The Bear – Season 3 Episode 5 Recap & Review

Children

Episode 5 of The Bear Season 3 begins with Natalie sitting inside a church, praying. We then see her at home in the dead hours of the night. She’s definitely still worrying about how to not pass on her family’s specific brand of mental illness to her child.

Sydney helps Marcus figure out what to do with all of his mother’s things. He later apologises for making things weird when he asked her out. Sydney shrugs it off and then asks if Marcus reached out to his father. But as an absentee dad, Marcus doesn’t feel like he needs to reach out. She then officially welcomes him to the Dead Mom Club.

At The Bear, Carmy is having trouble plating a certain dish to his satisfaction. Richie, meanwhile, is shocked to see that Andrea Terry is closing the Ever, the restaurant where Carmy sent him to the stage. Carmy sees the news as well and gets invited for a ‘funeral dinner’. An article on his phone reads “Is this the end of fine dining?”

Richie is now getting the restaurant photograph ready with the Fak brothers, Neil and Ted, helping. They wonder if they should call their brother to help as well. Sydney arrives at work and discusses one of Carmy’s new dishes. She sympathises about Terry and asks Carmy if he knew it was special when he was there and he replies that he was too busy to think about that.

Marcus grabs one of Carmy’s notebooks to find a recipe and comes across Natalie, who’s in pain due to how close she is to her due date. He also shows her Carmy’s drawings in his notebook. He then brings up his idea for a dish revolving around violets, referring to a white violet he saw after his mother’s death. Natalie says it’s a great idea

Tina comes back from the farmer’s market but there wasn’t much to get. They need to find a produce vendor. Sydney also hints to Carmy that their daily menu change is keeping them from getting to other things. Carmy helps Ebra when one of his trays falls down and in the process, asks if he is messing this all up. Ebra assures him he isn’t.

Richie speaks to Jess from the Ever, who says that Terry broke the news in a nice way. It seemed like she just woke up and didn’t want to do it anymore. They have one week of service yet. Jess and Richie seem on good terms though.

While Tina is working on a dish with Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, Sydney helps her put it together. Simultaneously, Marcus works on his violet dish. Carmy talks to Natalie about the Ever and then mentions that Ebra needs help at the beef counter. He proposes bringing two others they know, Chucky and Christopher, in to help and she agrees. He tries bringing up their mother but Natalie brings Claire up in retort and they decide to not talk about it.  

Neil and Ted Fak call in Sammy, their other brother played by none other than John Cena, to help with getting the restaurant ready for the photoshoot. However, Sammy is mad at Ted for stealing his SD cards and therefore will be ‘haunting’ him — a Fak family practice where one person keeps spooking the other person through jump scares and the sort.

Inside, Uncle Jimmy brings Nicholas Marshall over to the restaurant although he’s more commonly known as the Computer. He has Computer take everybody else through the restaurant’s costs and make cuts where they can. This includes reducing wine costs and removing charger plates (unused plates that are kept on a table before the customers arrive) and the restaurant phone that isn’t being used for reservations.

After the Fak brothers are done cleaning the place, the photographer comes over and takes his shots under the guidance of Richie. Things take a turn when the photographer asks for the duck dish that the reviewer had. Of course, due to the changing menu, the chefs had no idea what dish it was. Also, there is no duck in the kitchen at the moment. The only person available, Sammy Fak, ends up being sent to get it.

Later, Computer tells Natalie that they are paying Marcus too much for a chef who only makes two things. He hints letting Marcus go and Natalie makes it clear that that’s not happening.

Jimmy approaches Sydney and talks about her partnership but she doesn’t seem very excited about it. He then wonders if Carmy is more strung up than usual and wonders if he should have done more to help him and his siblings as kids. Sydney says that he’s here now, which is more than enough.

In the depths of the storage area, Carmy finds a box of things labelled DD. Inside, he finds a bunch of old pictures of DD.

The Episode Review

Episode 4 of The Bear Season 3 is a surprisingly lukewarm episode. The energy is way down from the previous episodes and it’s a bit hard to see where the show is taking the story. In the beginning, it seems like this episode is going to revolve around the photographer but it only partly does so.

The duck, or the lack of duck, is never resolved although I’m assuming the next episode could wrap this storyline up. It’s also interesting that the basic, fast food side of the restaurant is doing much better than the fine dining.

Carmy doesn’t take up too much space this episode and he still seems keen on pursuing the changing menu idea. Ebra’s assurance is heartwarming but I’m afraid it could lead Carmy astray. For someone who is so concerned about what others think of him, Carmy doesn’t consider their opinions enough. The chat between Jimmy and Sydney was unexpected and feels a tad off since we haven’t seen them interact before. Marcus and Natalie, on the other hand, had some very easy conversations. All in all, a good but not great episode.