The Christmas Episode of The Bear presents a very moving and graphic picture of family dysfunction.
The Bear uses its Christmas setting to offer the most intimate and raw investigation into the Berzatto family's psyche rather than a look at a dysfunctional family that nonetheless learns to come together peacefully for the holiday and overcome their problems. Christmas can become a day when family anxieties are at their worst for dysfunctional families despite best attempts to keep a good front and celebrate the occasion. But as The Bear demonstrates, Christmas also comes with too high of expectations, which frequently ironically results in worse disappointment and more strife.
By supper time, the actual roles each family member performs and their trauma reactions are known; these will resurfaced in the turbulent ending of The Bear Season 2. Many people know the matriarch Donna, and although she works to make a beautiful holiday rich in love and tradition with her clan, the demands she places on herself grow too great, with each small mistake or misstep having disastrous results. Though the alcohol aggravates her anxiety, self-loathing, and rage, Donna drinks to help with the stress.
The Hour-Long Christmas Episode from Bear Season 2 was a haunting portrait of the traumatizing family background for the characters.
Building on the popularity of the previous season, The Bear Season 2 was another big hit for Hulu, with constant compliments directed toward the celebrity-filled flashback episode. Set outside the titular restaurant, The Bear season 2, episode 6, "Fishes," transports the series five years in time when members of the Berzatto family tree assemble for Christmas at Carmy, Sugar, and Mikey's mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis).
The Bear's Christmas tracked the Berzattos' deep-rooted tragedies and unresolved problems as they reared ugly heads. Sugar constantly questions her mother's health, Lee tries to assert his control over Mikey, Donna hectically cooks the intense Seven Fishes meal for The Bear's Christmas episode, and — tragically, given what's to come — Richie is shown as happily married. Every anxiety-inducing scenario escalates the intensity until everyone is seated for Christmas dinner. Lee and Mikey then toss forks and screaming insults while the drunk Donna rams her car into the house.
"Fishes" Creatively Breaks TV Christmas Episode Tropes
While a special holiday episode caused concerns that The Bear may follow in the footsteps of Ted Lasso season 2's surprising Christmas episode, which deviated from the narrative to tell of goodwill and kindness among the team, FX/Hulu's sitcom went in quite the reverse. The Bear season 2, episode 6 shows the Berzatto family at some of their lowest and most horrific events, with familial strife and animosity compounded by the holiday, instead of a feel-good narrative about the family at a rare, joyous period in their past.
The Bear's episode provides background for the terrible betrayals, deaths, and dashed dreams and happiness to come rather than any Christmas miracle or pleasant reunion between characters. "Fishes" was more than just a chance to work on a pleasant holiday episode. Understanding the dynamics of the Berzattos in confined, high-stress environments required knowledge of the Bear's environment and flashback. The Bear's episode provides background for the terrible betrayals, deaths, and dashed hopes and happiness to come; there is no Christmas miracle or pleasant reunion between characters.
The Bear's Christmas Episode Cameos Steer Clear of Stunt Casting Clichés
Big guest stars abound in The Bear's Christmas episode, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Bob Odenkirk, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Paulson, and John Mulaney as Berzatto family members. It's tempting to pack the segment with well-known performers who merely heighten the surprise element of the narrative, especially with special episodes honoring major festivals where hitherto undiscovered individuals might show up. The Bear avoids this, though, by really using the abilities of its guest stars in their depictions of their very flawed new characters, so establishing their additions are anything but stunt casting.
Given the Oscar-winning actress's stinging performance, it wouldn't be astonishing if Curtis got an Emmy nod for her "Fishes" guest part. The emotional depth of The Bear's holiday film really rests mostly on the shoulders of its guest stars. Odenkirk is the man stepping on Mikey's toe in a fight for power; Curtis as the erratic matriarch, Bernthal replacing his father as the troubled "man of the family," Paulson as the cousin seeing her family's flaws and trying to help Carmy escape it, and Mulaney as the unrelated friend loving the family despite its dysfunction make The Bear's Christmas episode shockingly compelling.
The Christmas Episode Drama Excels in What the Berzattos Leave Unsaid The Bear
The Bear's "Fishes" episode clearly shows one crucial member of the Berzatto family missing from Christmas dinner despite so many cameos, returning characters, and anarchy all around. Though he might not be physically at dinner, the presence and legacy of Carmy's enigmatic father is felt throughout "Fishes," even without his name ever being used. The Bear season 2 does not formally disclose the fate of the Berzatto family patriarch, though; rather, it merely suggests that he died some time before that fatal Christmas day.
Another aspect of dysfunctional families that The Bear season 2's Christmas episode emphasizes is that some of the most crucial things are spoken without really saying them at all. Although Carmy's father is no longer with us, his impact on the Berzatto family is still very real without the characters specifically referencing him. Mikey's influence on their dynamics is felt more profoundly in what's left unsaid, maybe what they're too terrified to express, even while he mentions their father during the anxiety-inducing fork-throwing moment. The Berzatto family's legend and their dysfunction clearly go much further than The Bear has yet revealed.
Among the best TV episodes of 2023 was the second Bear Season "Fishes".
It's hard to look away from TV shows that are both so eerie, beautiful, devastating, hopeful, and disastrous. The Bear season 2, episode 6, "Fishes,," most definitely stands out as a masterful example. Like Carmy in the latter moments of the episode, the occurrences are so startling but not at all unexpected that there are no words left to describe when they pass. Along with episodes like "Church and State in Succession and "Long Long Time in The Last of Us," the director, the acting, the storyline, the nervous face close-ups combine to make "Fishes" one of the best episodes of TV in 2023.
Many have been perplexed by the program being nominated for prizes in the comedy genre as the Bear seems and feels mostly like a drama. About as feel-bad as a holiday-themed episode can get, The Bear's "Fishes"
The Bear, Hulu's culinary drama series, has had two great seasons thus far; here's what we know about the third season.
The Bear's chefs are not gathered around doing Secret Santa, baking Christmas cookies, or caroll singing. Lee tells Mikey he is and will be "nothing," Donna drives her car into her house, and Carmy dissociates as he stares at the cannolis linking pain for the next five years. Though the side stories of Richie, Tiff, and Uncle Jimmy reject the nostalgia-filled Christmas programs more regularly aired on TV, it is real and devastating even with some glimmers of hope.
Though some of the Bear's flashbacks complicate the chronology of the show, other moments from seasons 1 and 2 help to clarify matters.
