Astounding, and incredibly memorable, this episode reads Tina inside and out; her family and marriage, and the inner workings of her purpose. It answers questions about how this restaurant family came to meet. It is an incredibly heartwarming, unlucky, lucky day for Tina as we get to ride along on one of the most pivotal days in her life. The cherry on top is that this is all done by the brilliant lens and perspective of Ayo Edibiri.
We start with a day in the life of Tina, as her last day of employment unfolds. She is devastated. When she gets home, she remains in shock unable to tell her husband the important news. When he finds out later in the day, he is nothing but supportive. But his untouchable optimism seems uninformed to her. She worries as he tells her not to, a cycle unfolding in a new setting: the home of Tina. The marriage is one still of love and support even if they are struggling to get on the same page due to finances.
Tina is now on the hunt for her next job. She calls and applies to everything that she can think of in her city. All to receive a void of an empty email inbox. There is one appointment that does come to pass as she is on her job hunt, she is excited about it and decides that she will try this interview for size. All for her to be denied her appointment because “the job has been filled”. She has a bit of an explosion on the very unamused and unhelpful office clerk before waiting for a long train home
She decides to go into The Chicago Beef, as the times were too long to handle for the train. She walks in and is greeted by Richie. Rushed and flustered, he apologizes for the huge line out the door and hands her her coffee. He lets her have it on the house along with a free sandwich. This act of kindness is so overwhelming for her, that she sits to eat and begins to cry. Mikey notices this and decides to go up to her and ask about what is going on.
Here begins an incredible dialogue delivered by the two of them, as adults who do not have traditionally successful careers. Tina describes her situation to Mikey and he hears her out; her issues with the rent getting raised, the loss of her job, and a lack of promotion for her husband. Mikey begins to tell her about how his job is no cakewalk either, and how the place is always almost going under and is a constant dig-out of the hole. They both talk about their purpose in life, and what they aim to leave her for the world. Mikey says that he is proud of the way that restaurants can foster important events for people. Tina feels a little less excited about the question. She says that she never thought that she had a purpose, as she always felt that she was never good at anything in particular, just good at working. They have a very intimate conversation about struggles and jealousy of youth, something they both needed at the time, a listening ear. Mikey starts talking about his brother, Carmy, who is staging at a restaurant. He shows Tina a photo of his brother’s dish, and talks about how he is so glad to witness someone be so good at something and make something of it.
They both agree. This entire conversation is incredibly well-acted and speaks to how important Mikey was to everyone in that restaurant, even still after his passing. It was an incredible tie-in to the episode. The tail-end of this episode ends with Mikey offering Tina a job and she is finally able to go home and feel that she is providing for her family how she wants.
Rating: 10/10