The Bear Theory: Season 2's Bike Crash Scene May Mean More Than You Think
"The Bear" Season 2 featured several episodes that focused largely on a single character, including one that highlighted a trip to Copenhagen for pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce). In Episode 4, "Honeydew," Marcus leaves his terminally ill mother in the care of her nurse and travels to Europe to learn from an old friend of Carmy (Jeremy Allen White). That master confectioner, Luca (Will Poulter), challenges Marcus gently and the two develop a quick rapport. One night on his way home, Marcus comes across a cyclist (Martin Kongstad) who has crashed into a fence. The man is injured, panicked, and trapped beneath the collapsed structure. Marcus frees him, and the man gives him a warm hug before riding off into the night.
Marcus doesn't mention the incident later that night in a video chat with Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), nor does he bring it up with Luca when he returns to the restaurant the next morning. In an episode discussion thread on the r/TheBear subreddit, several viewers pointed out that the scene (and the episode) were a welcome break from the chain of intense dramatic moments that Season 2 has brought. u/Atlas_Felix_9 wrote that while they expected something to go wrong for the characters, they were pleasantly surprised. "But it ended up being a warm and wholesome episode," the user wrote.
The seemingly out-of-place scene could simply have been a chance for writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour to provide Marcus a chance to give care to someone while his dying mother is an ocean away. In essence, the man could have been placed there merely as a proxy for his distant parent.
The episode's gentle tone took many viewers by surprise
u/Cigar_Face was touched by Marcus' simple act of heroism and singled out the episode as one of the series' strongest. "For some reason, the scene with the guy on the bike had me in tears," they wrote. "Totally caught me off guard. It's the kind of episode I'd feel comfortable recommending on its own even aside from the whole of the series. It's just beautiful."
u/Palpitation-Medical was also moved to tears largely out of surprise, but at a different point in the episode. "I legit cried at the end because I was so sure the entire episode that Marcus's mum was going to die... And she didn't," they wrote. "But my heart was so sure it was going to happen that tears came out anyway."
Although "The Bear" has not yet been officially renewed for a third season — and the ongoing writer's and actor's strikes could certainly delay its debut — the fate of Marcus' mom looms large as the second-largest cliffhanger for the series behind that of Carmy and Sydney's newly opened restaurant. One thing that is not in question is that Marcus will be there with his newly acquired confidence and skills.