During a recent interview with Variety, star Jon Bernthal discussed returning for the second season of The Bear and the "tense" dinner scene with Bob Odenkirk. In "Fishes," (the sixth episode of the second season of The Bear), viewers are taken back to the Berzatto family's previous Christmas. The episode features Jamie Lee Curtis, Bob Odenkirk, John Mulaney, and Sarah Paulson and sees Bernthal return to play Carmy's (played by Jeremy Allen White) late brother Michael.
While sharing his thoughts on the relationship between the Berzatto brothers, Bernthal said, "I think the stuff that we don’t know is almost as interesting as the stuff that we do. I think that that’s what’s great about creating super complex and nuanced characters. This show is so deeply personal to these creators. This is really their story. It's, in my opinion, the only way to do really beautiful television, and that’s why it's such an honor for me to be a part of it."
He continued, "I only know bits of information and we know, obviously, what Mikey’s fate is. Oftentimes, when we really love people and we’re aware of our own toxicity, our own hopelessness, and him being in the state that he's in… he feels like this shop and the way that he’s run it and everything around him has been this enormous Albatross, and he's kind of run into the ground. He's shrouded in hopelessness, and he wants to keep his brother out of it. He wants to keep his brother pure. That might manifest itself sometimes in jealousy and anger."
The Daredevil star added that he appreciated getting to show a different side of his character. He said, "What I was super grateful for in this round with Mikey is when you look at perspective and you look at what happened last season with that little scene they had, Carm was almost looking at him on a pedestal. It was [about] remembering his bravado, how beautiful of a storyteller he was, his charm, how he's larger than life, how he could come into a room and just have everybody in the palm of his hand. Through the lens of memory, it was this beautiful celebration of this guy."
He added, "But this year, they really showed the other side — his ugliness, his damage, his hurt, his pain, the parts of him that didn’t quite sync up. And to get a little bit of a glimpse into how hard the world was for him, it’s bold storytelling. It's people who aren't afraid to dig into the wound of their own personal history. I think you really got to see his hurt, his pain and his damage, and he doesn't want his brother to be a part of that."
Jon Bernthal Said Each Take of the Dinner Scene Was "Completely Different"
Later, when asked how he and Odenkirk managed to create their explosive dinner scene, Bernthal said, "The tension is created in the room. Every time we went and did it, it was completely different — a new person sort of popped up and did this new bubble of intensity or dread. It was super f---ing tense in there, because everybody came to play and everybody really knows what they’re doing. And the material is so gorgeous."
He added, "With Bob, I’m such a huge fan of his. I thought it was just such a perfect choice. He was so down to come at me, and vice versa! When you have an environment like that, everyone is willing to be a little bit dangerous, because there’s so much trust. There's so much love and everybody's so dedicated. The goal starts to then be, OK, how can I shock this person? How can I scare this person? How can I do something that they’ll never expect? How can I lose myself within this? When you create an atmosphere that’s that unbelievably creative and that unbelievably safe, danger is not a hard thing to find. It was really fun! It was like great theater work, and it's really rare."
The Fury actor also stated that each take he filmed was different and noted that there was definitely some improv incorporated into the scene.
He said, "Oh, the table flip definitely wasn’t scripted. But it’s still a testament to Chris. I was like, 'Hey, man, you gotta let me kind of go crazy at least once!' I do a lot of action stuff and I’m aware of how big of a reset that it is, where the food is meticulously laid out and it’s so specific and is a character within itself."
Bernthal added, "He definitely gave me the green light. It’s funny when you work with directors, especially in TV, because sometimes they'll give you the green light, but then be like, 'Just maybe save it 'til the end.' Chris was like, 'Go do you.' I think the funnest thing for me really, in that scene, was to be off camera and just to keep that intensity, keep that fight going with Bob and see everybody else’s reaction. It was just such a joy to do."