The Prestige TV Podcast - ‘The Bear’ Season 2, Episodes 1-2 Recap

Episode Date: June 22, 2023

Charles Holmes and Van Lathan share their thoughts on the first two episodes of ‘The Bear’ Season 2. They discuss the return of the beloved FX series and what it needs to do in order to live up to its excellent predecessor, the different stakes that accompany opening a brand-new restaurant as opposed to maintaining one, and how the arcs of the show’s main trio of characters intertwine. Along the way, the guys explain the meaning behind Michelin stars and how the pursuit of them will move the story forward in Season 2. Hosts: Charles Holmes and Van Lathan Producer: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to the Prestige TV podcast. We're giving our printing mistakes, our collector's items. I'm Charles Holmes. He's Van Leighton. Together we're known as the Midnight Boys. And we're back to give you our instant reaction on FX's The Bear. All 10 episodes of the second season are now up on Lulu. But for all you binge heads out there, don't worry. Vin and I will be covering each episode over the next week.

So make sure you keep coming back every couple of days. If you like what you hear, make sure you head over to the Rigover's feed where you can hear the midnight boys argue about the flash, secret invasion, and a bunch of other stuff. With all that out of the way, Van, how are you feeling about the bear returning? Love it. I love to get out of the sort of fantastical comic book world

and get into the real cutting-edge, stressful world of great cooking in Chicago. The first bear was a breath of fresh air, and I'm happy to be back. Is it bad that this is like my comfort show? This is like my weighted blanket, even though it's very, very chaotic and shit. I'm just like, I just want to be with these people. I want to just hang out with these people and know everything about them.

This is your type of thing. I'm starting to wonder about the other stuff that we cover. But this is, seriously, though, this is high execution, high art, a very quick-moving, lean American drama. And for a critic like yourself, this is catnip. It's lean cuisine. It just gives it to you. You know, it's there to be loved by people who love prestige television.

Today we're going to be discussing the first two episodes of the new season, Beef, directed by and written by Christopher Storer and pasta, directed by Christopher Store, and written by Joanne. Calo. Before we begin, though, I wanted to get into some non-spoiler questions I have for you, Van. What do you think the bear has to do to live up

or exceed its first season? Because the bear came out of nowhere. I don't even know if FX knew what they had because what? It was last summer. It drops, binge. And it was like, it was one of the new shows that almost out of nowhere

just kind of slaps everybody in the face. So for you, what does this second season need to do. Fill out the story. Fill out the story like a nice meal. Think about this.

The first season of the bear was a perfectly cooked steak. One that you didn't expect to get. There was this place here in L.A. And I don't even remember the name of it, but a producer from TMZ took me there.

And it was really ratty-looking. Downtown. and I'm like, what the hell? He goes, trust me. And I wasn't expecting anything from this place. It's like, this is one of my favorite places. And every once in a while, like, you meet somebody and they got to be adventurous with food and they take you to a place that's like, you know, in somebody's basement. And it's like, oh, my God, he's got the best.

And you know, I don't want to eat nothing in here. Anyway, we go to this place. I thought that was about to happen. And I had the best steak of my life. I got to actually hit Evan now and ask him where this place was. best steak of my life. It was a lean steak. They had like this little sauce or whatever.

How was it cooked? Cooked perfectly? Cooked perfectly, right? It was, I want to say the best thing. I'm like one of the best steaks of my life. Okay, cool. I said that to say this. I wasn't expecting that meal to be the way it was.

So the steak in and of itself was the star of the show. I didn't want to eat anything else. They looked like they had some ochre or something. I wasn't into it. But the steak was great. The first season of the bear was like that steak. Perfectly cooked. You didn't expect it, but it was one slice of content meat.

Now what the show has to do is that has to become a full meal. And it's going to do that, hopefully, by using the supporting characters a little bit better as side dishes. And to be honest with you, I think that I'm seeing that from the show. I think that I'm seeing them build out the characters besides Karm and Richie a little bit more. Sidney was there too last year, of course, a little bit more. I want to know more about what's going on in the kitchen. I want a slightly bigger story, but I don't want more fat. I want more meat.

What about you? Oh, man, I couldn't agree more. I think I'm basically where you're at where, and I think they're already starting to do it. A lot of the other characters were almost, it wasn't that they weren't important. But it's like they only had 10 episodes. They had to get in, they had to get out. They had to make us fall in love with Karmie first and foremost. For this to be successful, they need to make us.

