Hands – As the second episode of The Bear begins, Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) works at a fancy restaurant in New York City a year ago. His boss (Joel McHale) enters and fires one woman before turning his attention to Carmy. He asks why he is serving broken sauces and blames it on his short man’s complex. The boss tells him he is terrible at this as he curses him and demands he goes faster. He goes on to call him talentless and says that he should be dead. In the present, Carmy keeps yelling hands because no one will listen to him. Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) offers to strain the oil for him, but Carmy says he has it. Marcus (Lionel Boyce) asks why he is using a toothbrush to clean.

Carmy claims it is about consistency since you can’t operate at a higher level without it. Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) likes this level. Carmy tells them about the French Laundry and Noma where they teach you to operate at a level you didn’t know you could operate at. He claims he wanted to work here, but Mike wouldn’t let him. Richie accuses him of going around the world to learn the BS while he learned every lesson at West Lawrence Avenue. Marcus is surprised he is talking about DeVry and cracks a joke about it, but Richie asks where else you’re going to learn crucial database management specialization skills.

Sydney says she’d do anything to go to Noma and be inspired. Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) interrupts to say the ice cream machine is broken. Richie admits DeVry taught him to fix it even though he never graduated. Sydney questions whether anyone ever orders ice cream. Later, Richie and Carmy go outside for a smoke. The others clock out for the night as Carmy comes back inside to clean. Once he finishes, he goes home, eats, and falls asleep on the couch while watching a cooking show. He has a nightmare of his old boss ridiculing him while trying to cook. He ends up starting a fire on the stove that he has to put out with a fire extinguisher. At work, Sydney thanks Carmy for the past week, but says she wants to do more. She also wants to get paid to work here.

Sydney shows him that extra homework she did that says they’re getting killed at labor. He is also spending money on high-end stuff. If he follows her advice, 20% of the savings could pay her salary. Sydney reminds him that he is sleeping on to-go orders, but Carmy isn’t sold on that idea because of the packaging. She thinks she has that covered as well. When Richie yells for Carmy, he gives her the binder back and rushes away. Carmy joins Richie as he learns that Ron is gone and someone else is running his routes now. Her name is Nancy Chore (Amy Morton) and she is with the Chicago Board of Health. Carmy introduces himself before Richie asks for identification. Nancy shows them her badge. Chore begins looking around while Sydney tells Carmy that the shipping for the flour is expensive.

He says Marcus can go pick it up. It can only be Marcus because Sweeps, Tina, and Ebra don’t drive. Richie has a suspended license even though she saw him driving his morning. Outside, Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas) tells Ebra to be aware of b!tches with notebooks because Sydney is running things now. Neil Fak (Matty Matheson) warns Marcus and Sweeps that the health inspector is coming in here and she is not their friend. Carmy tells Sydney that this is a lot and the job is more than he can afford to pay right now. He has every intention of turning this into a respectable, efficient business run by adults. Once he hears Richie cursing nearby, he tells her he wants to do that eventually. Chore tells them she found a large hole in the tile that looks like a former gas line next to the stovetops.

It hasn’t been properly drywalled or caulked and someone clogged the hole with napkins and proxied over it with some type of plastic. Plus, there is no hot water in the hand station. She reminds them that any sink near a prep area has to provide instant hot water. Nancy reveals that the big one is the fact that someone left a pack of cigarettes on the stovetop near the burners. She is going to have to give them a C. Richie tries to rectify it by caulking the hole right now, but she can’t retest for another 30 days. Nancy leaves. After a brief blow-up, Carmy tells Richie to go to the hardware store to get some joint compound and caulk to fix it.

Richie says he can’t because his license is suspended. When Sydney offers to take him, Richie says he is going to get an Uber. Richie relents and agrees to let Sydney take his car. Carmy orders Fak to fix the sound that is on repeat. In the car, Richie tells Sydney you have to wiggle the stick and that the Arby’s cups are from different visits. While hanging up the C in the window, Carmy gets a surprise visit. Richie refuses to get help at the hardware store and complains about taking orders from a toddler. Richie says he is giving him crap about not letting him work at the restaurant although it was Mickey. Sydney wonders why he wouldn’t let him work there. Richie says it was probably because he was a little b!tch or something. She asks about the deal with Michael and learns he shot himself in the head four months ago.

