We start this episode of The Bear (“Scallop,” Season 4 Episode 3) back in the kitchen, or some weird kitchen VR room, with Sydney in the lab cooking up a foamy scallop concoction, where the lighting is reminiscent of a college kid’s dorm room with his Hue Lights set to “ketamine dreamscape.” I’m assuming it’s a purposeful choice to show the flow state Syd enters when she’s allowed to just cook freely without the usual Berzatto melodrama sucking up all the oxygen.
Richie and his ex-wife, Tiff (Gillian Jacobs), continue to get along and can have long, soulful chats with each other, even as she tries on a white dress for her upcoming wedding to Frank (Josh Hartnett). Is this a sign of Richie’s growth or his inability to let go? Frank, if you recall from last year, had one of the all-time great non-speaking interactions with Richie on the front porch outside his big, giant house, where nothing was ever said for what felt like a grueling amount of hours but was probably closer to three minutes.
Walk-on alert! Ebrahaeim sets up a meeting with a business mentor named Alber Schnur, played by Rob Reiner. Ebraheim hands him the impressive Bear takeout spreadsheets that show its remarkable growth despite the main restaurant’s well-publicized “dissonance.” Despite the negative publicity in the Trib, Rob Reiner wants to take on Ebraheim as a client to help him “create opportunity” for the restaurant.
In this episode’s front-of-the-house drama: There’s a four-top in town from Los Angeles who’s celebrating their daughter’s cancer-free diagnosis. They requested an Original Beef sandwich during dinner service, which they plan to accommodate. Their second request is a little more far-fetched and tricky: Chicago snow.
But Richie, former dipshit turned front-of-house superstar, is now determined to make the dreams of every customer at The Bear come true, and he has a plan to make it happen.
“Sammy’s power washer, ten-pound bag of sand, and a 45-degree angle nozzle!” he said.
So: the goddamn Faks, obvs.
Meanwhile, Sydney is preoccupied with the Computer’s Bear Doomsday Clock and ignores a phone call from her father.
In addition to clocks and cooking, much of the airtime is devoted to cigarettes.
We find Carmy eye-balling a pack of smokes left behind at one of the kitchen stations:
There’s a brief sequence with Cicero and Donna Berzatto (Jamie Lee Curtis) at a real estate showing, only to imply that those two are happily boning, but also shows Donna puffing on a heater.
Then there’s Richie and Rene (Rene Gubre) and Garrett (Andrew Lopez) smoking like a trio of Reservoir Dogs.
Finally, there’s the Faks and their homemade Chicago snow machine, also smoking.
After the dinner shift is over, Carmy stops by the walk-in fridge and pauses; a brief flash of guilt enters him as he remembers what was lost when he was trapped inside it at the end of season 2.
Instead of hopping on the subway home, he runs to Claire’s house, desperate and love-sick. He knocks on the door, only to be greeted by Teddy Fak (Ricky Staffieri) in a bathrobe. Carmy’s troubled and jealous, but then it’s revealed that Teddy is hooking up with Claire’s older sister.
At first, Teddy lies to Carmy about Claire’s whereabouts. She eventually comes downstairs and agrees to talk to Carmy on the stoop.
In typical Bear fashion, there is sparse dialogue and a lot of basset-eyed staring from Carmy. Then he cracks, and out come the tears and the mania and temper:
But also – Carmy apologizes. She accepts. It’s not the time for them to get back together yet, though. That will have to wait until Season 17, Episode 8.
QUESTIONS I STILL HAVE: Was the man in the glasses seated at the table who was charmed to death by Richie an actual real-life food reviewer or is he just a guy in expensive glasses who doesn’t act very well?
MIDDLE-AGED DAD NEEDLE DROP: “Slow Disco” by St. Vincent. There are several more traditional dad-drops in this episode, this song’s too good to ignore.
CARMY ARM PORN: Smoke sesh
Can’t get enough of The Bear Season 4? For more insight, analysis, GIFs, and close-ups of Carmy’s arms, check out some highlights of Decider’s coverage:
A.J. Daulerio is a Los Angeles-based writer and editor. He is also the founder of The Small Bow, a recovery newsletter.