Like by the end of that season, when Karmie steps on Marcus's donut, I'd never want to kill a white boy anymore. I'm just like, how dare you fucking. And like that's what I need more of those moments making me care for a Marcus and a Sydney and a Tina and all of these people. And I think they're well on their way. The second question I had for you is more is a little deeper, a little bit more esoteric. Where do you place the bear in the prestige TV landscape now? We're in a post-succession, Barry, Atlanta world. A lot of people are being like, it's the end of an era.

We're never getting anything like that again. Obviously, the writer's strike is going on, all support to the writers. Where does the bear fit in that landscape in a post-kind of prestige era? Interesting. I think that the bear is a show. that has less ambition than some of those other shows. And that's not to say that it's less ambition in its execution, because some of the stuff that the bear does,

I would argue, is as hard to do in terms of producing a television show to the level that it does it as any show that's out there, right? 15-minute shots and all kind of things. You know, crazy stuff that they're doing to tell their story. But the show is taking on sort of more traditional themes than some of the other prestige shows that we see. It's not period. There's no death murder and mayhem. It's a really human show.

And it's intimate in a way that a lot of the other prestige shows, like, aren't. If you look at a show like Succession, obviously that show is about family dynamics and promises made and promises. kept, but it's still also about capitalism, about globalism, about politics, about racism, you know, all of that stuff. The bear exists really in a raceless world, in a world where we don't really talk about socioeconomic situations. It seems to be a smaller world that is really about making a great meal. And anything else that happens to the characters in their lives is funneled to.

through their ability to deliver their art and their craft at a high level. Everyone takes cooking and the product very seriously and their entire world is about it. Just almost inherently makes the show lower stakes. Not lower entertainment,

not lower execution, but lower stakes. And I don't know that we've had very many low stakes, big time, prestige shows. But that's what I like about the bear. the fact that it's intimate. I like the fact that it's more human. I like the fact that it has a little bit more to do with craft and food culture and not general culture. You know what I mean? So yeah, I mean, that's a little bit of a winding answer. But I think where it lands in the prestige landscape is we're not, no zombies are getting killed, you know, no $5 billion

companies are being bought. It's a story about people trying to that makes the best food and live their lives and reinvent themselves. And I think it exists in its own place in prestige. What about you? I think weirdly, even though these two shows are different genres, tonally they're different. It reminds me of Abbott Elementary in a way where it's doing something that is very old TV in the perfect way possible. Like when you watch an Abbott Elementary, it is doing the sitcoms. mockumentary office style comedy in the best way can in a 30-minute package.

And the bear to me is very similar where it is a comedy in almost like the cheers mold, where you want to hang out with these people, you watch up for 30 minutes. Not only do you feel for them emotionally, but they use comedy as a way to talk about these bigger things about the world. And to your point, I think the last prestige TV era, we almost got away from making simple TV. And I'm not saying simple as like less easier to make. To your point, the bear is not an easy show to make. I'm talking about simple in terms of just like we are going to do all of these components the best way we know how. And we're not necessarily trying to reinvent or break the form.

We are just trying to show you. We understand the rules. and we can do it at the highest level possible. Yeah, I think people have gotten away from the idea that prestige television can be television about simple and more accessible situations. I think prestige is almost inextricably linked to stakes to these big, huge deals now. And that's because, you know, it started off with the Sopranos, and the Sopranos was really about a guy trying to make his way in the mob. And then by the end, you had a New Jersey, New York, New York mob war.

And it just got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. Also, very existential, heady type of, like, shit where, like, you would watch some episodes they're talking about, yeah, very existential things about what does it mean to be a father? What does it mean to be a son? Sure. And like you get madmen and breaking bad. And it almost becomes, to your point, the stakes have to be so huge. Life and death.

And you start not making TV shows about more down-to-earth people. Right. And with the wire, it's another show that's really based and grounded and a little bit more connected to humanity, but still about these massive themes, politics and socioeconomics and all of those things and race and all of that stuff. And apparently they didn't bought any of that. So I'm hoping that people are interested in just the lives of interesting characters more after this show becomes, after this show has become the success that it has become. Because, you know, it's still a show about just unbelievably human themes. It's still a show about achievement.

It's still a show about cooperation. It's still a show about depression, about loss. about grief, about family. Simple show about all of those things that make us human. It's just taking place in this one little restaurant in Chicago. You know what I mean? No, I totally get what you mean. And with that, let's get into this episode.

So for those that have forgotten, the Bear Season 2, picks up where the first left off, Carmi City and the rest of the team are closing down the beef after they found all of the money that Carmi's brother had left him, and they're now opening a fine dining establishment. Chaos ensues. Karmie is drowning in the responsibility of it all.

