‘The Bear’ Season 4 Episode 4 Recap: “Worms”

Very good episode. Every year, The Bear usually has one episode focused on a single character, and this year’s offering, “Worms,” written by Ayo Edebiri and Lionel Boyce and directed by Janicza Bravo, gives a rare day off for Sydney. She’s at her cousin Chantel’s (Danielle Deadwyler) house to get her hair done, watching the underrated Jumpin’ Jack Flash, starring Whoopi Goldberg, a movie that was on heavy rotation on TMC back in the ’90s.

Syd is relaxed and contemplative until she receives a phone call from Shapiro (Adam Shapiro), who is still full-court pressing her to join his new restaurant. She’s still considering his offer, but she doesn’t want to make a decision today. Yet he convinces her to take a break from getting her hair done to come see the space that will, he hopes, become her kitchen.  

I am thoroughly entertained by the complete character transformation of Shapiro. When we first meet him, he’s the alpha chef from Ever in the “Forks” episode (despite all the flaws and bummer aspects of this show, “Forks” is still one of the most excellent TV episodes in history), maintaining the spotless, efficient, and three-star quality at what was supposedly the best restaurant on the planet.

But as he continues his aggressive recruitment of Syd to become a chef at his new restaurant, we can see her becoming increasingly queasy, even though he’s saying all the right things. He’s so determined to succeed but also to prove his allyship I would not be shocked if Syd finds him wearing a “#MeToo is for Me, Too” t-shirt and carrying around a dog-eared copy of White Fragility to prove how much he’s committed to creating a safe and progressive environment even though it’s obvious he has no idea how to achieve that. 

He gives her the grand tour, showing off the high ceilings, top-of-the-line equipment, and hidden drawers for chefs only (why?). Syd’s clearly overwhelmed, and the prospect of working for this guy is becoming less appealing. 

Plus, Shapiro says he wants to “think outside the box,” which is always a red flag. (I have learned this much in life: anyone who says they want to “think outside the box” is stuffed so far inside the box they will never get out. Here’s another pro tip: anyone who claims they want to strive to be more “authentic” will prove to be the most inauthentic person you’ve ever met. Thank you for coming to my TEDx talk.)

Cut back to Chantel’s, where halfway through finishing the braids in Syd’s hair, she realizes that she has no more hair to finish it. She clips up what she can on Syd’s head. She runs out to the store to buy more hair, leaving Syd with Charntel’s delightfully grouchy 11-year-old daughter, TJ (Arion King), until she returns home (whenever that may be).  

They spend the day food shopping since Chantel has nothing in the house to eat. During their trek, we discover that TJ is having some middle school friend drama. She’s leaving for a new school next year and is afraid she’ll lose touch with her current friend group, revealing that some of them have already moved on. There’s a slumber party happening, and she feels like the only reason she got invited is because she overheard them talking about it. She’s convinced it’s a pity invite — and that sometimes feels worse than no invitation at all. 

Syd tells TJ that real friends don’t treat people like that, which doesn’t land the way she hoped. So then she begins to walk it back and offers this instead: 

“Sometimes your real friends are really cruel to you – or mean to you. Sometimes you’re mean to the people you care about the most.” 

Dark!

As Syd gets more info about TJ’s confusing friendship and whether or not to go to the sleepover, Syd tries create a scenario by using her own middle-school dilemma (stay at The Bear and get abused by her cruel friends or go to Shapiro’s opulent chef’s playground where she’ll be successful but lonely) by comparing both restaurants to houses where she can attend a sleepover: The Bear is “musty and stinky” but full of “goodness and promise and fun” but Carmy whom she describes as “a big brother who is the best in the world at video games” is sometimes crazy and unpredictable. 

Then there’s the other house – Shapiro’s – which is shiny and new, and where the dad will basically “give her his credit card” plus free pizza for the rest of her life. So which house is it? 

TJ says to go with the pizza house, obviously, but of course, it’s not that simple. 

Sydney says the stinky house, even though it’s not her house (The Bear), can be fixed, and she wants to fix it. It could even be better than the pizza house! – and then she wouldn’t have to start all over again. 

Then TJ drops this on her: “But you said it’s not your house, so what if they don’t let you fix it?” 

“That’s a really good question,” Syd says, tearing up. So now what? 

At the end of the episode, Syd calls Shapiro and asks if it’s okay to review the paperwork at his new location. Shapiro is psyched, obviously, and also asks Syd if she’s ever watched Good Hair, which sounds like a joke I would have made ten paragraphs ago. 

After she hangs up, she realizes she still has no idea which house she wants to go to. Maybe she wants pizza? Or she just thinks she wants pizza. 

We’ll see. 

THE BEAR SEASON 3 EPISODE 4: LEFTOVERS

QUESTIONS I STILL HAVE: We still haven’t been given a sufficient explanation as to why Shapiro wants Syd as his number one pick to run his cavernous well-monied restaurant. What was it again – the one dish he enjoyed? Or was it the vibe during their fortuitous run-in at the subway station?  

Here’s my prediction: Carmy actually recommended Syd for the job. Remember, I am a a scrub and did not receive screeners for this season, so I can’t spoil this if I wanted to.

MIDDLE-AGED DAD NEEDLE DROP: None. I’m throwing one in here as a wishlist song for this season or next. “Work Hard/Play Hard” by Palace Music. 

CARMY ARM PORN: None. So let’s go to a throwback from Season 1, episode 1, the classic blue-aproned sweat-stained gun show. 

A.J. Daulerio is a Los Angeles-based writer and editor. He is also the founder of The Small Bow, a recovery newsletter.