The Children – The episode begins with a few short scenes of the main characters. Natalie ‘Sugar’ Berzatto (Abby Elliott) is shown praying in church and has trouble sleeping later that night. Carmen ‘Carmey’ Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) yells at inanimate forces while breaking down cardboard boxes in the restaurant’s dumpster. Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri) and Marcus spend the day together as she helps him with his mother’s belongings. A ‘For Sale’ sign in the front window suggests he’s selling the house. At one point, he attempts to apologize for asking her out but she claims it’s unnecessary. Their conversation soon segues into parents and how their children take on their traits. Richard ‘Richie’ Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is right in the middle of ironing his suit when he receives word of Chef Terrys (Olivia Coleman) closing her restaurant. Carmy is already at The Bear, struggling to perfect his latest creation when he gets the news.

Sometime later, along with Neil (Matty Matheson) and Theodore ‘Ted’ Fak (Ricky Staffieri), Richie prepares for the arrival of a photographer. Richie appears especially stressed about the event and makes sure both Ted and Neil are aware. Sydney is the first to approach Carmy about Terry’s passing but it doesn’t go very far at the moment thanks to Marcus’ interruption about caramel recipes. Once they are alone again, she asks if he realizes how special Terry and her restaurant were when he was there. He claims he was usually too busy.

Marcus is in the process of retrieving Carmy’s old book on caramel recipes when Sugar comes waddling out of the office in pain. There is a bit of joking about her going into labor and ‘lightning crotch’ when she notices the book and asks if he is working on a new project. He briefly mentions violets being his mother’s favorite and seeing a white one on his way to work the other day.

Neil and Ted are in the middle of a heated discussion about best friends when Tina Marrero (Liza Colon-Zayas) returns with the pitiful inventory from the local Farmer’s Market. It doesn’t take Carmy and Sydney long to begin debating using a produce vendor when they see the inventory. The debate doesn’t get far due to Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) dropping a tray of bread nearby.

Riche briefly speaks with Jessica (Sarah Ramos) to learn more about Terry’s decision. According to Jessica, Terry randomly woke up one day and no longer wanted to run the restaurant. She also claims that Terry isn’t depressed and Garrett (Andrew Lopez) is taking the closing especially hard. Elsewhere at The Bear, Marcus, Sydney, and Tina experiment with several dishes. Later that day, Carmy finds Richie on the office computer, reading up on Terry. Although they exchange a look, neither says a word until Sugar interrupts with the news of a shipment for Richie. Carmy and Sugar briefly discuss Terry closing the restaurant before debating getting Ebraheim some help. There is also a quick mention of the photographer and the review.

In the lobby, Neil stresses over what he describes as a lack of courage. He doesn’t get long to do so thanks to the arrival of Carmy, who is checking to make sure everything is prepared for the photographer. This discussion is also interrupted by the arrival of Sammy Fak (John Cena), who has come to assist with the buffing of the floors. At the same time in the kitchen, Uncle Jimmy ‘Cicero’ Berzatto introduces the crew to Nicholas ‘Computer’ Marshall (Brian Koppelman), who is apparently there to run some kind of cost analysis.

The next several scenes quickly switch from the lobby to the kitchen, with Richie stressing over the dining staff while Carmy stresses over the kitchen staff. Although the dining area is spotless and much calmer, things take a turn for the worse when the photographer wants to shoot the duck dish that the Reviewer (Adam Shapiro) tried. Not only do none of the staff remember the duck dish, but they don’t even have any duck on hand.

Sugar ignores a call from Donna Berzatto (Jamie Lee Curtis) when The Computer tells her that Marcus is an expense that does make sense, given that he only makes two dishes. She wastes little letting him know that Marcus isn’t an expense they aren’t going to forego. At the same time, Cicero reminds Sydney about signing the partnership agreement while also expressing his fears that he didn’t do enough for the kids when they were growing up. She agrees to sign the agreement and tells him that he is there now.

The episode ends with Carmy discovering a box labeled, ‘DD,’ which leads him to old family photographs, including several of Michael Berzatto (Jon Bernthal).

 

The Bear Review

The entire episode felt like a filler/fluff episode, although that’s how most of the series could be described. That said, it did introduce some new potential story arcs. The ‘haunting’ concept was a big miss for me. I will give the creative team credit because it’s a story arc that could go on for as long as the series itself. It’s not something that could be a constant theme, but it could be mentioned throughout when the Fak family gets together.

I don’t really dislike the Marcus character but I did think the prospect of firing him, especially after his mother’s death was intriguing. It’s clear Sugar isn’t going to let that happen though. I felt the writers missed big time with Terry. It would have been so much more impactful if she had committed suicide, instead of just closing her restaurant.

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