The FX series, The Bear’s previous episode, “Pop,” left the viewers off with tension spreading even thicker with Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and Carmy (Jeremy Allen White). Carmy and his ex-girlfriend, Claire (Molly Gordon), spent a day together, which ended up with them kissing and reminiscing on the past. Chef Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) went out with her classmates, once they were done with their culinary class for the day, which resulted in her creating new associates and doing karaoke in front of people in a bar.
The first scene of the sixth episode, “Fishes,” starts with Sugar (Abby Elliot), who’s standing outside, listening to yelling that is coming from inside her family home. Her brother Mikey (Jon Bernthal) was arguing with their mother. It’s Christmas time and they have the whole family over. From the looks of things, Carmy and Mikey aren’t on the best terms, which leaves their sister in the middle of it all. Whilst Carmy is just getting back home from Copenhagen, Sugar has been too concerned about their mother. On this day, there are only 256 weeks until The Bear opens, which is approximately four years.
As the siblings go back into the house, with Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), they’re quickly bombarded with loud commotion, everyone yelling and moving around. The viewers are introduced to new characters such as their mother, Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis), Uncle Lee (Bob Odenkirk), Cousin Michelle (Sarah Paulson), and Stevie (John Mulaney). Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) and Fak (Matty Matheson) are there as well. Donna is cooking dinner in the kitchen, which is a very messy sight. There’s sauce all over the microwave, her hands are covered in food, and the counters are crowded with food. Richie’s ex-wife Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs), is pregnant.
As Donna is going back and forth with Carmy and Richie, Sugar notices no one is paying attention. So, she grabs the bottle of alcohol, which came from Donna, and pours it out in the sink. Mikey and Richie mention to Carmy that they saw Claire and that she had a glow-up, meaning that she looked different, she looked all grown up. They tell him that he needs to make a move on her because she could be the love of his life. Carmy thinks that they’re just joking with him, but they’re very serious about it.
Richie goes upstairs to Donna’s bedroom, where Tiffany is. They talk for a little while. The couple was looking for a new place to move into before their daughter came. It seemed like they weren’t on the best terms either, Tiffany was mad at Richie about something. But, they talked and everything went back to normal once she had told him that she forgot why she was even mad at him. As Richie goes back downstairs, he talks to Jimmy. He tells him that he doesn’t want to be working at The Beef anymore and that he’s interested in becoming a businessman.
Donna was still cooking in the kitchen when Carmy was helping her and Jimmy came in after talking to Richie. He wanted to know where Natalie got her nickname “Sugar” from. Donna told him the short story of how it started. One time, she added a cup of sugar instead of a cup of salt and so, Donna started calling her that because of what took place.
Carmy has to get saltine crackers from the pantry, so he goes there and Mikey is in there. Mikey asks Carmy why he’s acting the way he’s acting. Carmy was upset that Mikey talked to Claire about him. Carmy was somehow under the impression that he didn’t care about him, but he did. Mikey vocalizes that he cares about Carmy, he’s his brother after all. Carmy leaves and then comes back seconds after saying he got Mikey something. He brings the gift over to him. Mikey opens it and it’s a drawing. It looks like a drawing of The Bear, which was called Beef at first.
Mikey and Richie are trying to tell a story, but Lee ruins the moment. He knows how the story goes so he ruins it, telling the ending. As Jimmy comes in and starts to unravel the tension between Mikey and Lee, Sugar’s husband Pete (Chris Witaske) comes in with a tuna casserole, which everyone warns him about. Donna only wanted seven fishes, but now he added an eighth one, so Donna will most likely yell at him. Carmy warns him that he shouldn’t have done it and Sugar does the same. She grabs it from him and throws it out the door, knowing he might’ve ruined the evening with the eighth fish.
Michelle asks Carmy if he wants to stay with her in New York for a little bit, so he can get a breather from his mom and siblings. She noticed how hostile and stressful it can be at home, she knew he was struggling, mentally. Everyone sits down for dinner, waiting for Donna. All of the food is on the table and there’s an overwhelming amount of food spread out. Jimmy tells Tiffany that he has a feeling that the dinner isn’t going to go well at all. She thanks Jimmy for giving Richie a job, but it wasn’t established yet. But, Jimmy decided to give him the job there on the spot, so that Tiffany wouldn’t get mad at her husband.
As everyone’s sitting down for dinner, Carmy goes to the kitchen and Donna is crying. She tells him that no one cares about her, but he tells her that it’s not true. She feels as though she puts in so much effort for the family, but no one does the same for her. She tells Carmy to go sit back down, so he leaves. Mikey throws a fork at Lee and he throws another one. He was mad at Lee and now everyone was worried that something bad was about to happen.
Tension was running super high between the two of them and Lee just kept saying to Mikey that he was nothing but a lowlife. It shines a light on who Mikey is and what part he plays within the family, as a whole. As a viewer, it’s easy to tell how mentally unstable Donna is. The episode ends with Donna driving the car into the house, which causes more chaos, as she just laughs at the situation, as Mikey is yelling at her.
This The Bear episode was good, but there was too much going on all at once, which made it understandable that the episode was an hour long. There were new characters introduced, specifically family. Viewers get a glimpse of where Carmy, Richie, Sugar, and Mikey come from.
Rating: 8/10