SPOILERS lie ahead for Like Water For Chocolate Episode 3 “Quail With Rose Petals,” now streaming with a Max subscription.
Move over Bridgerton, because Like Water for Chocolate is making some series noise. A few weeks after the romance series debuted on the 2024 TV schedule, its delivered its steamiest episode yet on Max via its third installment. After the Spanish-language series grabbed me with its first two episodes, its third really leaned into its magical realism and spicy scenes. Everything heated up so much on “Quail With Rose Petals” that there was a literal fire involved. When CinemaBlend spoke to its leads about the latest episode, they recalled bonding over how “vulnerable” the experience was for them.
It’s been established on the show so far that Tita has the ability to convey her feelings through what she cooks and bakes in the kitchen. And, during Episode 3, she stirs up intense feelings of desire at her family’s lunch table when she makes a delectable quail with a rose petal sauce. Andrea Chaparro’s Gertrudis has a particularly strong reaction to the dish when it sends her running naked and into the arms of revolutionary captain Juan Alejandrez. During our interview Chaparro said this about filming the sequence:
Well, I've never felt so vulnerable. Let me tell you, but at the same time, so strong and so decided. There's something about running naked in the woods that gives you so much strength. I was nervous. I was definitely nervous, but, I remember just being there and ‘action’, and all I had to do was run. And I felt so free and so connected with myself, 'cause every time you have an intimate scene, this wasn’t intimate, but I was you know, naked, there's always that nerve, but this time it wasn't with somebody else or like a romantic scene, really. It is, but it's mostly of the freedom that a girl can feel. The freedom when a girl allows herself to feel. And, with the magic that her sister cooked, she allowed herself to be free. And it felt very powerful. It helped me a lot, honestly.
As is the case in the novel, Tita’s erotic thoughts about Pedro, who has just married her sister, Rosaura, can be tasted in her latest cooking creation. And that leads Gertrudis to summon and then run into the arms of her own childhood crush. As one can imagine, filming the scene had Chaparro exposing a lot of his body to those on set, and whoever watched the show. At the same time, though, it sounds like she absolutely relished in the “free” feeling the character gets out of the scene.
The scene represents a famous moment in the novel, and it's a joy to see it realized for TV. Like Water For Chocolate’s Tita, Azul Guaita also chipped in about the scene, saying this:
Also, the rose, how at first it's white and then Tita accidentally cuts herself withthe rose, and it starts to turn red with her blood. It's so magical. And how she makes a dish with the roses, I never could have imagined that you could make a dish based on flowers, roses. And that's so magical. And cooking that and eating that. And Tita how she brings her passion into a dish. How she transforms her emotions into a dish. So magical, pure, vulnerable. Vulnerable for all of the characters.
While the dish has Gertrudis falling into the arms of a revolutionary, and therein joining the cause, Mama Elena explores her own repressed sexuality, and Rosaura finally consummates her marriage with Pedro later in the episode. On top of all that, Tita’s desire for Pedro remains in her imagination as a burning desire. We’ll have to see how Tita’s powerful cooking affects all who consume it when the next episode arrives on Sunday. But, for now, I'm going to continue to ruminate on the thoughtful sentiments that the actors shared about filming this week's sizzling hot episode.
Like Water For Chocolate is certainly shaping up to be one of the best Max TV shows for romance fans, so be sure to stream new episodes when they're released on Sundays. Also, learn about other upcoming book adaptations that you should keep an eye out for.
