The episode garnered critical acclaim for the acting work of Jamie Lee Curtis as Donna Berzatto, and White as Carmy, whose performance during an attempted rapprochement between the recovering-alcoholic mother and her long-estranged son was described as "jaw-dropping" and "stunningly vulnerable."
Plot
Carmy drops the photo book off at Donna's (Jamie Lee Curtis), and spends time with her at her insistence. Donna tearfully apologizes for the way she treated her family, and tells Carmy she has been sober for nearly a year and wants to be a part of his life again. Carmy makes her the roast chicken he learned at the French Laundry. Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) tentatively agrees to partner with Albert (Rob Reiner) in expanding the Beef-window business. Albert meets Computer (Brian Koppelman), who agrees that expansion is a good idea. Luca (Will Poulter) casually asks Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) to make a "test" version of the pasta dish, which she unwittingly completes in just under three minutes. After receiving a call from Food & Wine, Natalie announces that the magazine has named Marcus in their class of Best New Chefs. Pete (Chris Witaske) calls Sydney to tell her that Carmy has written himself out of the updated partnership agreement, leaving the restaurant's ownership to her, Natalie, and Jimmy.
Production
According to actress Curtis, "We shot seasons three and four simultaneously. So the truth is, I did the scene with Sugar in the hospital, which was an entire episode. And two days later, I did my part at the wedding. And then the next day, my scene with Jeremy at the house. So it was a lot of Donna, which was not dissimilar to the Christmas episode where I came in for like a three-day bombardment and then was gone."[1] Curtis told Time magazine, "We both knew what we're doing. The script is beautiful. I learned that having a kid who you don't know how to help is one of the most powerless experiences as a parent...the powerlessness you feel when you can't actually help them—you can find people who can help them, but you can't. So the part of that scene that gets me every time is when she talks about Mike (Jon Bernthal). Because clearly Mike had that problem since he was a little boy."[1] About working with White, Curtis said, "He's just a beautiful performer. We use the term scene partner a lot in actor talk, but he's a scene partner. We don't rehearse it. We don't talk about it. We stay away from each other until it begins, and then it begins. And he has beautiful eyes, and they are expressive and soulful and sorrowful and very alive at times and very emotional at times. And I think you see all of that in this whole season, but in that scene in particular."[1]
Donna described a dish of roasted red peppers that she was served while vacationing in Italy with Carmy's dad. Carmy identified the accompanying sauce as tonnato. Per Donna, it looked disgusting but was delicious.[7]Tonnato "refers culinarily to dishes that are somehow prepared with or accompanied by tuna. The most well-known preparation is vitello tonnato, which consists of cold, sliced, roasted veal accompanied with a sauce of puréed tuna, anchovy filets, capers, lemon juice, and olive oil."[8] Most common in the Piedmont region, "smooth, creamy, beige" tonnato is served cold and is summer-suitable, often as a topping for cooked vegetables like tomatoes, asparagus, and green beans.[7]
Carmy makes a whole roast chicken for Donna, the way he was trained by Thomas Keller at the French Laundry in Yountville, California. In the Bouchon cookbook, Keller recommends brining the chicken for restaurant prep but not for home cooks. Key steps are patting the chicken completely dry, and trussing the chicken with butcher's twine. The trussing stage is where the pope's nose comes in to play.[9][10] Per Keller, season the chicken generously with salt and black pepper, face the breast up and the legs to the back of the oven, and finish by adding fresh thyme leaves to the pan, "and baste the birds several times with the juices and thyme leaves."[11] Roast for 10 minutes per 1 pound (0.45kg) at 475°F (246°C).[11][12]
Donna told Carmy he should wash the chicken first; he replied that washing chicken just splashes salmonella all over the kitchen sink.[1] Under the we-listen-and-we-don't-judge headline "Our Science, Your Choice," the U.S. Department of Agriculture states that "the best practice is not to wash poultry...washing, rinsing, or brining meat and poultry in salt water, vinegar, or lemon juice does not destroy bacteria."[13] Poultry needs to be cooked to an internal temperature, checked by meat thermometer, of 165°F (74°C) to destroy pathogenic bacteria.[13]
Critical reviews
Jeremy Allen White has played Carmy Berzatto since 2022
Rolling Stone TV critic Alan Sepinwall commended Donna and Carmy's kitchen-table reunion for its "jaw-dropping performances from both Jamie Lee Curtis and Jeremy Allen White. At times during the conversation, Carmy looks like a cornered animal who would rather be anywhere else on the planet than listening to his mother talk about all the ways she hurt and failed him. At others, he looks like these are the words he's been waiting his whole life to hear."[14]
Collider called it "one of the best episodes of the season, all thanks to the emotionally-charged performances by White and Curtis."[15] Another Collider writer declared that this episode certified Curtis as "the show's greatest guest star of all time" with a "beautiful and moving arc, and easily the role of a lifetime for Curtis."[16]
The A.V. Club's Jenna Scherer awarded the episode an A-, stating that the key Donna–Carmy scene demonstrated as much as anything all the ways that Carmy has himself matured since returning to Chicago, and yet "Anyone who grew up with an emotionally unstable parent knows that letting yourself believe they can change is the most terrifying of propositions...After spending four seasons inside Carmy's head, we know that his offer to make Donna lunch is a huge deal for him. When was the last time he cooked a meal that was about expressing his love for another person rather than trying to prove something to himself?...Carm whips up a plate for his mom but not for himself. Despite how far he's come, our boy still hasn't figured out that he deserves care and feeding just as much as anyone else."[17]
Vulture awarded the episode four out of five stars, with Marah Eakin commenting, "...it’s pretty sweet that the Food & Wine nod went to Marcus, right? He's had an awful year and the work he's done has seemed visionary. We've heard an awful lot about Syd's scallop dish this season, but everything that Marcus put out has felt beyond creative. Not bad for a kid who started at McDonald's."[4] The Decider recapper came into the episode with low expectations but found warm spots such as when "Cicero tells [Sydney] how much of a pleasure it's been to watch her growth and apologizes again for his 'fuckhead nephew'...Then they hug it out," while being alienated by Chester's (Carmen Christopher) energy in "disturbing and demeaning moments" where he "becomes a bumbling, awkward, sweaty mess" over Luca (Will Poulter) and Marcus' friendship, "Okay, okay—take it easy, Chester. Christ."[18]
Accolades
TVLine named Jeremy Allen White their Performer of the Week for his acting in the episode. Dave Nemetz commended "White's stunningly vulnerable work," arguing that "in Season 4, White...found his finest moments in silence, as Carmy finally sat down with his mother and made peace with his traumatic past."[19]
Retrospective reviews
In 2025, Vulture ranked "Tonnato" as 14th-best out of 38 episodes of The Bear, commenting that "It's a little hard to watch but it's important, and Curtis shines as always as the manic and eccentric Berzatto family matriarch."[20]
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