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The Bear‘s big opening night is here… but you didn’t think it would go off without a hitch, did you?
As the Season 2 finale opens, diners are sitting down to eat at Carmy’s restaurant for the first time, and Sydney is calling out orders in the kitchen. (She’s still a little frazzled by that awkward moment she had with Marcus, though.) Natalie and Pete are at a table, waiting for her mom Donna to arrive, and Richie is putting his new hospitality skills to the test, greeting the customers warmly. Claire is there, too, as is Uncle Jimmy and Sydney’s dad. It’s getting tense in the kitchen, though: A chef named Josh went missing, so Carmy has to take over for him on the line, and they’re already running low on forks. Marcus finally yells at Sydney for ignoring him, and Carmy has to step in to separate them — and oh, did we mention the toilet is clogged?
Carmy takes the time to personally serve a course to Claire’s table, but while he’s out there, he thinks he hears his old chef boss saying the service is too slow. So when he gets back to the kitchen, he freaks out on Sydney because a fish dish has been sitting so long, it got cold. They cool down, though, and give each other that “I’m sorry” gesture by rubbing a fist on their chest in a circle. Then suddenly, we hear muffled screams from Carmy — because he went into the walk-in fridge and the handle broke again, locking him inside. The tickets are still coming fast and furious, so Sydney steps up to take over as head chef, with Richie taking her place and expediting. They have five minutes to get caught up, and Richie barks out orders as plates come flying out and the seconds tick down. Yep, this is The Bear we’re used to seeing.
Carmy is helpless, stuck inside the fridge and plagued by flashbacks of all the things that have gone wrong for him over the years. Sydney and Richie are killing it, though, to the hammering guitar sounds of Pearl Jam’s “Animal,” and they manage to fight their way out of the weeds. Pete catches a glimpse of Donna smoking outside and goes out to greet her, but she’s not going in: “I just don’t think I can take it… I don’t deserve to see how good this is.” He tries to convince her to come in with him, and he also slips and tells her Natalie is pregnant, which she didn’t know. She asks him not to tell her kids she was here before walking off into the night, and when Natalie sees Pete tearing up inside, he just says it’s because he’s happy for her.
Marcus finally locates the AWOL chef Josh, who was smoking crack in a back alley. (It helps him cook better!) He gets Sydney’s OK to fire the guy, while Richie has a special dessert delivered to Jimmy’s table: a chocolate-dipped banana. Once the tickets slow down, Sydney takes a moment to step outside… and throw up behind a dumpster. Claire wants to go back and say hi to Carmy, but Neil tells her he’s locked in the fridge. Tina tells Carmy through the fridge door that they’re doing great, but he’s just wallowing in self-pity: “I failed you guys.” He didn’t call the fridge guy like he was supposed to, and he blames his lack of focus on spending so much time with Claire. He can’t be in a relationship, he decides, because “no amount of good is worth how terrible this feels.” But oops: Claire was standing on the other side of the fridge door, and she heard everything.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Carmy,” she tells him, shedding a tear as she walks away. Richie chides Carmy for pushing her away, and the two scream obscenities and insults at each other through the fridge door, with Richie finally saying: “Hope you f—king freeze to death.” Drained and miserable, Carmy listens to a voicemail from Claire from earlier, where she tells him how great he is and how excited she is for his opening night: “I’m so proud of you, and Mikey would be so proud of you, Bear.” When she says, “I really love you,” a shivering Carmy can only drop the phone in disgust.
As R.E.M.’s “Half a World Away” strums in the background, Marcus opens a gift from his Copenhagen pastry chef friend Luca: an “Every Second Counts” sign that he hangs up on the kitchen wall. (But he’s also missing urgent calls from his mom’s nurse. Uh-oh.) Sydney’s dad discovers her puking outside and congratulates her on an “absolutely incredible” meal, and they share a tender hug. Richie takes a triumphant drag of his cigarette outside, celebrating a job well done, as a locksmith comes in to hack the fridge door open with a heavy-duty saw, with Carmy sitting in contemplation as sparks fly around him. What kind of world is waiting for him out there, though?
