Pop – As this episode begins, Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri) tries to work on new recipes with Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas) by her side. Tina thinks it might be a little too busy with so many ingredients. Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) sits alone and smokes a cigar. Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) hangs out with Richard ‘Richie’ Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Gary ‘Sweeps’ Woods (Corey Hendrix) at the restaurant. Tina interrupts to ask if she can borrow a knife for school so Carmy tells her where to find one.

She asks if he has heard from Ebraheim. When Carmy asks what is up, Tina says they can talk later. Tina is surprised when Carmy gives her his knife. Natalie ‘Sugar’ Berzatto (Abby Elliott) tells Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) that they have the appointments confirmed but scheduling them is the issue. He finds out that the electrician can’t do anything until the plumbing is installed. Jimmy checks with Carmy before telling them that he doesn’t want to keep pissing money away if he doesn’t see any progress. He thinks it is in everyone’s best interest to have a functional place of business. Sydney interrupts to say they got one.

The drywall guy Tim (Nate Varrone) enters with a sandwich. Sugar tells Jimmy that he can’t do the drywall until the electricity is installed. Neil Fak (Matty Matheson) is asked to stall him because this is the only day he could come and they can’t afford to schedule. Sugar tries to get sympathy from Jimmy so he’ll help. Tina calls Ebraheim to try to figure out where he is. She asks him not to be weird. Tina has a big smile on her face when he begins using Carmy’s knife. The instructor is impressed with her work. Natalie tells Jimmy that they won’t let her apply for a liquor license without a certificate of occupancy. He suggests he can get it moved along for her.

Carmy looks at plates. He tells Sydney which one he likes until he learns that they’re very expensive. He tells her to go with the cheap ones instead. Carmen promises to talk to her about napkins when he gets back. He thanks Natalie for doing a lot even though she is pregnant. Carmen calls Claire (Molly Gordon) to see if she wants to take a ride with him. Once she picks him up, they talk about residency and how gnarly it is. Carmen says she must really love it since it is so busy, but she reminds him that working in a restaurant is similar. One of the other students at the culinary school invites Tina out to a bar. She quickly accepts.

Natalie talks to one of the workers about bringing a child into this hellfire of a planet. Richie interrupts to ask why Jimmy is coming down there and accusing them of pissing away his money. Natalie thinks they are pissing away his money. Richie reminds her she’ll need to trust him if they’re going to be partners although Natalie says they’re not partners. Then, they learn they have an amperage problem. Carmen drops off the paperwork. Natalie sits down with Sydney to complain to her about Richie driving her nuts. She is trying to task him with things that won’t bite her in the backside if they get messed up because he has no skills or abilities.

Sydney needs Carmy to help with the menu, but he isn’t there as usual. Natalie agrees that Carmy sucks. She thinks it is moderately healthy that he is hanging out with Claire. Sydney questions who Claire is. Claire tells Carmen they’ve hung out a lot although she doesn’t think they’ve ever talked. She remembers sitting behind him in algebra and he’d always be drawing something. Carmen wishes she had talked to him. Claire tried, but it was difficult because Carmen was really shy. Carmen says Mickey always had friends because he was cool. Claire apologizes for not bringing it up, but she didn’t want to make him think about it.

Carmen says he likes thinking about him. Claire invites him to a party before explaining her friend was just broken up with. Once they reach the party, Claire says they’ll stay 15 minutes tops. Kyle is surprised to see Carmen. Claire explains she dragged Carmen there to help Kelly (Mitra Jouhari). Kyle reveals he is addicted to stealing cellphones and recently got into trouble for breaking into several T-Mobiles. Carmen and Claire try to comfort Kelly by telling her that her ex-boyfriend is the one who sucks. Tina goes to the bar with her fellow students and sings karaoke. Meanwhile, Carmen talks to other friends from school who think his name is Logan. Claire pulls him away moments later. Claire tells him how she got good at managing sad people.

She questions why Carmen gave her a fake number before. Carmen says he likes her so much and feels like he missed a lot. When they hear sirens outside, Carmen says they should get the heck out of there. Then, he invites her to the restaurant. Richie, Natalie, and the others are arguing when they get there. They stop for a few seconds so they can be introduced to Claire. Carmen tells Richie he appreciates him trying to solve some problems. Richie wants to figure out the problem tonight, but Carmen wants to send them home. Carmen admits to Claire that this is how things work at the restaurant.

Once they’re alone, Carmen and Claire almost kiss. Neil interrupts before they can. Carmen tells him to go home. Neil lets Carmen know that he did that. Carmen thanks him and tells him to go. Carmen finally goes back to Claire and they start making out as the episode ends.

 

The Bear Review

This episode focused a lot on Carmen and Claire’s relationship which could work well in the short-term, but it is hard to see how it’ll hold together when the restaurant reopens. At this point, getting the restaurant back open is really the best thing that could happen to the story and the show in general. Everything else going on seems like a side story that will amount to very little in the long run.

Without the chaos that distinguished the first season from other similar shows, the series is a little dull to be honest. Now that the restaurant is closed, the action is slow and the series has lost everything that made it special in the first place. While the episode wasn’t bad, it was a run-of-the-mill episode that could easily be in any other dramedy.

The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Bear are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.