Welcome back to The Bear season two recaps; we’re not quite three months away from opening and it’s all coming together, right? Sure. Rolling into my recap of The Bear S2:E03 Sundae after the break!
We open with Carmine ‘Carmy’ Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) sharing at an Al-Anon meeting about his childhood. He doesn’t think he’s providing a lot of entertainment for himself or the people he’s around and I don’t know about you, but this contemplative Carmy is in a much better place than chaotic Carmy of season one. However he got there. I’ll take that over a dancing monkey any day.
He just needs to remember to breathe.
We’re 11 weeks from opening The Bear! While Carmy is realigning his chakras via group sync, chef de cuisine Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri) prefers to doom scroll through the interwebs ever-growing list of established Chicago restaurants murdered by COVID-19.
So many restaurant were lost to our most recent plague; Sydney fixates on the headline “Michelin Start Couldn’t Save Them, Closing After 3 Years’.
Bu the thing is: there are no guarantees in anything in life. Anything. Except that things will change. You’ve got to shoot your shot, make your play, do a bunch of sports metaphors because what else are you going to do? So you waste a year putting together a restaurant that fails; that year was going to pass anyway. And now you have so much matching silverware, you will never not be able to stir your tea.
Sydney and Carmy continue recipe testing; looks like we’ve got braised sour cabbage in a curry sauce with a grapefruit finisher. Nope, bunch of other stuff too and it’s too salty.
Sydney wants to focus on desserts; we’re sending patissiere Marcus (Lionel Boyce) to Copenhagen! And Carmy is taking them on a food tour for inspiration, in their neighbourhood.
Chef Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas) makes it to culinary school, so proud of her crisp jacket and hat but chef Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) does not.
Cousin Richard ‘Richie’ Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is dealing with the realities of life; his daughter is full of intel about her mom; there’s an ‘Uncle Frank’ who is really proud of Richie’s ex for her promotion and raise and work. Although it’s discussed that Richie still has to pay child support “because fair is fair.”
Richie loves his kiddo, he’s a good dad in the way of people who actually do the work instead of lip service.
I am not a hater by any means, I’m actually a big fan but same, Richie. Same.
Oh ho, remember Clare (Molly Gordon) who remembered Carmy so well that she remembered the name of the restaurant he wanted to open basically before he knew what a restaurant was? ANYWAY, she got his number, which turned out to be a fake number, but then got his real number and she is totally in her feelings about all of that.
And she’d like some help today. Is Carmy busy?
YEAH HE IS.He’s opening a new restaurant with an old name in less than 3 months!
But sure, he’ll help her move stuff.
When did Neil Fak (Matty Matheson) become Carmy’s best friend?? I mean, he has a really adorable innocence that is endearing.
Guess who doesn’t show up for a culinary tour with Sydney?
I love that she orders enough for 4 anyway and meets a really cute waiter/kitchen worker anyway.
She goes on a tour of lost and live restaurants and fresh food and so much food and how is she eating still and walking and I would be curled into a ball clutching my stomach. But I love that she went on her own and talked to so many people and watched start and end and a butcher saw through a cow quarter.
She maybe tries poaching some restaurant workers in a back alley and gets run off.
I love that this tour involves her past, a little Sydney Adamu with her mom (now deceased).
There will be some kind of filled pasta on this new menu, you mark my words.
How does she have space for a three scoop sundae with all the fixings that same day??
Sydney stops by The Beef, surprised to find Carmy and zero walls. All walls have been knocked down and she didn’t know anything about it, so she’s understandably confused and feeling some type of way about it.
Off she goes to a friend’s restaurant kitchen to work on her filled pasta idea, but, like the last two recipe attempts she’s done with Carmy: it’s gross. Too salty again? Interesting. Her tasting isn’t off, she’s been eating literally everyone else in Chicago’s food on this very day.
Interesting.
You can’t cook scared! You can’t do anything scared, people can smell that!
Until next time, I love y’all. Cheers
