The Seven Year Slip

Clementine obsessively Googles James Ashton and the man Iwan has become, feeling proud of what he has accomplished but grief at missing his last seven years. She tries to distract herself from the thought that he doesn’t remember her, as she thinks that, if he did, he would have tried to find her over the years. Clementine runs late to the meeting the next day and is left speechless when she sees Iwan, noticing how much he has stayed the same but also how much he has changed.

For the entire meeting, Clementine wonders if Iwan—going by his grandfather’s name to everyone but his friends—remembers her from their one weekend together. After Drew’s presentation, Iwan tells them his vision for the cookbook and about how he thinks anyone can create the perfect meal with the right ingredients and presentation. As he speaks, Clementine feels a disconnection between the man she met weeks ago, in the past, and the one sitting before her. His entire view on food seems to have changed, and Clementine wonders what happened to his ideas about a perfect meal being connected to memories and experiences. Drew seems to see this too, hinting at the older ideas he expressed in his famous article.