The Bear: Best Individual Episodes For Each Main Cast Member

From Jeremy Allen White to Ayo Edebiri, The Bear’s cast is full of great actors, and they each have one episode in particular that gives them the brightest spotlight. For the most part, The Bear is a quintessential ensemble show, with a gaggle of colorful characters all talking over each other (and yelling over each other when the talking escalates).

But there are certain episodes of The Bear that put the focus squarely on one character, and in those episodes, the actors really get a chance to shine. There’s an episode exploring Tina’s origin story. There’s an episode sending Marcus to Copenhagen to become a dessert master. These are The Bear cast’s best individual episodes.

Oliver Platt

Season 1, Episode 4, "Dogs"

Oliver Platt made his biggest impression as Uncle Jimmy early on. In The Bear season 1, episode 4, “Dogs,” Jimmy hires Carmy and Richie to cater a kids’ birthday party, and they accidentally end up spiking the punch with Richie’s Xanax. It’s a hilarious comic premise, but Platt makes it even funnier by playing it surprisingly cool.

Carmy and Richie are expecting Jimmy to explode at them after they unwittingly drug all the kids, but when the entire party passes out, he actually enjoys the quiet. Every subsequent Uncle Jimmy appearance has been an attempt to replicate the dry humor of this early masterpiece.

Jon Bernthal

Season 2, Episode 6, "Fishes"

Since Mikey’s untimely death is the shadow that looms over the entire series, Jon Bernthal isn’t exactly a part of the main cast of The Bear. But he shows up for at least one major flashback every season, and he’s made such a lasting impression in those flashbacks that he feels like an integral part of the series.

His heart-to-heart with Tina in “Napkins” was one of the bright spots of a hit-and-miss season 3, but Bernthal’s finest hour on the show is in the Christmas episode, “Fishes.” From his tender private chat with Carmy to his explosive fight with Bob Odenkirk’s Lee, Bernthal steals the show in this episode. He might even outshine Jamie Lee Curtis.

Abby Elliott

Season 3, Episode 8, "Ice Chips"

Before she was cast in The Bear, Abby Elliott was best known as a former cast member from Saturday Night Live. But the role of Natalie Berzatto has given Elliott a chance to explore her untapped dramatic range. Much like Connie Corleone, Nat is the mediator and voice of reason trying to control the chaos of her dysfunctional family — primarily her mentally unstable mother, Donna.

Season 3’s “Ice Chips” gave us a two-hander between Nat and Donna. When Nat goes into labor and can’t get in touch with anyone else, her mom comes out of the woodwork to help her through the grueling process of childbirth. Elliott perfectly captures the vulnerability, the exhaustion, and the elation of being a new mother.

Lionel Boyce

Season 2, Episode 4, "Honeydew"

The second season of The Bear — one of the greatest seasons of television ever produced — is all about unlocking everyone’s hidden superpower. As they get ready to turn their greasy sandwich shop into a fancy eatery, everyone discovers an underlying talent that makes them invaluable. In episode 4, “Honeydew,” Marcus goes to Copenhagen to train under Chef Luca, and becomes a master of desserts.

“Honeydew” puts Lionel Boyce in the spotlight, after being relegated to a supporting role (and futilely pining after Syd) for most of the series, and he relishes that spotlight. Boyce shares terrific chemistry with Will Poulter as Luca, and he brings real humanity to moments like rescuing a man from a bicycle crash and confiding in Syd about feeling homesick.

Liza Colón-Zayas

Season 3, Episode 6, "Napkins"

Before The Bear aired its season 3 episode “Napkins,” it might’ve seemed unnecessary to do a whole episode filling in Tina’s origin story. But it turned out to be one of the show’s greatest episodes, and a beautiful character study. “Napkins” goes back to show us how Tina ended up working with Mikey at The Beef in the first place.

“Napkins” is a poignant look at the pressures of an ever-changing job market, and the economic realities of a non-college-educated technophobe looking for work in the modern day. It’s a great episode from the beginning, but it becomes a masterpiece when a crestfallen Tina makes a fateful visit to a sandwich shop and has a touching heart-to-heart with Mikey, played spectacularly by Liza Colón-Zayas and Jon Bernthal.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Season 2, Episode 7, "Forks"

This one goes without saying. Ebon Moss-Bachrach has been giving a scene-stealing turn as Cousin Richie from the very first episode, but the show didn’t really make us care about Richie until he went to work at Ever in season 2, episode 7, “Forks.” Richie thinks Carmy is insulting him by putting him to work in another kitchen, but he’s trying to inspire him.

And, despite Richie’s best efforts to rebel, the inspiration works. After graduating from cleaning forks, Richie tries his hand at table service — and turns out to be an absolute superstar. It’s heartening to see Richie discover this hidden talent, put it to good use, and have a blast doing it. That Taylor Swift needle-drop is more than earned.

Ayo Edebiri

Season 4, Episode 4, "Worms"

Syd’s deliberation over whether or not to take the job from Shapiro got a bit tedious after being stretched across two seasons. But it also gave us one of the show’s best episodes: season 4, episode 4, “Worms.” As she continues to grapple with that decision, Syd spends the day bonding with her cousin’s 11-year-old daughter.

Ayo Edebiri co-wrote “Worms” with Boyce, so it has a deeper insight into Syd’s character than any other episode. It gave Edebiri plenty of comedic opportunities — leaving a character who’s ill-equipped for childcare caring for a child is always a great comic premise — but it also showcased Syd’s emotional depth. Edebiri shares wonderful on-screen chemistry with her young co-star, Arion King, and really captures Syd’s struggle to make a decision.

Jeremy Allen White

Season 2, Episode 10, "The Bear"

Jeremy Allen White brings depth and nuance and the subtleties of the human condition to every single episode of The Bear (except for the three he wasn’t in), but his finest performance across the entire series is in the season 2 finale, aptly titled “The Bear.” This episode brings the season’s arc to a head, with The Beef reopening its doors as a fancy restaurant.

When Carmy gets locked in the walk-in fridge — the walk-in fridge he forgot to get fixed — White is isolated from the rest of his castmates, and from the frills of set design and the chaos of the ensemble. It puts the focus squarely on White’s performance, and the meltdown that destroys his relationship with Claire and nearly ruins his friendship with Richie is one of The Bear’s most intense moments.