After introducing only a few members of Carmy Berzatto’s family in season 1, The Bear season 2 dedicates an entire episode to explaining the Berzatto family’s dynamics and relationships, with season 3 pushing things even further. In season 1, The Bear uses the culinary arts as a narrative device to portray how Carmy deals with grief after his older brother Mikey dies by suicide and leaves him his small sandwich shop. However, The Bear as a whole is about Carmy’s psyche, with the various members of the Berzatto family tree playing a huge role in this.
The Bear is all about how familial ties can extend far beyond blood relationships. For instance, Carmy calls Richie “Cousin” in The Bear even though they are not actually related and even runs his kitchen as a whole family unit where everyone depends on one another. A similar complex dynamic reflects in Carmy’s blood relations when The Bear harkens back to his time with his family. Unfortunately, since these flashbacks are a brief part of The Bear‘s runtime, it can be hard to comprehend who’s who. So, here is a full breakdown.
Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White)
The Bear’s Main Character In The Berzatto Family
Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto is one of Donna’s three children. When he arrives home for Christmas in The Bear season 2, episode 6, he comes off as a fish out of the water, often looked down upon by his family for settling into a different city and working as a big-time chef. In many ways, Carmy also contrasts his elder brother, Mikey. While Mikey is loud and aggressive, Carmy carries a calm demeanor, always trying to ignore the troubling behavior of his dysfunctional family.
Because of how he carries himself, Carmy seems to get along well with Natalie, who, like him, tries her best to de-escalate the family drama. To their dismay, their voices get buried under their family members’ loud arguments and bitterness. The Bear season 2, episode 6 establishes how, despite being the younger siblings, Carmy and Natalie try to be the mature ones. Although Carmy still struggles to come to terms with his brother’s death and his family’s tumultuous past in The Bear season 2, he finds temporary peace with his restaurant family and new-old love interest Claire (played by Molly Gordon).
Donna “Don” Berzatto (Jamie Lee Curtis)
Carmy’s Mother
The Bear‘s Donna “Don” Berzatto is the matriarch of the Berzatto family. Although she has been referenced several times throughout The Bear, especially when Carmy and Sugar recall their troubled childhood, she first appears in The Bear season 2, episode 6, which flashes back to a Christmas evening at the Berzattos. Although everything initially seems fine as Donna works hard in the kitchen to prepare the Feast of the Seven Fishes for the family, things turn grim as the evening progresses. The episode highlights how Donna tries her best to make the evening worthwhile for her family.
The way things escalate throughout
The Bear
season 2, episode 6, clearly shows why Carmy and Sugar carry deep emotional scars rooted in their torrid relationship with their mother, Donna Berzatto.
However, she cannot help but despair about how no one appreciates her. In a final blowout, after her daughter asks if she is fine, Don loses her temper and crashes her car through the living room wall. The way things escalate throughout The Bear season 2, episode 6, clearly shows why Carmy and Sugar carry deep emotional scars rooted in their torrid relationship with their mother, Donna Berzatto. By perfectly portraying Don’s mental illness and struggles with alcohol, Jamie Lee Curtis makes the family drama feel incredibly authentic and disturbing.
Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto (Abby Elliot)
Carmy’s Sister
After making only a few brief appearances in The Bear season 1, Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto becomes a primary character in the series when she joins forces with Carmy on his new restaurant business endeavors. Although she holds up well, she struggles to deal with the immense stress and anxiety of starting a restaurant. The flashback from The Bear season 2, episode 6 also shows Natalie’s perspective on the whole family argument, emphasizing how she tries to make the evening better by coercing Mikey to calm down when he picks a fight with Uncle Lee. Unfortunately, things escalate anyway.
Since they have always been the “mediators” in their family and never the “initiators,” they navigate their personal conflicts with patience, even when things get a little too heated (as they always do) in the kitchen.
As Carmy’s sister, the duo’s childhood experiences explain how they work together in the new restaurant without tainting their relationship. Since they have always been the “mediators” in their family and never the “initiators,” they navigate their personal conflicts with patience, even when things get a little too heated (as they always do) in the kitchen. For instance, Natalie vocalizes how she felt bad when Carmy moved to New York and lost touch with her but embraces working with him in The Bear.
