This episode of The Bear is incredibly focused, showing us exactly one thing: a realization in Carmy. The immersive episode takes us through all of this back at The French Laundry. Carmy is seen being taught by a teacher, who is kind, thorough, and diligent. It is very visible that Carmy is grateful for what this teacher taught him. That every day when he walks into the restaurant his main purpose is to nourish, and that is in every vain of the word. Nourish intelligence by teaching the craft of cooking, nourishing people with the food that is cooked, and the earth by using the vegetation that comes from it. It is a beautiful metaphor and full circle that we have at the beginning of this episode after such a chaotic mess of a mindset from Carmy.
The next scene is the last sitting at Ever, where Carmy and Sydney enjoy meeting past characters. However, there is one face that Carmy cannot peel his eyes from, and it is Chef David. Throughout the episode, we see flashbacks of Carmy being verbally abused by Chef David. It all comes back to him, sitting at a table with other chefs discussing their staging at Ever and their time learning. We see that internally, there is an anger growing within Carmy that all of his peers had great learning experiences, only for him to have one that makes him sabotage everything in his life now and gives him great anxiety.
Despite Carmy internally going through a breakthrough realization that this Chef did so much harm to Carmy’s mindset and his idea of a boss and how to work with people. He is realizing this mostly through the incredible little vignettes and anecdotes that other chefs at Carmy and Sydney’s table are saying, as they talk about why their passion is food each one reminds Carmy that he has had it all wrong. The head chef of Ever (Olivia Coleman) gets up and shares that most people do not remember the food, but the people. This hits Carmy realizing how much of a control freak he is, mirroring the worst parts of Chef David. Carmy decides to really take it out on him. After a full meal of staring at him across the room, Carmy confronts Chef David about how much he traumatized him. In complete asshole fashion, Chef David has nothing to say but “your welcome”. He tells Carmy he’s an incredible chef and that he essentially built his skills under pressure necessary for greatness. This writing did an incredible job at making the audience hate this Chef, almost making him seem partly responsible for what Carmy has been going through this season. It seems that this conversation has only made Carmy madder, as he was not able to punch his face in, legally at least.
In the kitchen, we see Sydney talking to Lucus, a chef that Carmy knows. The two have good chemistry off the bat giving signs of a budding romance, or maybe that’s just us wanting one in The Bear for anyone, please? There is also an incredibly endearing conversation between the Head Chef of Ever and Carmy, as he asks for her advice. All she can tell him is that she is so very tired of the business that she loved. She explains to him what it all has meant to her and what she would do differently.
The party does not stop at dinner though, as it is then taken to an apartment where all of the chefs help to “michelin star-ify” microwavable appetizers. Everyone is laughing and joyous. Sydney is too, until she realizes exactly how much she has to lose and what she is abandoning. She sees a news clipping on the fridge about The Bear and has a panic attack. She still has not told Carmy about the new position she has been offered and she might want out. This is a huge breaking point for Sydney after being so troubled about this for so long. It proves both how much she cares and how much she is scared to confront or disappoint Carmy.
The season, unfortunately, but not surprisingly, did not end on a high note. In the final scene, Carmy receives an alert about the food review. At the same time, he gets notifications from Uncle Jimmy and The Computer. We end this season with a strained Carmy and so many unanswered questions.
Rating: 9/10