Richie is feeling left behind with everything changing, and Sydney is desperately chasing a Michigan star. Instant reactions, first two episodes, Van. What did you think? I liked it. I liked the first two episodes. I think the show was executed in the same way that it is. I think we took a little time in the first episode

to kind of get reacquainted with the characters. But exactly what I felt like the show needed to do, it was doing. We're getting arcs for, the other members of Karmie's staff. And that is incredibly important for everyone. And it's also important as they are getting the new restaurant ready to open. It's important to see them working together,

not just to make an awesome plate of food, but to build something and see all the competing sort of interests. There. Sid wants a Michelin Star. Karm wants to make a successful restaurant and prove that he can do it by himself. You know, you have Tina going to culinary school. Marcus is dealing with a sickness in his family. Seems that it's his mother that's sick or his grandmother or someone. everyone has their own piece of the show, at least early on,

in a way that they kind of didn't in the first season because we really had to establish Richie Karm and Sydney. And you're getting a little bit more of that. So I really enjoyed the first two episodes. I don't know what I was expecting for an encore to the first season because it kind of knocked my socks off a little bit in that I wasn't, I don't know that I watched the show quite like the bear before. But I enjoyed the first two episodes.

I think it picked up the energy and raised the stakes a little bit. What about you? Oh, I mean, I loved it, and I loved it because I think it was a huge risk. Because I don't know if you had the same feeling after the first season that I did. But when it's revealed

that they're basically going to tear the bear down and rebuild a restaurant, I got the feeling like the beef was a restaurant in the real world. I'm like, don't take away what I love. It's the feeling of, like if they change the cheers bar into like a cocktail lounge in the second season or if like friends they never went back to the cafe. Those were the feelings I was having after that first finale

where I was like, are they really sure that they want to do this pivot? And I think that they pulled it off in the first two episodes especially in terms of like this is a show with the same flavor. But actually now that they're having to tear down the restaurant, to your point, it gives you time to see Sydney with her dad or Marcus taking care of a loved one or even Karmie having time off and not knowing what to do with it.

Like that is a very, like I don't know people like know how real that is. When I was a waiter, that is like some real deal shit. When you get to go home at like normal hours and you're like, wait, what do I do with the rest of my day? Because so much of your life is revolved around this

ecosystem that most people don't understand. So I think they took a very, very big risk. And at least in the first two episodes, it is absolutely paying off. What I wanted to ask you, though, is, do you view the bear as a cooking show first or a family comedy? Like, which one when you go to the bear

are you like, this is what I want to see? Because there's not that there is cooking in these first two episodes, but it's not on front street. So that's the interesting thing for me, right? So the first show was so much about the inner working of a kitchen. And that was

just undeniably a part of the charm of the show. And the food, watching people make great food is always amazing. And I personally think that it was a big risk to kind of take that away. But they're still preparing something. When you watch the show, the same formula is still there. It's still about ingredients and time and pressure, you know, when they're trying to figure out when they are going to open

the new restaurant and it's six months, but then you have 18 months to pay back the loan. So you've got to try to get it open in three months. That's still essentially what they do. They are trying to make high quality products for people every single night and come up with a system to where they can make great food in the amount of time that people are coming in. to eat a meal. And now they have to essentially do that for the restaurant. They have to prepare the restaurant and then serve it.

And rather than see them do that a bunch of little times throughout a show or make a whole bunch of chickens or that one episode, I need five chickens by one. They have to do it essentially this one time. But they all still have their roles to play. You know what I mean? So I think if they can execute this one big meal in the same way they executed all the other small little dishes, as we watch them learn and unlearned things, as we watch them deal with outside things, as we see Karm have a little bit of love interest, is he as focused of a chef if he's making googly eyes with the lady with the pretty eyes by the frozen food.

You know what I mean? So all of this stuff to me, I think it has a lot of promise to turn into another really slam-bang season of television. So I wanted to also talk about the Trinity of main characters, Carmi, Richie, and Sydney.

Because this season, it's almost like all of their arcs are speaking to one another in a very artistic way, where Carmi has reached, he reached the mountaintop. he reached everything that Sidney wants. He was in charge of running a three-Michelan Star restaurant. And he hated it. And he has a passion, but he's falling out of love with his passion.

