Drops of God season 1 episode 4 recap & review: Foundation

Open Go TV / May 5, 2023 / Reviews

The fourth episode of Drops of God focuses on Alexandre’s past and his relationship with Issei’s parents. The episode is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Recap

Issei and Camille’s competition gets more and more media attention. At a photo shoot, Camille claims that she is fighting for her inheritance, and Issei points out that it does not seem like her father believed that it belonged to her.

When Issei’s mother, Honoka, gets the envelope sent by Issei’s father, Hirokazu, she starts thinking about their past. The scene from their past shows that two of them visit Domanie Chassangre in 1990 with a group.

There, they meet Alexandre for the first time, and Honoka calls the wine that he makes them taste basic. Alexandre takes up the challenge to impress her, and he manages to do it in one go.

As Honoka is Tomine Diamonds Company’s heir, she ends up buying fifty crates of that wine. That night, the group gets invited to a party by Philippe and Alexandre.

Honoka cannot take her eyes off Alexandre and Marianne. Hirokazu likes Honoka, but she rejects his advances, as she sees him as a friend.

In the present, Marianne receives Alexandre’s ashes with a note that he had written before his death. He asks her to scatter his ashes over Philippe’s property and apologizes for never being able to support her the way she supported him.

The scene then shifts to April 1991. Alexandre was earlier offered a job by Honoka’s group’s translator to teach enology at a university. He accepts that job after he fails to graduate because his thesis is too radical and he insults a member of the jury.

Hirokazu and Honoka join his course. Since students are not allowed to drink in class, Marianne, who has moved to Tokyo with Alexandre, finds a wine bar where he can teach his students by making them taste wine.

She also gets a job at the French embassy and introduces Alexandre to Jacques Fusier, who owns a publishing house in Tokyo. At the same time, Honoka’s natural talent impresses Alexandre.

Alexandre takes a photograph with his students, and this is the photograph that Issei took from his house when he went there for the first test. In the present, Issei questions his mother about Alexandre.

She lies to him and tells him that she and Hirokazu signed up for Alexandre’s course long ago out of curiosity, but since they did not like wine, they did not continue. Honoka no longer drinks wine.

In the past, the number of students in Alexandre’s class grows. Honoka has a great memory for taste, and Alexandre considers it a gift. With time, Honoka and Alexandre grow close, which bothers Hirokazu.

Hirokazu drinks a little too much and passes out in the middle of the road. Due to this, the director ends Alexandre’s course. Honoka meets Alexandre that night and keeps him company. In the end, he tries to kiss her, but she stops him.

Since Alexandre does not have a job, Marianne asks him to write his wine guide and convinces Jacques Fusier, who will be publishing it, to pay him an advance.

Honoka comes to meet Alexandre at his home. This time, Honoka kisses him, and they end up sleeping together. Their affair goes on for quite some time.

Alexandre goes to Thailand with Marianne, who tells him that she is pregnant. Alexandre then ends his relationship with Honoka, not knowing that Honoka is pregnant as well.

When Hirokazu finds out about this, he decides to be there for Honoka and raise Issei as his own son. However, the day Camille is born, Alexandre sees Hirokazu and Honoka leaving the hospital with a newborn child.

In the present, Honoka still has a hidden box in which she has a few photographs, including a copy of the one that Issei got from Alexandre’s house. On the other hand, Camille keeps Alexandre’s ashes in a place that is out of her sight.

Review

This episode takes the audience to the past, and it is an important episode, as it helps the audience understand the actions of a lot of characters.
Furthermore, the audience gets to see a different side of Alexandre, and after that, Marianne’s bitterness and anger towards her ex-husband seem justified.
Although Hirokazu’s character does not get much screen time in the episode, he still stands out, as he seems to be the complete opposite of Alexandre. He does not attract attention like Alexandre, but he is the partner and father that Alexandre could never be to Honoka and Marianne or to either of his children.
The fact that Alexandre is more than Issei’s teacher comes as a surprise, as now, he and Camille have an equal claim to the inheritance, which makes it harder to pick a side in the competition.