The Bear, Fishes | A real insight into the Berzatto Family

The Bear has been a phenomenon for Disney. When the new season was released it was all anyone could talk about. I completely understand as if there is one thing that will almost always draw me in, is to see passion and a love for something.

In The Bear, all you get to see is unfiltered passion for cooking and food. You also get to see the detriment of that passion, whether it be good or bad.

Instead of watching an episode from the new season of The Bear, one episode from Season 2 really stuck with me. Fishes.

Every episode of the show seems to be its own stand-out short film in a way, but Fishes surprised me for many reasons.

Firstly, the amount of star-studded cameos in this episode was unbelievable. Secondly that the entire episode was set within one house and that the entire house is full of emotions. You have everyone in the house going through their own issues and their own way of handling the family dynamic.

When we get to first see the infamous Berzatto family mother (played by Jamie Lee Curtis), she is absolutely frantic. She is adamant that she must cook the ‘traditional’ 7 Fishes meal for Christmas dinner, and no one is to help her. 

But, apparently she is distraught that no one ever ‘lifted a finger’ to help to neither.

This seems very paradoxical, but all I could see is a very clear root of many of her children’s issues

Mikey

You have Mikey, who still lives at home with his mum so clearly has had to be in the thick of her highs and lows for a while. His way of dealing with this is to essentially let her do her thing. He doesn’t want to acknowledge or address any negative emotions in the house.

Mikey repeats anecdotes to distract from his lack of attempt to do anything progressive with his life. He hides his depression behind belittling others to give the front of him being confident and egocentric.

Natalie (Sugar)

The episode opens with Natalie talking to Mikey about her anxieties around her mum. This sets her up perfectly as the ‘fixer’ child. Natalie has spent her life worrying for her mother and feeling like she has to look after her. Her attempts never work unfortunately – they’ve even tended to make situations worse. 

Her nickname Sugar came from one mistake she made years ago. This is a childish nickname, but she is still expected to be the caregiver. Natalie’s struggles with Parentification in her life have led to her finding huge difficulty in self-care and prioritising her needs and feelings.

Carmie

We really got to see a true insight into why Carmie is the way he is. We’ve known him to be closed-off from his feelings and fully delving into his work. He strives for perfectionism and doesn’t handle setbacks in a very adult way. 

Carmie is ridiculed and mocked for knowing how to make Sprite from scratch (something unbelievably impressive!). And also made fun of for his passion and expertise in food. 

He is allowed to help his mum, but his opinion in the kitchen is irrelevant. It’s no surprise from this setting he allowed his passion to take him travelling and training overseas in order to escape. 

Carmie continuously strives for perfection in order to try and avoid criticism or mockery. 

I could go into more detail on that rest of the family in Fishes, but take a look at the full video where I watch the whole episode below: