‘The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White & Abby Elliott on Favorite Season 3 Episodes

[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Season 3 of The Bear.]

The big picture

• “The third season of The Bear explores the challenges of opening a luxury restaurant in the competitive culinary world.
• Co-stars Jeremy Allen White and Abby Elliott discuss standout episodes, character dynamics, and the show's storytelling.
• Creator Christopher Storer's FX series breaks new ground with chaotic kitchen scenes and character growth.

From the creator Christopher StorerSeason 3 of the FX series The bear shows the challenges of trying to establish a fine dining establishment in the cutthroat culinary world where you set a bar of perfection that seems impossible to achieve. Before anyone has had a bite, a chef can spend endless hours gathering ingredients and mixing flavors to decide exactly what the menu should be, only to decide that none of it is good enough and the whole thing has to start over. This endless pursuit of excellence is still no guarantee that you will achieve lasting success, let alone open for service the next day.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, the co-stars Jeremy Allen Whitewho plays Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, and Abby Elliottwho plays Carmy's sister Natalie, talked about standout episodes this season, pushing what the structure of television can be, building character dynamics, how the kitchen scene in episode two goes continue to build towards chaos, finding solace in frustration, Carmy and Sydney (Oh Edebiri) dynamics, and the importance of lining.

Collider: To start off with a silly question, before doing this show, did you ever realize how much preparation and plating the food had to do with tongs?

JEREMY WHITE: Certainly not the extension. I knew this was a thing and probably, before the show, would have scoffed at it, I think.

ABBY ELLIOTT: Yes. No, I really didn't know. I worked in a kitchen for a week and no, I never saw tongs. But apparently, it's a big part of it.

WHITE: The coating is large. The screen is a big part of it.

“The Bear's Jeremy Allen White and Abby Elliott share what makes Season 3 so special

Which episode of this season are you most excited for fans to see and why?

WHITE: There are many. It is difficult.

ELLIOTT: I'm really excited about the first episode.

WHITE: Yeah, the first episode is really about the aftermath, obviously. You pick up with everyone very shortly after the incident at the end of season 2.

ELLIOTT: They just came back.

BLANC: And Duccio [Fabbri]the episode of is very good. Our first episode three directed by AD, which is so amazing. I Ayo [Edebiri] he directed the sixth episode, which is so beautiful. Many of the episodes are really good. It's a good problem to have.

ELLIOTT: That's right. They are different. There are so many different stories that we're telling, so it's hard to pinpoint one because there are so many specific things that I can't talk about.

This is one of those shows where it's not just about the story and the characters, but also the approach to the storytelling and the way the different episodes are shot. It is constantly surprising.

ELLIOTT: And there's more to it, for sure.

WHITE: I feel like Chris [Storer]Joan [Calo]our showrunner, and Joanna [Naugle]our publisher, and everyone is really pushing what the structure of television can be. It takes a lot of confidence to keep pushing the way they areand trusting that audiences will keep coming back and staying with us.

There is such a rich story in the character dynamics in “The Bear” Season 3

Since we know we'll be seeing screen time with Carmy and Sydney, and also with Carmy and Natalie, what would you say are your favorite character dynamics for your characters, outside of those relationships?

ELLIOTT: I love Natalie and Neil Fak together. They have this history between them. They are childhood friends.

BLANC: There are many things, but they don't do anything about it. There is no exposure. It's just the way they communicate with each other. The way they protect each other or get mad at each other is so rich in history. I love watching you guys.

ELLIOTT: Yeah, you just see them as 12-year-olds in a basement playing Super Nintendo, and then it cuts to 25 years later.

WHITE: For Carm, her relationship with Sugar, you see it in a different way, and a lot was revealed to me along the way. Carmen is so into it all the time that often my focus can also feel like she has partners, or something similar, in the way she interacts with others. I feel like you get to see some flashbacks and also some things that happen in the present day, as they're building the restaurant, their relationship and their patterns kind of faded away a little bit more. I think so too You'll see Carmy come to some very important realizations about how she treats her family and how he treats people, in general.

There's something so interesting about the second episode, “Next,” about seeing Carmy alone in the kitchen and then continuing to add more and more characters. Natalie is the first to walk into the room, and then it just keeps building until you really have most of the cast and everyone is talking or yelling at each other. What was that like to do, while continuing to grow bigger and stronger?

WHITE: It was a lot of fun shooting this second episode. We shot it in just two days. It's a location, so we shot 20 pages the first day, and then maybe 15 pages, or whatever, on the second day, so it felt very theatrical. Carmy's experience through this, you've seen her so lonely, and then people are introduced, problems are introduced, speed bumps are introduced and barriers are introduced. There are so many doubts flowing through him and so many voices. And then, the way it ends is my favorite, with sweet marcus and what has happened. Stepping out of yourself, looking at Marcus, and giving Marcus a thumbs up when he says, “Take us there,” the writing in this episode is so beautiful. It was so easy.

ELLIOTT: It was very easy and very quick. We only did a few shots each day. That whole scene, you could just feel the tension when we were shooting it. There's just this push and pull of “Calm down.” And then, Richie comes in and gives it to him [Carmy]. It's the chaos that's going on inside [his] none At the top [he’s] so laser focused, and then everyone comes in and [he snaps].

Abby, how much stress and pressure will Natalie be under this season, and how does she handle it differently than her brother?

ELLIOTT: He's really looking forward to becoming a father. He really just concentrates and tries to keep his head down and do the restaurant work that needs to happen. Her anxiety comes out in different ways, but it calms her down to be in the restaurant, with everything going through her head at the moment, and gives her a purpose. There's something dysfunctional about Carmy, where they just repeat this pattern of her rolling her eyes and trying to get him to change, and he won't. It seems that sometimes they have the same conversation and just repeat the same patterns, but at this point, this is something that is reliable for her.

WHITE: There is familiarity and comfort, even in this frustration.

ELLIOTT: Even in the frustration and the pressure to make the restaurant work.

'The Bear' never had a romance plan between Carmy and Sydney

Jeremy, you and Ayo Edebiri talked about how you're not really on board with a romance between Carmy and Sydney. Is this how you've always felt about the two of them? Did you ever think it might be an interesting thing to explore, but then it became clear that this isn't the relationship they have?

WHITE: Really, it's not that we don't even agree with that. Our writers, Chris, and I and Ayo never, ever talked about it. It's something that happened completely outside of our experience and the experience of the show. It's wild It's not something we considered, and then we said, “No, we don't.” It just wasn't happening and would never happen.

The bear is available to stream on Hulu. Watch the Season 3 trailer:

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