Filthy Casual for Life

Episode 2 Recap: Victor tells Yuri he isn’t allowed on the ice until he gets his body back into shape. Disgusted at Victor for becoming Yuri Katsuki’s coach, Yuri Plisetsky flies to Japan to confront him for breaking a promise. Yuri Plisetsky has one goal. To bring Victor back to Russia. Giving Yuri Plisetsky a chance to bring him back to Russia, Victor decides to create two short programs. One for Katsuki and one for Plisetsky. They would compete to see who surprises the audience more. Plisetsky is assigned the innocent “Agape” program, and Katsuki is assigned “Eros”.

EPISODE 3: I am Eros, and Eros Is Me:! Face-Off! Hot Springs on Ice

Victor debuts both programs to Yuri (Katsuki) and Yurio (Plisetsky). First, he skates Yurio’s “On Love: Agape” and explains agape as unconditional love. Next, he skates “On Love: Eros” for Yuri and explains eros is sexual love.

Yuri stands on the ice and Victor asks which quads he can land. Victor decides he is going to teach Yurio first while Yuri works on the basics. Victor then observes that Yuri has all of the skills to win, but asks Yuri why he can’t make it happen. Yuri admits he doesn’t have confidence in himself. Victor, in his flirting mode, brushes Yuri’s lips with his thumb and tells Yuri that it is his job as coach to build his confidence.

While Victor teaches Yurio, Yuri works on stretching. Talking to Nishigori (Yuko’s husband), Yuri explains he sees a story in his program. A playboy comes into town and tries to seduce the most beautiful woman in town. Once he gets her, he tosses her aside and moves on to the next town. Nishigori points out the obvious. That isn’t Yuri at all.

Meanwhile, Yurio is skating his program, but he struggles to put the right emotion into his skating. So, Victor sends him to a temple for motivation.

Back at the onsen, Yuri struggles with figuring out what eros means to him. As he sits at the dinner table, he starts drooling at Victor’s bowl of katsudon and asks himself what makes him lose all reason. He suddenly has a moment of clarity and tells Victor that katsudon is eros. Victor lightly chuckles and tells him they will roll with that.

The next day, practice on their programs resumes. Victor encourages Yuri to think more about katsudon and Yurio has to go back to the temple. Practices continue and Yurio is still not embracing the emotion of unconditional love. So, Victor sends both Yuri and Yurio to a waterfall.

Standing under the waterfall, Yurio finally finds his inspiration and has a moment of vulnerability with Yuri.

It’s time for practice and Victor is nowhere to be found. Apparently, he drank all night. Yuri swallows his pride and asks Yurio to teach him how to land a quad Salchow. While they work on the Salchow, Victor finally shows up and asks them what they’re working on. They immediately break apart and act like they were doing nothing wrong. Yurio skates his program for Victor and Victor is satisfied that Yurio learned agape.

It’s the night before the competition and Minako brings up the fact that they don’t have costumes. Victor tells them not to worry. He had all his costumes flown in from Russia. Yuri fanboys over all of the costumes finally settling on the one from Victor’s Junior World Championship.

Realizing that his eros wasn’t up to par, Yuri bangs down Minako’s door late at night. He wants her to teach him how to move in more feminine ways. Yuri realizes he felt more like a woman seducing the man.

It’s the day of the competition. Yurio goes first. While the first half of his program is skated with agape by thinking of the unconditional love of his grandpa, the difficulty gets to him and he isn’t able to relay that emotion in the second half.

After Yurio’s performance, Yuri begins to have a panic attack. Victor tells Yuri it’s his turn and Yuri comes out of it to tell Victor that he’s going to become katsudon so watch him. Yuri embraces Victor in a hug and Victor says, “I love pork cutlet bowls.” Does that mean he loves Yuri?!

Yuri skates a near-flawless program surprising the crowd with his transformation. Before Yuri’s performance is even over, Yurio realizes that he lost and leaves. Yuko tries to stop him, and he tells Yuko he is going to continue under his coach in Russia, but not to get the wrong idea. He’s going to win the Grand Prix Final.

Standing on the podium as the winner of the exhibition, he is asked to say a few words. Starting to panic, Victor lightly squeezes him and he is able to refocus and declare his intentions.

THOUGHTS

What a fun episode. It made my heart jump twice. Victor is a master flirt and I am here for it! When he said he loves katsudon, does that mean he loves Yuri?! After all, he did fly from Russia and declare himself Yuri’s coach.

I love how Victor is bringing out a different side of Yuri. The simple act of squeezing him at the end shows how much he cares for Yuri’s confidence.

I like that they showed a different side of Yurio. I am glad he isn’t just a raging teenager. I’m glad he is capable of growing as a person.