Sheridan – As the fifth episode of The Bear begins, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) gets woke by the train near her home. She thinks about cooking and being rejected for a loan by Greater Chicago Banking. She gets up and takes pills as she prepares for work. We see boxes with a label that says Sheridan Road Catering. Sydney accidentally wakes her father on her way out. When she gets to work, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) is already there. He was looking at her COGS and agrees that check average gets killed at night. Since the price is too low, it barely covers labor. They agree that they’re going to need a new dinner menu. Sydney was thinking about a play on tongue & cheek for the new menu. Marcus (Lionel Boyce) interrupts to tell them about the wild book he is reading.

He is about to fire up the cakes. When Marcus grabs a piece of tape, Carmy tells him to use the scissors so both ends will be perfect. They hear something coming from the toilet. Carmy checks it out before admitting he knows what it is. The water blows up in his face. Sydney immediately suggests closing for lunch, but Carmy says it’ll kill them if they miss one service. Carmen calls Fak (Matty Matheson) to get him to fix the toilet. Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) enters and finds out what is going on. Carmy takes Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas), Sydney, and Ebra (Edwin Lee Gibson) into the kitchen to go over the new menu. Marcus is put on desserts while the others deal with the mess from the toilet.

In the kitchen, Carmy shows Ebra and the others how to prepare the new dish. Once he finishes, Tina admits it is good and Fak arrives to fix the toilet. Richie instructs Fak not to strip the threads while he works on the toilet. He also accuses Richie of trying to screw him. Although Richie denies it, he motions it whenever Fak turns around. Fak warns him that it is a human resources offense only for Richie to say he is human resources. Once he learns that, Fak asks if he can apply now that Carmy is down a couple of cooks. Chester (Carmen Christopher) works with Marcus to handle lacto-fermentation. Marcus asks Carmy if he can have a sous vide bag for the fermentation process.

They don’t know how to seal it, but they can learn. Chester asks Marcus if he should save Bachelorette for him tonight. Marcus tells him not to ruin it this time since he told him every detail of the last episode. Carmen tells the others that they have two hours before the service. He checks on Tina’s work and gives her advice before asking when Michael made that for her. She says Christmas at his mom’s place. His mom wasn’t calm although the food was great. Fak tells Richie that he graduated high school. He is asked what he is going to bring The Beef as a new employee. After messing up and admitting he is nervous, Fak says he has heart. No matter what Fak says, Richie doesn’t think he is good at playing the keyboard or that he isn’t a stroke. Fak says he has a great vibe, but Richie tells him to screw his vibe.

Fak says he won’t screw his vibe only for Richie to say she’ll screw whatever he wants. Richie takes him down in the dining area and holds him there. Carmen throws water on them to split them up. Fak ends up telling him that Richie is selling coke in the back alley of The Beef. Marcus and Sydney are shown working on their dishes. The mixer begins malfunctioning on Marcus. Richie tells Carmy that he doesn’t deal like that. He just distributes little bits here and there and did it to help his brother’s restaurant. It wasn’t his idea. Richie explains that they made it through COVID thanks to the side hustling. Carmen argues he should call the police on him, but Richie calls him naïve. The conversation gets worse as Carmen tells him that they’re done with Nico who Richie says has nothing to do with this him.

Richie tells him not to blow a fuse before the power goes out. They tour the restaurant to find out which rooms are working and which are not. The kitchen seems to be the only area that is working. Fak blames the condenser and says he has a connection while Carmy asks the workers to take everything outside. Carmen calls Pete (Chris Witaske) to see if they can use his freezers. Pete quickly agrees. Natalie (Abby Elliott) joins them and begins complaining about Pete letting them use the cooler without her input.

She reminds them that she just had a brother to die too before Richie and Pete begin talking about the Chicago Cubs. In private, Natalie calls Carmy a b!tch for calling Pete because he was afraid of calling her. He says she always talks crap when he calls. She reminds him that he never got back to her on that thing. He is accused of taking advantage of Pete although Carmy says he somewhat likes him now. Carmen reveals that he went to the thing and goes three times a week now. She hugs him and they agree to fight tomorrow. At the restaurant, they have one hour before service. Sydney tries to find a way to save the food until service. Tina doesn’t think they can open since Fak can’t get the stoves to turn on. Sydney asks if they’re still building across the street.

They grab cinder blocks and use them to create a grill of sorts outside. When Richie and Carmy return, they learn that the gas line and power are still out so they’re going to have an outdoor lunch service. Carmen goes for a smoke and finds Marcus sitting by himself. He tells Carmen that he screwed up when he was behind on cakes. He tried to speed it up and ended up blowing the fuse. Carmen reminds him that you’ve got to stay ahead. Marcus reveals his first job was at McDonald’s where you don’t get to be creative. He promises it won’t happen away, but Carmen says it will since things just happen. He started a fryer fire the night after he won Food & Wine’s Best New Chef. There is a moment when you realize that if you let it all burn down all of your anxiety will go away.

Then, you put the fire out. Fak tells Carmy it is going to be $5,500 and he doesn’t have a connect after all. Carmen realizes he is going to have to speak to Richie about the money. When Richie says he is going to have to think about it, Carmen says it is one more time, it is never again, and he wants it far away. Fak says they need this because the fridge won’t work without the condenser. Richie wants Fak to say “Matae” because this is him winning. Carmy tells him to say it too. Fak says it as Richie tells Carmy this is the last time. The power comes back on. Later, Carmen tells Sydney that she was great today before she says the energy reminded her of catering. Sydney says it got too big too fast and it wasn’t exactly liquid enough for a brick-and-mortar establishment.

Running it out of her garage was stupid so her credit got destroyed. It was the first time that she didn’t have a psychopath yelling behind her. She thought that was what she wanted, but she doesn’t like where she got. He helps her with the stock. Marcus cuts pieces of tape to label the containers for the fermentation. Later that night, Sydney wakes up and writes about food in her notebook.

 

The Bear Review

Each episode of The Bear has been different in numerous ways. There are new problems, new solutions, and the relationships are quickly developing. Since it is only eight episodes and most are less than 30 minutes, viewers should just try it for themselves. They’ll either love it right away, tolerate it until they do, or just give up midway through.

While aspects of the show are great, others are slightly disappointing. It can accurately be described as a double-edged sword or a mixed bag. When it touches on their loss, the show shines. More time should be dedicated to exploring that aspect of the show. Jeremy Allen White is great as the lead here although he hasn’t been given any room to really show it. We rarely really get to see the chance to see Carmen showcase his skills in the kitchen.

He is often out of the restaurant all the time while Sydney runs the show and Manny and Angel are just glanced over. There isn’t a good balance here as Sydney is built as a savior who can do no wrong and receives more emphasis than many of the major and minor characters. It’d also be nice to see some of the guests from time to time since those interactions could be interested as well.

The Bear is decent with a lot of space for improvement. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Bear can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work at this link.