Television series love to give viewers the gift of a good Christmas episode, but there’s never been one quite like “Fishes,” the sixth episode of the second season of “The Bear.”

It begins with the wafting sound of Andy Williams singing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and ends with the family matriarch crashing her car through the house.

In between, we’re thrust into a chaotic family gathering, five years back in time, in which three adult children navigate their way through awkward conversations with relatives (blood and honorary) while managing their alcoholic mother, who’s teetering on collapse while trying to prepare the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Even for a show known for its tense, emotionally exhausting storytelling, “Fishes” put its audience through the wringer, not that anyone seemed to mind.

Of the 23 Emmy nominations “The Bear” received this year, nine were specifically for “Fishes.”

This is the story of how it all came together.

CHAPTER 1

Jamie Lee Curtis (Donna Berzatto):I had heard about this show, and I turn on the first episode. You don’t know what the (expletive) is going on. You see this guy. He’s frantic. He needs money for the restaurant. He calls his sister to bring a jacket so he can sell it. She brings the jacket. They hug and it’s awkward. There’s this weird tension. At some point, she asks “Have you called Mom?” And he says “No” and she leaves. And I went “Oh, I’m going to play their mother.”

Jeremy Allen White (Carmen Berzatto): She told me that on set the first day. It was wild. You know, Jamie sidesteps the small talk. She gets straight to the point.

Jon Bernthal (Michael Berzatto): I remember meeting her, she gave me this kiss, in character, and said “You know, you were always my favorite.” I guarantee you she said that to every single one of us. I just know it!

White: Yeah, she wrote Carm a letter, and I think it was signed “You’re the one.”

Abby Elliott (Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto): Jamie gave me children’s books for my kids. She was just the kindest, warmest, fuzziest person — until she put that wig on.

Bernthal: When she put that wig on, she became like a volcano with a tidal wave attached to it.

CHAPTER 2

Joanna Calo (showrunner, executive producer, co-writer of “Fishes”): We pitched the episode for Season 1, but it ended up exactly where it was supposed to be. Fifteen episodes in, you knew the family, and now we could go back and show why they behave like they do. Then we thought, “Let’s do Christmas.” And Chris was like, “Well, we gotta do Seven Fishes then.”

Andrew Wehde (cinematographer): We shot at this house in Evanston, (Illinois), except for the dinner scene. That was a set. The idea was to give the actors a safe space to have unlimited freedom. We prelit it all. Jamie could come into that kitchen and just start cooking immediately.

Elliott: That scene in the kitchen is just one long take, and it felt like a play. When I’m down on my knees cleaning up and Jamie grabbed my face, that’s all Jamie. Chris came up to me after and said “Oh, my God, that look on your face! You looked so scared!” And I genuinely did not remember doing that. It was like I had an out-of-body experience with Jamie.

Calo: It’s usually the matriarchs doing all the work to make these Christmases nice for their families, and it’s just ... miserable. It felt like a great way to tell a food story that wasn’t in a restaurant. There’s no level of appreciation that would make it work for Donna. The dinner starts as a gift. And eventually it becomes “I gave for so many years. Why didn’t anyone give back?”

Curtis: “I make things beautiful for them, and no one makes things beautiful for me.” That has become an anthem for so many women. That has become a refrain of feeling unloved, unseen, unappreciated. And many people feel like their mothers would say the same thing as Donna. And I can relate to that phrase too, even though I have a lot of people helping me in my life.

CHAPTER 3

Bernthal: If anyone knows how to push your buttons, it’s family. Because they know you intimately. And there’s history and resentment and love.

Elliott: Why does Natalie ask Donna if she’s OK even after Carmy and Mikey tell her not to? I mean, somebody had to. They’re just going to put their heads down and ignore Donna, but Natalie can’t do that.

Bernthal: Mikey was romanticized in the first season as this larger-than-life figure who could take over a room. With “Fishes,” you get to see the other side of that. You get to see the ugliness, the despair, the hopelessness. He’s a dreamer who’s not allowed to dream. He has to take care of everybody. So that scene with Carmen in the closet ... he is so proud of his brother and so in awe of him. But there’s also this unbelievable amount of jealousy and frustration that he’ll never be able to do that.

White: Carm clocked that his brother was in trouble, just not the severity. I don’t think Carm’s ever been outside of himself enough to really take in another person in their entirety, sadly. I think that’s Carmen’s real struggle. Also, I think he was in survival mode that whole dinner, fight or flight.

Bernthal: When Carmy gives him that present (the plans for their new restaurant), he sees how much hope he has in him. It’s so beautiful and Carmy wants it so bad. But Mikey absolutely knows where he’s headed and he’s horrified. He knows he can’t stop the train at this point. What a tragic thing to realize. “I’m doomed.”

Curtis: That scene when Carmen comes into the kitchen and tries to force Donna to come to the dinner table, I held back. I wanted to slap the (expletive) out of him in one take.

White: Did she not? She slapped me. If that wasn’t a slap, then I’m scared of what she had in mind.

CHAPTER 4

Bernthal: The start of the episode, Mikey’s trying to keep the peace. “Don’t push Donna.” Like Donna’s the real live wire. It’s not Mikey. But Lee has been delivering these jugular jabs the whole day, talking about the failed businesses. So by the time they sit down at the dinner table, Mikey’s like, “Let’s just burn the whole thing down.”

Bob Odenkirk (“Uncle” Lee Lane): Keep in mind, Uncle Lee may be prized in some circles for his bluntness and intensity and steely self-assurance, though I think that kind of bluntness, often celebrated as “he doesn’t suffer fools,” is really just “being an (expletive).”

Bernthal: (When Michael threatens to hurl a fork at Lee,) we started with rubber forks, but they weren’t hitting Bob’s face right. It didn’t look violent at all. I have a rule with stunts: If I slap you, then we can turn the cameras off and you can slap me. And I said that to Bob. “Let me throw this at you and you can throw it right back at me.” Everybody laughed and thought I was crazy.

Elliott: I felt such sadness for Mikey at that table. It was such a circus. And then Donna finally comes in and Natalie can’t help herself and she asks the question.

Curtis: Everyone’s praising her. What she thinks: “You’re lying to me.” And then Natalie asks if she’s OK, it’s like, “I’m your problem? You want to see a problem?” I can imagine Donna Berzatto back in the day in a bar fight. So without understanding why she drives the car into the house, it’s the ultimate “(expletive) you people.” And then she’s laughing in the car. She thinks it’s the funniest thing that ever happened.

EPILOGUE

White: I was surprised at how relatable the episode was. I had so many people come up to me and say “This was my Christmas in 2016” or “That was my Thanksgiving.” Aside from the car coming through the house, of course.

Bernthal: The biggest comment I get walking down the street is: “This is why I don’t go home for Christmas.”