‘The Bear’ Season 3 Episode 2 Recap: “Next”

It’s easy to forget, but The Bear is billed in most awards-show categories as a “comedy,” and sometimes it can even pull it off despite its swirling darkness. “Next” (Season 3, Episode 2) gets off to a promising start with a visit from one of Carmy’s sleazy neighborhood pals who’s there to drop off micro radishes and collect money in an envelope. Carmy messes around with some tweezers and pea tendrils when his buddy asks him when the Chicago Beef sandwich window will open because the locals are getting ornery. “I hear you,” Carmy says. But he doesn’t—so his buddy wants to relay a message from the hungry locals who are craving their good old-fashioned Italian beefs: “Fuck this fancy fuck, I want my shit!” 

We forget that Carmy’s an outlier in this crew—his white coat chef stuff can only be tolerated for so long until Chicago’s finest lovable dipshits will revolt. 

Sugar (Abby Elliott) arrives early, is concerned for Carmy’s mental health, and is quickly unnerved by his incapacity to sincerely apologize to anyone but especially Richie and Claire. Then she notices Carmy’s list of “non-negotiables,” a list of goals, demands, and wishes that he maniacally put together that he claims will ensure The Bear’s success. “You’ve got to be excellent every day,” he says. He looks unwell when he says this. 

Enter more comedy; this time, it’s cranky wiseguy Cicero (Oliver Platt) who comes to check in on Carmy but mostly comes to ask Carmy not to spend money on “fancy shit.” (Nobody likes fancy!)

Sugar continues to read off the list of “non-negotiables” to hopefully recenter her brother, who appears unyielding to reality. “Ready to constantly evolve through passion and creativity?” she recites dispassionately.  

Sydney arrives in the morning to survey Carmy’s handiwork. She is shocked that he has wholly reimagined, added, subtracted, rotated, and exploded their original friends and family night menu into something full of passion and creativity (and reeling, ego-fueled insanity) without consulting her first. She goes along with it until Carmy hits her with the plan to change the menu daily.

More BIG news—Carmy has sent her a Docusign  to look over that outlines her ownership agreement. 

Richie enters, still smarting from his and Carmy’s walk-in showdown, and refuses to address Carmy directly, asking questions about the table rearrangements through Sidney. Richie also grabs the “non-negotiables” list and proceeds to shred it mercilessly, significantly the “change the menu every day” part, which he wisely sees as “demented.” (It should be noted that from the minute Richie stepped into the scene, there are 35 uses of the word “fuck” between himself, Carmy, Sydney, and one from Sugar in three minutes.)

More evidence that episode 2 is focused on the comedy is the appearance of the Fak brothers. 

First comes Neil Fak (Matty Matheson), who is dressed in a suit and has returned Richie’s clothes iron, which he has been looking for all day. (Best Richie line is in this sequence: “I told you if you iron that shit, you’ll look like a fucking stingray.) 

Once Fak gets a look at the “non-negotiables” list and questions the daily menu changes (he calls it “ kinda banana town,” also a fantastic line) and then there’s another fuck-you-fuck-you-fuck-face-fuck-off parry between Richie and Carmy. The room hushes and freezes when Teddy Fak(Ricky Staffieri), who is there to fix the stroke-inducing lighting situation, reveals that he’s seen Claire “at a friend’s house,” which is obviously a no-fly zone in Carmy’s wounded and under-slept state. They quickly move on. 

Finally, Marcus arrives back at work after a brief respite due to his mother’s death. The yelling finally officially stops. Everyone but Carmy clears out. Marcus picks up the “non-negotiables” list and glances at it. “Look, I know that list probably looks crazy,” Carmy says. Marcus shakes his head. “Not to me.” Carmy offers his condolences and support and advises Marcus to talk about it. “Is that what you did?” 

No, of course not. Carmy pushes that shit down. 

But Marcus assures Carmy that he’s more dialed in and focused than ever. 

“Take us there, Bear.” 

Grief is good.

THE BEAR SEASON 3 EPISODE 2: LEFTOVERS

QUESTIONS I STILL HAVE: Still not sure what Cicero does or if his money is legal or part of some wiseguy slush fund that he’s able to fund the enormous bills thanks to Carmy’s affinity for micro radish and top-of-the-line Cryovacs. 

MIDDLE AGE DAD NEEDLE DROP: “Save It For Later,” by Eddie Vedder. Now THAT’s what I’m talking about! Initially done by the 80s British synth-pop band The English Beat, this song is a standard tag for Pearl Jam’s song “Better Man” during their live shows, but it was never part of any official recording. This Eddie Vedder solo version was explicitly cut for The Bear and deepens my love of Christopher Storer for populating his show with PJ deep cuts. Also, should mention Radiohead’s “(Nice Dream)” playing during the end credit roll. 

CARMY ARM PORNOGRAPHY: Twirl for me, Carm.

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