I decided not to engage with the very special episode of The Bear that just came out, where Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Jon Bernthal did a flashback about their characters. I love Richie, but TODAY Richie, and I have never cared much about Mikey. Sorry y’all. What I did not quite realize is that the episode arrived so close to the final season, which drops June 25. I have a very up-and-down relationship with this show, but I thought the wedding episode of last season (was it the finale?) where little by little everyone ended up under the table with Richie’s daughter was very sweet and really drove home that this is a chosen family, and that makes me hopeful they’ll see out the show on a similar note. We begin its farewell lap with this “family meal” event, which borrows from a restaurant term wherein the staff makes food — often using scraps and surplus from the kitchen — for each other before they open (or generally outside of peak hours). I hope The Bear made the actors cook.
