Doors (The Bear)

"Doors" is the third episode of the third season of the American television comedy-drama The Bear. It is the 21st overall episode of the series and was written by series creator Christopher Storer from a story he co-wrote with co-producer Will Guidara, and directed by co-producer Duccio Fabbri. It was released on Hulu on June 26, 2024, along with the rest of the season.

The series follows Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, 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. In the episode, the staff prepares to resume business in The Bear, with conflicts arising in the span of one month.

Plot
Marcus (Lionel Boyce) and the staff attend his mother's funeral. He delivers an eulogy, where he relates how his mother was always there for him, and how her life influenced him. Afterwards, the team returns to the restaurant to start their duties. On the first day, they are surprised by the packed attendance, and it initially goes well with few problems. As the days pass, conflicts start arising, with some accidents occurring in the kitchen.

Through the following month, the conflicts escalate. Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) angers Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) when he decides to make his own "non-negotiable" list to build a more relaxing environment. Cicero (Oliver Platt) is also upset when he learns that Carmy is buying expensive items, including $11,000 for an "Orwellian" butter. Sugar (Abby Elliott) also realizes that the restaurant is losing money despite booked reservations, as changing the menus gets them to waste food. In an attempt to try to recover some of the money, Sugar suggests adding a new turn at 9:30pm, which the staff reluctantly accepts.

Carmy and Richie continue fighting with each other over different aspects, frustrating Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), who constantly needs to calm Carmy down. When Richie explains that a customer specifically requested no mushrooms in his meal, Carmy turns aggressive by wanting to place the mushrooms anyway. This leads to a physical altercation between them, which also leads to the restaurant's expo sheets flying off the table. As Sydney eyes a lost food ticket on the floor at the end of service, she wearily realizes the extent of the restaurant's dysfunction.

Development
In May 2024, Hulu confirmed that the third episode of the season would be titled "Doors", and was to be written by series creator Christopher Storer from a story he co-wrote with co-producer Will Guidara, and directed by co-producer Duccio Fabbri, the series' longtime first assistant director. It was Storer's tenth writing credit, Guidara's first writing credit, and Fabbri's first directing credit.

Writing
On Marcus' eulogy, Lionel Boyce commented, "I was like: a monologue. Alright, alright. But I think it felt reassuring. It's like jumping off a cliff, but he believes in me. He wouldn't have written it if he didn't think I could do it. The writers are trying to steer the ship in a certain direction, and they want this in there, so my job is to uphold that and do my best to deliver it as close as possible to the way they want it."

Filming
In March 2024, scenes depicting the cast filming a funeral leaked to the Internet, with fans speculating that they would attend Marcus' mother's funeral. Jeremy Allen White considered the leak "a bummer", commenting "It was very difficult to pretend that moment could have been something else that was photographed. We had to learn how to be a bit more careful, and I think our production acted accordingly."

Music
The episode featured many operas for the score, including L'amico Fritz, Lurline, and La traviata.

Release
The episode, along with the rest of the season, premiered on June 26, 2024, on Hulu. Originally, the season was scheduled to premiere on June 27, 2024.

Critical reviews
Jenna Scherer of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A–" grade and wrote, "One of The Bear's greatest strengths has always been its ability to make viewers internalize characters' emotions, and 'Doors' is a whirlwind of them. Over the course of half an hour, the episode takes us through a month at Chicago's hottest new restaurant, as Carmy and Sydney put their brigade de cuisine model into practice in a kitchen — one staffed by people who, less than a year ago, were working at a neighborhood sandwich dive."

Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone wrote, "'Doors', which chronicles a month in the life of The Bear, where Carmy's evolving menu, and the conflict between him and Richie, turn the restaurant increasingly messy in both a literal and emotional sense. It's a potent 1-2-3 punch to start off the season, as a reminder of just how many ways Storer and company have found to tell what would seem at first to be a pretty simple story of an interesting workplace."

Marah Eakin of Vulture gave the episode a 3 star out of 5 rating and wrote, "Every season, The Bear has at least one episode that sits at a rolling boil the whole time, makes your heart race and your anxiety pop, and leaves you feeling utterly exhausted. This year, that episode is 'Doors'."

A.J. Daulerio of Decider wrote, "The first hour's worth of orders goes eerily, uncomfortably smoothly. All the non-negotiables are clicking, and there have been exactly zero meltdowns so far. But we know better. At The Bear — chaos reigns." Brady Langmann of Esquire wrote, "If episode 1 was Carmy's fridge-enclosed vision quest and episode 2 was our reintroduction to the restaurant's crew, episode 3 is a reminder of why The Bear captivated us in the first place: the shock-horror-can't-look-away-from-the-car-crash feeling of watching shit go very, very wrong. With that in mind, 'Doors' is a vintage episode of The Bear. It's the first time we see the kitchen truly in full swing since the restaurant's disastrous opening in the season 2 finale."