One Blink-And-You'll-Miss-It Moment In The Bear Season 3 Could Have Huge Consequences
This post contains spoilers for "The Bear" season 3.
In the third episode of "The Bear" season 3, entitled "Doors," there's a moment when the chaos falls away and things get quiet. Writer Christopher Storer and director Duccio Fabbri put the audience into Richie's (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) perspective, and as he's overseeing the front of the restaurant, he becomes hyper-sensitive to the environment around him. Richie notices two things: a fork on the floor, and someone's purse sitting on the floor at a nearby table. Later in the season, we see that he's brought in small benches to serve as purse stools, clearly trying his best to optimize the customer experience. That takes care of the purse situation, but what about that fork?
Obviously Richie has a newfound relationship to forks after the events of the second season, where he staged at Chef Terry's (Olivia Colman) upscale restaurant Ever and was humbled by having to shine the utensils for hours on end. That experience led to a redemption arc for Richie and taught him the importance of customer service and how the difference between a good experience and a great one can sometimes come down to the smallest details. But what if the fork on the floor in season 3 isn't just a symbol? What if it has a more practical meaning that the show didn't spell out for us?
Burnt may have taught us something about The Bear's fork on the floor moment
After my colleagues and I spoke all about "The Bear" season 3 on an episode of the /Film Daily podcast, we received an email from one of our listeners pointing out that in the 2015 movie "Burnt," starring Bradley Cooper — a film that's referenced in "The Bear" season 3 — a fork laying on the ground is a sign that a Michelin judge is dining at the restaurant. According to that movie, Michelin judges would put a fork on the ground as a test to evaluate how attentive the staff is.
Since "Burnt" was released, that practice has been disputed. "No, they don't drop a fork or a knife on the floor," Michelin Guide international director Michael Ellis told a Washington news outlet called WTOP back in 2016. But if the appearance of a Bradley Cooper photo in "The Bear" season 3 finale indicates that "The Bear" and "Burnt" actually take place in the same fictional universe, as some have speculated, perhaps there's some truth to it in this scenario. We know Richie and the staff were not able to spot the all-important Chicago Tribune reviewer when that person visited the restaurant, so it stands to reason that they could have missed a Michelin judge as well.
For the sake of argument, let's say that fork on the floor wasn't just a random detail Richie happened to notice, which hinted that the restaurant may be getting a little sloppy when it comes to service. Let's say it really was a Michelin judge coming to visit The Bear. That would be an incredibly important moment for Carmy and the staff — and it could be a major part of how the next season plays out.
How this could raise the stakes for The Bear season 4
A driving force of this season is Carmy wanting a Michelin star for the restaurant — it's part of the justification for his drive for perfection, and his insistence that they change the menu every day. But according to the New York Post, restaurants cannot simply apply for Michelin stars. In the real world, there's a rigorous judging process that usually plays out across multiple visits so the evaluators can assess six different categories: quality of ingredients, culinary skills, consistency, value for money, ambiance and service, and consistent evolution. Carmy has gone out of his way to make sure the ingredients, culinary skills, and consistent evolution would get passing grades. We don't have enough info to be able to judge how they're doing in the "value for money" category, but when it comes to consistency and the ambiance and service categories, the tension with Richie is obviously having a significant negative impact. To quote Neil Fak, "the vibe's weird."
We find out in the finale that the Tribune review is mixed and the funding of the restaurant is in serious doubt. Couple that with Sydney waffling about whether or not she's going to stay at The Bear, and things aren't exactly looking up for Carmy at the moment. Wouldn't it be a great way to raise the stakes in season 4 if this time of utter chaos happens to be the same time that Michelin comes calling? If Carmy's somehow able to convince Uncle Jimmy to keep funding the place a little longer, but Sydney, seemingly the only person keeping Carmy and Richie from killing each other, decides to leave just in time for the Michelin judge to come back, Carmy's dream could be in serious jeopardy. And ironically, it would be his own fault for driving her away.
The first three seasons of "The Bear" are streaming now on Disney+ and Hulu.