'Carême' Thinks Fast & Improvises Faster in an Exclusive Look at Episode 4

The story of Antonin Carême as the world’s first celebrity chef is well-timed, as Carême on Apple TV+ hits its halfway point, as it’s a nice rejoinder to the just-concluded Marie Antoinette on PBS. Both series are set in France, and both are set in the same revolutionary era (though Carême deals with Louis XVIII, a few kings after Antoinette’s ill-fated husband, Louis XIV). The good news is that being a few kings after the big beheading gives the series more runway. It also means that, despite the revolutius interruptus moments in the background and off screen, viewers know France’s aristocracy isn’t about to fall again. At least, not yet, as Episode 4, “Buy the Crown!” arrives.

Warning: Spoilers for Carême Season 1, Episode 3 follow.

Carême might insist it is about France’s invention of the celebrity chef, but a revolution is war, and sides need to be taken. Antonin is already playing a perilous game by Episode 3’s “A Recipe for Disaster,” with Minister of Police, M. Fouché (Micha Lescot) tricking him into handing over a handwriting sample to prove he was the one who copied Napoleon’s route and betrayed his country.