However, after finishing Season 4, there’s one thing no fan edit or Reddit thread can get me through: the criminal misuse of Will Poulter, aka Chef Luca No-last-name.
It should go without saying that one of the strongest, most consistent things about The Bear is its ensemble cast. If its debut season made me care about Carmy and Sydney, every season since has—at the very least—inspired a similar fondness for everybody else. Richie’s “Forks” episode? I re-watch it once every few months. In Season 3, when we learn how Tina met The Beef? I actually can’t watch that once every few months because I don’t like to cry that often. Hell, even “Fishes,” which is universally accepted as one of the most anxiety-inducing hours of television ever made, is simultaneously regarded as one of the series’ best episodes, in part because it offers glimpses into the origin stories of the Berzatto clan. Thus, it makes no sense to me that a character like Chef Luca—played by Will Poulter, an adept actor—feels so flat.
Chef Luca was introduced in Season 2, when, while preparing for The Bear’s opening, Carmy sends Marcus to Copenhagen to improve as a pastry chef under his old colleague’s tutelage. As a result, Luca becomes something of a mentor to Marcus, and they gradually bond over their shared passion for baking. By the season finale, as The Bear is about to open its doors, Marcus receives a package in the mail from Luca—a metal plaque that reads “Every Second Counts.” Apart from his relationship to Carmy and Marcus, we didn’t learn much about him, which, at the time, made sense within the confines of Season 2. Frankly, I didn’t mind the vagueness because I didn’t know we’d see him again. And again. He returned for the Season 3 finale and, for a second time, we learn next to nothing about him except that he plans to stay in Chicago for a few months to visit his sister.
By the time Luca popped up again in Season 4, episode 5, I expected something more than a handful of scenes under the guise of lending Marcus a hand. So far, his character’s served as a sounding board, a babysitter, and someone to banter with Sydney—yet a simple backstory still seems too much to ask. If Luca is important enough to appear in multiple seasons, surely his purpose should be more than speculation by now. Is he there to…be a set piece? A superficial heartthrob? Just another—to borrow from Real Housewives vernacular—”friend of?” Poulter is too talented for that…even if he also happens to be really hot.
If Luca’s returning next season, I have a simple suggestion for the writers: make him a (temporary) love interest for Sydney. They’ve flirted in two scenes already—first, in the kitchen at Ever’s funeral, then again at The Bear while snipping chives. They’re frustratingly fleeting scenes because apparently, a slow-burn romance is the only one that exists on this show. But the important thing is, they happened. It’s just time to switch to high heat.
I can’t go on knowing so much about the Fak family, including a decades-long beef and their many grifts, and nothing about Chef Luca…
Like what you just read? You’ve got great taste. Subscribe to Jezebel, and for $5 a month or $50 a year, you’ll get access to a bunch of subscriber benefits, including getting to read the next article (and all the ones after that) ad-free. Plus, you’ll be supporting independent journalism—which, can you even imagine not supporting independent journalism in times like these? Yikes.
