Ebon Moss-Bachrach on ‘The Bear’

**David Bianculli** (0:00)
This is Fresh Air, I'm TV critic David Bianculli. The Bear, the FX series about people running a Chicago restaurant, has won 21 Emmy Awards so far, and is nominated for eight more for its fourth season, including for guest actress Jamie Lee Curtis, and guest actor Rob Reiner. The show's fifth and final season currently is running weekly on FX, and streaming in its entirety on Hulu. And The Bear is ending with a bang, not a whimper. Today on Fresh Air, we'll listen back to an interview from last year with Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who's already won two Emmys for the role of Richie, the family friend who now co-runs the restaurant known as The Bear. And I'll start with an appreciation and overview of the TV series, because The Bear has been a delectable treat from start to finish.
Christopher Storer created and unveiled The Bear in 2022, telling the story of a talented chef, Carmen Berzotto, who left home to train at a Michelin-starred restaurant. He returns to Chicago after the suicide of his brother Mikey, who had run a small sandwich shop. Carm, played by Jeremy Allen White from Showtime Shameless, decides to help his family by taking charge of the family business, and eventually transforming it into a high-end restaurant. His family includes his sister Sugar, played by Abby Elliot, and their unstable mom, played by Jamie Lee Curtis. There's also a large unofficial extended family, childhood friends and loved ones who call themselves cousins or uncles.
In its first season, The Bear hit TV with intoxicating originality. Its characters were compelling and the cast was talented. White's portrayal of Carm was a study in both Commitment and Torment.
Sydney, the new employee played by Iowa Deberry, rose quickly through the ranks due to her obvious vision and talent. But she, like the other chefs and staff members, had as much baggage as inspiration.
The Bear started out as part soap opera and part celebration of fine food. Each episode presented montages of the preparation and presentation of various dishes while examining the effort and emotional toll of doing that day after day.
The Bear built itself and still does as a comedy and has won all its Emmys in that category. But to me, watching The Bear is as tense as watching The Pit and that's not a casually chosen reference. By season two, The Bear was like a hot new restaurant with rave reviews. Everyone wanted to visit and in terms of guest stars, almost everybody did. A brilliant program from that season was a flashback episode showing Christmas dinner with the extended family. And look who showed up on the guest list. John Bernthal from The Walking Dead as Mikey, their older brother, was there, even though in this show's narrative he would die by suicide soon after.
Also at the dinner table, Oliver Platt as Uncle Jimmy, Bob Odenkirk as Uncle Lee, Sarah Balson as Cousin Michelle, and John Mulaney as family friend Stevie. At dinner, Uncle Lee is goading Mikey for repeating old stories. Mikey responds by throwing a dinner fork at him. And it only gets more tense from there.

**Ebon Moss-Bachrach** (3:26)
Cut it out.

**Jeremy Allen White** (3:27)
Rich?

**David Bianculli** (3:27)
Hey, look, here's the thing.

**Ebon Moss-Bachrach** (3:28)
You see, I can throw forks because this is our father's house.

**Jeremy Allen White** (3:32)
Mike, Rich, Lee.

**Ebon Moss-Bachrach** (3:33)
My father's house.

**Jeremy Allen White** (3:34)
We have liftoff. Okay, you got everyone's attention. So go ahead and tell us a story we've all heard a million times already.
That's good, Lee. Yeah. Tell a story about how you're living with your mom and you're borrowing money off of her and any other sucker who'll listen to your bullsh-t. Lee, shut the f-ck up. You're one of the suckers, Jimmy. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I've told him. I told him not to listen to you. I told him not to help. I told him to tell you to go scratch. Thanks a whole f-ckin lot, buddy.

**Ann Marie Baldonado** (4:00)
You come back next year, okay?

**Jeremy Allen White** (4:02)
Oh, f-ck. It's fine. Yeah, it's fine.
It's fine because this guy's nothing and he's nobody. And I know you're scared and you're afraid, aren't you, Michael? And Michael, I don't know what the f-ck you're on, but whatever it is, if you can hear me through the fog, throw another fork at me, you're going to get f-ck rocked.

**David Bianculli** (4:20)
Subsequent seasons of The Bear have charted the restaurant's rise and fall and, through additional flashback episodes, given us deep dives into the pasts of various characters.
Last season ended with the restaurant facing closure, but this new final season is all about staying afloat for one more day.