{"id":226361,"date":"2025-06-30T10:14:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T10:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/226361\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T10:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T10:14:09","slug":"season-4-episode-4-worms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/226361\/","title":{"rendered":"season 4, episode 4, “Worms”"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Editor\u2019s note: The recap of episode five publishes June 30. This recap contains spoilers.]\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

For all the crackle among the ensemble, some of The Bear\u2019s best episodes focus on a single character\u2019s life outside the kitchen. \u201cWorms,\u201d which follows Sydney\u2019s struggle to decide whether to stay at The Bear or jump ship, is both a classic entry and a departure from the norm. For the first time in the series\u2019 history, the episode comes from an all-Black creative team: It was written by cast members Ayo Edebiri and Lionel Boyce and directed by Janicza Bravo, who helmed the fantastic 2020 indie Zola.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sydney is spending a rare day off freshening up her box braids and watching Whoopi Goldberg take names in Jumpin\u2019 Jack Flash. Her peace is interrupted by a call from Adam Shapiro, whom she\u2019s been doggedly avoiding ever since he asked her to be the CDC at his new restaurant. Syd once again makes an excuse to not visit, half-lying when she says she has a hair appointment. (Shapiro clearly has no idea how involved box braids are<\/a>\u2014he assumes it won\u2019t take more than a couple hours.) Well and truly cornered, Syd agrees to push back her fake appointment. On the laptop screen, Whoopi strongarms a cop into quitting his job: \u201cDo you wanna work here or do you wanna live?\u201d It\u2019s the question Sydney will spend the rest of the episode asking.<\/p>\n

Shapiro is all coked-up energy, with East Coast rap bouncing off the walls of the half-constructed restaurant. And what a space it is\u2014a converted warehouse complete with a shiny open-concept kitchen, a massive hearth, and a hilariously tiny office. As he gives Syd the tour, he drops cringey phrases like \u201cjamming on the menu\u201d and \u201coutside the box.\u201d He\u2019s so high on his own supply that he doesn\u2019t clock her complete lack of enthusiasm. He\u2019s offering her the moon, but her heart is across town at The Bear.<\/p>\n

Next, she visits hairdresser cousin Chantel, played with hilarious specificity by BAFTA nominee Danielle Deadwyler. She\u2019s dropping hot goss as she works on Syd\u2019s braids in her living room: Has she heard that Mary\u2019s husband Darnell has a second family in Texas? Chantel calls upstairs for her daughter, TJ (Arion King), to bring more hair down. Unfortunately, they\u2019re fresh out; so Chantel heads to the store and asks Syd to watch the kid while she\u2019s away, promising she\u2019ll be back in a sec. (Spoiler: She is not back in a sec.)<\/p>\n

With her hair part-finished, Syd heads to her niece\u2019s bedroom for a chat. TJ doesn\u2019t want to talk about school, but she does want lunch. (Listen, if my aunt was a professional chef, I\u2019d be all over it, too.) Finding Chantel\u2019s kitchen mostly empty, she takes TJ on a shopping trip to introduce her to the wonders of Hamburger Helper. On the way over, TJ tells Syd about how she\u2019s starting at a charter middle school next year, while all her friends are going to the local public school. Worse, she overheard them planning a sleepover without her, and they only invited her because they felt bad. Syd drops some less-than-helpful wisdom about how sometimes friends can be really mean because it\u2019s easy to be cruel to the people you care about. She apologizes later, but still, yikes.<\/p>\n

Back in the kitchen, she cooks up some elevated Hamburger Helper that looks almost as tasty as that scallop dish from last episode. It feels extremely on brand that the first person Syd asks for advice about The Bear vs. Shapiro situation is a fifth grader, via metaphor: She\u2019s been invited to two sleepovers, but she can only go to one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first is at a \u201creally special\u201d house that\u2019s full of \u201cgoodness and purity and fun and promise\u201d; but it\u2019s also full of crazy people and kind of stinky. The big brother there is the best video-game player in the world, and it\u2019s so cool that he wants Sydney to play games with him, but sometimes he acts funky and doesn\u2019t want to share. The second house is shiny and new, and the dad talks a lot, but he\u2019s also super nice and lets Sydney use his credit card to buy as much pizza as she wants. TJ is like, \u201cDuh, pick the pizza house,\u201d but Syd can\u2019t stop rhapsodizing about the stinky house. With the blunt wisdom of a child, TJ points out that neither of those places is her house.<\/p>\n

Chantel blusters through the door hours later bearing fresh hair and news that she ran into her on-again, off-again boyfriend, who\u2019s taking her on a surprise trip to Costa Rica. Syd fixes her a bowl of the upcycled Hamburger Helper\u2014which is, of course, delicious\u2014and Chantel finishes her braids.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Getting some long-delayed bonding time with her family makes Sydney remember that there\u2019s life outside the kitchen; and it\u2019s passing her by with every hour she spends bent over the stove or talking Richie down from his latest tantrum. She makes plans to hang with Chantel and Mary three Saturdays from now, and TJ decides she\u2019s gonna go to that sleepover after all. \u201cI think you should work wherever you want, even if it\u2019s scary,\u201d she tells her aunt as they hug goodbye.<\/p>\n

On the sidewalk, Syd checks her phone: She\u2019s got a text from Pete about the amended agreement and five cryptic ones from Carmy about an \u201cissue\u201d at the restaurant. It\u2019s the push she needs to call Shapiro and ask if he wants to go over some paperwork, because goddammit, she deserves that pizza.<\/p>\n

Bravo\u2019s direction gives \u201cWorms\u201d an open, airy vibe, like all Sydney needed was the sun on her face to remind her that she deserves to be more than the Berzattos\u2019 unlicensed therapist. And playing underneath it all, like the slow, easy trumpets of Curtis Mayfields\u2019 \u201cSo In Love,\u201d is the revelation that she\u2019s so much bigger than the emotional labor she does for white boys.<\/p>\n

Stray observations\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n