Richie reveals they were best friends before he finds the caulk. Sydney wants to find someone who works here to get the right type, but Richie says he has it. Carmy talks to Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) about the bills. Even if he gets the place packed, it’ll only give him a week of survival cash. Jimmy tells him that this place is BS. He believes the business has a lower success rate than the Chicago Bears. Jimmy admits they’re not even getting into all the money he lent Michael. Although Carmy didn’t know anything about it, Jimmy claims Michael took a lot of money from him because he needed cash infusions for this place. He never paid those loans back so Jimmy is going to hold Carmy responsible. Jimmy says it is 300 grand and it isn’t like Michael put it into this place. He claims Michael was an animal who were surrounded by dickheads. He left Carmy in a real tough spot.

Jimmy should’ve come by to break his legs, but he is becoming forgetful. When Carmy asks why he gave Michael the money, Jimmy says that is a good question. He claimed he was going to franchise the place even though he knew that was BS. Jimmy suggests doing the easy thing and selling him the restaurant. Carmy promises he’ll get him the money. Back in the car, Richie says he doesn’t know why Sydney wants to work for Carmy. She says he is good and incredibly talented. She believes they could learn a lot from him. He was one of the Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs when he was 21. She argues that Richie knows the restaurant could be good. He asks her to take a breath before driving because it is dangerous to be behind the wheel when hysterical. Richie finally answers his phone after asking why she keeps calling him.

He asks the caller whether she is crying again. He’d be crying too since she is at a different school with a bunch of kids who was screw faces. Richie talks to her on the phone and learns she is scared. He promises she is going to do great, but he’ll give her $500 if she doesn’t. He is going to see her Friday. Richie says of course he still loves her. Before the call ends, Richie asks her to call him after so he’ll know how it went. He tells Sydney that she is five. After he confesses to screwing up with the cigarettes, Sydney says she is sorry about Michael. He got the wrong caulk, but she didn’t. Carmy calls Pete (Chris Witaske) to apologize for the last time. Pete reveals he went to urgent care and they gave him some stuff to put on it. Pete hands the phone to Natalie (Abby Elliott) who is busy cooking dinner.

She learns that Carmen apologized and Cicero was here. Carmen tells her about waking up in the middle of the night cooking frozen stuff and nearly setting his apartment on fire. Natalie asks if he looked at the thing because it has been nice for her and Pete. Carmen insists he is fine even though he has trouble breathing sometimes. He sometimes wakes up screaming too but knows a lot of people who cry out of nowhere. He thinks the breathing problems started in New York since he was throwing up every day before work. Although the chef was a POS, he stayed there because people loved the food and it felt good.

Natalie argues that he can’t take care of people if he isn’t taking care of himself. She asks him to look at the thing. Back at the restaurant, Richie works to fix a hole. When he drops his ruler, he gets down to get it and notices a piece of paper with Mickey’s name on it. It is addressed to Carmy from Mickey. He throws it on Carmy’s desk before coming back to get it and hiding it in the original spot. While they cook later, Carmy thanks Sydney for taking Richie to the hardware store. He asks her to come in tomorrow since she is hired. Carmy goes outside where Richie tells him that the hole is fixed. He confirms that someone from the health department will be back. Carmy wants to burn one since he hasn’t had one all day but can’t find his pack. He remembers he is the one who left the pack of cigarettes on the stove. He checks out what Natalie sent before the episode ends.

 

The Bear Review

The Bear is obviously not going to be for all viewers because the action is in your face and ramped up to 11 for nearly every minute of every episode. Although this episode slowed at points, the show is surprisingly best when it is moving at 90 miles an hour. Jeremy Allen White is great as Carmen Berzatto. While they haven’t really settled into it yet, he could be a good offset to Richie’s over-the-top antics.

Some of the characters are already more interesting than others although I personally do not feel for any of them yet. The way the story is unfolding makes it clear that the writers want this to change because there is an emotional backdrop with Michael’s suicide. Depending on how the story plays out, the show could be very effective in this area.

The dialogue is still unrealistically infantile enough to be off-putting for some viewers. Truthfully, The Bear will need time to develop and for viewers to bond with the characters. If there is an emotional payoff at the end, it may be worth the binge. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Bear can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support our work at this link.