Neil Fak (Matty Matheson) and his brother Ted Fak (Ricky Staffieri) are easily my new favorite people to check in with on The Bear. While Neil has been there from the beginning, Ted became a bigger part in season 2, and now into season 3, they’re my favorite duo.
Season 3 spoilers ahead!
Neil Fak (affectionately known as just “Fak”) is the handyman around the Beef and, now, The Bear. He is lovable, a goofball, and played by an actual chef, despite not being one on the restaurant-centric show. Pairing him up with his brother this season has truly been one of the funniest things this show has done. Well, that and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) literally having a “you get f***ed” off with each other.
Fak has gone from just handyman to now helping Richie with front of house. At one point, he had to take a drink to a table and he literally went, poured it, and brought the whole thing back to the kitchen and didn’t leave anything with the customers but was so proud of himself. I cannot help but love him!
What this season did for the Fak boys is give them a little bit of time to grow on fans. When tension was high and everyone was fighting, we’d cut to the two of them trying to buff the floors with their cousin, Sammy Fak (played by John Cena), or watch as they tried to help Carmy by collecting pictures of all the big food critics.
Sometimes, goofballs are needed
Everyone on The Bear is a little too serious at times. Even Richie, who jokes around the most with Carmy, has his moments, especially now that Richie went to Ever and learned how to run things. So to have the Fak boys there doing the most outrageous things in the middle of a scene is actually hilarious. Richie and Carmy are literally screaming at each other, and Ted drops a light on them and comments on how it didn’t break. Comedy legends!
Maybe it is because they remind me of my entire hometown (the boys of New Castle, PA finally have representation), but they really just have a great rapport with each other, and it makes fans enjoy the little check-ins that we get with them. I don’t need a spinoff show about them or anything (even if it’d be hilarious), but I do like that they were our comedy and the light energy in season 3.
Fak has always been a sweet character. It’s why Natalie (Abby Elliot) relies on him and why, I think, Carmy keeps him around. Filling out the Fak family even more this season and letting us see how they all work together was great! And we got to see what “ghosting” means to the Fak family! (It is literally just Sammy Fak annoyingly shadowing his cousin repeatedly, and I love it.)
So here is to the MVPs of season 3 of The Bear: We wouldn’t have laughed as hard as we did without the Fak boys there along the way.
