Can anyone one tell me if pho is supposed to smell bad while cooking?

[tavernier]

My son-in-law is making it for the very first time. He is following the recipe to a t and went all over town looking for exactly the precise ingredients. He has followed his recipe’s very meticulous instructions. I have no idea how it will taste, but two hours into the cooking, it smells like a cross between dirty socks and a dead body. I have not mentioned that to him, by the way. Mother-in-law’s should never do that. But he assures me, no, guarantees me, that tomorrow it will be the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. I am just nervous that it will at that point still taste like it smells right now. Any comforting words for me?