Marcus Really Needed a Hug at the End of ‘The Bear’ Season 2

What happened to poor Marcus (Lionel Boyce) in The Bear’s season 2 finale? Did the titular Bear finally make an onscreen appearance and eat him? Was HE the gourmet meal all along? Tragic. Senseless. Yet foreshadowed the whole time. Or maybe not. Wait, what happened again?

What happened to Marcus in The Bear Season 2?

Marcus Brooks starts The Bear season 2 with big dreams. He wants to be the Julia Child of pastry chefs but with less butter involved. If only his ailing mother was a little less ailing. Then he could devote all his attention to his craft rather than worry about her. Thankfully, he dips on her and galavants over to Copenhagen, where he is trained by pastry guru Luca (Will Poulter). Luca gives Marcus some pastry tricks and a few life lessons along the way. “Don’t be the greatest, but just the best you can be,” is the gist of it.

Marcus heads back to The Bear with a pep in his step, ready to show off his skills that will pay the restaurant’s mounting bills. Apparently, though, someone forgot to call the handyman, because the walk-in fridge handle ends up going on the fritz, and Carmy (Jeremy Allen-White), the restaurant’s Executive Chef, gets locked inside. Marcus and his work crush Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) have to save the restaurant on opening night! And they do. Hooray!

It was SUCH a busy night that Marcus didn’t have time to check his phone during his shift, during which time his mother’s caretaker, Kristy, was calling him frantically. She tells him to get to the hospital, STAT.

But he’s too late.

As revealed in The Bear season 3, Marcus’ mom tried to wait for Marcus to get there before she shuffled off her mortal coil, but there was only so long she could hold on. Marcus is devastated regardless. He’s an emotional wreck. A shell of himself. Not only does he have to process her death, but he also has to carry the guilt of not having been there when she died. He says that his mom would have wanted it that way, that she would have wanted him to pursue his confectionary dreams rather than be by her side. But that’s just what he has to tell himself to (unsuccessfully?) assuage his guilty conscience.

So what happened to Marcus in The Bear season 2? A lot. A lot of good, sure. Honestly a lot of great. But I’m sure that poor Marcus would have traded those good times in Copenhagen for the chance to see his mom for just a little bit longer. He really deserved more hugs in season 3.