Get in formation, Chefs! The Bear season 3 is officially with us and before you dive into what the deliciously stressful dramedy has prepared for fans this year, let’s look back at what happened in season 2.
Viewers will remember that season 2 ended with Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) trapped in the walk-in refrigerator on the highly anticipated friends-and-family night for the freshly transformed restaurant, The Bear. Chef de Cuisine Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri), who stepped up in several ways throughout the season, had to handle the kitchen on her lonesome. At the same time, Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) took over ticket orders before getting into a season-ending argument with the trapped Carmy about the latter’s accidental breakup with childhood crush Claire (Molly Gordon).
And that doesn’t include the tragic foreshadowing concerning Marcus’ (Lionel Boyce) ailing mom, Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto’s (Abby Elliott) pregnancy, and Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) still wanting the $800,000 he’s owed.
Keep reading for a thorough breakdown of where our favorite dysfunctional chefs left off in the second season of The Bear.
Carmy and Sydney develop a new menu as the chefs go their separate ways
Season 1 ends with Carmy finding the money left to him by his late brother, Michael “Mikey” (Jon Bernthal), and deciding to create a fine-dining restaurant from the ashes of the sandwich joint he’s inherited. As we jump into season 2, the chefs and back-of-house staff of The Bear — formerly known as The Original Beef of Chicagoland, or, The Beef — are in the thick of the transition.
A complete renovation of the space means there’s immense pressure on everyone, especially Carmy, the executive chef, Sydney, the chef de cuisine, and Natalie, who is given the role of part-time project manager by Sydney. With the place out of business, while the trio in charge try to squeeze extensive repairs into a three-month timeframe, the staff is sent off to various restaurants across America and Europe to enhance their culinary skills.
As Carmy and Sydney begin to design their “chaos menu” for the friends-and-family night, the two open up about their culinary pasts and what they want The Bear to become. Sydney establishes her desire for a Michelin star, which Carmy is very ambivalent about having retained two under his previous boss. On the other hand, Carmy has a deep desire to prove to himself, his abusive former boss, and Mikey’s ghost that he can create the restaurant of his dreams that doesn’t enforce the disparaging nature of kitchens of the past.
As Carmy and Sydney work on their restaurant’s menu, Marcus reluctantly leaves his ailing mother in Chicago to train at a restaurant in Copenhagen. Although Marcus is understandably hesitant to leave his mother’s side, the experience is worthwhile as he trains under fellow pastry chef Luca (Will Poulter).
Luca shares how he spent much of his training trying to become the “best” in the industry and struggled to accept he could never compete with an old rival (revealed to be Carmy) in the kitchen. But when he finally accepted the hard truth, it allowed him to become better than he ever thought possible. Marcus returns to The Bear feeling fulfilled and inspired from his time in Copenhagen.
Richie goes through a similar journey in what has become a fan-favorite episode. When Carmy sees how listless Richie has become as renovations continue and the father of one discovers his ex-wife is getting remarried, he sends Richie to stage at a top Michelin-star restaurant in Chicago headed by Carmy’s former mentor to find his “purpose.”
Having to go from silverware polisher to working front-of-house at the restaurant forces Richie to overcome his ego and discover a passion for hospitality. Richie finds his purpose in becoming a great host, server and expediter — the kitchen staffer who keeps everyone on time and in check — and learns from Chef Terry (Olivia Colman) that you’re never too old to start again. He adopts her mantra that “every second counts.”
Sydney and Carmy decide to send Ebra (Edwin Lee Gibson) and Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) off to culinary school, to brush up on their formal skills. While Tina flourishes under formal instruction and finds community among her classmates, Ebra struggles to adjust to the drastic change. When he returns to The Bear after skipping classes, Carmy agrees to keep a sandwich window open for loyal customers to utilize, keeping some of The Beef’s iconic charm in its new age.
Fans meet the Berzatto matriarch and the rest of the family in a stress-filled Christmas episode
While season 1 teased about the tense relationship between Carmy, Natalie and their mother, Donna Berzatto (Jamie Lee Curtis), season 2’s Christmas flashback episode “Fishes” formally introduced us to the Berzatto matriarch, a hard-drinking, emotionally abusive and deeply depressed mother whose meltdown during a previous Christmas haunts Carmy to the present day.
The tension-filled and emotional holiday feast introduces the star-studded extended Berzatto family, which includes Sarah Paulson, Gillian Jacobs, John Mulaney, and Bob Odenkirk.
During the feast, Donna callously condescends to her only daughter, emotionally manipulates her youngest son for leaving home to work on his culinary dreams, and ultimately drives her car through her own house during the traditional Italian “feast of the seven fishes” she previously prepared. It’s not a surprise that Carmy has a panic attack that prominently features her face five years after the traumatic dinner.
When Donna makes another appearance in the present day, she shows up at The Bear’s friends-and-family night, smoking outside the restaurant where she can’t seem to bring herself to come in because she doesn’t want to ruin the nice thing her kids made together.
Although Natalie’s husband, Pete (Chris Witaske), tries to get her to come inside, he eventually tells her it’s OK not to go inside, giving her the pass she needs to leave without seeing either of her children in-person.
