[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Bear, Season 2 Episode 7, “Forks.”]
There are some great needle drops throughout the second season of FX’s The Bear — Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” The Psychedelic Furs’ “Pretty in Pink,” Nine Inch Nails’ “The Day the World Went Away,” Liz Phair’s “Supernova.” But perhaps the most memorable is also the most unexpected, as Taylor Swift’s “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” ends up being the song that gets stuck in your head after watching “Forks,” the show’s stellar seventh episode.
It’s not the use of Taylor Swift that’s unexpected, but the context: “Forks” reveals that Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), the toughest guy in the kitchen, is at least aware of her music, because his young daughter’s enough of a fan to want concert tickets. Which is fitting, because as executive producer and music supervisor Josh Senior tells Consequence, it was a real-life Taylor Swift concert that inspired the plot choice.
“We came up with the idea to include Taylor Swift into the world of the show as way to connect Richie to Tiffany [Richie’s ex-wife, played by Gillian Jacobs] and his daughter,” Senior says via email. “While we were writing and prepping the show, a few of us got tickets to see Taylor Swift and take in all of the different types of people that go to her shows. It felt like the perfect way to bridge those three characters together.”
The idea that Richie’s daughter is a Taylor Swift fan gets introduced early in the season, but becomes more prominent in “Forks,” as Richie gets sent to stage at one of the best restaurants in the world. At first, he sees the gig as a punishment from Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), but soon he comes to embrace the restaurant’s philosophy of service and hospitality above all else. By the end of the episode, Richie’s a changed man — even singing along to “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” while driving by himself.
Senior says that in making requests like the one for “Love Story,” “we generally try to include personal outreach when going for songs that we know might be challenging to land, and with Taylor Swift, the process could not have been more lovely and straightforward. The team was incredibly supportive and collaborative from our first outreach.”
Which was undoubtedly a relief, because Senior says that they didn’t have any ideas for artists as backup options: “This was the plan.”
Of course, one question will have to remain unanswered: Did Moss-Bachrach already know the lyrics to “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)? “That’s a great question, you’d have to ask Ebon,” Senior says, but unfortunately, the actor was unavailable for comment. Senior does say, though, that “I know his process involves a lot of research, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you see a lot of Taylor’s music on his Spotify end-of-year wrapped list.”
The funny thing is, Richie singing “Love Story” isn’t even the most memorable part of “Forks” (your mileage may vary, but surprise Olivia Colman with a paring knife is pretty hard to beat). However, what makes “Forks” such a powerful installment is its message about how every detail matters in the pursuit of excellence. Nothing is inconsequential, whether it be the perfectly polished forks of a Michelin-star restaurant, or a perfectly selected song.
The Bear Season 2 is streaming now on Hulu.
