I have seen lists saying that the sixth episode of the TV show The Bear, Fishes, is among the best TV of the year. I vehemently disagree. It was pure, uncontrolled chaos and while it did give us some insight into what makes Carmine and his siblings the way they are, it was also just messy as fuck. I did not love it. As someone who comes from a large family that gathers together for every occasion, I felt that there was no reason for all that unnecessary drama. In all honesty, it pissed me the fuck off. I am not even going to lie. I have had arguments with family members; in fact there are some family members I can’t even stand but nothing is going to make any of us drive a fucking car into the house when we aren’t fucking idiots, and in all honesty, the way that their mother (played brilliantly by Jamie Lee Curtis) treated them, I’m surprised that they kept on going back. Fuck that shit and have some fucking self-respect.
In actuality, the best episode of The Bear was the seventh episode Forks, in which Richie, a character I have long disliked (which in all honesty is a testament to how well Ebon Moss-Bachrach plays him), finally understands what Carmine and Sydney are trying to achieve with the restaurant. I am not going to lie, I love a good redemption story but then I also hate idiots that are backward for no reason other than they want to be.
The episode starts with a quote from a book by Coach Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski’s called Leading with the Heart: Coach K’s Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life, which Sydney has been reading all season in order to help Carmine turn The Beef into The Bear.
Now, Richie has some good qualities but he was confused about the new world Carmine and especially Sydney were bringing in and he lashed out. Coupled with the fact that he was divorced, and his best friend has committed suicide, it’s no wonder he was an asshole. However, that isn’t an excuse for unprofessionalism, and so he was punished by being asked to stage (an unpaid internship when a chef spends a brief period of time working in another chef's kitchen to learn new techniques and cuisines) at one of the best restaurants in the country.
His punishment is what I want to talk about. The first thing you have to understand is that it would only have been a punishment to someone like Richie. To literally anyone else in the restaurant business it would have been a godsend, as we see Marcus and Luca (played by Will Poulter, who apparently really wanted to be in the show) in Honeydew. And that's the thing. Richie had never been in the restaurant business as a professional. He was in the "family" business. He was in the "best friend" business. And his best friend was dead by suicide. So he felt useless. I will give some consideration to Fishes for fleshing out some backstop but that's it.
The episode itself is deceptively simple. Richie wakes up at about 5am and heads to a restaurant where he is asked to clean forks. That's it. Clean forks. Of course Richie being Richie immediately has an issue with what he feels is a pointless task and is an asshole about it. But the truth is that, the love he has for Carmine and his family is such that he is willing to spend a week doing something he hates for them. And so he cleans the forks. We then meet the Garrett, a waiter who explains why the forks need to be cleaned properly and why it is such an important duty. Of course it doesn't sink in immediately, but that's Richie for you. However, over time we see him begin to clean and set the forks properly signifying some kind of growth I guess. And as that level is reached, we get explanations about other things. The need to wear a suit. The sheer amount of effort put into learning about the customers and making each dining experience 5 🌟 for them (I honestly think this was my best part - causing unforeseen amounts of joy for people just because you can). The importance of owning up when you cause a smudge. The importance of scheduling. The importance and joy of being a fucking professional. Lastly, the importance of loving and enjoying what you do.
They are all valuable and important lessons but the thing is that for Richie is was about more than just learning about how a restaurant works. I believe it was also about demystifying Michael (Carmine's brother and Richie's best friend), who originally ran The Beef (the restaurant which the show is based around), and showing Richie that while he might have been a great friend, he had also committed suicide and was no longer around so things that could be changed for the better should be changed as long as the family was aligned. But most importantly, Richie needed to see the potential available in The Bear, and what it could be, and not be ok with what it was. I believe that was what Carmine and Sydney were trying to teach all the employees, who for the most part seemed to be on board. All except Richie.
We even see some growth when Richie calls his ex-wife that he was able to get Taylor Swift tickets for her and their daughter. She then drops the bomb that she has accepted a proposal from her boyfriend, thus killing any chances of them getting back. It hurts him, but I believe he handles it with uncharacteristic grace and poise. Of course Taylor Swift comes on when he's doing something wild such as speeding in the car like a lunatic. Love Story will forever be goated.
Lastly, we see Chef Terry (played by the always brilliant Olivia Colman - I honestly screamed when I saw her) and Richie have a conversation about life and work and acceptance. She states that she had opened a restaurant earlier and it was an epic failure but it helped her to open this one which is arguably one of the premier restaurants in the country. The conversation also includes their father. Turns out they were both military men so they had some things in common. Chef Terry tells Richie that she felt closer to her father after his death by reading his journal and leaves Richie with the words he signed off every diary entry and it's such a revelation that I am so happy it happened.
In the next couple of episodes, we have Richie putting his Richie-ness to good use and I am completely here for it. Because, that's the thing. Richie is a loyal man, but he is an asshole, and those two things never mix well. However, in Forks, he found a way to channel it for the good of his family and honestly, it was a beautiful sight.
Now, I want to talk about the writing in this episode. It's phenomenal. Maybe because it was simply an optimistic episode in which there was hope and redemption (of a sort) and we saw character growth from someone who genuinely wanted to be better. The acting was brilliant. I especially liked Garret (Andrew Lopez) and Jessica (Sarah Ramos), because they interacted the most with Richie and acted as his guides through the world of high quality fine dining.
This is my best episode of The Bear, and one of my best episodes of TV in recent years. If The Bear can continue like this, then it will go down in history as one of the greats, and it will all be because of this gem of an episode.
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