The Bear season 2 episode 10 recap and highlights: The Bear

The Bear season finale episode takes us into the havoc and beauty of soft opening night for the newly-rebranded The Bear for friends and family.

Tonight’s the night! There are zero days remaining and The Bear is off to its soft opening with a guest list limited to “friends and family.”

Sydney is in full chef mode driving the traffic of the dishes in the kitchen so they’re made on time.

Meantime, at the Front of House, Natalie is making sure the guests are all seated, placated, and satisfied as they wait to be served. Her only worry is that her mother, Donna, will show up and she won’t like the place.

Richie is more than holding his own as he manages the servers and helps keep the guests relaxed. His transformation from resto court fool to a legit trained and talented server manager is a sight to behold. Frankly, Richie’s character transformation this season has been the most satisfying to witness.

And most of all Neil Fak is helping Richie make the service run smoothly.

The Bear season 2 episode 10 recap: Where’s Chef Josh?

In the middle of the chaos, Marcus brings up the weird vibe between him and Sydney. Being avoidant is how Sydney decides to deal with this and Marcus is even more awkward about it. I guess the resolution to that budding romance dynamic will be resolved in the next season.

Three issues are preventing the new resto from getting into their flow. They’ve just run out of forks since Carmy told them they wouldn’t run out but of course, miscalculated. Josh, one of the sous is not at his station and effectively missing. Lastly, the food is coming out way too slowly for all the tables.

Natalie also finds out from her husband Peter that the family has taken bets on whether their mother will actually show. The odds are 75 she doesn’t show.

The Bear season 2 episode 10 recap: Next five minutes for the rest of your life

Then the toilet acts up. After that, Carmy gets stuck inside the walk-in freezer because he hadn’t called the Fridge Guy to fix the handle. The door is sealed and, try as they might, nobody can get him out. That plant finally paid off with excellent points!

After the catastrophic Christmas dinner at the Berzattos in episode six, this is definitely the most stressful episode of the season.

To compensate for their head chef out of the game Sydney makes a great call. She will handle the making of the dishes while Richie is in the driver’s seat, directing traffic for both incoming orders and outgoing food to the diners.

The Bear season 2 episode 10 recap: Richie is driving

Richie acquits himself with aplomb, making full use of what he’d learned at Ever. Sydney re-arranges the stations so she covers what’s missing.

Between them, and with Carmy stuck in the freezer, they both execute the next five minutes so they are on time with the dishes. While Pearl Jam’s “Animal” plays the beauty of a well-oiled restaurant comes to fruition.

At one point even pregnant Natalie is tasked to help in the kitchen and thank God new forks arrive fresh from the grocery store. A chance to blow people’s minds? This is the sequence you’ve been looking for foodies and resto rats.

The Bear season 2 episode 10 recap: Carmy on ice

It’s also on this episode that I learned that the Faks are actually Fakersons. The kitchen makes it out of the woods and it’s pretty clear, as Sydney and Richie are getting their flow on, that one of the major stumbling blocks to the effectivity of the place is actually Carmy himself.

Peter, Natalie’s husband, spots Berzatto’s matriarch Donna outside nervously smoking. The conversation between them that follows is as much a confession of failed parenting and mental illness—her inability to show her children how much she loves them or how to apologize for all the sorrow she’s caused is her permanent disability.

Peter is distraught and uncomprehending. Clearly, a sign that he was raised in a loving and supportive household. Donna leaves and Peter is left with the duty to never tell his wife or Carmy he talked to their mother. Or that she was ever there.

The Bear season 2 episode 10 recap: Donna’s not here

Peter also lets it slip out that Natalie is pregnant. Oh, poor sweet innocent Peter.

Marcus goes out the back and finds Josh smoking meth. Sydney gives him the go-ahead to fire the junkie bastard.

The only thing really left to do is get Carmy out of his own resto’s freezer. He confesses to Tina that he may have done this to himself. This is one of the several true things over the course of the season that come down with the force of a divine message to Carmy.

As talented as he is in front of the stove, his mental baggage and emotional stuntedness are permanent blocks to his success. He has failed his crew and yet, because of the qualities he’s instilled in his team the opening night was a victory in any context.

The Bear season 2 episode 10 recap: Claire’s gone

Claire goes into the back and hears Carmy, ranting through the freezer door, that he was distracted too much because of their new relationship. This hurts her and it looks like they’ve broken up. There goes season three with Carmy and Claire.

All in all, the aftermath of this episode clocks us in with a well-deserved success, hopeful that the next season will gear us for a fresh kind of drama when The Bear tries to earn its Michelin stars.

The Bear season 2 episode 10 recap: Every second counts, chef

Marcus finally opens the package he got from Denmark. He finds out that Chef Luca has sent him the same sign EVERY SECOND COUNTS that was hanging at his restaurant in Copenhagen. As Marcus stares at the sign, hanging it on the wall, we also see that his phone has several missed calls from his mother’s nurse.

This brings us back to when the season started, the vibe of something awful coming in the wake of an incredibly good thing leveling the finale. It’s been a hell of a ride. Can’t wait for the next season.

What were the best moments you loved in season two?

You can stream season 2 of The Bear on Hulu.