Tina’s Revolutionary Moment in The Bear Season 2 Got Her Actress All Panicked

Coming back to the small screens in a couple of weeks, The Bear, starring Jeremy Allen White as a haute cuisine chef trying to transform a simple diner into a high-class restaurant, has repeatedly proved that it’s the main characters’ seemingly incompatible differences that create the show’s compelling dynamics, be that their frequent squabbles or sudden heartwarming moments together.

Having gone through a lot of hardships that mostly had something to do with her colleagues, the show’s most obstinate character eventually received her big moment thanks to those she was always fighting with, but for the actress herself that scene didn’t seem all that exciting.

In The Bear, Liza Colón-Zayas portrays Tina, a grumpy Latina cook that throughout the show is frequently seen barely tolerating that whole kitchen mess. As the time passes, Tina seems to have reconciled with her future in Carmy’s restaurant, and at some point she even proves her loyalty to the team by following the chef’s advice and enrolling in culinary school.

Tina’s agreement to get her cooking skills improved is quite a big deal for her and the whole team, as she’s ready to sacrifice her pride by acknowledging that she needs to become more sophisticated in her profession, even if it means being on the same level as much younger fellow cooks.

The Bear’s season 2 finally gives Tina some proper development, showing her as an excellent student who’s even invited by her peers to celebrate her achievements, something that previous and somewhat presumptuous Tina would never do.

As she indeed arrives at a bar where the whole party takes place, the character not only proves her desire to socialize more, but also shows her other talent by grabbing a microphone and blowing everyone away with her performance of Freddy Fender’s song Before the Next Teardrop Falls.

Though it came as a major update for the character, her big moment turned out to be a real nightmare for Tina’s actress. According to Liza Colón-Zayas, she was horrified by the idea of her singing because she never does karaoke, a fact she even mentioned while discussing the scene with the show’s creators.

Eventually not everything got to be so bad as the actress explained that she’d been consoled by showrunner Christopher Storer who told her it wasn’t her singing skills that mattered, but rather Tina’s decision to finally step out of her comfort zone.

The actress then praised the whole team’s work saying that “it's not about how well we do it but the courage to do it. It's part of the genius of [Storer and Calo], that they believe in us in ways that we don't see in ourselves, and I think that's essential to the show, that belief and creating tribes of people that will support you.”

The Bear is coming back with its season 3 on June 27.

Source: Entertainment Weekly