If you’ve seen FX’s The Bear, you know that one of the funniest moments comes in episode 4 when Jeremy Allen White’s Carm realizes that he has inadvertently dosed a bunch of kids with the potent (and kinda lovely sounding) combo of Xanax and Ecto Cooler (orange-tangerine Hi-C) at a birthday party. It’s a moment that, like seemingly everything else in the young chef/flailing restauranteur’s life, inspires panic, but worry quickly fades when Oliver Platt’s Uncle Jimmy lets him off the hook, thrilled to have a break from a bunch of screaming children.
Again, it’s a great bit made better by Carm’s assumption that kids in 2022 would know what Ecto Cooler even is considering it was a staple of the ’80s and ’90s tied to the Real Ghosbusters cartoon (though it has come back occasionally tied to the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot and the 2021 legacy sequel). Carm’s idiot brother-in-law is the only person who seems to really geek out over it, making proton pack noises and being a general dork, but it’s his proclamation that the concoction was “like identical” that got our attention. And so when we spoke with White ahead of the season premiere, we asked him and got a soul-crushing response.
“No, no. [Laughs] I don’t know what it was. It was like Mountain Dew and Altoids. It was movie magic.”
I’m crushed, how about you? Still, it’s not super surprising considering how many ingredients are needed to simulate the former Hi-C juice box delight and how fast-paced everything was on The Bear. Someone tossing some Mountain Dew and a few Altoids into a drum before yelling “action” feels in the spirit of the fast-paced and improvisational culinary world of the show, does it not? And besides, it does look the part.
If you’re not similarly busy and want to take the time to try and copy one of the greats, though, this Ghostbusters News video can take you through it. Just try to not dose yourself in the process.
All episodes of ‘The Bear’ are streaming on Hulu now.