"The Bear" deserves all the hype poured over it for the usual reasons – its atmospheric directing, writing, awareness of place, and performances collaborate to grant its consumption a sense of urgency and necessity. Nothing scars more deeply than a traumatizing holiday dinner. Later Carmy confesses that ruined cannoli for him. Donna responds by shattering a dish, fleeing the room and returning to the scene by driving her car through the living room wall. Other than Natalie reflexively asking if her mom's OK, which she can't help doing. Jeremy Allen White as Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, Abby Elliot as Natalie "Sugar" Berzatto and Jon Bernthal as Michael Berzatto in "The Bear" (Chuck Hodes/FX)ĭonna's dark mood is as much a part of the Berzattos' holiday tradition as the fishes, and like the feast nobody can explain where it comes from nor know what will set it off. "She wasn't calm," Tina replies diplomatically, "but the food was great." Carmy asks if his mom was psycho as he nervously drums a spoon between his thumb and forefinger. Our first whisper about Donna comes in the fifth episode of the first season, "Sheridan," when Carmy's line cook Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) tells him that Mike brought her to Christmas one year. Appropriately, Carmy, Nat and Michael's mother is played by the queen of horror movies, suitable casting for a woman who looms large in their lives. T he family caretaker often serves the head chef of such celebrations, working themselves to exhaustion with little left to show for it. Hence we're presented the second tectonic moral of the "Fishes" story: Nothing scars more deeply than a traumatizing holiday dinner.Ībbondanza: A brief history of the Feast of the Seven Fishes But even if she weren't working herself into a rage, Carmy would still have to contend with belittling snipes disguised as affection from his brother Michael (Jon Bernthal), and calm his sister Natalie (Abby Elliott) and her raw nerves. When Carmy asks why she's made a gigantic stock pot of red gravy on top of juggling the sea's bounty Donna hisses at him, "Because nobody eats this s**t!"ĭonna is angry, chain-smoking and getting drunker by the moment. It dots the ceiling, as if an artery were opened by force, creating a crime scene of heat and havoc. Splattered marinara covers everything - the screeching kitchen timers, walls and appliances. Jeremy Allen White as Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto in "The Bear" (Chuck Hodes/FX) Alarms ding every couple of minutes, accentuating the insanity of Donna's frenetic tarantella between her wine glass, a blazing stove, and a countertop stacked with pots and pans in use or used up. She asks for help and then moans that nobody is helping her. She's frantically prepping the family's version of the Feast of the Seven Fishes, an arduous undertaking she takes upon herself despite the rest of the family begging her not to do it. This is the first point made by "Fishes," the sixth Season 2 episode of " The Bear." In a flashback to a Christmas five years past, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) nervously heads into another chaotic kitchen, the one ruled by his mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis). Our gatherings of family and friends are freighted with reverence and meaning, defying any attempts at alteration regardless of whether a clan's defining actions serve us anymore, or if they ever make sense. Tradition is prime among the many wonderful, terrible traits that make us human, with no example externalizing this quite so well as the holiday meal. The following contains spoilers from Season 2 of "The Bear" from Episode 6 "Fishes" through the finale.
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