Cat for Cash: Feeding Lynx
Someone who watched the "Cat for Cash" first episode mentioned how touching it was for Lynx to want to eat his mother's favorite dish at the end of the episode, but I had a slightly different interpretation. Let's look at how we got to that point in Episode 1:
1) Earlier in the episode, Lynx's estranged mother Je Meow tells Tiger that she's going to make fried noodles for Lynx that night since it's HIS favorite dish.
2) After Je Meow's death, Lynx didn't actually know the answer to his mother's favorite food when asked, which made him feel even more like a bad son after missing her final moments. (But I have a theory why he didn't know.)
3) When Lynx asks his grandmother about his mom's favorite food, the show doesn't reveal granny's response, which was a deliberate choice to make viewers pay extra attention to the meaning of food in this episode.
4) We see in a flashback when he's on the phone with his mom (before they were estranged) that she's making those same fried noodles.
5) In the present, Lynx finds the container of the noodles she had made for him on her final night. (He notes that the food is 7 days old. It takes 7 days for the full funeral, cremation, wake and final merit-making ceremony (until the 50-day or 100-day ceremonies much later). He'd only know this noodle dish was exactly 7 days old if it was the same one made fresh the night by his mother before she died.
6) Lynx eats the food, which for me had a layered meaning:
a) It was the last meal his mom cooked for him – a connection to her last act of love (other than giving Tiger the gift of cat speech but he doesn't know that yet – or ever?).
b) But also, he recognized it as his favorite dish, so that's another layer showing that he knew she had made it specifically for him … and not the cats, whom he felt secondary to often.
c) Here's my theory: The reason he didn't know his mother's favorite dish was because she was always putting him first and cooking HIS favorite dish for him (as we saw in the flashback on the phone),
d) So we as viewers may not actually know what her favorite dish was, OR maybe it was also the noodles, but in typical mom fashion, she may have only referred to it as HIS favorite dish. But if it is in fact ALSO her favorite dish, his eating it is also an offering on this 7th day observance. It is part of the ritual. But it was also accepting her love, something he previously denied she had for him
Anyway, that's a lot to read into a simple "favorite dish" narrative, but that's how I took it.
A few other stray thoughts:
I'd say most mothers know their kids' favorite dishes, but vice versa is not always the case. I think it's pretty common for offspring not to think of their parents as full-fledged individuals with. a full life and identity before having kids.
My mom has a few favorite dishes: 1) stuffed squid 2) unagi over rice.
I really don't want the definitive answer for Je Meow's favorite meal. I loved the way it was presented here
Yes, I would eat stir-fried noodles after 7 days in the fridge (as long as the fridge works fine!)
