Susan Granger’s review of “The Bear: Season 2” (FX on Hulu)
Have you been watching FX’s Emmy-nominated series “The Bear”? The first season introduced a prodigal Manhattan chef, Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), who returns home to Chicago after his drug-addicted older brother commits suicide and leaves him the local family sandwich shop.
As Carmy copes with crippling debt, unbridled chaos and a recalcitrant staff, he’s helped by ambitious sous-chef Sydney (Emmy-nominated Ayo Edebri), baker Marcus (Lionel Boyce), line cooks Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas) and Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) and handyman Neil (real-life Toronto chef Marty Matheson).
Of the second season’s 10 frenetic episodes, two are outstanding. The first – “Forks” – involves Carmy’s angry, abusive cousin Richard ‘Richie’ Jerimovich (Emmy-nominated Ebon Moss-Bacharch), his late-brother’s best-friend who works as manager.
As Carmy strives to open his rebranded, rebuilt, upscale restaurant, called The Bear, Ritchie becomes increasingly antagonistic. So Carmy dispatches him as an apprentice as a fine dining spot to learn skill development and teamwork, an experience (enhanced by Olivia Colman) in which he develops a sense of self-respect that he’s never had before
The second, titled “Seven Fishes,” flashes back five years as Carmy’s drunk, dysfunctional mother, Donna (electrifying Jamie Lee Curtis), who’s having a nervous breakdown, prepares an elaborate Italian-American Christmas Eve feast that becomes a full-blown fiasco because she feels unappreciated.
Plus, gentle Marcus is sent to Copenhagen to learn pastry perfection, skeptical Tina goes to basic culinary school and Carmy finds romance with Claire (Molly Gordon), as show creator Christopher Storer once again demonstrates the power of food and the way in which it connects people.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Bear: Season 2” is an intense, engrossing 8, streaming on Hulu.