Claire enters the picture and things get complicated as The Bear is almost open for business
Just as it seems that Carmy and Sydney have reached a common ground, it all goes awry when Carmy gets distracted by the arrival of Claire, whom he had a crush on when they were younger. Although Carmy gives Claire a fake number when they initially reunite at a grocery store one night, she gets his real number from Neil Fak (Matty Matheson). When Claire calls him out for giving her the wrong number, Carmy agrees to go out with her, which leads to a blossoming relationship.
Carmy, who tends to have tunnel vision, finds himself wrapped up in pursuing his relationship with Claire during a critical time for The Bear’s renovation. He even blows Sydney off for the planned taste excursions that he suggested for them to find inspiration after their cooking wasn’t producing good flavors.
When Carmy leaves planning for the restaurant to Sydney, who is overwhelmed handling the operation without her executive chef, she and Natalie find themselves leaning on one another as Carmy becomes more unreliable and devotes time to his romance with Claire.
But even as his relationship with Claire progresses, Carmy struggles with opening himself up to the doctor. At one point in the season, he has a panic attack that features visions of Claire, Mikey, and Donna, and seemingly calms himself down with thoughts of The Bear and Sydney.
When Carmy does show up to the work-in-progress, he starts making little mistakes that trickle down to affect everyone’s future at The Bear, including forgetting to put a call to the fridge repair guy which leads to the finale’s ultimate meltdown.
Friends-and-family night goes off with several hitches
When the night finally comes after weeks of failing fire inspections, knocking down walls and generally fighting over every detail of the restaurant, things aren’t quite as ready as everyone would hope.
Carm quickly discovers he’s the most ill-prepared chef in the kitchen after spending too much time with Claire, and begins to spiral as he believes it’ll be his fault if The Bear fails. When he gets locked inside the walk-in fridge, he realizes this is his fault because he never called the repairman to fix the handle.
While the kitchen is shocked while trying to figure out what to do, Sydney and Richie realize they have to take control without their executive chef. Luckily, the CDC can trust the rest of the kitchen, especially her sous chef, Tina, to keep things afloat.
Meanwhile, Carmy is dramatically spiraling while locked away in the fridge as his team efficiently handles things without him. He self-flagellates, ranting about how he’s a “psycho” and doesn’t “need to receive any amusement or enjoyment.”
“I am the best because I didn’t have any of this f**king bullsh*t, right? I could focus, and I could concentrate, and I had a routine,” he tells whoever is listening outside the fridge door — primarily Tina before she’s pulled away for kitchen business.
“I don’t need to provide amusement or enjoyment,” Carmy continues. “I don’t need to receive any amusement or enjoyment. I’m completely fine with that.”
In the thick of his anxiety-fueled spiral, Carmy refers to his relationship with Claire as “all this bulls**t,” just in time for the doctor herself to come into the kitchen and hear his spiel. “No amount of good is worth how terrible this feels,” he says. “It’s just a complete waste of f**king time.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Claire responds and leaves in tears.
When Richie learns what transpired, he lays Carmy out and the two take turns yelling unforgivable things at each other through the door. At one point, Richie calls Carmy ‘Donna,’ suggesting that Carmy is showing the same self-destructive behavior as his mother.
On the other side of the door, the rest of the staff handles service without Carmy well. Richie steps up as expediter, employing his new skills alongside Sydney taking control of the kitchen, and opening night is a success.
As the episode ends and the rest of the team winds down from the surprisingly successful night, Carmy can be seen sitting in the cold fridge as it’s opened from the outside.
What will happen in The Bear season 3?
Season 3 of the award-winning season has a lot to handle as it picks up where fans left off. After a season of Carmy being an unreliable partner, he has to prove to Sydney that he’s a trustworthy ally to work alongside. Will Richie and Matty work productively alongside each other in front-of-house? How will Natalie handle stepping back from the restaurant as she becomes a mother, and will she be interested in rebuilding her relationship with her mother as well? What will happen with Marcus’ ailing mother?
According to FX and Hulu’s official description of the third season, season 3 will follow the chefs “as they do what it takes to elevate The Bear, their beef stand turned fine dining establishment, to the highest level, all while doing their best just to stay in business. It’s a losing battle every single day in the restaurant business. Carmy pushes himself harder than ever, and demands excellence from his crew, who do their best to match his intensity.”
The description continues, “Their quest for culinary excellence will propel the crew to new levels and stress the bonds that hold the restaurant together. As the team grows in size, each member will strive to reach a greater level of service within their role. In the restaurant industry, you’re never on solid ground, and with that ever-changing landscape comes new challenges and opportunities.
“Our chefs have learned that every second counts, but this season we’ll find out if they have what it takes to make it to tomorrow,” the synopsis concludes.
While indistinct, it’s at least a little more than what we had known previously — which was not much of anything. It is believed, based on 3×1’s description on Rotten Tomatoes, that the show will pick up where season 2 left off as Carmy and his team continue to get their restaurant, The Bear, off the ground.
“The next day and the days that led to it,” reads the description of the first episode of season 3. Other like-wise short and vague episode synopses for all 10 episodes can be found here.
Tensions mount between the crew and Carmy as he doles out a list of “non-negotiables” that Sydney and the rest of the team question the reality of day-to-day execution. And as different ideas of excellence clash, the ongoing fraught interpersonal dynamics of The Bear’s crew — in and out of the kitchen — bubbles over until it overflows.
Seasons 1 and 2 of FX’s The Bear are now streaming on Hulu. The Bear season 3 begins streaming on Hulu on June 26 at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.
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