James Kalinowski, also known as Uncle Jimmy or Cicero, is a fictional character on the FX Network television series The Bear. Created by Christopher Storer and played by Oliver Platt since the show's premiere in 2022, Jimmy is a business gent (industry unknown), who was best friends with the father of the Berzatto kids before dad abandoned the family when baby brother Carmy was still a little kid. Initially possessed of a modest fortune of unidentified origin, Jimmy generously funds the notional small-business ideas of his dissipated but beloved nephew Mikey Berzatto.
Like many members of the extended Berzatto clan, Jimmy is cantankerous and profane, but Unc also carries around a carefully shielded "heart of gold."[1] Still, there are hints he may be, or may once have been, involved in something "nefarious."[2] He has been described as "suspiciously wealthy" with hints of ties to organized crime, money laundering, or some other flavor of white-collar crime.[3] According to Platt, who plays Uncle Jimmy, "you kind of never know what you’re going to get like, the kindly, but mildly twisted, father figure or the frickin' neighborhood dude who wants his money back? What you see is not necessarily what you get..."[4]
Jimmy had a longstanding business arrangement, under the name KBL Electric, with "Pop" Berzatto (the dad of the Berzatto kids and, once upon a time, Jimmy's best friend),[5] and Lee Lane (Bob Odenkirk), who later becomes Donna's occasional boyfriend.[3] The KBL is the initials of their last names: Kalinowski–Berzatto–Lane.[3] Jimmy maintains a friendship with Pop's ex-wife Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) and looks out for the fatherless Berzatto kids.[3] The last time Jimmy talked to Mr. Berzatto was "about 20 years ago" (from 2022).[6]
Under the cover of KBL Electric Jimmy lent oldest Berzatto sibling Michael (Jon Bernthal) $300,000 to "franchise" the Beef sandwich shop. The troubled and largely inept Mikey squirreled away the money as a gift to his little brother Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), who had wanted the two brothers to work together to open a new and improved family restaurant. After Carmy found the money hidden in the restaurant, Jimmy agreed to lend him another $550,000 with the property, valued at approximately $2 million, as collateral.[3] Unless Carmy repays his uncle $850,000 within 18 months, the real estate reverts to Jimmy who can cash out for the roughly $1.15 million in accumulated equity.[7] There are also outstanding questions about the taxability of the hidden cash, and whether or not Jimmy is working on a money laundering angle.[7] Jimmy could very well shutter the business as a mercy killing of sorts as the nephew and affiliated "poor bastards are going to die from the stress and chaos of keeping that place running."[8] At the beginning of season four, Jimmy has family friend and business consultant Nicholas Marshall (Brian Koppelman), a financial savant and another one of the family's umpteen "uncles" (although this one is generally known simply as "the Computer") put a countdown clock in the restaurant emphasizing that his patience with Carmy's "fucking fuckery" has run thin.[9] Computer has elsewhere been described as Unc's consigliere.[10]
In addition to his paternal care for the Berzatto siblings, Jimmy has a mildly antagonistic relationship with cousin Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). This rift is breached in large part by the end of season two, when the staff of the Bear present Jimmy with a chocolate-covered banana for dessert. Jimmy once shared a childhood memory of such a treat with Richie and he remembered, many years later, and had it recreated to honor the restaurant's patron and the family's patrón.[11] Jimmy, who is "unanimously adored" within the family, has been married twice.[12] His first wife was named Gail,[13] and he has a teenage son with his current wife Carol.[14][15] Jimmy used to live in Naperville, then had a big suburban house in Wilmette,[16] and in season four was selling that house and "downsizing" apparently because of some kind of a personal finance crisis.[13]
Critical reaction
Vulture columnist Marah Eakin wrote about season one that Platt was "absolutely killing it as The Bear's Uncle Cicero."[16] Platt has been credited with bringing "charm and illusive authority" to the role.[12]
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