Sweetbitter season 2, episodes 4 and 5 recap: Tess and Jake get closer

As the front staff grows closer, including Tess and Jake, their fearless leader is becoming sloppy.

Lucky you; you get a double-helping of Sweetbitter recaps today because my shore house didn’t come with a subscription to Starz last week! It also didn’t come with reliable internet.

“Sec of Demi-Sec”

Tess has an awkward sexual encounter with Omar and finds herself constantly checking her flip phone for a text from him. Naturally, the entire restaurant knows what happened, including Simone. She uses it to fuel her passive-aggressive jabs towards Howard.

Tess unknowingly lets it slip that Howard is still sleeping with Becky. In not so many words, Simone tells Howard how gross it is for an old man to be messing around with a young girl. I mean, Howard also purchased wine from Simone’s ex-husband, so I don’t blame her for being annoyed with him.

Howard knows he’s caught and goes to tell Becky she needs to be more careful. She’s pissed and basically ends things with him. But who knows? We thought that before and they ended up in a bathtub together.

Sasha misses his shift at the restaurant which is very unlike him. When Tess decides to go to Queens to check on him, Jake decides to go with her. They come to find out he’s beside himself because a friend back home got hurt, most likely because he’s gay, and if Sasha leaves to see him, he won’t be able to return to the U.S. He’s lonely and stuck and it’s too much pain for him to bear.

Tess and Jake both spend the night to comfort him.

As Simone and Tess meet the following day to drink her ex’s wine, which is, unfortunately, damn good, Simone tells Tess that Jake’s mom committed suicide. She’s always been there for him to make sure he never felt lonely like Sasha does.

“Entropy”

Howard decides it’s time to start giving five percent of the front house tips to the dishwashers. They are the first to arrive every day and the last to leave. They receive no benefits or 401K. They make minimum wage.

I’m all for them getting a little dough in their pockets. But Howard isn’t taking it from my paycheck. So, front staff and even the line cooks, are pissed about it.

Various people start sabotaging the restaurant. Sasha hides every single fork in the place. Manny the line cook makes minor mistakes which causes all of the food orders to back up. Howard loses his mind when he realizes no one is eating and flips out on the entire staff.

Simone, of course, swoops into the rescue and puts Manny in his place. Tess convinces Sasha to give up the forks’ hiding place by kissing him.

Tess and Jake seem to be moving closer when he asks her to hang out after work. Ari lends her a dress that she can absolutely not wear a bra with. It shows her nipples a little too much than what Tess is comfortable with but she goes for it.

Jake sees her outfit and leads her on a bit by (how do I make this PG?) grazing her newly released body part. When he tells her “not yet,” she ditches him. I admire Tess for taking a bit of a stand against him. I’m sure it killed her not to go with him, but he’s called the shots in the will-they/won’t-they-relationship thus far, and she got a little control back.

Read Sweetbitter’s episode 3 recap.

Watch Sweetbitter anytime (unless your shore house doesn’t have Starz and the wifi is spotty!).