In this episode, the entire cast is going through the motions of change. We start with Marcus, who finds a friend in Sydney. Despite being tragically turned down by Sydney for any romantic prospects in Season two, the two of them have a deep friendly rapport. Sydney is helping Marcus with getting rid of the clothes that his mother had left behind. He decides to donate all of it. There is also a really sweet conversation between the two of them, Sydney welcoming Marcus to “The Dead Moms Club”. Despite it being a dejected conversation, the welcome is warm. And there is reason to sniff for hints of romance between these two as well, maybe? At least more than the possibility of Sydney and Carmy being an item, mostly because of their roles, and, it’s Carmy. Syd knows and understands the hothead and probably doesn’t want to live with it. With Marcus, there is the feeling that things could be different. Maybe Syd was just overwhelmed by the notion before and shot it down too quickly. Maybe she is ready now.
The rest of the episode has one long thread; the news of Terry shutting down her restaurant for good. She was a mentor to Carmy, and now, he is experiencing some heavy imposter syndrome. The restaurant must withstand this outstanding review. Also, the photographer is coming today and the floors need to be buffed! Everyone is stressed out.
Computer, played by Oliver Platt, to agree with her, a cousin-in-law of the family that is a master of finance, and tells them what they can be doing to cut costs in this place. Tina comes back from the farmers market and says that she didn’t have so much luck. Sydney then decides to reach out to Carmy about this and says that it would be a good idea to change things up and get a food vendor. He is stubborn about the process and continues this way. This goes to show how Carmy doubts her despite saying that she is doing a good job and keeping her his right hand.
In this episode, there is also the famous line “what goes together, grows together”, a term commonly used in cooking but could have a deeper meaning. Here, the showrunners could be planting the idea that Sydney should stay and that this restaurant’s cast needs to remain unchanged. Or simply teasing that this could be something else to fall apart. We also see that there is alot of pressure on Sydney to sign the owner agreement and to sign it fast. All the while her doubt is settling in. Despite this, Syd and Tina are building a bond that is much stronger than we were able to foresee last season, as Tina was training to be Syd’s, “Jeff”, and is now her right-hand woman. They are very close and Syd has a good way of being a leader, understanding how people learn or work under pressure. She does this when showing Tina how to make and plate a sauce with collard greens and kale. There is a deep friendship evolving at the two of them assume different roles.
Rating: 9/10