‘The Bear’ Season 3 Episode 7 Recap: “Legacy”

More lazy flashback sequences here in The Bear Season 3 Episode 7! This time, they’re accompanied by the trippy, twinkly, super-solid folk song “No Machine” by Adrianne Lenker. We see Carmy and Claire eating food together, Richie pondering his losses, and Sydney whiplashing through her time with Carmy. The happiness of certain memories colliding with the frequency of their traumatic results. Nicely constructed, but still lazy.

But we are shown that relief is available—Carmy is back in Al-Anon rooms, listening intently in search of a solution. 

Sydney gets courted by Shapiro, the ex-chef at Ever, which announced its abrupt closure. They’re discussing the shock of Chef Terry’s decision, and Sydney apologizes for Shapiro’s sudden unemployment. He’s okay, though—if he didn’t happen this way he would have “stayed there forEver” (just got that) so this is a healthy way for him to move on. 

Plus, Shapiro’s been given the softest landing—his own restaurant, backed up by the same financiers of Ever. He wants to run the restaurant but not cook in it. Sydney looks perplexed and startled by what comes next—a job offer to the head chef. He offers her $80k per year, benefits, and the keys to unlocking her own dreams, but it’s clear she’s stricken with a conscience. Somehow, despite all the heartache and abuse she’s suffered at The Bear, she doesn’t want to betray the Berzattos, especially Carmy. 

She needs to think about it. Shapiro tells her not to wait too long because he wants to move quickly. 

(Time out, for a second: As is the case with, like, half a dozen characters this season, “HOW DOES SHAPIRO KNOW HER SO WELL?” They met, like, two days ago on the L platform, and now he’s like, “You’re the person I want to run all of my shit.” and she’s not suspicious at all. Well, I AM.)

Meanwhile, Sydney is disrespected again. Marcus gets access to Carmy’s journals from training at all the top restaurants. Yet Sydney hasn’t seen them, even though she’s tasked with being Carmy’s equal in the kitchen. She recognizes that he may never see her as an equal, even if she does DocuSign the partnership agreement that’s been offered to her in The Bear. 

One problem that is solved is the Italian beef sandwich window. It’s a money-maker that can no longer be operated by Ebra alone. Enter Chi-Chi and Chuckie, who were expert sandwich slingers back when the Beef was run by Mikey and less fancy fuck. And these two goons? Completely enjoyable to watch. They can be both shady and trustworthy. I believe their whole honey-buddy service vibe. (This casting feels more like the Safdie brothers as opposed to the Faks, who skew more toward the Farrelly brothers.)

Sugar and Richie are in full-on FML mode, allowing each other space to feel some self-pity for their frustrations with The Bear. Richie is wondering what happened to the dining room’s soul and how he can fix it so it no longer sounds like “total chaos.” (The fact that he’s even asking these sorts of quasi-existential operational questions reveals more about Richie’s extraordinary growth as a human and an employee since his whole “Forks” revelation.)  

Sugar’s uncertainty about The Bear’s financial future has taken a backseat to her growing uncertainty about her ability to be a mother. Sugar asks Richie where he and Tiffany were when her water broke. He begins to tell a story about a Thai place they both “love” but then quickly edits it to “loved.” The man is not ready to be divorced, and he’s not prepared for her to have moved on so quickly, especially with a seemingly decent man like Frank. Even a soul-filled dining room with smooth turnovers and no broken glasses every night will fix that.

Meanwhile, the sandwich station has plowed through its C-Folds and needs to be restocked ASAP. In need of a break from The Bear, Sugar volunteers to go to the restaurant chain supply store to grab them. Obviously, this is a mistake, and as soon as she loads the heavy box into her car, oops, her water breaks. 

THE BEAR SEASON 3 EPISODE 7: LEFTOVERS

QUESTIONS I STILL HAVE: 

• Where did they grab those sandwich goons? Chuckie is played by Paulie James of Uncle Paulie’s Deli fame. (Remember when Pete Davidson boosted the merch?) Chi-Chi is played by another sandwich heavyweight—Chris Zucherro, who owns the original Mr. Beef in Chicago. 
• What is the function of C-folds? C-fold paper towels, named for the letter they resemble when unfolded, are perfect stacking towels that are easy to grab and go for a high-volume operation like The Beef. They are also less wasteful than many other variations of paper towels. (There are also Z-fold, M-fold, P-fold, V-fold, and I-fold, and they all serve different functions.)
• Who the fuck is this guy?

Never mind, I don’t care.

MIDDLE-AGED DAD NEEDLEDROP: “Save It For Later,” The English Beat. The original version of this song makes an appearance. I’ll be honest, I could listen to this song every single day of my life and analyze every single artist who covers it because it’s that spectacular. Seriously—gimme a Doja Cat cover or even a Rammstein cover of “Save It For Later,” and I’d be psyched. 

CARMY ARM PORN: He was in a sweater and only shown from the neck up in scenes. 

So let’s go with Chi-Chi sandwich-system porn:

A.J. Daulerio is a Los Angeles-based writer and editor. He is also the founder of The Small Bow, a recovery newsletter.