"Sheridan" is the fifth episode of the first season of the American comedy-drama television series The Bear. It is the fifth overall episode of the series and was written by series creator Christopher Storer and directed by Joanna Calo. It was released on Hulu on June 23, 2022, along with the rest of the season.
To try to increase profits, Carmy and Sydney agree to create a new dinner menu. As they prepare to open for lunch, a toilet backs up. Carmy calls Fak, Richie's friend, to fix it. Fak wants to be an employee but his informal interview with Richie culminates in a fight which Carmy breaks up. Fak reveals that Richie has been selling cocaine in the alley behind the restaurant; Richie explains that this got the business through the COVID-19 pandemic but agrees to stop. Marcus experiments with fermentation, but neglects his baking duties. As he rushes to catch up, he overloads the mixer and causes a fuse to blow. With the power out, the crew scramble to save their perishables. When Fak informs Carmy it will cost over $5,000 to replace a damaged condenser, he asks Richie to get the money by selling cocaine one final time. Sydney saves the day by running an outdoor lunch service using a makeshift barbecue setup, causing her to reflect on her failed catering business.
"Sheridan" is the first episode where Carmy demonstrates cutting tape (rather than tearing it). When Food & Wine writers were indexing Carmy's bookshelves for an article "our editor-in-chief...said on Slack when he saw the semi-incoherent shelving: 'Curious as to why Carmy obsesses over the perfect tape edges à la Sean Brock but not more rhyme or reason for his bookshelves.'"[4] An Eater writer speculated that Carmy uses 3Mpainter's tape; his preference for green is less common than the use of blue and is probably inherited from his old boss Chef David Fields (Joel McHale).[5] Carmy's mentor Thomas Keller, of the French Laundry and Bouchon and Per Se, is known to prefer neon green tape as well.[6] According to Food52, some professional kitchens have strict tape rules, such as: "...the tape has to get cut with a pair of scissors in a straight line, with a small tab folded over for ease of removal. On it should be written the product name, date, and initials of the person who packed the container."[6] Precise taping is thought to promote mental clarity in the kitchen and attention to detail in the dishes prepared and served at the restaurant.[6]
Production
Writing
BuzzFeed commented that the moment when "Carmy helped [Sydney] strain shrimp stock planted the seed for a hypothetical romance between them that many fans have been hoping for."[7]
Filming
The episode opens with what Collider described as a successful use of the "hip-hop montage" form of storytelling: "The opening sequence shows Sydney lying awake in bed, interspersed with swift cuts to a fiery beef roast and a chicken demi-glace. A woodfire grill burning shifts to fish, red sauce, and then a shot of an email notification from Greater Chicago Banking 'Dear Ms. Adamu, Thank you for your application with Greater Chicago Banking, however we regret to inform you that we are unable to approve you for th...' There is the ding of a cash register and a rapid succession of seafood shots."[8] More shots follow, including images of boxes labeled Sheridan Road Catering, and overall "in just under one minute, the viewer gets a more personal look into Sydney’s character, motivation, and history. This style of silent, third-person narration prevails as a beautiful storytelling device essentially immune to even the slightest prospect of cheese."[9] Syd's catering company was named for Sheridan Road, which is a major thoroughfare that runs along Lake Michigan into Wisconsin.[10] The road, which is in turn named for U.S. Army general Philip Sheridan, was proposed in the 1880s as a northward extension of Lake Shore Drive.[10] At the end of the episode, a similar montage outlines Syd's creative process in developing her cola-braisedshort ribs dish.[8]
Costuming
Syd wears the "hands"-themed "Peekaboo" design headscarf made by Mur by Ayca.[11][12]
When Sydney enters the kitchen she immediately understands what Carmy is already working on and asks "Can I?" Carmy approves, so she begins hammering chicken breasts with a meat tenderizer while he makes conversation about having looked at her COGS, which are reports about "costs of goods sold."[14] Later, using the chicken in question, Carmy shows the cooks how to make lemon chicken piccata for the updated dinner menu.[15] This is "mom's chicken" that Sugar was making for dinner in episode two, "Hands."[15] Carmy uses the term monter (from beurre monté) and then switches to simpler language. Translated literally from the Frenchmonter means "to mount," but it's used in "culinary English" to mean "to thicken," specifically by slowly whisking in butter.[16]Piccata is the Italian word "for a very thin, usually flattened, slice of meat or fish."[17]Veal piccata was the original form, chicken piccata came later.[18]
Vulture rated "Sheridan" four out of five stars.[3]
Retrospective reviews
In 2024, the Hollywood Reporter ranked "Sheridan" 25th-best out of 28 episodes produced to that point, calling it "a solid episode, lost amid some better, similar episodes, not unlike 'Pop.'"[21] ScreenRant ranked "Sheridan" 19th out of the 28 episodes produced through the end of season three, calling it "one of the funniest" season-one installments, with an important "deep dive" into Sydney's backstory.[22]
In 2025, Vulture ranked "Sheridan," which it described as the "first somewhat Sydney-centric episode," as 30th-best out of 38 episodes of The Bear.[23]
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