Jeremy Allen White explains the superb first episode

Jeremy Allen White in the third season of “The Bear”.

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(This story contains spoilers from The bear season three, episode one, “Tomorrow.”)

The last time we saw him, Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) was locked in a refrigerator at the grand opening of her brand new (technically old) restaurant. The night out with friends and family didn’t go as planned, as he spent the vast majority of the evening raging in a cold room, inadvertently breaking up with his girlfriend Claire (Molly Gordon) and leaving. taking to his cousin and colleague Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach).

Where would he go from here?

The low-key cast and crew of The bear, which dropped all 10 episodes of its season three on June 26, was tight-lipped about the series and its troubled protagonist’s next steps as the series’ new year approaches. The door is now wide open, with Bear bingers from all over the world ready and willing to dive into every episode of the FX “comedy.”

But good luck getting through the first episode of the season in one piece, because The bear begins its third year with an episode completely different from the others in the series, almost demanding viewers take a breath and slow down alongside Carmy.

Titled “Tomorrow” and written by creator Christopher Storer, who directed the episode, along with his co-star/food producer Matty Matheson (who plays Fak), The Bears back begins with a meditative exploration of Carm’s past, present, and her future. The episode summons various characters from its story, allowing the viewer to witness the titular bear’s rising star status in the world of cooking. Joel McHale, Will Poulter and Olivia Colman all reprise their guest roles from previous seasons as chefs Carm has worked with or worked with, friends, enemies and family.

Recurring scenes run through the episode, with flashbacks to Carm’s horrible Christmas dinner featured in season two’s “Pisces,” to nights spent with his girlfriend Claire, to scenes we never saw from the everything in the series before – like Carm working in restaurants like the world. famous Noma, filmed on location with real chef and owner René Redzepi in the scenes. It’s like an Anthony Bourdain documentary in some ways, an ethereal exploration of food and fury in a floating dream, all to the same Nine Inch Nails score wailing underneath.

It’s an episode that defies expectations heading into season three, interrupting the intense momentum of the season two finale with an episode that could very well serve as a series finale in another universe.

For those involved, it was certainly a revelation.

“It was like walking through someone’s mind,” White said. The Hollywood Reporter to be able to see a large part of Carmen’s story, told in such a unique way. “It was very fresh and new. It was very exciting in its structure and style. It was different, while still being at the heart of the same tone as the series.

Abby Elliott, who plays Carm’s sister Sugar, added: “It was like a puzzle piece. It felt like it was there all the time. It was the bear, and his story was still there.

As much as its structure mystifies, the episode also clarifies several relationships, including that between Carm and Sugar. The two surviving Berzatto siblings share a scene in an airport before Carm leaves Chicago to begin her next chapter in New York, and Sugar’s fear at her departure is on full display.

“Sugar is so desperate for Carmy to stay and not abandon her,” she explained to THR revelations from the scene. “That level of abandonment, which I knew was always there…he missed his brother so much, from the first episode – but there’s this level of: He’s really leaving me here with these people. She loves Mikey (Jon Bernthal), but she sees his spiral (which leads to his death by suicide). It’s very obvious that she’s just going to call him and call him and he might not answer – and she knows that, and it’s so scary for her. Fear is new to Natalie.

On the other end of the conversation, White said Carmy was “so often inside his own experience” that he didn’t register Natalie’s fears that way.

“He has difficulty communicating,” he said. “He has difficulty understanding the experiences of others. I don’t think at any time, or at any time really, he intends to be hurtful in the way he exists. But I think this season we realize, especially with Sugar and Carm, that they’ve had this shared experience. They grew up in the same place. Carmy ran and Sugar stayed. Carmy begins to make space for the experiences of others and to truly see and listen to others for the first time.

He continued: “My approach with Carmy has always been very protective: ‘He’s doing this, this makes sense, this is the motivation.’ But other things became clear while filming this season.

What other things? Luckily, the following nine episodes are immediately available for people to check out as soon as they pick their jaw up from the floor after watching the premiere.

Jackie Strause contributed to this story.

Read THR’s examination of The bear season three and follow our coverage of the season. All episodes are now streaming on Hulu.