And you have Richie, who's looking at Carmie being like, I don't even have a passion to fall out of love with. And then you have Sydney, who is very much in this young mode where she wants what Carmi had, even if she does not totally understand the toll that it will take on her, her family, her friends,

her mental and emotional state. Out of all those storylines, which one of those jumped out at most in the first few episodes being like, this is smart, this is what I'm gravitating towards. So to me, I think the push pool

between Sydney and Karm over the restaurant is going to be something that grows and it's going to be very interesting. Yeah. And let me tell you why. Whenever we revisit

Karmie's experience in the restaurants that he's had before, it is absolutely never positive. Oh, he looks miserable. Joe McKell was killing him. You know what I mean? And it looks as if

what he really wants is to be able to make amazing great food in a place that he loves, almost in memory and tribute to his brother and his family, and really not have to be worried about some of the things that people are worried about in the industry before. You know, he's talking about the fact that he watched these chefs do like this

and rub and say that they loved each other or whatever. They're doing the hand gesture, and it was a very human thing when somebody would mess up. They found out this way to connect real quick and put it off to difference. To say I'm sorry to do it like that, to mess up. And then all of a sudden, all the members of the UN Security Council came in. And it just kind of was an interesting ending to such a Tinder story. Because now the important people come in and now we have to remind ourselves how important they are and get to business.

But that's what Sid wants. Like Sid wants that. Sid wants a Michelin Star restaurant. She's still young and wide-eyed enough to believe that the cooking and the reward is the accolades that you get from it. And right now, it doesn't seem like he has a problem with it. But he wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of cooking to get a Michelin Star. And I think in the last season, what was established between those two characters is, that he can't do what he needs to do without her, and she certainly can't do what she needs to do without him.

So it's interesting, it'll be interesting to see if they have different opinions on how the restaurant should work. So tell me if this is a dumb idea, because I want to talk about the Michelin Star, like a lot, because I think that as a symbol is going to be something that we're going to get over the next eight episodes. So should I briefly, for the audience, describe what, like, a Michelin Star means? Yeah. what it is. So, Michelin Travel Guides were created by the French Tower Company in 1900, with restaurants being added in 1920. All this is from a great article from Travel and Leisure.

You should go check out for more if you're interested. So the three-star system was created in 1931, and basically 100 anonymous inspectors in almost 40 countries will travel for three out of four weeks visiting restaurants. And restaurants in a Michelin Guide are visited every 18 months. But that can change if, like, in restaurant is going to get dinged, they might get another star. And one Michelin Star means, quote, food at a consistently high standard worth visiting if you're in the area. Two is for exceptional cuisine with skillfully and carefully crafted dishes of outstanding quality worth a detour. End quote.

And then three, Michelin Star, is for places that feed guests extremely well, often superbly, that serve distinctive dishes executed from superlative ingredients, exceptional cuisine worth a special journey. Yes. So if you want to learn more, Marlia McArdle has a great travel leisure article about that. But what I wanted to talk to you about in terms of Michelin Stars is it is almost this symbol of, to your point, Carmi's had it. And he knows that a Michelin Star, and a lot of chefs have been honest with this,

is almost a trap in it of itself, where it's like, you have, one of you. you get one, two, three stars, they can be taken away. So that means you need to keep grinding and grinding. What does Carmis say to her? You're going to have to care about everything more than anything. But to Sydney, I get it. Because Sydney's a young black woman from Chicago. A Michelin Star will change her life. Carmi's good. He has the name. He can walk into any kitchen that he wants to now and be like, hey, I was overseeing a three Michelin Star restaurant. What's good? For her, she's like, I failed before. I've had a failed company. My dad doesn't believe in me.

A Michelin Star will change my life. And Carmi is almost worried that it could destroy it as well. Who do you, who are you closer to siding with? Not that either of them are wrong or right, but which one do you feel more? Probably Sid.

You know? Carmi, you know what I mean? It's always easy. It's kind of like the people that I know that are really rich and they'll be like, oh, you know,

it doesn't change much really. And I'll be like, shut the fuck up. Money doesn't make you happy. And I'm like, yeah, that's what niggas will money say. Like, you know,

I'm saying, it doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't, I know that it doesn't make you happy. You know, I have doing well, but it's like sometimes people are doing more than well.

And then sometimes when they talk to you, if sometimes feels like they don't want you to do as well is what they're doing. So it's not that big of a deal. So of course it's easy for him to say that it's not a thing because he's already done it.

She gets to decide really if it's a thing for her. I'll make the decision about how nice it is to have $50 million. When I get the $50 million, I'll need you to tell them. I'll go for the $50 million then I'll tell you how nice it is.

Okay. For her, yeah, she hasn't reached that type of deal yet and I think a lot of the characters are kind of going through this. You see that in the different attitudes from the two chefs from Tina

and what's the other chef's name? Ibra. Ibra. As far as culinary school, for one of them, it's an incredible opportunity. And for the other, it's a significant sense of stress. It's something new and

scary and awful. pudding to have to cook and be judged by people that really weren't a part of why you got as good as what you are in the first place. So it's just, I think those back and forth to me are as really what's holding my interest in making the second season off to the start, making it as good, the start of the second season, shall I say, as good as what it is now. So the reason, though, that I do, I feel like understand Karmie is that I think he realizes that a Michelin Star is basically the equivalent of like once you open Pandora's box, there's no closing it again, where right now, everything about the restaurant can be fun. They can make the, they can make the food they want to, can look the way they want to. They can cook for themselves for the love of it.

