The Bear season 4 episode 9, "Tonnato," begins where episode 8 ended with Carmy knocking on his mother's door to drop off a box of photos.
Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) answers and asks Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) to stick around for a while to chat. He tries to leave, but his mother basically makes him stay. You can tell Carmy is not ready for this, but it's a long time coming.
Back at The Bear, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) meets Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) outside in the alley while Computer (Brian Koppelman) meets with Sugar (Abby Elliott) about the fate of the business. They apologize to each other for letting each other down, Uncle Jimmy on the business side and Sydney on the food side of things. He tells her that her mother would be very happy with how Sydney grew up and the chef she became.
At Donna's place, Carmy and his ma look through some old photos. Donna shares some memories about having red peppers in a tonnato sauce on a trip with his father. After, Donna breaks down in tears, which makes Carmy wildly uncomfortable. He tries to leave, but Donna opens up and shares how nervous she is that he is there. She says that she thinks about everyone, including him. She tells him how she felt when she saw him at the wedding, and she wrote some things down after.
This is so painful and powerful to watch, but Donna apologizes and acknowledges all of the bad things she's done as a mother. It's really hard to watch someone share all of the ways they messed up and how their actions affected the others around them. There's so much guilt that Donna feels for how things played out with her kids, especially her involvement, or lack thereof, in what happened to Michael. She asks Carmen if she can be part of his life again.
Carmy apologizes, too, for not being there. Then, he tells her that he loves her. She tries to make him something to eat, but he says that he'll make something for her, even while all of his employees are preparing for service, possibly their last night of service, back at The Bear.
At The Bear, Albert (Rob Reiner) pitches the Bear window team and Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) on a new location, or three new locations, to start slinging sandwiches. Ebraheim agrees to a deal with Albert, but he needs Carmy's approval first. I don't know; I don't like this at all.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Jess (Sarah Ramos) and Luca (Will Poulter) test Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) on a pasta dish. They timed her without Tina knowing. She does it in less than three minutes, which has been a huge goal of hers for a long time.
Back at Donna's, Carmy takes a spin around his old house and room while he cooks the dinner.
Computer has a chat with Albert and gets a new idea about the new business model. It's interesting, and it's maybe the hope that Carmy and the team need.
Finally, Carmy returns to The Bear right before service and has a small chat with Richie, who tells him that Uncle Jimmy is looking for him. He goes into the walk-in and calls him. He leaves a message for him about a picture he found at Donna's of Unc as a young man. Carmy also apologizes for messing up with The Bear.
As the clock counts down, Sugar pops in the kitchen and gets everyone's attention. She tells them about Food & Wine Magazine. It's not a review, but it's a piece about the best new chefs. It's a profile on Marcus (Lionel Boyce)! He's getting recognized as one of the best new chefs in the country. I thought, for sure, it was going to be for Sydney, but hey, a win is a win.
Right before service starts, Pete calls Sydney and asks if she has looked at the new agreement. She said she hasn't looked at it. Pete explains that Carm has officially opted out of the deal, so Syd and Sugar split half of the business. Uncle Jimmy owns the other half.
What does it all mean? We're going to find out in The Bear season 4 episode 10, the season finale, and it sure seems like Carmy is about to walk away from The Bear.
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