Great Movies to Watch Where the King Loses

This Fourth of July weekend, some Americans will spend their time at the beach, some will host barbecues, and still others will be watching dinosaurs on screen. No matter what the activity, one phrase will be in the American imagination: No kings! And yet, unless you count the recording of the stage production of Hamilton […]

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This article contains spoilers for The Bear season 4.

The Bear has so many characters that it sometimes feels like creator Christopher Storer is performing a high-wire circus act, trying to give everyone the proper amount of screentime in each 30-ish minute episode. The series’ lead is Jeremy Allen White’s Carmy Berzatto, but much like some of the show’s spiritual predecessors, the supporting stars are often the ones who produce the most visceral emotional connections between the story and the audience. 

Carmy’s cousin (this term being the Berzatto family’s loose description for every close or even not-so-close friend or acquaintance), Richie Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), is the most compelling and relatable person in the restaurant show’s canon of lovable misfits. Richie originally worked with Carmy’s brother, Michael (Jon Bernthal), back when the outfit was just a modest sandwich joint. Richie is the awkward connective tissue between Carmy and his brother, the person who knew Mikey better than Carmy.

Richie’s journey often gets overlooked in the show or sidelined for someone else’s story, but when the series decides to let him become the main event of an episode or a scene, it usually produces some of the most magical TV we’ve seen in recent years. Moss-Bachrach portrays Richie’s trauma with a healthy dose of reserved chaos, so to speak, especially since he went to train at a fine dining establishment in anticipation of the Bear’s opening at the end of season 2. 

“Forks” was the episode in which Richie’s potential was realized, but his scenes since that powerhouse half-hour have been a mixture of bottled-up anxiety and quick retorts to those who have more important things to do, both in the restaurant and outside of it. Richie’s story asked us a lot of questions, but it rarely provided the answers we were looking for throughout season 3. 

Much like the series did for a lot of its ambiguous plot lines in season 4, The Bear gave Richie the requisite time to work through his past and look to the present with greater focus. Richie’s ex-wife’s wedding is a main focus throughout the first seven episodes, culminating in a therapeutic marital super-event with nearly every character that has ever been involved in the Berzatto family’s inner circle. 

Richie still loves Tiff (Gillian Jacobs), but sometimes that isn’t enough to make a relationship work. Seeing Richie support his former partner and encourage her to find happiness in a new marriage was a mature and thoroughly satisfying development for Richie. The scene in which he tries to help Tiff’s groom, Frank (Josh Hartnett), find common ground with his own daughter elevates the character into a grown adult. Richie often behaves like a kid, whether