The only phrase you might hear more than “Yes, Chef!” in Season 3 of FX’s “The Bear” is “Hee!” In Episode 8, “Ice Chips,” when Abby Elliott’s Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto goes into labor while stuck in traffic, she has no choice but to reach out to her semi-estranged mother, Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis), who instructs her daughter to breathe (“Hee!”) through the contractions.
Deviating from the series’ pressure-cooker kitchen, the episode zeroes in on two fully drawn characters trying to come to grips with their differences. The emotionally taut and funny pas de deux is a showcase for Elliott, the “Saturday Night Live” and “Odd Mom Out” vet who was curiously overlooked by the Television Academy last year.
DRAWING FROM EXPERIENCE
“When I was in labor with my son, I recorded the contractions because I knew I was going to have this episode. And I wanted to make it as realistic as possible. The cervical check (to measure how dilated a pregnant woman is) is something you don’t really see that that often in TV or film. It’s such a big part of labor and it’s excruciating. [Jamie Lee] and I did the main chunk, that 20-page scene, two or three times through. And we had multiple cameras set up. There was a wide and then one on our faces, so we knew what points to hit. And I could always fall back on the contractions and the physical pain if we lost our way.
LAUGHING THROUGH TEARS WITH JAMIE LEE CURTIS
“When you’re face-to-face with Jamie Lee Curtis, you’re really forced to be in the moment. She’s such a fantastic scene partner, there’s no way that you can’t just lock in to her. I knew Jamie was in town before we were going to shoot it, and I was thinking, Should I call her? Should I go to her hotel and run this? And it’s just not our show to over-rehearse things. [Director and co-showrunner] Chris [Storer] wants everything to feel organic. When we do these long, sweeping-shot episodes where it’s one take, after about take four, it becomes so singsongy that they don’t like it.”
LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER
“[Sugar] has Donna’s resilience and strength. And there’s also a tiny little bit of a loose cannon with Sugar. She’s this maintained, composed character in the restaurant (where she is the finance manager) because she has to be. But there is also a fiery edge inside her where she can get angry pretty quickly. And I think that she’s worked on herself a lot and she’s constantly trying to rein that side of herself in. And that’s the side that she really can’t stand with Donna.”
DREAM SUGAR PAIR-UPS
“I really love Sugar and Richie’s dynamic. I would love to dive into that and see something from their youth or have them (collaborate on) something for the
restaurant. I love working with Ebon [Moss-Bachrach]. Also, Lionel [Boyce, who plays baker Marcus]. We’ve had some scenes together, but it would be fun to explore a Sugar and Marcus scenario.”
This story first ran in the Comedy issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the issue here.
