Natalie is portrayed several times throughout The Bear as being apprehensive about the arrival of her first child. Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto, who is played by Abby Elliot of Saturday Night Live acclaim, has been featured in 27 of The Bear’s 28 total episodes and is the sister of Carmy and Mikey. She’s married to Pete, a plain yet sweet guy who is the complete opposite of the impulsive and passionate Berzatto family.

It was first revealed that Natalie was pregnant towards the end of The Bear season 2 right around the time when she started to take on a more active role in managing the finances of Carmy’s new restaurant. Natalie is depicted in the fan-favorite flashback episode “Fishes” from season 2, which reveals major plot points in the backstory of the Berzatto family, particularly regarding her mother Donna. Donna, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, appears once again in season 3, episode 8 “Ice Chips” to help Natalie give birth.

Nat Is Afraid Of Repeating Her Mom’s Mistakes With Her Baby

Natalie wants to do better for her child than Donna did for her and Carmy

Image via FX/Hulu

In “Ice Chips”, which takes place nearly entirely in Natalie’s delivery room at the hospital, Natalie tries her best to create a peaceful environment for her baby to come into. Natalie had been preparing for this moment for a while but did not expect to have to call her mom Donna and rely on her for support after driving herself to the emergency room. Although Natalie loves Donna, as does Carmy, they have both experienced traumatic situations through her often uncontrollable behavior and emotional outbursts.

Natalie calls Donna as a last resort but it ends up making for a wholesome yet frantic experience. One of the reasons why Carmy is so driven in The Bear is because he wanted to get far away from his arguably toxic home life, especially Donna, after she drove her car into their family home on Christmas. Because of all these unhinged and traumatic experiences with her mom, Natalie is worried that she won’t be able to nurture her child in a loving way and break the cycle of generational trauma passed down to her and Carmy.

Nat Is Also Scared Of Bringing A Baby Into The Chaos Of The Berzatto Family

The Berzattos are loving and supportive but also impassioned and over-the-top

The Berzatto family, and most of the extended family of Faks and Jerimovichs in The Bear, are glued together by deep love and support but also are unified by shared chaos. Natalie wishes to shield her new baby away from the chaos of family life for so long, which makes sense as to why she would be with someone as plain and normal as Pete. Despite Donna’s best efforts, she often lets her emotions get the best of her, which overrides the quality of her relationships with her children. While Carmy and Natalie love Donna in The Bear, they hesitate as adults to reach out because it’s always a handful.