Yeah, sure. the minute you get that star, you are cooking to keep that star. You're no longer, it's very hard. I can see that. I can see that. To stay creatively pure. It's just like when people win big awards,

when you talk to people, whether they win like an Oscar or an Emmy or a Grammy, you reach the zenith. And then everything you create afterwards sometimes, it's just like, is it a success if it doesn't get the same accolades? If it doesn't make as much money. If you're not number one at the box office on your second third movie,

is it a fit? All of those things come into play. And now you're asking yourself, am I making the type of art that I want to make? Or am I making the type of art that's going to win me awards? So, yeah, I think that's central because that comes into play with even the restaurant itself. You know, the restaurant itself,

when you see Karmie talking about small things, about how the door handles are supposed to look, how the front part of the house is supposed to look, all of these things, when you're changing it, why are you changing it? Is there, because the old restaurant was serving some of the best food in that area. The packaging was a little bit different.

He's used to something different. He's making something that is both familiar to him, but also rises to the level of food that he's served and the atmosphere that he's been a part of and some of the other places he's been to. So it's not like he's unaware of what this fusion of familiar tastes and fine dining are is just that he doesn't want to do it on purpose.

Yeah. Which, you know what I mean? And that, to me, is a holdover from the first season. The first season was a lot of people inside the restaurant thinking that Karmie was doing what he was doing for pretentious reasons when really this is the way he looks at food and service.

And for Sid, the question is, how does she look at food and service outside of a Michelin Star? You know what I mean? Yeah. And watching all of them get on the same page with their processes, watching Karm come to terms with

the fact that maybe his brother did have too small of a vision for the restaurant before. They're going bigger and then seeing them open his late brother's locker and pull the hat out as a reminder in the show of what they're moving on from, of progress, subtle little things in the show just spark growth. They spark change. and they're able to do that through scenes and not through someone standing in front of the camera going, this place has got to get bigger. We have to elevate adapt or die or something like that. They're able to take really poignant moments

like him opening up the locker and seeing his brother's hat in there and remembering that this growth is going to be painful. It's going to be arduous, but it's still something that has to happen if they're a dream of having this be, something that's multi-generational is going to live. I mean, I think the thing, speaking to that, that is so funny,

which I think can sometimes be missed because this is a 30-minute comedy is, it tells you everything you need to know about Karmie as a character. When the alarm is blaring and everybody else is just like, this is the most annoying sound ever shut it off. And Karmie kind of jokes, but not really, it's just like, I don't know, I kind of like it. because that is who Karmie is. He does not know how to live unless everything is cranked to 11.

He's coming from a three Michelin Star place where it's like a Noma, a place where, hey, every single choice that we make is the most important thing. That is who he is. And realizing part of him has to let that go. He has to listen to Sydney. He has to listen to a sister.

Like this isn't just, this is now a family restaurant way more than it was. before because I will say sugar, his sister, had nothing to do like the first season. She was literally just there to be like, we need to learn about Karmie's life. And I actually like seeing his sister who's pregnant now

being like, oh, now I'm stuck in the place where my older brother died and I'm trying to help my cousin and my younger brother make something of this. Which is interesting because if you know anything, I'll tell anybody, do not go into business with

family. I've rarely. I've rarely. seen it at well. Stuff. You know what the funny thing is? Little things that the show did in the first season. So she's cooking in the first season. Do you remember the scene where

he calls her on the phone and she's making something? Yeah. And it's obvious that she's a really good cook. She's got a piece of chicken. They shoot it from the top. She's got a piece of chicken. She's making it.

She's basting it. You know, there's a little sauce with it. It's obvious. that that's a part of their family. She wasn't around that much, but she's not completely removed from who they are. Like little things like that in the show, there's this DNA, this through line

between these characters for whatever reason. Okay, so Marcus, how obsessed he was about the perfect donut in the first season. Yeah. The first thing I thought when I saw that he had a loved one that was ill was, was he going to obsess about

this loved one that is ill in the same way that the perfect donut completely derailed his paying attention to his job in the first season? Is this a different thing? And obviously it's a very

understandable thing, but is this a different thing for to come and be all consuming with him? And so for her character, I think it's going to be interesting to see with someone who understands the ethos of the family who gets kind of the intoxication behind making great food, who gets that,

but has this different sort of business sense. Yeah. Like those things colliding, I think it'll make it for an interesting season for her as well. Oh, I mean, I thought the chemistry between sugar and Richie was so fucking funny. When Richie's like calling it, he's like, you call it.

called mom because it gives Richie this force. Like she knows who he is. Like Sydney, in that episode where like she accidentally stabs him, Sydney knows who Richie is, but she's inferring.

