The Bear (Season 2) Recap: The first season of ‘The Bear’ showed Carmy returning to Boston to work at their family’s sandwich shop. It focused on his ‘adjustment phase’ in this new work environment after spending years in the world of fine dining. It also showed him trying to process his difficult emotions towards his brother Mikey’s death. Most of its gut-wrenching, anxiety-inducing drama was driven by Carmy’s efforts to revitalize this place to make it a bustling spot full of satisfied customers.
But until you work on your internal conflicts, they will keep showing up in unpredictable ways. The same happened with Carmy and other members of his kitchen. The writing focused on introducing these characters, their personal traumas, and how those issues accumulate to form a chaotic unit.
The second season, streaming on Hulu, follows these staff members figuring out a way to start a new restaurant. They come across several practical and emotional challenges over the course of this. Before delving into what happens in the new season, in detail, let’s revisit how the first season ends.
Spoilers ahead.
What happens at the end of The Bear Season 1?
After making several attempts to make The Beef work efficiently, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) finally opens up about his emotional troubles. It results in a devastating monologue, brilliantly performed by Allen White. Marcus (Lionel Boyce) goes to meet Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) since she decided to quit after an intensely chaotic day at the restaurant.
Due to a fight at the restaurant, Cousin Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Carmy go to jail. The next morning, they get out and contemplate how to resolve financial issues besides their personal ones. In the shop, Carmy ends up burning a workstation due to his heightened anxiety about everything. Later, Carmy texts Sydney to apologize for his irresponsible behavior earlier.
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The End of an Era & The Foundation of ‘The Bear’
Cousin Richie hands Carmy a letter from Mikey. Carmy opens it. In the letter, Mikey says ‘I love you, dude. Let it rip.’ He also shares a family recipe and says that Carmy should use smaller cans of tomatoes because they taste better. Later, while making it, Carmy opens one of those cans and finds a hundred-dollar bill inside. The chefs start opening all the cans to find a bunch of hidden money. Meanwhile, Sydney returns to work. In the end, we see Carmy hanging a sign outside – to announce that ‘The Beef’ is closing and ‘The Bear’ will open soon.
The Bear (Season 2) Recap
The Bear Season 2, Episode 1: Beef
The episode marks the end of The Beef and the beginning of the preparations for The Bear. The staff starts listing down things that would work for them in the future and learn that they are far from being ready. Carmy takes up the role of the executive chef and Sydney becomes the new CDC (the head chef). Sydney ropes in Natalie/Sugar (Abby Elliott) as their project manager for the renovations.
Richie goes through a mid-life crisis due to the lack of a clear purpose in his life. He feels his friends and chefs have outgrown him in terms of personal growth. Carmy tries to make him feel better about himself. He says that he loves his work, but that does not make it fun. Through that interaction, we get a hint at their family’s inaptitude to express their emotions in an honest way.
Afterwards, Natalie informs Carmy about the IRS stipulation. Until their debts for The Beef are paid, they will not be able to start any new business. Besides that, Sydney informs about other practicalities that they need to figure out before the opening. While talking, she accidentally tears a hole through the wall. Richie walks in and tells them about the poster Mikey put up there to ensure the insurance money in the event of the place burning down.
Anyhow, they collectively realise that they need $500,000 to help get the restaurant going and ask Uncle Cicero (Oliver Platt). That means they owe this extra amount to their previous debt of $300,000. Carmy strikes a deal to pay the money back in 18 months or Cicero gets the ownership of the place. That makes Cicero agree to loan it. They realise that they need to open in 6 months to make it work, realistically. Sugar considers this impossible.
Sydney asks Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) to be her sous-chef and hire people to work for her. Hearing that, Tina gets emotional. Marcus (Lionel Boyce) is worried about his hospitalized mother. The next morning, they all chalk out a plan for the next few months.
The Bear Season 2, Episode 2: Pasta
There is about 12 weeks left for the restaurant to open, in accordance with the 6-month plan. The chefs start breaking down the interior to understand its issues and then rebuild it. Natalie informs about other issues like the messed-up toilet, the lack of forks and the fridge handle. Carmy and Syd decide to send Tina and Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) for culinary training school classes. Tina gets excited about it but Ebraheim feels anxious.
Richie takes up the duty of deep cleaning with Neil Fak (Matty Matheson) and Marcus. Sugar’s entry into their staff changes the managerial equations and Richie struggles to adjust himself accordingly. He also has a hard time realising the flaws he ignored or did not pay attention to over the years of working there. Thanks to Marcus’s anonymous call to a mole guy, Richie gets to know about the mole issue in the walls.
During this work, Carmy opens Mikey’s locker to find his cap. He, Sugar, and Cousin get emotional seeing that. Afterwards, Marcus asks Sydney for more inspiration to work on new desserts. Sydney starts working on the new chaos menu with Carmy at his place. She is driven by her desire to get a star for their new restaurant. Carmy shares his experience of getting the call about the stars for his restaurant in New York. He talks about the pressure and responsibility of ‘retaining’ those stars.
Sydney opens up about why she started staying at her father’s place. Carmy shares a way in which his colleagues used to say ‘sorry’ in sign language. He and Sydney plan to use it to resist their angry outbursts. After trying out different recipes, Sydney goes to meet her father. Her father shares the story of how he met her mother. Later, he shows concern for Syd’s risky career choice. He asks whether she trusts her business partner. She struggles to be optimistic about her future with this restaurant.
Meanwhile, Carmy meets his crush, Claire (Molly Gordon), at a store. They start talking about their present lives. She says she has started working as a nurse. He talks about his plan to open a new restaurant. After their playful interaction, she asks for his contact number. Their love for each other becomes abundantly clear through the way they speak.
The Bear Season 2, Episode 3: Sundae
In an anon meeting, Carmy talks about his emotional conflicts. It seems like his train of thought after his dialogue with Cousin, where he says he does not consider his work to be ‘fun’. It gives us a glimpse at his deep-rooted issue with finding amusement in his life.
After her dialogue with her father, Sydney worries about the future of their restaurant. She goes through articles talking about the closing of other popular restaurants, which increases her anxiety. Later, while working on the menu, she proposes a plan to send Marcus abroad since he wanted more inspiration to come up with desserts. Carmy instantly agrees to send Marcus to Copenhagen.
Their new experiment does not turn out well. So, Carmy decides to go out to cleanse their palette by trying other dishes for inspiration. He asks Sydney to meet him later at a restaurant. However, he bails on her after a call from Claire. Turns out, he gave her the wrong number at the store. She asks him if he can hang out with her, and he agrees. He tells Syd to work on the hiring front. She decides to walk around the city, looking for inspiration and tips from other restaurateurs – also to know if they know anyone looking for a job.
One of them advises her to not lose focus on service and hospitality in her new restaurant. Another one tells her to ensure that her partner is trustworthy. Since she struggles to find any leads, she also tries to poach cooks from another restaurant and embarrasses herself. Later, she returns to the restaurant to find the walls knocked down, since termites, roaches, and dead racoons were stuck inside them. She does not appreciate the fact that Carmy did not consult her in making a decision about it as her business partner. She goes out to try out some new recipes but does not reach the mark due to an overall emotional burden.
The Bear Season 2, Episode 4: Honeydew
A few weeks down the line, the staff manages to get some permits but fail in some of other tests. It adds a financial burden to their already burdensome situation. While handling that, Sugar finally reveals that she is pregnant. Marcus leaves his mother’s responsibility on the medical staff and goes to Copenhagen to learn some new things. He eventually lands in the Danish capital and enters his boat house residence.
Early in the morning, he walks up to his workplace to meet Chef Luca (Will Poulter), who was Carmy’s colleague in the past. Luca guides Marcus to up his game. But Marcus fumbles because of a lack of confidence. The next day, Marcus learns more, works finer, and bonds better with Luca. He also tastes other foods from the city and takes notes. Fak calls him make him understand the chaos in their kitchen since they cannot pass the fire suppression test.
The next day, Marcus and Luca share stories about how they got started in the business. Luca shares how he began by washing dishes and then, worked his way up. He got better by trying to keep up with a chef he once idolised. Luca accepted that he will never be the best, like this chef. It took the pressure away and instead, made him focus on trying to just improve himself.
After bonding well with Luca, Marcus slowly tries to loosen up and gets better at his skills. Later at night, he saves a person lying on the road. More than anything, it shows Marcus’s kind heart. Back in Boston, Syd lowers her base requirements to hire people. She onboards any person who agrees to work full-time.
The Bear Season 2, Episode 5: Pop
Syd starts reading ‘Leading with the Heart’ that her father gifted her. The chefs now have six weeks to open the restaurant. So, they start trying to fix the placement of their workstation for an efficient workflow. Cicero comes to see the progress and finds an electrician making sandwiches since the plumbing issue is not yet fixed. Cicero understands the staff’s lack of cooperation and feels less confident about his investment. Sugar manages to make him look the other way.
Tim (Nate Varrone), the drywall guy, shows up the same day. Fak decides to stall Tim until the staff works on other issues. Later, a repairman tells Sugar about a power-related problem. Richie says he is the expert on hellfire and decides to work out a solution. While Syd tries to figure out the plating and the menu, Carmy calls Claire and asks for a ride to drop a letter.
Syd gets upset for being left alone with the responsibilities. While Sugar complains about Richie, Syd complains about Carmy. Ebra stops attending culinary class and Tina gets lonelier. Her classmates ask her to join them for drinks after work. She joins them and starts singing karaoke. It brings out her deepest emotions about loneliness.
Meanwhile, Carmy enjoys some leisure time with Claire where they talk about their pasts. She used to always be with her friends whereas he was mostly shy. Later, she brings up the subject of Mikey. Unlike before, Carmy now does not mind talking about it. Claire asks him to join her at a party to console her friend, Kelly (Mitra Jouhari), whose partner recently broke up with her.
Some guys at the party mistake Carmy for someone they know. Carmy plays along with it. Claire likes to see him socialising. While their night is about to end with a kiss, the feds show up outside the house. Carmy sneaks out with Claire and asks her to come visit his restaurant. However, they reach there to find chaos. Turns out, Richie impulsively used an illegal way to get power for their work. Like Sugar, Carmy is not okay with it. On the other hand, Syd is angry that Carmy, once again, bailed on the work. Anyhow, the night ends with Claire and Carmy sharing a passionate kiss.
The Bear Season 2, Episode 6: Fishes
The hour-long episode shows the day of Christmas at the Berzattos house. Carmy returns to Boston for Christmas dinner. Sugar worries about their mother, Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis), putting an unnecessary amount of pressure upon herself. Mikey / Michael (Jon Bernthal) tells Sugar to not let herself go through the stress of calming their mother down.
For dinner, Neil comes with his brother, Theodore (Ricky Staffieri). Cousin Michelle (Sarah Paulson) arrives with her boyfriend, Steven (John Mulaney). Uncle Lee (Bob Odenkirk) also shows up.
The Fak brothers pitch Uncle Cicero a silly business plan to earn through baseball cards. Donna works on the family tradition of ‘seven fishes’. She instructs Carmy to help her with some thing or the other. Richie’s wife, Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs), arrives in this chaotic kitchen. Since she is pregnant, Donna worries that she would throw up. While Sugar continues to try to keep her mother feel supported, Mikey and Richie tease around with Carmy, asking him to go on a date with Claire. He feels weirded out by their pressure.
Richie walks up to Donna, lying on a bed, and offers her a glass of Sprite that Carmy just made. They talk about Carmy. But unlike Richie, she is not into the idea of Claire dating Carmy. Because of her aspirations and financial anxieties, Richie says that Cicero has promised him a job. Back in the kitchen, Uncle Lee asks Donna about an offer as a realtor while cleaning the mess on the ground with her. Mikey notices that and gets angry at him.
Meanwhile, Richie approaches Cicero for a job and shows initiative to learn. He feels embarrassed to be still working at The Beef. Cicero refuses to help him out. The Fak brothers propose their business plan to Steven. He agrees to invest just for the heck of it. Carmy speaks with Mikey about asking him to date Claire. He thinks Mikey does not really care about him and just wants to mess with him. Mikey tries to make him look the other way. Carmy shows his plan to start a business along with Mikey. He is hopeful to leave Copenhagen to come to work alongside him. But Mikey, who is going through his share of emotional issues, does not accept the offer. He keeps his emotions bottled up.
In the living room, Michelle shares a story of someone mispronouncing her last name. Steven talks of an experience in his hometown, but Michelle cannot recall that he is from there. The interactions ultimately lead to nowhere since everyone tries to speak but no one wants to listen. While making the meal, Donna starts getting increasingly upset. Steven walks up to the kitchen, hoping to help her. But it makes her even angrier. Once Sugar walks out, Steven offers her a hug.
Mikey tells a story to others and Uncle Lee interrupts him. Between their ego battle, Natalie’s husband, Pete (Chris Witaske), arrives with a tuna casserole. Already tired of her mother’s insistence on having ‘seven fishes’, Natalie throws out that parcel. Michelle offers Carmy a chance to not be fixated on returning to Boston and rather coming to stay at her place in New York. She seems genuinely concerned about his well-being.
During the dinner, Tiffany thanks Cicero for giving Richie a job. Cicero saves Richie from embarrassment, saying he did offer a job even though he had not and tells her to keep a lid on that news for the time being. In the kitchen, Donna opens up to Carmy about how people do not appreciate the efforts she puts in for them. She eventually tells him to go out and cries in solitude.
At the dinner table, Mikey gets upset at Uncle Lee for disrespecting him and the dish his mother puts her heart into. He throws a fork at Uncle Lee and then another one. There is no stopping his rage. Seeing their argument heating up, Sugar calms Mikey down. She tells him that she loves him. He still goes on to throw another fork at Uncle Lee, who makes him confront his insignificance.
Eventually, Donna shows up at the table and Steven starts saying grace. He thanks the family for inviting him for the dinner and it makes Donna emotional. She gets angrier when Natalie asks her if she is okay. Her pent-up anger towards everyone eventually comes out and she breaks a dish. While a fight breaks out between Mikey and Uncle Lee, Donna suddenly drives her car into the house. While she maniacally laughs in the car, Carmy looks at a fork stuck in the cannoli.
The Bear Season 2, Episode 7: Forks
The seventh episode follows Cousin Richie’s experience of working at one of the finest (Ever) restaurants in the city. Carmy gets him this gig. Richie’s superior, Garrett (Andrew Lopez), assigns him to the duty of cleaning forks. Richie gets tired of it and feels insulted. He does not see the point of getting them wiped clean. While Syd, Natalie, and Carmy try to make progress with the restaurant’s work, Richie stays stuck wiping those forks.
Eventually, he asks Garrett to be promoted to a higher position. Garett makes him see the value of any work, including menial tasks like cleaning forks, that goes into giving their customers a satisfying experience – something they crave after months of waiting and saving money.
Later, Richie attends a meeting where the GM (Rene Gube) and the CDC (Adam Shapiro) bring up issues from the crew’s past efforts. Richie notices how everyone is concerned about the tiniest details. Later that day, his ex-wife, Tiffany calls him. She says her new partner proposed to her. They both get emotional seeing it as an end to what they had together.
In the restaurant, Richie continues to observe how Garett and the others conduct themselves. He realizes the importance of perseverance and starts getting psyched about work. One day, Garett suddenly promotes him and gets him out for trailing. Richie puts on a suit and notices how their staff communicates specific details with each other. Jessica (Sarah Ramos) guides him on how they color code specific instructions for specific customers. He learns not to curse and shout during work for a pleasing dining experience for their customers.
Later, he is sent to pick up an order. Once he brings it in, the CDC uses it to make another dish. Richie walks out with the plate and presents it to the table. The overall satisfaction of those customers moves him. He realizes that pleasing others gives him a kick like nothing else. Later, he learns that Garrett’s job at the Ever helped him get over his drinking problem. Garrett points out how the aspect of ‘hospitality’ made him want to keep working there.
Richie feels bad that he only has one more shift left there. He calls Carmy to ask if he was sent there to get insulted. But they cannot finish that conversation. On his last day, Richie notices a photo of Carmy, with Luca, in chef’s coats. Eventually, he finds Chef Terry (Olivia Colman) peeling the outer layer of mushrooms. He asks why she does not get someone else to do such a chore. She says it makes her respect the work being put in. The two bond over being children of army men.
Chef Terry shares a story from her past where she was enraged over her job loss. That is when she stumbled upon a restaurant on a lease sign and decided to turn it into her business. Before leaving, she notes what Carmy told her about Richie – Carmy believes in Richie and knows he loves people. On his way out, he sees a sign on the wall that says, ‘Every Second Matters’.
The Bear Season 2, Episode 8: Bolognese
The preparations for The Bear reach the final few weeks. While they have managed to solve many issues, Carmy worries about the NICET certification. He is terrified about something terrible that will risk their future. Claire manages to relieve his stress. Ebra returns to the restaurant and notices the changes. Tina scolds him for not trusting him as a reliable figure. He says how he fears the change and feels comfortable in his old, set ways of working.
Since they are two weeks away from opening the restaurant, Carmy and Syd reckon they must pass the upcoming fire suppression test. Richie walks in with a suit on and thanks Carmy. They still face issues with door pullers. Anyhow, Marcus prepares some new desserts and floors the chefs. Carmy plans to make a dish with the cannolis as a way to make peace with his trauma about the chaotic Christmas night.
Ebra brings the new hires to work under her. Richie walks into Natalie’s room and surprises her. This is the first time she has seen him wearing a suit for work. He apologizes to her and regrets taking out his anger on her for feeling like he does not fit in anywhere. He says the suit makes him feel good about himself, and offers help in anything to make the business work.
Carmy shows Syd drawings of the recipes for their menu. He changes a recipe according to Claire’s suggestion, which annoys Syd. So, Carmy apologises to Syd and promises to not repeat the mistake. While hiring new people, Richie shows a new side of himself, which pleasantly surprises Sugar. Cicero tells Sugar that they must get the restaurant working as per the schedule to avoid dire consequences. All of a sudden, Fak figures out a way to take care of the fire suppression test issue. Finally, they manage to pass the test and turn on the gas. While Carmy finally decides to call Claire his girlfriend, Syd continues to motivate herself to succeed.
The Bear Season 2, Episode 9: Omelette
Syd puts on a stained chef’s coat to go to work. Her father notices she is anxious. He says she should not put so much pressure on herself to make this one thing work. He fears what will happen if she fails. She fears she does not have the strength to go through another one of these efforts. That is why she cannot afford it to fail. On her way to the restaurant, she sees a once flourishing one, closing its doors.
After spending the night with Claire, Carmy returns to work and has panic attacks. He is worried since things are too good to be true. For their initial Friends & Family dinner, Sugar plans to invite their mother. While Carmy is not on board with it, he eventually agrees. Later, Syd and Sugar, both make him realise that he missed getting in touch with the fridge guy. That is the first time he realises that Syd’s mother died years ago. He feels sorry he did not know about it.
Sugar almost starts panicking that they are doing barely well. Richie makes her calm down. Meanwhile, one or the other thing makes Carmy realise how his relationship with Claire is making him lose focus on the work. Anyhow, Marcus impresses him and Syd with his phenomenal desserts. Uncle Cicero manages to get a certificate for The Bear to start their operations. He gives a pep talk to make Carmy realise he cannot be unfocused if he wants to make the restaurant work.
Natalie keeps working throughout the day and forgets to have a meal. So, Syd cooks an omelette for her , which makes her happy. Carmy plans to call the fridge guy but freezes up when Claire calls him. He then forgets to call the repairman altogether. Marcus asks Syd out for a dinner date, and it turns into an awkward encounter. Later, the chefs guide the new hires to not make any errors on their opening night.
Like Richie, Fak also wears a suit for work. Carmy notices a loose screw on one of the tables and gets down to fix it himself. When Syd joins to help him, he apologises for not focussing on her and on the work for the restaurant. He agrees his attention should not be split. In the end, the two thank each other for making each other feel stronger and supported. He gifts her a new, expensive che’sf coat. Then, the chefs start preparing for their opening night.
