Pete’s Response To Sugar And Francie In ‘The Bear’ Is The Most Evolved Thing I’ve Seen On TV This Year
For awhile, it felt like Francie Fak was to The Bear what Maris was to Frasier, a divisive character who is referenced multiple times, but never actually seen on-screen. All of that changed this season when she was officially brought to life by Brie Larson in the seventh episode, “Bears”, depicting Tiff and Frank’s wedding.
The sister of Neil and Ted Fak, Francie has been in a long-standing but obscured feud with Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto (Abby Elliot) that saw her exiled from family events, until Neil bypasses the mandate and asks Tiff to invite Francie to her wedding. Sugar loses it over the betrayal, but still attends the event with the rest of the family.
Elliot and Larson are hilarious, bringing a feminine energy to the raucous cacophony the series is known for that often rhythmically interweaves multiple characters’ dialogue by having them talk over each other at the same time. It feels like two adult women in the middle of a schoolyard spat, with their matching headbands and distinctly midwestern exchange of hmms, wells, nos, and yeahs that say everything we need to know while also saying nothing at all.
As with any Berzatto family affair, someone has to step in and intervene, which in this case is Neil, Ted, and Sugar’s husband, Pete. The brothers reveal that Francie and Sugar previously hooked up, and taunt Pete, saying that he’s in denial. When Pete confronts the pair in a brief moment of silence saying, “You two did not hook up”, they both awkwardly pause and respond, “Well…”.
Despite a few chuckles, this revelation doesn’t go where you’d expect it to. The characters of The Bear can be crass, crude, and abrasive, but no one objectifies or sensationalizes the queer encounter of these two women. In fact, Pete has the most evolved and mature response to the ordeal, asking Sugar on the dance floor:
You’re not like, in love with her?
After all, this missing piece of the puzzle has been left out for years, at least for Pete (and us as viewers), and its revelation adds depth to the pair’s backstory. Given the intensity and duration of the feud, Pete knows just how emotional it is for Sugar, and instead of asking his wife lewd questions about the encounter or her sexuality, he lends validity to the potential romantic feelings that may have existed between the two.
Where bisexuality is often tokenized, rationalized as a “phase”, seen as a spectacle, or blamed on “drunkenness”, Pete wants to confirm that his wife’s feud isn’t founded on long-standing romantic resentment. It’s kind of brilliant and touching and absolutely vulnerable all at once, and it’s definitely the most evolved thing I’ve seen on TV this year. Award season better be kind to this series, or I might have some passive-aggressive midwestern comments to make myself.