Michael “Mikey” Berzatto (Jon Bernthal)
Carmy’s Brother
In The Bear season 1, Jon Bernthal’s Mikey appears only in flashbacks, but his death serves as the trigger that sets off the events of the show. After he dies by suicide and leaves his restaurant, “The Original Beef of Chicagoland,” to his younger brother, Carmy returns to the south side of Chicago. The Bear season 1’s flashbacks do not reveal much about Mikey’s characterization but portray how he was a charismatic man who everyone looked up to. Even Carmy initially wanted to work at his brother’s restaurant, but Mikey did not let him. Mikey’s rejection is what inspired Carmy to move to New York and become a master chef.
Mikey is not a primary character in
The Bear
, but his shadow and influence loom over the show’s storyline and characters.
The Bear season 2 delves deeper into Mikey’s past by showing how his drug addiction possibly changed him and made him more erratic and impatient. He steps up to help his mother when she rams her car into the living room, but seems a little too confrontational moments before that when he picks a fight with Uncle Lee. Mikey is not a primary character in The Bear, but his shadow and influence loom over the show’s storyline and characters. Not to mention, Jon Bernthal’s performance makes Mikey’s characterization all the more memorable, despite his limited screen time.
Michelle Berzatto (Sarah Paulson)
Carmy’s Cousin
The Bear‘s season 2 family Christmas dinner episode also introduces Michelle Berzatto, who is Carmy, Mikey, and Sugar’s cousin. She attends the family gathering with her friend, Steven, who plays a crucial role in subduing the Berzatto family’s conflict. Although Michelle does not get a lot of screen time, she seems to have played a significant role in Carmy’s past, given how she reaches out to him and insists that he should stay at her place to relax before he can go back to work. Flashbacks in The Bear‘s future seasons could further explore her characterization and her bigger role in Carmy’s life.
Pete (Chris Witaske)
Carmy’s Brother-In-Law
Natalie Berzatto’s husband, Pete, is another recurring character who appears in every season of The Bear. As seen in The Bear season 2’s Christmas flashback, Pete’s relationship with the Berzattos is contentious. He shows up with tuna at the Berzattos’ traditional seven-fish dinner, which gives the family another reason to dislike him. Natalie even gets mad at him for showing up with the eighth fish and throws his food package out of the house. Throughout the rest of the episode, Pete timidly disappears behind all the Berzatto family woes, showing he is an outsider in the family despite being a part of it.
Cicero “Uncle Jimmy” (Oliver Platt)
Carmy’s Unofficial Uncle
As shown in The Bear season 1, Cicero, usually called “Uncle Jimmy,” helped Mikey sustain his business by loaning him a lot of money. Mikey never paid him back but stored all the money in tomato cans, hoping Carmy would eventually find it. Carmy finds the money in The Bear season 1’s ending moments, but instead of keeping it a secret, he trusts Jimmy and tells him that he found the cash he had loaned to his brother. Leveraging his truth, Carmy also makes him his business partner and convinces him to invest even more in his new restaurant.
Despite him being referred to as an Uncle, Uncle Jimmy actually isn’t related to the Berzatto family. Cicero is another character who gained his familial title due to his closeness with the Berzatto, with him even being at their family dinner in “Fishes.”
Richard “Richie” Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach)
Carmy’s Unofficial Cousin
Throughout The Bear, Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Richie is constantly referred to as cousin and refers to Carmy as cousin. However, Richie isn’t related to the Berzattos by blood at all. Instead, Richie was close friends with Mikey before his death, with the strength of their relationship making him an unofficial member of the Berzatto family tree. Richie’s cousin status stuck around even after the tragic death of Mikey, with him still being treated as family by Carmy, Sugar, and the rest of the Berzattos.
Other Unofficial Berzatto Family Members In The Bear
- Bob Odenkirk’s Uncle Lee: In an episode 1 scene from The Bear season 2, Carmy scoffs when Sugar calls Lee “uncle.” He claims that Lee is not their real uncle even though all Berzatto siblings refer to him as “uncle” during the flashback Christmas dinner. Sugar responds by saying that even Richie is not their cousin with that logic. The Bear season 2 does not clarify Uncle Lee’s role in the Berzatto family. Carmy’s reaction to Sugar calling him uncle confirms that, like Richie, he is not related to them by blood, but is still close enough to be called “uncle.”
- Gillian Jacobs’s Tiffany: She is Richie’s wife, who is also a part of the family Christmas dinner in The Bear season 2’s episode 6.
- John Mulaney’s Steven: He is portrayed as Michelle’s friend who often joins the Berzatto family for their annual Christmas dinner, making him an unofficial member of the family in The Bear.
