Synopsis:
A day in the life of Yuki.
This episode was a breath of fresh air and gave us a little break from the girls. We see Yuki now and again, and it was surprising how great it was to see her backstory. From all the Yuki pictures in the opening credits, which I thought was a nice touch, to stories from her past. I liked that there was a progression to the story, where she runs into her ex-husband, Hideki, at the grocery store, and they start reminiscing about when they were married. I forgot that she had been married before because we keep getting reminded that Shuji and Maya are step-siblings. We found out that Hideki also likes to play the drums and that Yuki used to be an interpreter and traveled around with famous bands and worked on movie sets. That surprised me because Yuki is so reserved and quiet. You would never have thought she lived this crazy life in the entertainment industry.
The episode took a more serious turn when the exes had a drink at the hotel Hideki is staying at. Hideki can’t stop expressing that he still cares for Yuki and starts getting a little too handsy. He becomes drunk and wants Yuki to come to his hotel room. She agrees, and for a second, I thought she was going to have an affair with him. Thank god, she didn’t and left him to sleep in his bed.
When Yuki returned home, it was nice that they showed how truly happy she was to be with Fred and her kids. Fred served her some of his chili, and Yuki talked to both Shuji and Maya about how they are the best son and daughter. It was interesting how at the beginning of the episode, Hideki buys the painting from the grocery store because he says that it reminds him of Yuki, but at the end, she takes it from Hideki and gives it to Shuji. I think since Shuji is Hideki’s son when Yuki sees that painting, it’ll remind her of that day that she spent with her son’s father. At the end of the episode, Yuki gets vulnerable with Fred and tells him that she feels stuck between her two cultures, being American and Japanese. It makes sense because she had a life in both places and tried to use those cultures in her daily life, but I could see that confusing. What food to make and what language to speak. It’s a constant back and forth, but Yuki tells Fred that she’s happy, and that’s all that matters.
