"Hands" is the second episode of the first season of the American television comedy-dramaThe Bear. The episode was written by series creator Christopher Storer. It was released on Hulu on June 23, 2022, along with the rest of the season.
The series follows Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, an award-winning New York City chef de cuisine, who returns to his hometown of Chicago to run his late brother Michael's failing Italian beef sandwich shop. In the episode, Carmy discovers that Michael owed money to a family friend, while the shop faces problems with a health inspector.
The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances, tone and character development.
Plot
One year prior, Carmy works at a fine dining restaurant in New York City. While he tries to maintain control in the kitchen, the staff is led by an abusive boss (Joel McHale), who uses every opportunity to insult Carmy and the rest of the staff. One of these includes questioning Carmy's role in the kitchen, claiming he does not belong there.
In present day, Carmy begins to notice the dirty environment of the kitchen and tries to get the staff to clean their areas. That night, Carmy finds that he has been cooking while sleepwalking, causing a small fire in his apartment. The following day, the staff is surprised to meet Nancy, a health inspector who arrives to check the shop. Her brother Ron was the previous health inspector assigned to the shop and he made sure to give them a passing grade, but has since passed away. She quickly finds a lot of safety and sanitation issues, particularly for a pack of cigarettes left in the stove, which Carmy quickly blames Richie. She gives the shop a "C" grade, re-affirming that they cannot get another reevaluation until 30 days later. He gets the staff to fix their problems, including sending Richie to a hardware store to fix a hole in the kitchen.
Family friend Jimmy, referred as "Uncle Cicero", stops by the shop to talk to Carmy. He reveals that Michael asked Cicero for $300,000 that he never paid back, criticizing his brother's actions in giving him the shop. Cicero offers to buy the restaurant back to settle the debt, but Carmy declines, stating that he will pay back the loan. While talking to Sugar on the phone, she suggests attending Al-Anon meetings to help himself. Richie and Sydney get into fights while buying materials to fix the hole, but they bond after Richie makes a phone call to console his daughter. Richie reveals to Sydney that Michael wouldn't allow Carmy to work in the restaurant when he was younger and that he shot himself in the head four months earlier. By the end of the night, Carmy decides to hire Sydney as a proper chef, ending her intern position. While taking a break for a cigarette, Carmy realizes that he was responsible for leaving the pack of cigarettes in the stove.
Production
Development
In May 2022, Hulu confirmed that the second episode of the season would be titled "Hands", and was to be written by series creator Christopher Storer.[1] This marked Storer's second writing and directing credit.[2]
Writing
Carmy falls asleep on his couch while watching Pasta Grannies on YouTube.[3]
This episode provides additional insight on Carmy's training, when Sydney lectures Richie that Carmy was named Food & Wine's Best New Chef at age 21, she "showcases her reverence for her fellow Chef. As Richie downplays Carmy's accomplishments at Noma, Sydney leaps to his defense and praises the level of detail needed in fine dining."[4]
Casting
Chris Witaske made his first appearance as Pete in "Hands." In 2025, a BuzzFeed writer thought the introduction of Pete was "perfect," citing the exchange of dialogue between Sugar (Abby Elliott), on the phone with Carmy, and Pete in the background.[5]
Nat: Shut the fuck up. Pete: You want me to shut the fuck up? Nat: Not you, sweetie, you didn't say anything. Pete: Oh! Copy that![5]
Joel McHale makes his first appearance as an asshole chef who tormented Carmy when he worked in New York. In 2024, GQ described the character as "not just the ghost of a bully chef, [but] the representative spirit of abuse, power imbalances, and the white-male dominated French brigade system that has been terrorizing the restaurant industry for centuries, a toxicity passed down from one generation to the next."[6]
Costuming
Courtney Wheeler did the costume design for episodes two through eight of season one, taking over from Cristina Spiridakis, who costumed the pilot episode.[7] Sydney wears a smiley-face-and-Mount-Fuji bandana made by the Japanese clothing brand Kapital.[8] She also wears a silk V141 Color Block "design in green, red, black, and white" from Italian brand Viso.[9][10]
Filming
The scenes with White's Carmy and McHale's Fields were shot over "a single morning."[6] Chicago's three-Michelin-star Grace restaurant played the role of Fields' restaurant in New York, which was initially implied to perhaps be Eleven Madison Park (EMP), and in season three is retconned into a wholly fictional (but similar) restaurant called Empire.[11][6][12]
The episode included songs, such as "Have You Seen Me Lately?" by Counting Crows, and "Saint Dominic's Preview" by Van Morrison. Executive producer Josh Senior said that this was to show Richie and Carmy's contrasting personalities, "It felt like an opportunity to show Richie being vulnerable, and at the same time have the same song mean something totally different for Carmy."[14]
Release
The episode, along with the rest of the season, premiered on June 23, 2022.[15]
Critical reviews
"Hands" received mostly positive reviews from critics. Marah Eakin of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star out of 5 rating and wrote, "“Hands” isn't as frenetic and electric as the show's pilot, but in a way that's good. It would be hard to keep up that energy for the whole series, especially as the restaurant does seem to at least be on some long and winding path toward maybe, maybe, maybe getting its shit back together."[16]
Mia Sidoti of MovieWeb named the episode as the seventh best of the season, writing ""Hands", episode two, gives us a much-needed backstory for Carmy when he was in New York City as a fine dining chef and saw how his relationship was with the head chef at the restaurant. He was verbally abused and treated terribly, so the contrast to the way he treats his crew with respect and appreciation is stunning and makes you feel for Carmy even more. We also learn that he sleepwalks and cooks things in his sleep, leading him to almost burn down his apartment, which is shocking and stressful for the audience."[17]
Retrospective reviews
In 2024, Josh Wigler of The Hollywood Reporter named the episode as the 23rd best (of 28), writing "Joel McHale debuts as an at-the-time unnamed fine-dining chef who serves as Carmy's boogeyman. While it takes almost two full seasons for the character to return, McHale's performance is haunting enough that when he does return in the future, the significance of his presence is immediately felt."[18] ScreenRant ranked "Hands" 25th out of the 28 episodes produced through the end of season three, in part because it's an exposition-heavy installment after the pilot and "doesn't quite hold up as well to scrutiny."[19]
In 2025, Vulture ranked "Hands" as 26th-best out of 38 episodes of The Bear, describing it as "good not great," but "an essential episode in setting up the lore of The Bear."[20]
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