Lookit where this show The Bear has gone! From foodie find to massive Emmy winner, I love it and I love the recognition it is getting AND I hear we’re going to get some very special cameos this season and I am PUMPED. Let’s roll into my recap of The Bear S2:E01 Beef after the break.
We open bedside in a hospital, who is hurt? Ohhhh someone cared for by Marcus (Lionel Boyce); maybe his daddy or grandfather. Oh. Or his mom. My bad.
Now we see all of Chicago; and then Carmen ‘Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) watching the old ‘Original Beef of Chicagoland’ be pulled down with Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri) while Carmy’s sister Sugar (Abby Elliot) does the books.
The rest of the team works on deep cleaning; they’re reinventing The Beef to The Bear thanks to Carmy’s dead brother’s weird way of stashing borrowed money in tomato cans. Maybe Sugar will be the new project manager, project managers are awesome!
Because writing the budget on a pizza box is all Carmy’s got.
‘Cousin’ Richard ‘Richie’ Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is in a deeper funk than usual. This is to be expected, Richie hates change with the fire of ten thousand suns and even though it looks like they’re only changing two letters, it’s a seachange and he is not.ready.
I mean, he hated it when Carmy MADE money, because he was making it with a different system than he was used to.
He is struggling to find his purpose, and I bet that’s not just with the Beef (or The Berf of Chicagoland as his shirt says), he doesn’t know if there is a spot for him in this new world order. Are they going to drop his ass?
Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) wants new pots and a new Sydney and a and a. Sydney is not ready for such talk, even if technically she’s moved up to Carmy and they do need a new her, but being Sydney, it’s super awkward.
Aww Neil Fak (Matty Matheson) is taking home the Ball Breaker machine! Which is more romantical than I would expect, with the kissing and everything.
There is a lot of red tape involved with getting a new business off the ground, Sydney falls through a hole in the wall hidden by a picture of Fenway Park. Richie introduces us all to the concept of ‘Jewish Lightning’ where when a business is worth more being burned down for the insurance than standing.
It’s super racist and Sydney and I think we shouldn’t use that term again.
IS SUGAR PREGNANT.
An alarm blares in the background as Carmy, Sydney and Sugar pitch to Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt – I absolutely would) for more money. It’s only slightly less annoying than the 70s/80s era Chicago ‘hard’ rock that’s been playing. It’s distracting and I wish it wasn’t playing behind almost every scene. No thank you.
To his credit, Uncle Jimmy isn’t mad that Carmy didn’t immediately give him back the money Mikey borrowed from him, he’s just glad Mikey didn’t put it in the bank.
Of course Mikey didn’t put it in the bank.
It’s a hard sell, they owe him $350k already and want to borrow $500k more; they may be going for a Michelin star (okay SYD is going for a Michelin star) and Uncle Jimmy resists until Carmy ups the stakes and throws in the building. Boom! They have a deal and we may get a star!
Maybe at some point they can explain to me and us why they need almost a million dollars when the pizza box said $95k.
Staffing is good, now about that sous chef position…Sydney balls up and talks to Tina.
I cried. I’m not even embarrassed. I love Tina. Still crying.
So The Beef is shut down and The Bear is yet an idea, nobody knows what to do with themselves. Until Carmy stares at a shirt…
Back to The Bear where Sydney and Sugar have also returned, they can’t open in six months, it has to be three, which is going to be impossible but here we are! And we’re done for today, yay! Until next time, with hopefully either no music or better music or that crawlspace alarm. Cheers!