Sugar actually knows who Karmie is, who Richie is. She's so keenly tapped into all of their fucked up shit. It's a different dynamic when she's now in this place where it's not just them, shitting on Karmie being like you think you're the boss

sugar actually is smarter than them like she's the actual adult I think also the mold scene where Ritchie says I grant you that it's gained traction in some recent media cycles mold is a buzzword was the funny

because I'm like dog I know Richies I know richies who like can get you a deal on anything mold is just mold to them shut the fuck up like Richie to me is still the character where I'm like, I want to see this guy in every single movie ever.

He's so fucking funny. Yeah, something that we all understand to be super dangerous. He's like, look, what they're telling you about mold isn't true. You know what I mean? And it's, once again, we talk about how great the show is written and how great it's shot. It's also cast it perfectly. Hell yeah. It's a perfectly cast at show with all of these different,

to collect the characters, like, well, you know, working off of one another. It's, it's impressive. And I think it maintains its level from last season and this season. I will say this. I think for this season to be as good as last season, it's going to have to hit another gear. Do you think that is fair to say? I think it is fair to say. But the way I've been trying to think about it is, you know how they say in the music industry,

you have your whole life to make your debut album. It's the sophomore album that's difficult. I think the really smart artist, you know, Miss Yelly has said this, a bunch of smart people have said this, is that what you want to do with the second outing, think about it to Pimp a Butterfly, is you want to show people something.

You can do something different. You want to push. You don't want to do the exact same thing. You want to show them that you artistically can accomplish so much more. So then we will think of the show, as something you can never pin down. And that's actually what I think they're trying to do

is because if they tried to make a whole another episode where it's just one shot, it's super chaotic, everybody's yelling at each other, people are yelling, corner, corner. This would become almost like it would become overwrought, almost like we would expect it. We're like, okay, yeah. And here's the thing.

I would watch that show. I would watch the version of the bear that is just season one over and over and over again, and I would love it. I think after these first two episodes, I haven't seen any others. I think I want them to hit an artistic gear. I don't want them to hit an anxiety gear. Because I'm just like, I know you can do anxiety.

I know you can do chaos. Like what other tools do you have in the toolbox that I've never seen? Snoring, gasping during sleep, feeling fatigued, ask your doctor about zebbound terse appetite. The first and only FDA-approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and adults with obesity. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and obesity to improve their OSA. Zetbound is approved as a

2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection. Zetbound contains terseptitide and should not be used with other terseptite-containing products or any GLP1 receptor agonist medicine. It is not known if Zepbound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pins or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction.

Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia. if you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulfonal urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsened kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-9 or visit Zepbound.lily.com. Can we do a Kai corner really quick?

This isn't video game, but I have a question for Kai. Oh, Kai. Okay, yeah, I'm into it. So, Kai, if people have been listening, if people listen to our Last of Us coverage, they will have learned that you are not a fan of food. Or at least you are not a fan of food. We just talked about this. Yeah, we did. Can you tell the listeners, what are some of your favorite meals team?

Yeah, no, of course. It's actually, it's great timing that the bear is out. This is a topic of conversation on the Ringer Fantasy show as well because they just found out about this. So I've been on trial over there. Definitely go tap in. My favorite foods are chicken tenders. You know, I love a good burger. I hate cheese.

That's kind of the highlights for me. So before this, I'll be in the Bay next week. All right. And I was asking Kai if we could hug out. You know, I've already met Kai. I met Kai when Kyle was first at the ringer. But I want to say hello to Kyle. I'm out there.

And whenever I'm up there in Northern California, there are these burritos from this place and they're just like the best burritos in the world and I was telling Kai, you know, maybe we can have a burrito. And then Kai goes, uh, and I was like,

Kai, you don't like a burrito? And he was like, I don't know, man, maybe if they're willing to take a lot of stuff out of the burrito. And I'm like, God, God. I'm like, Kai, like what?

I got to be me. They tell he's like, if they're just willing to make one with just like the tortilla, the beans, and the rice. No, no beans, no beans, yeah, yeah. Just chicken and rice.

No, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. In your dream burrito, what would be in that burrito, okay? White rice, chicken, or maybe steak, that's it. The other stuff I don't really like. I don't know. It's just not for me, not my palate. Honestly, I'm gonna be real. I don't remember the last time I had a burrito.

