned to have owned up to his purchasing of cocaine and invites the SJPD to a fundraiser where he and Pamela are serving dishes to raise money for victims of substance abuse like Daniel.
- Fingore: The episode begins with a live cooking competition with a severed human thumb being found in a beef wellington made by Chef Gregory during a live airing of the latest episode of Seared. It belongs to Aron Tarr, the food scientist who wrote the false report that ruined Daniel Owens's career.
- Foreshadowing: At the beginning of the episode after the incident happens, Chef Gregory is seen arguing about how his sous chef Molly Auclair was supposed to be overlooking the creation of his beef wellington, asking how a thumb wound up in it with her having no idea. She's actually the one who put it in there, and she's the one responsible for Aaron's murder.
- Frame-Up: Chef Dave, Pamela Simmons, and Chef Gregory are all accused of Aaron's murder with their own respective motives. All of their alibis are true.
- Chef Dave is accused when Aaron Tarr's body is found buried in his vegetable garden, with his motive being losing a lot of money from when he partnered with Daniel Owens on his sacha inchi steak and seeing his student humiliated on Seared. Dave was out of town the night of the murder and points out that if he was the killer, it would make no sense for him to hide the body on his own property.
- Pamela Simmons is accused when she is caught on camera supposedly driving Aaron's car away from his lab the night of the murder, her motive being her devout veganism and her conflicts with Chef Gregory. She's actually working for Chef Gregory, and it wouldn't make sense for her to do something like that to him. It’s actually Molly disguised as her to frame her.
- Chef Gregory is accused when a towel belonging to him is revealed to have been used to wipe down a shovel used to bury Aaron in Chef Dave’s garden and one of his cleavers being used to sever Aaron's thumb, with his motive being for publicity and having to deal with the possibility of Aaron trying to squeeze him for more money. He was off buying cocaine at the time of the murder and points out that if it was him, he would’ve obviously wiped down the cleaver after using it regardless because of his profession.
- Functional Addict: Chef Gregory is revealed to secretly buy cocaine in order to fuel the long hours of his work. He was buying some at the time of Aaron’s murder and told Molly to lie and say that he was prepping his new menu. Chef Dave is also implied to do it, considering he was the one who provided the cocaine that led to Daniel's death.
- Granola Girl:
- Gender inverted with Chef Dave Sullivan, whose specialty is vegan dishes, but gets criticized for it a lot by Chef Gregory.
- Another gender inversion with Chef Daniel Owens, who was mentored by Chef Dave and worked to create dishes that received popularity in the vegan community. His most famous dish being a steak made from sacha inchi, which unfortunately got a bad reputation after his appearance on Seared.
- Pamela Simmons, who leads several protests against those who criticize the vegan lifestyle like Chef Gregory and Aaron Tarr. She’s paid to do it by Chef Gregory for publicity. After the case is solved, she partners with Chef Gregory to help him concoct more vegan dishes for his menu.
- A third gender inverted example with Jesse, who supports the message of veganism and tries to get his coworkers to try vegan dishes, much to their reluctance (despite the fact that he still eats meat-based foods like BLTs as Charlie points out).
- Large Ham: Chef Gregory and his "angry chef" persona a la Gordon Ramsay.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Crazy enough to kill a guy, plant his severed thumb in your boss's beef wellington and then frame him, his rival, and a vegan protestor for his murder.
- Revenge: During the pre-production of Seared, the two sous chefs from opposite teams Daniel Owens and Molly Auclair had fallen into a relationship with each other, with Molly having fallen in love with Daniel for his passion and creativity. Furious that Daniel's life was ruined for the sake of ratings, Molly sought revenge by killing Aaron Tarr, hiding his severed thumb in Chef Gregory’s beef wellington and then framing him, Chef Dave and Pamela Simmons for Aaron’s murder.
- Soapbox Sadie: Pamela Simmons, the leader of a group of vegans who criticize Chef Gregory for his meat-based menu, as well as other similar chefs and butchers. They also criticize food scientists like Aaron Tarr who give vegan dishes and ingredients a bad reputation through supposedly false analyses. She's actually paid to do it by Chef Gregory for publicity and in exchange she gets to spread her message without fear of being slapped with a restraining order.
- Trauma Conga Line: A year prior to the events of the episode, an up-and-coming vegan chef named Daniel Owens appeared on Chef Gregory’s show, demonstrating his creation the sacha inchi steak, which was an attempt to create a healthier alternative to rib eye. However, the research report on the dish provided by food scientist Aaron Tarr and humiliation by Chef Gregory caused him to lose his investors in his projects when they heard the report. The poor guy became depressed, eventually fell into an addiction to cocaine and died of an overdose two months before the airing of the episode. All of the events leading up to Daniel’s death are what motivated Molly to get revenge on the people who ruined his life.
- We Used to Be Friends: Chef Gregory and Chef Dave used to be friends and co-owned a restaurant. When said restaurant went under because of creative differences, the two of them went their separate ways while antagonizing each other over their specialties and personalities.
