Honeydew (The Bear)

"Honeydew" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American television comedy-drama The Bear. It is the 12th overall episode of the series and was written by supervising producer Stacy Osei-Kuffour and directed by Ramy Youssef. It was released on Hulu on June 22, 2023, 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, Marcus travels to Denmark to learn three unique desserts, working alongside an experienced chef.

The episode received critical acclaim, with Will Poulter's guest appearance receiving major praise, while the focus on Marcus and Youssef's directing also received enormous praise.

Plot
With 7 weeks left before the grand opening, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Natalie (Abby Elliott) discuss a recent problem with trademarking the name. Noticing her recent behavior, Natalie finally reveals her pregnancy and asks him to keep it a secret. However, their conversation is overheard as the wall near them has fallen, with Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) saying he knew it already.

Marcus (Lionel Boyce) is assigned to create three unique desserts, and he must leave his bedridden mother in the care of a nurse. He arrives at Copenhagen, where he stays on a houseboat for a few days. He arrives at the restaurant, meeting the pastry chef Luca (Will Poulter), who uses a strict and disciplined approach to cooking. While Marcus initially struggles to adapt to the methods, he slowly gets to understand Luca's approach. Marcus and Luca quickly form a kinship, and Luca opens up about his past. He explains how he was arrogant when he was younger, but after meeting a more experienced chef, he learned how to appreciate his talent while also appreciating life outside the kitchen. He adds that if he cannot be the best in anything, he can do what is best for himself and be content with his life.

At night, Marcus finds a Danish man stuck in a fence after accidentally crashing his bicycle. He removes the fence and helps the man to leave safely. Later, he talks with Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) on the phone, stating that he misses everything about Chicago. Before hanging up, Sydney tells Marcus that he must take care of himself if he wants to help his mother. At the kitchen, Marcus successfully replicates a meal that Luca suggested, which he gleefully eats.

Development


In May 2023, Hulu confirmed that the episode would be title "Honeydew", and was to be written by supervising producer Stacy Osei-Kuffour and directed by Ramy Youssef. It was Osei-Kuffour's first writing credit, and Youssef's first directing credit. This was the first episode of the series to not be directed by either series creator Christopher Storer or showrunner Joanna Calo.

Writing
Lionel Boyce said that when he received the script, he felt that the episode would feel like "a very intense and scary action movie", given Marcus' lack of knowledge over the restaurant and country. He added, "He had to work and take it seriously. It was different in a good way, where I think he opened up Chef Luca by the end of it. He earned his respect. This is what it's like to not only work in a restaurant, but a high-level restaurant. We never disclose what the restaurant is, but you just know whatever it is, it's at the top of the game. So you learn what that mindset is like."

Casting


The episode features a guest appearance by Will Poulter. Poulter said that he was a big fan of the series, and "literally begged" series creator Christopher Storer to give him a role, "He was kind enough to gift me with the offer to play Luca, and it really changed my life, to be honest."

To prepare for the role, Poulter practiced at multiple restaurant venues in London for months, which allowed him to form a backstory for his character and understand it. He said that the biggest lesson was "to show that there's a way of being in the kitchen — in a senior position, in order to be authoritative — you don't have to scream and shout and throw pans and be an asshole." He filmed his scenes in just two days. Luca's tattoos are false, but Poulter worked on designing the look and meaning behind the planned tattoos, which were then created by the art department.

Filming
Youssef said that before filming the episode, he considered a challenge, "How do we have this be a meditative exhale at the fourth-episode point of the season... [and] how do we kind of blend how colorful the city is and how colorful these desserts are?" To fully prepare, he travelled to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he stayed two weeks to study the designs of a restaurant, Noma, which would inspire the restaurant depicted in the episode. Boyce also travelled to Copenhagen, where he trained at the restaurant.

Critical reviews
"Honeydew" received critical acclaim. Justin Charity of The Ringer wrote, "None of these characters deserve the rough treatment to which they often subjected themselves at the Original Beef, but Marcus in particular, in the first years of his relatively late start in the culinary world, needs a cooler head and a steadier hand than Carm and Syd typically provide in the heat of the moment. In fairness, I, too, lost my mind watching Marcus still fussing over those goddamn doughnuts while his colleagues were clearly in agony during the infamous to-go order meltdown in last season's penultimate episode. But he needs someone to nurture that whimsy in him, to develop that curiosity into talent."

Alex Abad-Santos of Vox wrote, "On the one hand, Luca realized he'd never be the best, and on the other, this unnamed chef somehow unburdened him from the pressure he was putting on himself, allowing him to be the best he could be. Luca found community in competition and realized that talent isn't a zero-sum game where someone else's talent negates your own. There's room for everyone; talent inspires and fosters success, and Marcus is part of that circle."

Marah Eakin of Vulture gave the episode a perfect 5 star out of 5 rating and wrote, "I left "Honeydew" even more in love with Marcus than I already was, and really impressed with Lionel Boyce's work in the role. He's an island of chill calm in an ocean of roiling, nightmarishly hard times and on a show like The Bear, that kind of energy and presence is invaluable, to say the least." A.J. Daulerio of Decider wrote, "This is one gorgeous-looking TV episode. Director Ramy Youssef knows how to capture the intricacies of what we're watching Marcus learn. The beauty he sees is what we're shown on screen."