Because, like, if I go to Tripoli or whatever, like, I'm getting a bowl. It's just easier. You know what I mean? So that's what I'm... How old are you, Kai? I turned 24 last. December. Okay, this makes sense. Because here's the thing. Once you reach like 25, 26,

someone asks you what your favorite food is. You can't say chicken tenders with a straight place, like you can't. It's tough. I might be the first. We'll see. I don't know. So, Kai, do you like raising canes? I love canes. It's good. I don't, I don't like the sauce, though. The reason we're going to Kai's corner is, whoa, whoa. You like raising canes, but you don't eat the sauce for raising things. What do you put on the, what do you put on the chicken fingers? Nothing. Wait, whoa.

Hold on, Kai. Kai. Are you eating dry? Are you, are you, Kai, are you, are you capping? Is this, is it? Are you capping right now? Is this real? No, no, no, this is facts.

Now, I will say I'll, like, at other places, I'll have, like, barbecue sauce or, you know, I said on the other pod, like, you know, Polynesian, Syracia sauce from, from Chick-Fle. But, I mean, Keynes only has that sauce. I don't, I don't like it. So, yeah, just eat it, eat it playing. This is sociopath behavior. I've never met a motherfucking. who's just dry chicken tenders, bro.

They're great. So, Kai, and you live, and you live up in Northern California, so we should, are you the Zodiac Killer? I mean, I think it's a little bit before my time, but. No, no, no, no, we don't know. I mean, people think that he might, it could be a couple of generations. We don't, we don't know. It was very, you should look into the case. I'm perfectly normal, not the Zodiac killer.

let me get that on tape. But I just, I got, that's what the Zodiac Killer would say, Kai. The Zodiac Killer would say that I'm not the Zodiac Killer. That's exactly what the Zodiac Killer would.

Okay. So I brought Kai on the pod because have you watched the, have you watched the first two episodes, Guy? I have. I have watched the first episodes. So, Karmie, Sid, they say that they're making a chaos menu.

Mm-hmm. Do you know what a chaos menu is? I just kind of assumed it was like foods from different areas, like different types of foods. Not really like, you know, you go to an American spot, you're going to get a burger, you're going to get fries. But with a chaos menu, you could just get anything.

I don't know what it is either, Kai. I'll be honest with that. Kai, you did a pretty good job, actually. I did not know. I had to look this up. So this is from an excellent article on Eater by Gaius Xaxina. Quote,

lately a new crop of restaurants and pop-ups has begun serving not just fusion, but aggressive, weird, trolley fusion that's also thoughtful, being incredibly well-received and actually good. These are big, gooey, macho menus that sound like four cuisines

were stuck in a large hydrant collider on a dare. This is chaos cooking, and its practitioners just want everyone to lighten the hell up about food. That is from an article titled, chaos cooking is coming. Are we ready? So, it seems like,

Wakami, consider trying to do is basically make a weird fusion type of deal. Is this someplace you would want to eat? Yeah, absolutely not. I think, you know, the bear is a wonderful show. Oh, Guy, absolutely. I mean, you know how it is? This is, this is, this is, this is history at this point.

I don't, I don't like food like that. So I feel like it'd be tough for me to find something there that I can finish. Saying I don't like food like that is great. It's so wild. I'm a guy I fuck with you I get it I think it's hilarious but at the same time it's like God damn God

I'm gonna be honest I'm trying to I'm trying to expand my horizons you know since the last of his pod you know since more people are finding out about this Canara bread like what's expanding your horizons guy I started getting stuff from Trader Joe's recently you know some stuff with vegetables trying not to eat out as much you know inspired by y'all and and now just you know

getting pure pressured by the ringer staff. It's great. But no, the chaos menu would scare me. I'll say that. Like, maybe if Carmis in there, if Sydney's in there and I pull up, I might try something, but I'm a little scared of it. Van, when you're in the bay, you got to take Kai out. I got to figure something out of the place. I'm down, kind of.

Nah, Kai. Before we're going to head out of here, most important question of the day. We get a new character. Second episode. Claire. First reactions to Claire. then. Claire was cool. Claire seemed to be

the type of lady that Carmie would like. Claire's been plying. She's been what she was just like, of course I'd never forget to be. I was just like, dog, she's been like, she was looking at his Instagram. She's like, damn, you got three Michelin Stars? Okay. Shit. So you feel like

she had, she had him on her radar. She was trying to get him. Here's the thing. I will say she was acting real smooth because she gave him her number. Yeah. She was plotting.

Like he was like, who is? Like he had to look at her. Be like, oh word. Claire, which raises my second question. Is Carmia virgin? Charles. I know. This is a serious question.

