Top 10 Stressful The Bear Moments

“Hands”

After a long day of work, Carmy tried to unwind by watching a calm cooking show. But things went from calm to chaotic once he fell asleep. Carmy immediately imagined that he was stuck in the kitchen for another chaotic day of service. As he worked faster and faster, he gets hounded by negative thoughts and words. Just when it seemed like Carmy was out of the fire, he woke up and discovered he was in the middle of setting his real kitchen ablaze. The sight of his home on fire caused our own hearts to skip a beat. This unnerving scene established that stress had truly crept into every aspect of Carmen’s life.

“Honeydew”

Although Marcus was pushed to improve his craft while studying in Copenhagen, his story largely steered away from stressful scenes. This nice change of pace briefly came to a screeching halt when he stumbled upon the scene of a bike accident. Without warning, Marcus was suddenly expected to rescue a man who could’ve been seriously injured. To make matters more complicated, there was a language barrier between them. Watching Marcus navigate this incident was definitely nerve wracking. Fortunately, he was able to get the victim out of this jam without incident. It was a big relief when we realized that this sudden accident wouldn’t spiral into something worse.

“Sheridan”

A normal prep day at The Beef was instantly ruined once the toilet suddenly exploded. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the most anxiety-inducing part of the day. Problems seemingly piled up as the crew got closer to service. Carmen had to worry about cleaning the restaurant, Richie’s aggressive attitude, and Marcus falling behind on cakes all at once. All the stress and strife built up to the shocking instant where the restaurant’s fuse blew. This outage felt especially uneasy because it was the result of many bad things coming together at once. A blown fuse wouldn’t be a big deal on its own. However, knowing this electric malfunction killed any chances of indoor service for a day was absolutely devastating.

“Hands”

The second episode of the series began with a cold open that showed us what Carmen’s previous job was like. As orders flew in, he struggled to keep up with the demand while advising a cook who couldn’t get a dish quite right. Carmen’s rough day only got worse when the head chef appeared. Like a hungry shark, this new character quickly swooped in and relentlessly attacked. Our hearts raced when Carmen was forced to execute his job perfectly while being peppered with insults. The close up editing and domineering backup music made this scene even more uncomfortable. This flashback got so intense that the episode’s cut to “The Beef’s chaotic kitchen in modern times felt relaxing in comparison.

“Ceres”

Shortly after gunshots hit the window of “The Beef”, Richie stepped outside the restaurant and discovered a few shady characters had started hanging around outside. While he didn’t get answers, he was able to convince them to keep things calm. But Richie’s diplomacy didn’t keep the peace forever. After a bigger argument broke out, he started scrambling around for a gun. When he failed to find it right away, Sydney went outside to try and diffuse the tension herself. Our anxiety went through the roof when she first stepped into the thick of the argument solo. Miraculously, Sydney got back up in the form of her coworkers and a few sandwiches. Who knew beef was so good at breaking up arguments?

“Braciole”

When “The Bear” started an episode with a playful parody of a cooking show, we thought we could relax for a moment. But it didn’t take long before this dream sequence became a nightmare. As Carmy started talking about darker subjects on a lighthearted kitchen set, stressful images invaded the frame. The anxiety really started creeping in when items around him started disappearing. Before long, the intrusive images increase in frequency and intensity. The pressure didn’t stop building until Carmy was jolted awake. Although nothing in this sequence was real, this fever dream made us incredibly apprehensive.

“Bolognese”

Everything the staff of the bear had worked for depended on the outcome of one inspection. Throughout season 2, there was a running thread where the restaurant kept failing a fire suppression test. After multiple misfires, they had one last chance to get it right before their dreams came crashing down. We struggled to take a single breath as the inspector conducted the test. On top of our own anxiety, the scene took time to go into the heads of everyone on the staff to depict what they were nervous about as well. The relentless sequence came to a tremendously satisfying end when the crew discovered they had passed. We’re not sure we could’ve continued watching if they had failed after this high tension scene.

“The Bear”

For a brief, shining moment, everything was going great for “The Bear’s” opening. Guests were excited, food was going out, and the team was working in perfect sync. But the good times didn’t last forever. The kitchen started to slow down, the toilet broke again, and fights started to break out amongst staff. And just when things seemed to be improving, Carmy got stuck inside of the walk-in. Our panic really set in when Sydney froze up while trying to figure out how to get everyone out of this mess. After a moment of heavy apprehension, Richie stepped up to help save the service. Thanks to his skillful leadership, we were able to walk away from this episode without any extra anxiety.

“Fishes”

What began as a verbal feud threatened to get physical when Mikey threw a fork at Lee Layne. Although the rest of the family tried to cool them both down, neither man was willing to back off. As Lee kept goading his rival on, Mikey escalated the situation by throwing a second utensil. We were on the edge of our seats when Mike reached for a third fork and kept threatening to use it. Instead of it being thrown, we had to endure a nearly unbearable mix of excruciating silences and false starts. The nerve wracking scene surprisingly came to an end when Mikey’s mom appeared. But once she left, all the simmering tension boiled over and we got the explosive confrontation that was promised.

“Review”

After the preorder option was accidentally left on the restaurant’s online ordering site, the kitchen gets overwhelmed with lunch orders. The intense pressure to deliver lots of food in an impossible time frame put everyone in the kitchen on edge. It was tempting to highlight Carmy’s explosion at Marcus or the moment Sydney accidentally stabbed Richie. However, the most anxiety-inducing point came after both of those tense incidents. Both Sydney and Marcus decide to get away from the heat and quit the kitchen in a short time. Since this entire story was filmed in one shot, we never got a break from all the tension. By the time Carm decided to keep going despite his huge losses, we were full of secondhand stress.

What moment on the Bear stressed you out the most? Let us know in the comments below.