It only took eight episodes, but Natalie’s baby is finally here. In “Ice Chips,” faced with a Bear staff cell phone service lockdown, Natalie dials her mom, Donna, in a panic. She’s there waiting when Natalie rolls up at whatever suburban hospital she and Pete have chosen, all keyed up and wanting to help — is it really help if it’s only on the helper’s terms?
That’s what Natalie is faced with for the first few hours of labor, with her mom regaling hospital staff with stories about “how it was done back then,” saying, “We didn’t know our doctors. They were just men who said things.” As Donna, Jamie Lee Curtis drops a few choice cusses and slams on snide neighbors before telling Natalie and the nurse that she wanted a baby “so bad” because she “wanted someone to love [her] the way [she] had seen all those smug mothers down at the Jewel blocking the aisle with their strollers.” (And yes, she would say “at the Jewel,” and I’m so pleased she did.)
It’s a concerning story because babies aren’t meant to fix whatever you’re lacking or wanting, but that’s Donna Berzatto for you. Throwing a lot of pressure on her kids the second they’re out of the womb and then expecting them to know why they’re failing her.
It’s not that she doesn’t love them. She does. She tells Natalie all three of her birthing stories, in part as a response to Natalie’s desires for no epidural, no enema, and “no excessive shaving of public hair.” She doesn’t want to be numb when she gives birth, even though her mom assures her that the actual birth process is going to hurt like a motherfucker.
The episode does a great job getting that across, timing out Natalie’s contractions in what feels like real-time. We’re not there for the whole birth — that would be an hours-long episode — but the direction and cinematography of the run-up feel real. Jamie Lee Curtis and Abby Elliott look how they look, crying and mussed hair, and there’s no over-the-top comedic screaming or wacko water breaking.
Natalie’s OB, Dr. Kevin, is played by Chicago legend Keith Kupferer, who’s also in Ghostlight, an excellent new movie that absolutely everyone should see. He tells her that things are going to progress how they should. She could opt for Oxytocin or Pitocin, but that’s really up to her. And then, of course, a patient down the hall starts screaming, Dr. Kevin calls for a crash cart and an OR, and Natalie freaks the fuck out. She wants the Pitocin, she wants the epidural, and she wants that baby out now.
Natalie and Donna connect here, and in the moments after, Natalie finally tells her mom why she didn’t call her during the pregnancy. She doesn’t want her new baby girl to be scared like she was. Her mom seems surprised that Natalie is scared, and when Natalie says that she is, Donna says, “That’s terrible.”
Donna fucked Natalie up quite a bit. Nat seems like the chillest person in The Bear, but she’s always worried people are mad at her. She thinks Pete’s going to leave her, and she always puts Donna first — always. Natalie also tells her mom, “I made myself sick to make you feel better,” which could relate to anxiety and stress, but I wonder if there’s also something else there, like an eating disorder. It’s a lot to process, but Donna takes it all in and tells Natalie that she knows the baby will be okay because she just will be. She also tells Natalie that she’s working on improving herself and “trying to put that stuff away.”
That’s when Jamie Lee Curtis kicks into “For Your Consideration: Outstanding Guest Star in a Comedic Series” mode, telling Natalie about the day she was born. It’s a story that involves an amazingly vivid but boring dream about an 8 p.m. bedtime, a fish tank, and a mysterious city, and it ends with a mention of Cicero’s first wife, who’s long since been jettisoned for something younger. Natalie was born to the most beautiful song, The Ronettes’ “Baby, I Love You,” and you’ve got to think that track will hold a pretty special spot in Natalie and her daughter’s lives as well.
That’s when Pete arrives, fresh off some trial he won and eternally grateful to Donna. He and Natalie fall into each other’s arms as Donna slinks out, but to her credit, she doesn’t just take her leave and jet off. She sticks around to talk to Pete and sit in the waiting room until her granddaughter (and the Faks) arrive. She’s a grandma now, and, hopefully, she’s got a fresh start.
Small Bites
• Natalie drives a Porsche? Damn.
• Also, she could have called Cicero or used her hands to call Claire once she got to the side of the road. I’m just saying.
• Natalie has her dad’s ass.
