Original Air Date: November 9, 2019
The Third Bout continues. After Megumi's defeat, it's turn for Takumi to turn the tides against Eizan.
This episode provides examples of:
- Cheaters Never Prosper: Just like his duel with Soma, Eizan loses again despite playing dirty. This time, Takumi manages to prevent his attack and prepare his dish with the trick in mind.
- Crazy-Prepared: Takumi had to learn from Subaru how to trace his opponent's thought patterns to counteract any attack from Eizan. By making a deduction of the ingredients in the warehouse that might have Cynarine and rounding the most viable choice to artichokes, Takumi managed to tweak his original recipe to take advantage of Eizan's tricks.
- Death Glare: What looked like a resentful glare from Takumi, it was in reality Takumi analyzing Eizan's every move from the moment they entered the pantry. Even while Eizan was cooking his artichokes, Takumi was glaring at him with an obscure aura while murmuring "Yes, use those artichokes..." with a sinister tone like Subaru's stalker mode.
- Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Being Eizan, he immediately decides to sabotage Takumi by preparing a dish that would make Takumi's taste inferior. If he didn't depend on tricks, he might have beaten Takumi fair and square.
- Duality Motif: Takumi's pizza's concept is based on his relationship with his brother Izami, as a way to avenge both their honors in his battle against Eizan, the one who set him up to lose in the Autumn Election. The shigureni half of his pizza is slightly sweet and acidic, while the cheese half is savory and balances perfectly the first half, just like the Aldini brothers' relationship, also honoring their mezzaluna and a half-moon.
- Guile Hero: His defeat against Subaru taught Takumi to be more perceptive and study both the ingredients and his opponent's patterns. If Eizan resorts to cheating, Takumi has to outsmart him to win.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Unknowingly, Eizan's dish, designed to trip Takumi, served to amplify Takumi's pizza by letting Eizan serve first.
- Hypocritical Humor: Shun comments that Takumi doesn't seem like the type of guy who holds grudges. Marui quickly points out that Shun is exactly the same.
- Impossibly Delicious Food:
- Eizan's dish "Roast Beef of Temptation" showcases both Eizan's ingredient knowledge and his talent for cheating without breaking the rules. The meat is covered by a cream sauce made with horseradish, fresh cream, yogurt, and a heavy amount of artichoke hearts, which Eizan adds as much as possible to make use of the Cynarine and sabotage Takumi's dish. However...
- Takumi's "Doppio Mezzaluna Pizza" counteracts the use of the Cyarine by adjusting the Shigureninote to be more acidic and less sweet, acting as a palate cleanser after Eizan's artichoke dish. To circle the overall taste of the pizza, the second half is a quattro formaggio (four types of cheese) which is seasoned with black pepper and is meant to be eaten afterward. The pizza takes advantage of Eizan's cynarine-loaded dish acting as the first plate of the dinner course.
- Ms. Exposition: Alice is the one in charge of explaining the chemical effects of the Cynarine and the temporary alteration of the taste buds. Basically, Cynarine blocks the sweet flavors and enhances bitterness, but once the effect is gone, all the sweet flavors that come afterward are amplified in the following dishes.
- Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: After Eizan blatantly explains his strategy to sabotage Takumi's dish by adding Cynarine to his own dish, Yuuki, Daigo, and Shoji start protesting that Eizan should be disqualified for cheating, but the judges make it clear that they don't consider it cheating because Eizan is not messing directly with Takumi's dish, and they plan to give points to whatever tastes good. Fortunately, Takumi knows how to counteract this.
- Out-Gambitted: Eizan didn't think Takumi would be able to outsmart him.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Momo might have won the round, but her pride is hurt because Megumi managed to win one point, which is the first divided score in favor of Central.
