| "Soubise" | |
|---|---|
| The Bear episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 2 |
| Directed by | Christopher Storer & Duccio Fabbri |
| Written by | Catherine Schetina |
| Original air date | June 25, 2025 |
| Running time | 32 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Soubise" is the second episode of the fourth season of the American comedy-drama television series The Bear . It is the 30th overall episode of the series and was written by Catherine Schetina and directed by series creator Christopher Storer and Duccio Fabbri. It was released on Hulu on June 25, 2025, along with the rest of the season.
The series follows Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), 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. With the financial backing of his uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) and help from his cousin Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), sister Sugar (Abby Elliott), and chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), Carmy attempts to remodel the dingy Beef into a warm and hospitable fine-dining destination called the Bear.
Weeks since Cicero's ultimatum, the Bear struggles with a shortage in ingredients due to budget cuts and the staff's dwindling motivation. Carmy and Sydney begin simplifying the components of the menu. Sydney reads an article about Shapiro's (Adam Shapiro) new restaurant. Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) urges Carmy to visit Natalie's newborn daughter Sophie, which he has continued putting off. Carmy calls Natalie to apologize; Natalie tells him it is okay if he is losing his passion for cooking.
The bar that Richie visits is J&M Tap on Leavitt Street, which is an "under-the-radar Ukrainian Village gem with a jukebox, cheap drinks, and a laidback vibe." [1] [2] He watches part of the 1957 black-and-white Western 3:10 to Yuma , in company with an "Original Brew," probably a trademark-free TV-show knockoff version of Old Style. [1] [3] Before crawling alone, and a little drunk, into "his sad little twin-size bed," he knocks over a photo of six people that sits on a book shelf full of Robert A. Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, Haruki Murakami, and a copy of the The Silmarillion, [3] [4] and throws up a prayer for the restaurant, which is the "last thing keeping him attached to anything." [5] [6]
Sydney sends Sweeps (Corey Hendrix) to train on food and wine pairings at Alpana on State Street with real-world master sommelier Alpana Singh. [1] Singh talks about pairings with mushroom and fish dishes, recommends pinot noir as a "sommelier's best friend," and echoes what Froggy Meadow's Jerry Boone" told Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) at the farmer's market in season three: "What grows together goes together." [1] The scene at Alpana was filmed on location at the restaurant over the course of one day in February 2025. [1] [7] Singh had previously participated in a Chicago culinary conference hosted by The Bear creator Christopher Storer. [7]
Sydney reads a news story entitled "Adam Shapiro, Former CDC at Ever, Opening New Restaurant in Avondale — Shapiro is working with the same backers to pick up where the beloved Michelin Star restaurant left off." The article was published on the "Chomp Chicago" news site, probably meant to mimic Eater Chicago. [1]
The songs used in this episode are "Life's What You Make It" by Talk Talk, "The Chosen One" by Bryan Ferry, "Most of the Time" by Bob Dylan, "Mystery Achievement" by the Pretenders. [8]
The title of the ep is taken from Carmy's "delicious soubise," which Sydney mentions to Sweeps as part of their Wagyu beef dish. Soubise is a "rich, velvety" sauce made by combining béchamel with puréed cooked onions and often with added cream. [9]
The A.V. Club gave "Soubise" a B+, commending the comedy in the episode (Tina versus Carmy, Carmy versus math), and the character growth, as "Carmy is finally emerging from a season-long fugue state. For the first time in a long time, he has escaped the prison of his own brain and noticed the hard work of the people around him, who have grown and evolved while he was stuck in a holding pattern." [3] Vulture rated "Soubise" three out of five stars, commenting "Over the course of four seasons, we've seen some really terrible stuff happen at the Bear...But nothing has seemed quite as sad as what's happening in the second episode of this season, because what's happening is absolute resignation," highlighting Richie's despondency as particularly painful: "...and as he falls asleep, in a stammering prayer, he asks God to please help him out with the Bear, because 'if it's fucked, then I'm fucked, and it's the last thing that's keeping me attached to anything.' Talk about awful." [6]
Decider called it a "total dud," questioned the wisdom of face-acting-only, virtually dialogue-free interactions between main characters, and criticized the Sweeps somm-training about parings with "boredom, death, and other culinary options offered at The Bear" as playing out like sponsored content "running on a loop at a Hyatt Regency when you skim through the TV's main homepage menu." [10] Substream Magazine also noted the episode's "low point" tone, "The vibes are...terrible, and the building has been stripped of any excitability whatsoever. There are no fights, no calling out plates, no extreme amount of orders coming through—it's just...melancholy." [11]
In 2025, Vulture ranked "Soubise" as 22nd-best out of 38 episodes of The Bear. [12]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)