Terrace House Tokyo 2019-2020 P1: E4 "I Want To Be A Hero"

Konbanwa!

Welcome back to another episode recap of Terrace House! Things are starting to heat up with episode four, “I Want To Be A Hero,” and the show might be changing its title to “Ruka’s House.”

Usually the show starts with a pretty uneventful recap from the panel, but this week they were ready to bring the weird. Yoshimi is enamored with Haruka’s cute wave from the end of last week's episode and he points out that her purse is swinging over “that tantalizing peekaboo zone.” I almost spit out my La Croix at that comment. They talk about this purse pendulum for a few more beats much to Torichan’s horror. From this start, I knew good things were yet to come.

Things pick up right where we left off, with Ruka and Haruka in the car chatting. Their conversation goes smoothly and Ruka doesn’t even turn red! He still isn’t able to secure a date, but we soon find out that Haruka is starting to really like Ruka. She later tells Kaori that he’s the easiest guy in the house to talk to. I’m sensing the beginning of a love triangle. This leads to a bit of tension when Ruka, Haruka and Risako are all hanging out downstairs. So many meaningful looks as they try to be chill with each other. I might be reading too much into her comments, but it seems like Haruka finds Risako immature. She laughs at Risako when she says she wants to go to the store and get some board games and other toys for the house. I’m interested to see how this pans out, because Ruka does seem to like both of them, but more on that later.

We also get another life goal conversation involving Shohei. He says he doesn’t want to appear aimless, but he also can’t see himself ever committing to just one career. He likes music, acting and building furniture. Many people urge him to focus on one thing at a time, but he remains unconvinced. It’ll be interesting to see if his opinion changes during his time in the house. I’m not sure if Haruka is going to let him get away with this attitude.

Next up, we finally get Kenny and Haruka’s date, which proves that they don’t have much chemistry. They have a stilted conversation and Kenny even admits to not really listening to her during previous conversations. Haruka isn’t amused, which might open the door a little wider for Kaori and Kenny, who are my favorite potential couple so far.

The episode ends with a tipsy Ruka and Risako playing cards. As soon as Risako proposes that that the winner earns a special request, I knew shit was going down. Risako wins and asks Ruka if he will be her buddy forever and then mumbles that he should also be her boyfriend. Ruka either doesn’t hear or pretends not to hear and we get the classic “bum bum” and the screen fades to black. I think it is a little soon for her to ask that, especially because Ruka is also seeing how things go with Haruka. I can definitely sense drama in his future.

Highlights:

- Risako saying she wants to parkour professionally. Is that a thing?

- Ryota getting mad at how everything is obsessed with Ruka. I also don’t really understand why everyone likes him so much.

- Ruka effortlessly flirting with not one, but two girls in the house. Is it just me or has his shyness already disappeared?

While I’m excited to see how this love triangle plays out, I also hope Kaori and Kenny get more screen time next episode.