The previous episode of FX’s The Bear introduced the viewers to family members of the Berzatto family and answered some questions, regarding the relationship between Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), Natalie “Sugar” (Abby Elliot), Mikey (Jon Bernthal), and their mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis). The episode ends with Donna driving the car through the house, during a family Christmas dinner. While Mikey was trying to open the door, while yelling at his mother, Carmy stood there in shock.
Now, this seventh episode, “Forks”, starts with Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) cooking new recipes. In the background, audio of the University of Duke’s basketball coach, Coach K, is playing, speaking about success and leadership. She’s been reading his book, so it’s understandable for it to be played in that scene. Viewers hadn’t seen Sydney in the previous episode.
Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) ends up in a building. He goes to the back, where there’s a kitchen. Carmy set him up on a job, most likely to get some new learning skills behind the kitchen. A man, Garrett (Andrew Lopez), comes up to him and tells him that he’s “on forks,” meaning that he has to clean and organize all of the forks. He’s there for a week, at one of the best restaurants in the city. What Richie’s doing is somewhat similar to what Chef Marcus (L-Boy) has been doing in Copenhagen. Richie wakes up early in the morning, doing the same thing, which is cleaning and drying off the forks.
There are only four weeks left until The Bear opens up. There’s a lesson to be learned with Richie only being able to clean the forks. The only question, which will be found out in this episode, is what is it? Garrett, who’s Richie’s supervisor, tells him that he needs to learn to respect all sides of the career, whether you’re doing something as little as polishing dishes or making all of the plans. This is also a similar aspect with Marcus and Luca (Will Poulter), because Luca is showing Marcus the way around the kitchen and teaching him his skills. The only difference is that Marcus isn’t as hardheaded as Richie.
Garrett has Richie sit in a planning meeting with the employees, as they’re getting ready to have a celebrity guest being served for a dinner party. As they’re talking about things, everyone is writing notes in their notepads and Richie is looking at them as they’re all very serious about all of it. Everything in their eyes, has to be perfect and exceptional.
Richie’s ex Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs) calls him as he’s on break. He tells her that he got three tickets for the two of them and their daughter to see Taylor Swift. Tiffany tells him that her boyfriend proposed to her, to which she said yes. She tells Richie she loves him and he says it back. As the camera shows his reaction, he’s sad about it.
The next morning, as Richie goes into the kitchen to get started on his shift, he notices a blazer on the counter. Garrett tells him that it’s “trailer day.” He gets suited up and for the day, he’s doing the reservations. Richie watches behind the scenes as a chef is telling them the orders and reservations, which involve making sure the correct orders go to the correct tables, any cancellations made, and things of that nature. He was able to get some hands-on experience and help the chefs and staff with the customers. After the shift, he was very happy. He had a very successful night and he learned a lot about hospitality and how to be in charge of a successful business.
The week went by quickly and it was officially his shift, which he felt bittersweet about. He loved the environment and he felt like he could be successful there. But, he knew Carmy needed him, and The Bear needed him. As he’s walking around the kitchen, he sees a picture of when Carmy and Luca were working there.
At the end of the episode, Richie meets Chef Terry (Olivia Colman). Chef Terry is the owner of the restaurant. She tells him that Carmy believes in him and that he told her that he’s good with people. Hopefully, that’ll give him not only a boost of self-confidence but also more of an understanding as to how much Carmy cares about him and why he put him in that certain position for a week.
Overall, this episode was fully focused on Richie, which was definitely a good thing. It focused on showing a deeper level of Richie and his skills. He’s tough, but also self-conscious. He’s also smarter than he perceives himself to be. It’s nice to have certain episodes only focused on one or two characters because it helps the viewers understand and learn more about who they are as a whole. The Bear is pretty good at doing that and there’s a possibility that more episodes like this will be coming in the future for the series.
Rating: 8/10