In episode four of Hulu’s brilliant culinary drama The Bear, pastry chef Marcus (played by Lionel Boyce) learns how to make a pudding in Copenhagen. That’s it, really. He plods around the Danish capital at dawn, sampling the best baked goods the city has to offer, before top chef Luca (Will Poulter) patiently guides him through the creation of a gourmet dessert. Why, then, is this one of the best TV episodes of the year?
“There’s something really beautiful and unique about seeing a Black person in a foreign place where they’re being treated really well. Not even really well, just like everybody else,” screenwriter Stacy Osei-Kuffour tells me about the episode, titled “Honeydew”, which she co-wrote. Fans of The Bear will know that the Jeremy Allen White-led series, about a Michelin-starred chef who returns home to run his deceased brother’s sandwich shop, is typically intense, to say the least. There is swearing, shouting and the occasional hurling of kitchen utensils, all set in the restaurant’s gritty, Chicago locale. Osei-Kuffour’s tender episode could not be a bigger departure from the show’s usually relentless pace.
