It's getting to the point where I feel like I'm being annoying when I say this, but I need to say it again for context in this specific blog post: I don't like watching TV. I've been burned out from attempting to follow the zeitgeist for years now, but it's only been in the last two that I said fuck it and gave up trying. It feels good, and it feels healthy. I'm definitely not trying to say that the final season of Succession wasn't worth your time. I'm trying to say that not watching the final season of Succession, and not caring about the final season of Succession, made me feel better about myself and about the world I live in. Call it a de-cluttering. Call it a knee-jerk reaction to be told that I need to do something. Call it whatever you want to.
Point is, I didn't want a whole lot of television this year, so when I say "best episode," you can take that as "one of the only episodes of television that made any measurable impact on me, out of the very few I saw to begin with." The only TV show I watched on purpose was the new season of It's Always Sunny, and it was pretty okay. The rest was chosen by Pam, and I'd say about 50% of what she chose, on her nights to choose what was on the TV, consisted of those fucking docuseries about crooked capitalism via name brands, e.g. you might WEAR LuLaRoe but did you know that LuLaRoe is actually EVIL?! and so on. That shit just makes me depressed on about four different levels, but that's not what I'm talking about today. I'm just giving you context.
The best episode was seventh episode of the second season of the best TV show I watched this year (barely beating out the only other good season television we watched this year, Reservation Dogs, probably on the strength of this episode). The Bear Season 2 was a underdog sports drama disguised as a TV comedy about cooking. It is chaotic in the very best way, in that the yelling makes these people feel real and honest. I loved watching this show.
The Christmas episode is going to be the one that gets all the accolades, and I'm fine with that. It was a wild episode, and worth the investment. But the episode that pierced me right in heart was the episode in which Richie polishes forks at a fancy restaurant.
Two more pieces of context, I guess. No, three. First is that The Bear is the type of TV show that has an overarching plot for the season, but each episode is still its own self-contained story too. This is how all television should function. It's not a loosely-connected set of individual stories, and it's certainly not the "twelve-hour movie" bullshit that Netflix always trots out. It's both, and it's neither. This is how the best TV shows operate, if you think back on the history of prestige TV. I'm not going to name examples, because that's shooting fish in a barrel. I'm just saying that The Bear knows how to function, and it does so well.
Second, Richie is sort of the comedic relief on this show. He's a loudmouthed Chicagoan with lots of opinions and the propensity to dish out those opinions at a high volume. He's kind of an idiot but also extremely good with people, kind of an asshole but extremely loyal to those whom he loves. I bring this up because "Forks" is a Richie episode, and it changes Richie for the better, without losing everything that makes the character special. That in itself is impressive.
In "Forks," Richie finds himself at a three-star Michelin restaurant, basically interning for a week. He's being "punished" by his cousin (the main protagonist, Carmy) for a previous fuck-up, but also, this is seen as a learning opportunity. He starts his week polishing forks. He's pissed because he feels like he's better than this, and maybe he is, but maybe he isn't. Eventually, he gets a suit, and is able to assist in front-of-house stuff, helping facilitate the food delivery and enhance the dining experience, so to speak.
Richie takes a couple days to get there. He asks head of waitstaff Garrett what his deal is, what motivates him to do this every day, and Garrett explains that he had had a drinking problem once a upon a time, and through working the steps, he learned about "acts of service." He frames the restaurant experience like this: "I just like being able to serve other people now. You know? I think that's why restaurants and hospitals use the same word, 'hospitality.'"
This quote has had me in a chokehold since we first watched the episode over the summer. "I just like being able to serve other people" is such a simple and obvious sentiment, but it gives clarity to so many fucking decisions that I've made in my life, and the unspoken motivation behind them. There is no reward for being a social worker, no light at the end of the tunnel, no conclusion and no ceremony where you're given an award that says "Thank you for fixing all the problems of this city." But the act itself is the reward. The act of service. Making others feel just a little bit better has a way of making oneself feel just a little bit better.
We see that play on in the episode to an almost parodic degree in this fictional restaurant. The scene that sticks with me in this regard is the one where an older couple visits the restaurant, and the head of staff had seen on the woman's Instagram that they were "saving up" for this night, and so the restaurant surprises them by comping the entire fucking meal, to "blow their freaking minds." It's a quick cutaway scene, as seen by Richie through opaque glass, but even so, you get the sense about how much this quick and easy act of service stuns the couple.
"Forks" is the name of the episode, and also what Richie finds at his own path in the episode. He can continue to skirt by through life, acting like a buffoon and not knowing why, or he can get his shit together by focusing on acts of service. There might be some criticism here that this change happens to quickly for this character, that no one can change like this overnight. Maybe that's true. But maybe instead, the critics who make that claim don't understand the true and heavy power of acts of service, and what that could mean for a person to focus on that, and the wonder and joy it can bring to your life.
I'm trying to be highfalutin, because this is the "best TV episode" of the year according to me and I want you to understand why, but it might also be enough to say that "Forks" has what will stand as the best and funniest Taylor Swift needle drop of all time. It could also be enough to say that the concluding scene features Richie and Olivia Coleman peeling mushrooms and talking about life. It might even be enough to just repeat the motto of the episode—EVERY SECOND COUNTS—as its seen on the wall of the kitchen and as it can be applied to the lunatic pace of a restaurant and also as it can be applied to life in general. There is no time to waste.
Most of the time that I spend watching television shows, I feel like I'm wasting my time. "Forks" confirmed that it's important not to waste time like that. Every second counts. There's an irony in being so thoroughly impacted by this message via a TV show, but that's how it goes when you're talking about the best.
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