Kudos to remembering the banana story. A lot of reactors tend to forget that moment first time through. That said, think you missed that Joel McHale wasn’t really at opening night. Carmy was imagining him due to worry. That last scene he “appears” was meant to imply that the person actually there was just someone that looks like him.

The Pete and Donna scene absolutely breaks my heart. That and Richie and Carmy yelling at each other, "I fuckin love you!!!" ugh, I love this show.

the banana chocolate scene is what made that episode..Richie remembering this little fact for 4+ years, and then through his training/evolution takes the experience he saw through the restaurant he staged for, and recreates the surprise/personnal experience..is top tier evolution for Richie

So, the fridge. A lot of people in the industry comment that walk-ins have an emergency button you can just push and it will open the door; it exists precisely so people don't get locked in and freeze to death, and restaurants can't even open if that's not working. All of that is true. However, throughout the season they mention multiple times that Cicero is fast-tracking a lot of the paperwork for them through his connections, and Carmy never called the fridge guy. So I think the scene makes sense: they go to Cicero and he gets them the permits, even though the walk-in is so busted Carmy still has to call the fridge guy. He never calls the fridge guy, so the emergency latch doesn't work, so they have to cut the door open. Also can I just say, the most unrealistic thing about this episode is that this was opening night and only one person was high on drugs lmao, it's a sad reality that a LOT of people in the industry work abuse drugs and alcohol, everyone knows someone who'd be on the line drunk and/or high more often than not

It’s been 9 months and just thinking about that banana gets me choked up.

Rewatch the part where they get closer to the guy in the corner in the glasses who Carmy thinks was his old NYC boss - at one point somebody walks by and obstructs the view of him as the camera is zooming in, and then you see it's actually a completely different person, somebody who just vaguely looks like Carmy's old boss.

🐻👨‍🍳 Poor Donna, her eldest died and she finds out about her grandchild from Pete. I'm so happy that the show was nominated for a Peabody Award.

Great responses.