The Bear Season 2, Episode 10: The Bear
The opening night of The Bear finally arrives. Natalie worries about whether her mother would come or not. Pete tries to cheer her up. She, Richie and Fak communicate through notes about any issues, like what Richie learnt at Ever. Richie keeps making efforts to keep everyone in a jolly mood.
Because of their earlier interaction, Syd and Marcus remain awkward throughout the night. Richie brings Natalie in to figure out a way to work more efficiently. She realises that the fork issue was not taken care of before. So, she sends Gary to urgently buy some forks. Marcus suddenly shouts at Syd since he thinks she is ignoring him.
Afterwards, Natalie goes to take care of the issue with the toilet. Since it messes up her dress, Carmy offers a chef’s shirt to her. Carmy notices the chef from New York he worked for (Joel McHale). While it may just be a lookalike, it brings back the painful memories of this chef shouting at him to work faster. In the kitchen, Syd tells Tina to prepare her dish all over again.
Suddenly, Carmy gets him caught in the walk-in compartment. With the orders constantly coming in and being behind schedule, Syd feels the pressure. Richie offers to help with her earlier duty and becomes the calming support she needs. In Carmy’s absence, Syd steps in and takes charge of the situation. While they start working on the dishes, Carmy starts shouting, angry at himself for not taking care of the issue before.
By that time, Donna shows up outside the restaurant. Pete goes to speak with her and invites her in. She feels the pressure that she might disappoint her children or ruin their special night. She feels she will hurt them if she walks in. That is when she learns Natalie is pregnant. Despite Pete’s persuasion, Donna does not agree to come in. She leaves Pete with the secret that she visited.
The Bear Season 2 Ending Explained
After his dialogue with Donna, Pete gets emotional. He keeps Donna’s visit a secret from Natalie. Marcus walks out of the restaurant to find their cook, Josh, smoking meth. He speaks with Syd and then fires the guy. Meanwhile, Richie sends a surprise dessert for Cicero and makes him emotional. From outside the walk-in door, Tina speaks with Carmy. She tries to relieve his stress by saying how they managed to take care of all the work. He still regrets messing up the opening night because of messing up his priorities.
Before leaving, Claire learns that Carmy is stuck in the walk-in fridge. At the time, Carmy had already started venting about his regrets, thinking Tina is on the other side. He feels terrible that he let his relationship get in the way of his work, and he circles back to his contemplation on fun and amusement in his life. He feels that giving or seeking amusement should not be a focus of his life. Claire listens to all of it from the outside and starts weeping. Carmy realises that she heard what he said and regrets it immediately. On her way out, Claire meets Richie and thanks him.
Richie returns to speak with Carmy and asks him as to why Claire was crying. He questions her for messing up this relationship. Carmy asks Cousin to get him out of there. In that moment of anger, Richie mistakenly ends up calling Carmy, Donna. It reflects his concern for Carmy, who messes up anything good happening in his life, like his mother. They start shouting at each other from the opposite sides of the door. During their shouting, they make each other realise that they need each other.
While still stuck inside, Carmy opens up his voice message log and hears what Claire said to him, not long ago. She said she really loved him. It pains him to now see how he messed up this good thing he had. In the final montage, we see Marcus receive a motivating letter from Luca. While Neil and Gary finally have a meal, someone comes to rescue Carmy from the walk-in storage.
Syd goes out and starts puking as a result of the pressure throughout the night. Her father notices her and approaches to help her through it. She says she is fine. He complements the food and seems genuinely hopeful for her future. While Carmy remains inside the storage unit, Syd goes through a cocktail of emotions due to this eventful night.
The Bear Season 2 Series Information
Creator: Christopher Storer
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Abby Elliott, Lionel Boyce
TV Network: Hulu
Premiere Date: Jun 23, 2022
Genre: Comedy
Executive producers: Christopher Storer, Joanna Calo, Nate Matteson, Hiro Murai, Josh Senior
External Link to Rotten Tomatoes
