'The Bear' Season 2 Finale (Episode 10) Recap: "The Bear"

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The Bear clarifies that its primary players are profoundly broken people, many of whom don’t realize how much. So most of this season focused on telling us why the characters are the way they are. Could they be saved? Possibly — if they get out of their own way.

Throughout all the screaming and blowups in the punishing “Fishes” episode, Carmy was the quietest at the table. He mostly sat in stunned silence as his brother and mother got eaten alive by their mental illnesses. He knew there was a high probability that his crazy family would act crazy, but he came home from his fancy Copenhagen apprenticeship anyway. Although it was clear to everyone at Christmas Eve dinner that the Original Beef sandwich shop was failing and Mikey’s mental health was deteriorating, Carmy still presented him with his pencil sketch for a dream restaurant. “We could do this,” he said, but Mikey’s suicide through a wrench in those plans.

Five years later, The Bear’s doors finally open: Friends-and-family night has arrived. The tables are complete, and the order and precision Carmy and Sydney have worked so hard to orchestrate in the back of the house are executed smoothly and flawlessly by Suit Richie (and Fak!) out front. All the VIPs invited for the night are drinking heavily and enjoying the Chaos Menu that Syd and Carmy have worked so hard to put together, along with the personalized touches that Richie has planned: Syd’s dad gets a soda pop bottle service because he doesn’t drink alcohol. Uncle Jimmy gets the chocolate-covered banana he loved much as a kid. Claire gets treated like a princess. Mom Berzatto shows up but refuses to come inside because she doesn’t want to ruin the night, despite the insistence from Natalie’s husband, Pete, that she’d be very welcome there.

But The Bear wouldn’t be “The Bear” unless it all goes to shit. The cracks begin to show: they run out of forks. A toilet gets clogged. Tina fucks up a T-bone, and Syd yells at her in front of the kitchen. One of the new line cooks has gone missing and is out back smoking meth. And then Chekov’s Gun appears: Carmy still didn’t get the walk-in fridge handle fixed, and he gets locked in there when he’s needed most on the line.

Tina comes over to check on him to let him know that she and Syd are handling the service and everything is under control. And that is when Carmy’s dormant “little bitch” side resurfaces, and he loses his mind — and he begins yelling helplessly from inside the walk-in, excoriating himself for not getting the fridge fixed and for dating Claire.

“I don’t need to receive any amusement or enjoyment. I’m completely fine with that. Because no amount of good is worth how terrible this feels. It’s just a complete waste of fucking time.” Carmy doesn’t realize Tina has left and Claire is behind the door. “I’m really sorry you feel that way, Carm.” Claire composes herself and walks away from the fridge and, most likely, Carmy as she realizes he’s not ready for a relationship with her or anyone.

As she’s leaving the kitchen, she bumps into Richie on the way out and tearfully kisses him goodbye. Realizing his cousin has screwed up the best thing that’s ever happened to him, Richie unloads.

Next, we have a standard Bear meltdown as Richie and Carmy trade cruel insults between the closed walk-in.

CARMY: “You wouldn’t fucking have anything without me–your fucking life, your fucking kid! You fucking loser!
RICHIE: “Least I got a kid! You don’t have shit! You don’t have fucking shit!”

It’s awful, one of those Bear staples, when two characters say all the things that should not be displayed while they’re at their most vulnerable.

But there are some gentler moments. Marcus receives a nice note from Luca, the pastry god, including an “EVERY SECOND COUNTS” sign. And Sydney, even though she’s out nervous-puking near the dumpster after the service, has a touching run-in with her dad afterward. When she asks him if he enjoyed his food, he tells her what she needed to hear her entire life. “Incredible. Absolutely incredible. Baby–it’s the thing.”

Back inside, the fridge guy finally arrives and blow-torches it open to let Carmy out. But it doesn’t look like he wants to come out anymore, realizing that without Claire, the outside world is even colder and lonelier than the walk-in. Maybe he’ll figure it out before his Berzatto brain destroys him.

THE BEAR SEASON 2 EPISODE 10: LEFTOVERS

QUESTIONS I STILL HAVE: I thought we’d see Tiffany’s fiancee, Frank, at friends-and-family night. Also expected him to be another A-list guest star. Mark Ruffalo? Paul Mescal? Jake Paul? Maybe we will find out next season.
MIDDLE-AGE DAD NEEDLE DROP: “Supernova” by Liz Phair. Bet you thought I was gonna say, Pearl Jam. No, but not gonna lie; watching Richie do an expo while “Animal” plays was pretty rad. But most people forget that Liz Phair grew up mainly in Chicago. (Don’t tell Steve Albini that, or he’ll cut your throat.)
CARMY ARM PORN: None. He wears his chef’s coat throughout most of the episode. Stewing like a Little Bitch until the fridge guy comes to the rescue to let him out.