“The master for Episode 7 is gone, Marco. Gone. The server ate it. The only copy left is a rough 720p WeB-DL from a pirate site,” she said.

When the streaming service glitches and deletes the final episode of a hit cooking show, a disgruntled sound editor must retrieve the only uncorrupted backup from the world’s most chaotic kitchen. Marco hated the sound of laughter. After twelve hours of syncing fork clinks and oven timers for Laughter.Chefs , the studio’s saccharine reality hit, the only thing he wanted to hear was silence. But his producer, Jen, was panicking on speakerphone.

He smiled. And for the first time, he laughed along.

The file began to play on the studio monitors. The episode was chaos—two chefs arguing over a fondue, a live lobster escaping into the audience’s laps, and a moment where Sylvia, off-camera, actually, genuinely, belly-laughed.

“I’m a sound guy,” Marco said.

“Yeah?”