Time to fill out your comment cards: Give The Bear‘s finale — and Season 2 as a whole — a grade in our polls, and then share your thoughts in the comments.
It’s over already? I thought it just started. Must have released the whole season, cool!!
Yeah. The day season 2 premiered Hulu put out all 10 episodes.
I missed that, thanks! It’s on my list but I like to binge so I was going to wait 😀
It was a great season overall. The “Fishes” episode was one of the best of the series. I hope Jamie Lee Curtis gets.an Emmy nomination for her guest star.
I agree, Jamie Lee deserves some recognition for being a fantastic actress, especially in this episode.
I loved the first season and thought this season was good with a few true highlights — like Jamie Lee Curtis. But at a certain point during the season, I just started to become impatient with all the self-created issues the ensemble has… especially now that they had all that money to pursue their dream. It’s a lot easier to root for the poor underdogs then sit there thinking “guys, for the love of all that is holy, get your (censored) together.”
I feel like you missed the entire point of the season, and how truly out of whack the beef was…flash back to season one with the health department inspector, that palce was never up to code. They didn’t take care of the place, it was rotted out…and that’s not even the point of the season.
Only two members of the staff of the beef were QUALIFDIED to work at the bear, and a lot of them (richie especially) had things to work out…personality changes…the richie redemption story on its own is amazing.
I feel bad if you missed what was going on because it was exquisite
Oh, I fully get it, I promise. It’s well written and the ensemble is excellent. But at a certain point the setbacks and emotional complexities become draining, you know? I loved season one and still really enjoy the show, but I feel like they are playing the same trick a few times too often for it to resonate the same way.
I think so far each season tells a story about how restaurants grow and how people evolve. In this season you got to see each character find themselves. Each person (except for Idris and Carmy) basically grew in their careers. My favorite episode was Forks. (When you see it you’ll know why)
This season has great storytelling. You can feel each characters’ triumphs and failures. Also, it made me hungry. So, each time I watched I made sure to eat a meal. 😁
Agreed, the Forks episode was the best of the series so far.
Amazing each episode was great especially episode 6&7 after watching season 2 I rewatched season 1 , can’t get enough of this series one if the best I’ve seen can’t wait for season 3
If this isn’t the best show going right now, it’s definitely a serious contender.
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Forks was incredible.
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The only thing I didn’t entirely like in the entire season, literally the only thing, was Carmy getting trapped in the freezer on opening night in the finale. Was that the best thing to do with him? It just seemed less inventive than the show normally is. Not that there was anything particularly wrong with the creative decision.
Carmy was my least favorite part of the second season, and I think him getting trapped in the walk-in represents why. The entire season is really about growth, of the restaurant and the characters. And we see incredible growth from Syndey, Natalie, Tina, and especially Marcus and Richie. But Carmy… he opens himself up personally for that relationship, but he really doesn’t grow. He’s stuck in his own way, and being in the walk-in while everyone else thrived in knocking out service only *after* he was out of the equation really hammers that point home.
I agree, excellent season throughout. Except for the freezer thing. It was developed over a number of episodes, both the broken handle and Carmy allowing himself to be distracted, and that’s good; it didn’t come out of let field. But for Carmy to get trapped in there for the bulk of the evening just felt weak, and the price he had to pay was way too dear. Both he and Claire deserved better.
Outstanding season. When you have FIVE GREAT episodes, the season just rocks. The Copenhagen episode (Honeydew), the Fishes episode, the Forks episode and then 9 and 10. All just amazing.. well written, well-directed, well acted.
Excellent season overall: great acting, writing and directing. The only thing that was missing was Uncle Jimmy bribing someone for a liquor license (because it IS Chicago). I’m chalking that up to The Beef maybe having a license that could be carried over?
I loved the show until the end and i was so disappointed that it really ruined it for me