No, Charles. He might be. No, he's not at all. Why would he be a virgin, bro? Like he, he's... The way he was talking to Claire, it seems like he really don't got game like that. He just cares about.

food and wiggott he's a chef dude good looking tight white shirt chef guy he's he he's got no riz he's got no riz man bro oh riz oh riz oh oh don't give me started on loriz baby gronk totally rizzed up lizzie livi done baby gronk bruh have you said have you got seen those videos yeah hell no i'm dirty man. I'm not watching that. Baby gronk, baby gronk, rizzed up Livy and took, stole her from the drip king. Have you seen those videos?

They're absolutely amazing. That was another thing we talked about in the fantasy pod. This is the second podcast I've talked about baby gronk and my food terrible taste. So how much risk is kind of out in the wild, man? Amen. I'm spoken for. Let's let's chill here. I know I know he's spoken for it, but I know he's spoken for it, but that shows that you got

Riz. Hell yeah. You can tell you, Kai, don't blush. Kai's blushing from the zoo. Don't blush, guys.

Stop it. Look at, Kai, we're just talking about your ribs when I said you're using it. Kais are, you know, that's up in clothes.

Just letting your reins over flow, man. Guy, what the hell, bro? Kai, I'm a Zodiac killer. That's like that. I'm telling you. So I'm no longer logic.

I'm the zodiac killer. That's a rad. That's crazy. That response was completely out of here. I think you and your girl are the Zodiac killers together. I think you guys, that's why you're like, no, no, no, because you're afraid what you'll do? All right, look. No, but here's the thing.

I will say going back to Claire, she pulled the extra, like, I love Claire. She pulled the move where she put her, she rests her head against, like, the cold fridge. She's just like, hey, Karm, how you been? I'm a doctor now. Like, you see how she slid that in there? Mm-hmm. She's putting down the resume. Yeah.

is she like so are you would you say that carmy should go after claire or it's going to fuck up his mojo with the restaurant uh he's going to go after and it is going to fuck out his fuck up his mojo with the restaurant how do you know wait whoa whoa how do you know he won't like make like a beautiful eight oh waitts and heartbreak type type menu he'd be like it's when i see something like that happening in a show i know that it can only go poorly you know what i'm saying like it's it's going to fuck up the restaurant in some sort of way I can tell you right now, it's going to go poorly. She's the, she's the Yoko Ono of the beef is what you're telling you.

I would say I'm giving her a pre-yoko situation. It's not going to work. Yeah. Who, whoa, whoa, whoa, before we go, this will be my last question. Who's the worst Yoko in prestige TV history? Just like someone, man or woman, who shows up in a show and you like, they're going to fuck shit. What a great question. I have one from Succession.

Who, Tom? No. Jerry. Mattson, yeah. Oh, you're talking about just not fucking up in a relationship-wise. They're just going to mess the show up. Yeah, like, just literally the character pops up and you like, this ain't no good. Well, that's a really great, that's a really good question.

Would Marlow? Would Marlowe be one of them? Marlowe's a definite yoko. But it's so many other people that have been such huge yokos. And I'm just not, it's not crystallizing in my mind right now. Who from the Sopranos? That would be last one. Who from the Sopranos is just like, damn.

Well, they've had a. couple of them, but then they all get, they all die. Like, Ralphie was a Yoko, he gets killed. You know, everyone that comes in like, uh, Tony Blondetta. Yeah. Like, Tony Blondetto, like, that's a Yoko comes in and messes everything, but they all end up

dying. They get, Sopranos killed the Yocos. Richie Appreel, you know what I mean? Um, all of those people end up getting killed. But that's a good turn. We'll come back to that. That's a great term. Like, Yocos are coming to a show and the show gets fucked up. Ramsey Bolton Oh, that's a good one

Ramsey from the minute I was just like, yeah, he's fucking shit. Yeah, he's a Ramsey Bolton. Crazy. All right, guys, that has been our first recap pod for the bear. We're going to be back. Probably, well, how many episodes

you say we're going to do? We're going to try to do two episodes each recap? Two episodes each recap, yeah. Hell yeah. So make sure you listen. If you guys want more Midnight Boys goodness, make sure to check in on the Ringiverse.

We're covering Seeker Invasion. We got Asoka coming up. Going to probably do Teenage Mutin Ninja Turtles. We talk about a lot of shit there. And thank you to the Zodiac Killer of Producers. The most... The Riz King at the Ringer. Riz King.

I can't believe I went from logic to the Zodiac Killer. I thought it couldn't get worse. And here we are. Oh, it's going to get worse. This is tough. All right, guys. We'll see y'all in a bit. This episode is brought to you by Netflix's remarkably bright.

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