While The Bear continues to prep for opening, Richie has been sent to Stage for one week at "the greatest restaurant in the world", which he hates utterly, seeing it as a pretentious, overdone joke. Garrett, the General Manager assigned to guide Richie, puts him to the task of "cleaning forks".
Tropes:
- Arc Words: Every second counts.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Garrett takes Richie outside for his bad attitude and lack of attention to the task he was given, he asks that Richie "respect the staff, respect [him], but most of all, respect yourself." That last bit is what effects Richie the most.
- Call-Back: When Richie is looking at all the photos of past staff, he sees Carmy standing beside Luca, the chef that trained Marcus in Episode 4. It's entirely possible that Carmy was the chef that Luca was referring to that he couldn't possibly compete with, but he could learn by chasing after.
- Diegetic Switch: Implied, as Richie is shown singing along to Taylor Swift's "Love Story" in his car while the song is playing in the background.
- Doing It for the Art: In-universe, several staffers tell Richie that they love their work because all of their customers are so excited to be there, and they get to give them an incredible experience. They'll even comp people who have to save for months to dine there, because giving them the amazing dining experience is much more important than what their table could bring in.
- Dutch Angle: Various scenes of the city at night feature these, symbolizing how Richie's worldview is being radically altered, both by his job and the news of his ex getting remarried.
- Everyone Has Standards: As much as Richie despises the snooty, high-class dining establishment and all that it stands for, he's taken aback when he hears them mention two random public school teachers along with all the VIP guests dining that evening, who saved up money so that they could afford it, and how they will not be charged for dinner service. The staff cares more about delivering great service than squeezing every last cent from people.
- Mundane Wish: When a customer verbally bemoans "they visited Chicago without trying deep dish [pizza]", the kitchen obviously can't turn around and cook an authentic deep-dish pizza in a reasonable amount of time... but they can send Richie to go sprint and get some. The Chef de Cuisine still fancies it up a bit before sending it out.
- No Ending: The owner is relaying a deeply personal story about her father's personal journals, but gets called away before she can finish telling Richie what her father used to sign off his letters with. Richie chases after her to hear the ending, but to no avail. Averted when Richie looks to the wall and realized the restauraunt’s motto and her father’s sign-off are the same thing: EVERY SECOND COUNTS.
- No Name Given: "The Greatest Restaurant in the World" is never given an actual name, it's just referred to by that title. Its glass and steel style is obviously a stand-in for numerous ultra-modern, highly-refined establishments.note
- Sharp-Dressed Man: As part of shadowing Garrett, Richie is told to switch from chef whites to a suit and tie.Richie: Feels kinda like armor.Garrett: Yeah man, that's the point.
- Took a Level in Badass: The entire episode serves as this for Richie.
- Wax On, Wax Off: Richie believes Carmy sent him to stage "to get [him] out of [his] hair." The biggest reason why Carmy sent Richie to the restaurant is to see just how much attention to detail can be given to the job, to "respect". Whereas in S1 Richie was dismissive of Carmy and Sydney's approach to running a kitchen, in S2 he gets to see what it looks like.
- Wham Line: "Frank proposed to me[...] I said yes."
