"Fishes" (titled "The Berzattos" on-screen) is the sixth episode of the second season and 14th episode overall of the American comedy-drama series The Bear. With the rest of the second season, it was released on June 22, 2023, on Hulu. It was directed by series creator Christopher Storer and written by Joanna Calo and Storer.
Approximately five years before The Bear is set to open, Carmy returns from Copenhagen to spend Christmas with his family and friends. Present at the Berzatto household are Carmy's mother Donna, his siblings Michael and Natalie, his cousin Michelle and her boyfriend Stevie, Richie and his pregnant wife Tiffany, the Fak brothers Neil and Theodore, Uncle Cicero, and Donna's on-and-off boyfriend Lee. Michael and Carmy warn Natalie not to keep asking their mother Donna, a temperamental alcoholic, if she is "okay."
Donna drunkenly prepares a meal based on the Feast of the Seven Fishes, even though Carmy claims no one ever eats it. Michael, Richie, and Stevie tell Carmy that they recently ran into Claire, his childhood crush, and "put in a good word for him." Carmy and Michael later have a moment together where Michael reassures his brother that he genuinely wants the best for him. Carmy gives Michael a framed sketch of The Bear restaurant, which he wants to open with him. Michael is moved by the gift, but displays mental distress the moment Carmy leaves the room.
Richie tends to Tiffany in Donna's bedroom, and the two share a delicate moment discussing their upcoming parenthood. Richie then asks Cicero for a job to help support his child, which Cicero later grants him after Tiffany unwittingly thanks him for the job. Michael entertains the group with a travel story, but Lee cuts him off, chastising him for repeating the same stories to everyone while failing to follow through on any of his business ventures. Natalie's boyfriend Pete arrives with an additional seafood dish that he playfully dubs "the eighth fish" to the group. This infuriates the Berzatto siblings, who remind him that an eighth fish is a symbol of bad luck and will send Donna into a tailspin. Natalie hastily trashes the food before Donna can see it. Michelle encourages Carmy to stay with her in New York to pursue his career, noticing how the dysfunction in his family weighs on him.
While the rest of the group awaits dinner, Carmy tends to his mother in the kitchen; Donna laments the effort she makes for her family while saying she receives little appreciation in return. Carmy attempts to comfort her, only for Donna to admonish him to return to the table. Donna begins crying to herself as soon as Carmy leaves. At the dinner table, the family debates the origin of the Seven Fishes tradition. Lee offers his interpretation, but an intoxicated Michael repeatedly throws forks at him. The tension between the two mounts until Donna finally joins the table. Stevie says a heartfelt, impromptu grace calling for the family to be kinder to one another, after which Donna breaks down. Despite being explicitly told not to, Natalie asks Donna if she is okay, much to the visible chagrin of everyone in the room. Donna berates Natalie for asking and has a profane outburst at the family before leaving the room. Michael throws another fork at Lee when he scorns Donna's behavior and a fight nearly occurs, only to be interrupted by Donna crashing her car into the living room as Carmy and Natalie stare in shock.
The episode was directed by series creator Christopher Storer and written by Joanna Calo and Storer. It was Calo's fourth writing credit, and Storer's eighth directing credit.[1] According to Calo, there was a discussion about releasing it separately "as a Christmas special because I think there's something so funny about adding that to your Christmas list."[2]
Tiff puts on a 1989 sweatshirt after she pukes all over her sweater because of morning sickness.[4] Carmy wears a pieced, rugby-stylepolo shirt in French navy blue from the Palace X Ralph Lauren brand.[5] The Fak brothers are wearing L.L. Bean plaid.[6]
Set decoration
Set decorator Eric Frankel described the look for Donna's house as "Italian Christmas with an '80s twist."[7] Gillian Jacobs told The Hollywood Reporter that she "understood more about the family from being on that incredible set they built. It was so detailed. There was this almost caricature-like drawing of Michael with a dog that I remember in one room. Donna's room was amazing, even though you only saw little parts of it onscreen, and I remember thinking okay, I understand more about this woman after seeing this."[8]
Filming
Unlike the rest of the series, which is shot digitally, this flashback episode was shot on 35mm film.[9] The episode was filmed in a house in Evanston, Illinois.[10] There were four days of filming scenes on the first floor of the house, prior to the longer dinner-table segment.[10]
Star Jeremy Allen White recounted that production of the episode was relatively smooth, and praised the egoless, collaborative environment on set.[11]Ebon Moss-Bachrach said that there was a lot of camaraderie among the guest stars on set, and later went on to praise Jamie Lee Curtis' acting ability and performance in the episode.[12]
Chris Witaske, who portrays Sugar's partner Pete, said that the preparation for the episode was more chaotic than the rest of the series, particularly due to the large amount of dual-dialogue in the script.[13]
Storer revealed that Bernthal was originally given a rubber prop fork to throw at Odenkirk during the dinner argument scene, but that was then later substituted for a plastic fork so that Bernthal could better "whip it" for the camera.[14]
