The Bear – Season 3 Episode 6 Recap & Review

Napkins

Episode 6 of The Bear Season 3 starts with Tina waking up at 6 AM, getting ready and cooking all in the first half hour. She and her husband, David, discuss the apartment’s increasing rent. But he tells her not to panic as he’s expecting a raise soon. She goes to work at a confectionary and a calendar tells us that this was in 2018.

However, she’s not cooking but rather working at a desk. Unfortunately, she’s then called into a meeting where she’s told she’s lost her job. She tells David about it at night and promises to find a new one.

Despite her setback, Tina begins to look for new work with optimism and leaves her resume at various places but finds no luck. Two weeks in, Tina hates that she isn’t doing anything and isn’t able to find any leads. Even when she finds a profile that is the same work she did at her last job, they don’t hire her because she doesn’t have a college degree.

She finally gets a call for an interview and starts to feel positive about things. However, when she gets there she learns that the job has already been given to someone else. The receptionist barely looks at her and Tina leaves in a rage. When she heads back to the bus stop she sees that her bus is delayed. She needs a place to hand around for a bit and what’s across the street but The Original Beef.

She goes inside and takes in the chaos of the restaurant where Christopher, Richie and others are running around holding the place together. She gets a free Italian beef sandwich along with her coffee and heads to an inside room where Neil is playing on an arcade machine. Michael notices that Tina is sobbing her eyes out and Richie tells Michael to tell her to stop or she’s going to scare all the regulars.

Michael does end up approaching Tina and they start talking about their respective days. Michael talks about how his day has been hard because of a possessed toilet and delivery fees and they don’t have enough staff. Tina unloads about her own day as well.

We then see the scene from Episode 1, where Michael shows Tina the picture of a dish Carmy sent him. He raves about his baby brother and how he not only knows what he wants but is also really good at it. While Michael doesn’t like a lot about his job he likes that food is around for most celebrations and good times.

Michael recalls a time when he went on a field trip as a kid and entered a building and saw a bunch of offices. He was overwhelmed by how so many people had dreams and achieved them in that building. But he somehow knew that wouldn’t be him. On the other hand, Tina talks about how she’s been seeing all these kids working at the jobs she wants and how they seem so hungry and don’t have to worry about rent. She says she’s jealous of them.

As she talks about how she’ll take any job she can get, Michael gets inspired and tells her he needs a new line cook. He does give her a disclaimer about the yelling and chaos though. He’s then called away by Richie and Tina says she’ll think about it. At home, Tina takes out a t-shirt from The Original Beef and smiles at it at the end of The Bear Season 3 Episode 6.

The Episode Review

Like with the previous episode, Season 3 Episode 6 is slower in pace and I’m beginning to miss some of that frantic ‘The Bear’ energy. Of course, that aside, it’s a very well-written episode that allows us to learn more widely and deeply about Tina and who she is. Seeing her house and her family, her drive to work and her need for a routine tells us so much about her character. It’s amazing to watch how she never gives up.

The story itself is a sweet one as well, Tina would have never ended up at The Bear if she hadn’t been called for that last non-interview. That conversation between her and Michael is the definite highlight of the episode.

Both actors carry the scene really well as they muse about their respective shitty days and what it’s like to be envious of younger, hungrier kids. We learn more about Michael as well, what he thinks about his brother as well as his job at the restaurant. Slow as this episode might be, the writing stays as impeccable as ever.