Taking Olivia Newton-John's "Let's Get Critical" to heart, it seems everyone in The Bear season 3 episode 4 was undergoing a little personal probe, examining their respective stations in life while also preparing for the inevitable arrival of the most crucial judgment of all: the restaurant critic.
Chomping more nicotine gum than ever, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) has been wide awake since dawn scrutinizing his relationship with Claire Bear (Molly Gordon) and her harrowing stories from the ER. (That dreamy Cocteau Twins soundtrack made their conversation feel even more make-believe than usual. "I really liked Wednesdays as a kid." Yeesh.)
Marcus (Lionel Boyce), too, is considering his life post-loss: sitting in the silence of his late mother's house, he seeks out the rhythmic beeping of her old medical devices to fill the void. On the way to work, he spots a lone, wild bloom — our titular flower — growing on a gate. He snaps a picture and uses it as inspiration in the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) is questioning her role at The Bear. She did sign a lease for her own apartment, despite her dad's unfavorable appraisal. (It's small, it's expensive and it's a longer ride to work, he gripes.) But she still hasn't signed that partnership agreement Carmy sent over and seems unsure of the praise she unexpectedly receives on her commute to the restaurant, when she runs into Ever chef Adam Shapiro (played by actor Adam Shapiro, not a chef). He informs her that he managed to sneak into The Bear a few weeks ago with some friends. "How did you get past Carm and Richie?" she asks. They were busy yelling at each other, naturally, he jokes, but the food was excellent regardless. "It felt new... like, not Carmy." And maybe that's a good thing?
Yes, it seems like the critic-spotting system that Fak (Matty Matheson) and Ted (Ricky Staffieri) put together to impress Carmy — picture printouts of each notable reviewer in Chicago that, though they instantly drum of bad feelings in our executive chef, will be catalogued in a binder by the hostess stand — isn't actually working, even with Neil's purported "pre-memorization" skills. (Sidenote: leave it to the Faks to finally bring some funny into this Emmy-winning Best Comedy. "I feel like Bear is starting to, like, respect me?" says a hopeful Ted, to which Neil refutes with a hilariously brutal, "No.")
The culinary big wigs are already sneaking in for a taste and it's clear that the team will need better communication if they want to impress them. Carmy can't change a jalapeño to a scotch bonnet at the last minute anymore without informing anyone, Sydney chides, especially when the menu is supposedly "locked" and has been printed already. As Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) learns while sourcing at the farmers' market, "Whatever grows together, goes together."
Better communication can be found between Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and his adorable daughter Eva (Annabelle Toomey), whom he shares with ex-wife Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs, not seen in the episode). Getting ready for the day, the father-daughter duo discusses topics both silly (if they were animals, he would be a caterpillar and she a "mer-horse," a.k.a. a horse that's also a mermaid) and substantial, like what she should call her mom's soon-to-be husband Frank.
We meet the man himself as Richie drops her off for a museum day. Frank is played by none other than '90s dreamboat Josh Harnett, whose face alone would be intimidating even if he didn't also own a beautiful townhouse and possess the thoughtfulness of apologizing to Richie for not talking to him first before proposing to Tiff (he comes from divorced parents, you see). Richie has removed his old wedding ring at last, but he's worried he should pull away even further and let Frank, Tiffany and Eva just have their happily ever after?
Sugar (Abby Elliott) denounces that self-condemnation. "It would be weird if you weren't around," she assures him, but she needs some assurance of her own. Along with the worries that the restaurant is overbudget (they're $5,000 short each week) and the pressure of Michelin stardom is looming over them all — Richie, for his part, doesn't give "a flying f*** into a rolling doughnut about the gastronomical proclivities of some dusty French tire marketing exec," because he's a Pirelli guy — the mom-to-be is two weeks out from giving birth and worried that she'll pass on all of those anxieties to her daughter.
And she's got even more to fret over after she gets a call that The Chicago Tribune wants to set up a photoshoot at the restaurant. Natalie, Carmy, Syd and the rest of the team all reach the same horrifying conclusion: they're being reviewed and, even worse, the food critic has already come in. Let judgment day begin!
All 10 episodes of The Bear season 3 are now available to stream on Hulu in the US and Disney Plus in the UK.