B-camera operator Chris Dame filmed "9,000 inserts" of the set for the use of the editors.[15] According to A-camera operator Gary Malouf, "...that's a testament to our set decorators and our production designer, Merje Veski, and everybody that's involved to create that world for everybody to walk into and breathe and live in...and they really do layer that episode in a way that I don't think anything else we did camera-wise could have accomplished. Again, it's that trust of Storer saying, 'Dame, just shoot the hell out of this place. You got it.' Never reviewed anything, never had to okay anything. There's this beautiful montage at the beginning of that episode where you get to see what Chris was up to that whole time."[15]
According to Frankel, "Jamie Lee Curtis desperately wanted to drive that car [through the house], but they wouldn't let her...they shot it twice. They built a wall that was on hinges, and the car just rams into it, and we had one lamp that we had three shades made for it, and three live Christmas trees all decorated the same [to destroy]."[16]
The episode is set on Christmas Eve at a ritual supper known as the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or La Vigilia, a metonym for "the feast of the Vigil of Christ."[18] As framed by the New York Times, "Rooted in Roman Catholicism, which calls for abstaining from meat on the eve of any holiday, La Vigilia tends to be a bounty of seafood."[19] Traditionally La Vigilia is a gathering of extended family "for a four-to-five-hour affair of eating, involving a highly standardized procession of multiple seafood-based courses and an equally ritualized method of consumption that is punctuated by only brief periods of repose."[18] The symbolic significance of number seven is its presence in "Christian and Jewish history, including the sacraments, the virtues, the days of creation, and even the hills in Rome."[20] The Feast of the Seven Fishes is something more of a tradition of post-emigration Italian Americans than it is an Italian one.[20] The feast, popularized during the mid-20th-century, is what is known to anthropologists as a "rite of intensification," designed to recruit younger, more assimilated generations into the habit of identifying themselves as Italian-American.[20]
It is possible, indeed almost too easy, to be eloquently sentimental about large groups of assorted relatives who gather for Christmas, for Thanksgiving or some such festival, and eat and drink and gossip and laugh together. The cold truth is that family dinners are more often than not an ordeal of nervous indigestion, preceded by hidden resentment and ennui and accompanied by psychosomatic jitters.
Donna's meal plan apparently involves branzino, lobsters, "Rockefellers" (oysters Rockefeller?), artichokes, roasted peppers, potatoes, and bread.[19][20][22] The episode ends with one of Mikey's chucked forks quivering out of tray stacked with cannoli. Carmy, Sydney, and Marcus later reimagine a savory version, but the typical recipe is sweet and involves "crisp and flaky pastry dough...shaped into a tube and filled with rich citrus-scented ricotta-mascarpone filling."[23]
Carmy makes homemade "Sprite," a Coca-Cola Company brand of uncaffeinated carbonated beverage, to help resolve Tiffany's morning sickness. The ingredients for lemon-lime soda are sparkling water (it looks like he uses S.Pellegrino), lemon juice or flavoring, lime juice or flavoring, and sweetener.[24]
GQ described "Fishes" as the standout episode of the second season, praising the ensemble cast.[25] Brady Langmann of Esquire described the episode as "one of the year's best".[26]
The Los Angeles Times praised the episode and Curtis' portrayal of the "notable character" Donna.[14] Various critics called her performance Emmy-worthy.[27][28]
Salon.com critic Melanie McFarland praised the episode's ability to deliver on plot and thematic issues while delivering the show's trademark intensity.[29]Vulture called the episode "absolutely exhausting to watch" and said "[b]oth the writing and the execution of 'Fishes' speaks to how well The Bear is able to walk its dramatic tightrope, and come Emmy season 2024, you just know everyone involved in this episode is going to clean the hell up."[30]
In 2024, Variety listed "Fishes" at number five on a list of top 10 episodes of The Bear, commenting that it is "for sure the most thrilling episode of 'The Bear'" not to mention "something of a flex."[31] Also in 2024, The Hollywood Reporter placed "Fishes" at 5 on a ranked list of 28 episodes produced to that point, and "perhaps the single most harrowing (and certainly longest) hour of the series. Personally, 'Fishes' is almost unwatchable because of how much pain it carries, and how real it all feels. But there's no denying its place as an exceptional entry in The Bear mythology, deserving of its seat in the top five episodes."[32] ScreenRant ranked "Fishes" as the best of the 28 episodes of The Bear produced through the end of season three, "because it represents the liberties that the series is willing to take to keep it innovative, captivating, and meaningful."[33]
In 2025, Vulture ranked "Fishes" as third-best out of 38 episodes of The Bear, commenting that the episode "isn't just fun to watch—it's also informative about each and every character on-screen."[34]
Collider placed "Fishes" at number 5 on its 2025 list of top 10 episodes of The Bear, commenting, "Years after The Bear has ended, 'Fishes' will be one of the episodes that fans point to when discussing its legacy," and calling it "an unbelievably well-written, well-acted, and well-directed installment."[35] In 2025, Esquire magazine named "Fishes" the second-best The Bear episode from the first three seasons.[36]
Ranker.com deemed Stevie's line, addressed to the Fak brothers, "'Do I have access to five hundred bucks? I absolutely do. I am a 43-year-old man" as the single-most quotable line from the first two seasons.[37]
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