As we gear up to return to the kitchen for Season 4 of FX‘s The Bear, we’re taking a look back at one of Season 3’s best episodes, “Ice Chips,” with star Abby Elliott, who plays Natalie Berzatto, affectionately referred to as Sugar by those closest to her in the kitchen dramedy.

“I call her both,” Elliott tells TV Insider, referring to the way she addresses her character. “Carmy calls her Sugar for the most part, sometimes Nat, but Pete, for the most part, calls her Nat,” Elliott adds, noting her onscreen brother and husband’s names for her. Whether you call her Sugar, Nat, or Natalie, there’s no denying she’s one of the true hearts at the center of this culinary series. Supporting her brother, Chef Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), Natalie keeps the books at their up-and-coming titular restaurant as they attempt to earn a Michelin star.

In the third season’s eighth installment, Natalie finds herself stuck in traffic after going out to pick up supplies when she goes into labor. With her husband, Pete (Chris Witaske), out of town and unavailable via phone, she tries ringing Carmy’s partner, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), her brother, and several of the kitchen staff without luck, unaware that all their phones are in a locker until the end of dinner service, forcing her to call on mom Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis).

What follows is a moving half-hour of television as Natalie tries to work with what she’s got, attempting to lean on Donna for support, but ultimately having to make several adjustments before she finds a comfortable position both figuratively and literally. Below, Elliott reflects on the episode by revealing how her own birth experience influenced her performance, sharing how she tapped into emotions for the sweet musical moment, and the significance of Natalie calling on Sydney first.

When you were told there would be a Natalie-centric episode, did that raise anxiety or excitement? 

Abby Elliott: I think both. I knew that it was going to happen before we started shooting, obviously, but when I was giving birth to my actual son in real life… I recorded my contractions to go back and watch, because I had this task of having to actually convey labor in a realistic way, and also to have this beautiful emotional episode. I was ready to get to work, and so excited for the episode. Also knowing that it was with Jamie, I knew that I would be completely comfortable, safe, and supported as an actor. She’s just so incredible to work with, and having worked with her during the “Seven Fishes” episode, I knew what to expect in the way of how she works, and she makes you feel so comfortable right away. So as soon as I heard [about the episode], I was like, “This is just such a gift and let’s f**king go.”

You brought up giving birth to your real-life son. Did having that experience prior to this episode make approaching filming easier? 

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Yeah, I think that was such a big focus of mine to make it seem extremely realistic and have you almost feel the pain with me. And yeah, it definitely helped having done it twice now, you have these excruciating contractions and then they end, and you’re just like, “Well, what now?” You feel fine. And so Sugar is now stuck in a birthing room with the last person she wants to be with, but also the person that she needs there, who’s the closest to her, who’s also gone through labor. And so she needs to feel reassured in this calm manner. And then Donna will go on a rant about her having her father’s ass and Sugar’s like, “What? That’s not what I need from you right now.” And then she surprises her and tells her this comforting birth story and holds her.

The whole thing was just such a gift, and I had never really seen labor depicted on camera in a realistic way that didn’t really end with happiness, there’s a baby in my arms. And so I thought that was really cool and special after I read Joanna Calo’s script. This isn’t what this episode is about at all. It’s not about the result. It’s the journey and the relationship, and even their relationship at the end.

While in the hospital room, Natalie tells Donna she’s been driven to sickness over worrying about her. And Natalie also admits her biggest fear is that she just wants her baby to “be okay,” which is a similar sentiment to her concern for Donna in Season 2’s “Seven Fishes” episode. Is Natalie’s hyper-empathy her biggest weakness, or do you think it’s a superpower? 

I think you hit the nail on the head. It’s a weakness, but it’s also her superpower. I think it’s something that a lot of women can relate to, too, being the fixer, and especially in a family of chaos and trauma, trying so desperately to bring everybody together and have things be okay. And that’s all Sugar has really wanted. They’re picking, picking up the pieces still from Mikey’s death, and she’s focusing on Carmy so much because that’s how she can deal with this. If I focus on my brother, then I’ve dealt with my s**t, so I’m just going to focus on my brother, which is not necessarily…

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Focusing on herself.

Exactly. And I think also with Sugar, before she had the baby, her anxiety she put into the restaurant because she loved her brother, so she kind of ignored the fact that she was pregnant for a long time and focused solely on the restaurant, I think in order to make Carmy happy and make it work for him because he needs this. It’s a universal theme among a lot of women, and I’ve had so many people come up to me and say that they relate to Sugar because they’re the Sugar in their family.

When Donna plays The Ronettes‘ “Baby, I Love You,” she and Natalie share a sweet moment of connection. Was it easy falling into the emotions of that scene with that song as an aid? 

Yeah, I mean, it’s such a universal thing. You think about your own parents or your daughter in that moment, too. That was, for me, what I was thinking about. And just everybody’s a kid of somebody. It is sort of like when you see your parent as a human for the first time, I think Sugar in that moment was seeing her mom [as a human] for the first time, as someone who birthed her into the world and had dreams and hopes for her and loved her in that moment. And then there is that connection of like, “Oh, wait, we both want the best for our baby, and you have f**ked this all up, but you’re still trying.” And that’s just what’s so devastatingly haunting about it. She’s desperately tried not to repeat her mom’s patterns, and then I think she really sees her in that moment.

Before Natalie arrives at the hospital, she’s caught in traffic and calling everyone she can think of to try and accompany her to the hospital. What’s the significance of her calling Sydney first? 

I think going back to the omelet, that’s probably the catalyst for what she was thinking when she called Sydney first. She knows that there’s no way that Carmy is going to be available at this moment. And Sydney is the competent one in the team, which says something about how Sugar feels about Carmy. Going to Sydney first was definitely going back to the omelet of it all. [Sydney] cared in this moment, she’s going to alert everybody, she’s the leader here, and then she goes down the list.

That driving scene… I was actually panicking that day on set because I had broken my ankle that weekend in Chicago. I had only gone to the ER, so they were like, “You’re going to need to be on crutches.” And I was like, “I’ve got to film.” And so then I went to the doctor the next day, they were like, “It’s fine, you could be in a boot for a couple of weeks and you’ll be fine.” So I was just in a boot. But anyway, that day I thought I wasn’t going to be able to walk for the remainder of shooting for the season.

Natalie is adamant she’s going to give birth without drugs. Does that stem from a need to control things in her life?

Yeah, she comes in with this list, she knows what she wants and what she doesn’t want, so she thinks she does. And then she also needs a sounding board. She needs someone there to support her. And Donna’s like, “No, no, no, [you need the drugs].” But it is that feeling of needing control. And I remember with my first, especially, I really wanted things to go a certain way, and they didn’t. And with a second, I was like, “Yeah, whatever.” I think that is totally her need for control, and also to stick it to her mom a little.

Natalie is resistant to Donna’s advice initially, but she quickly learns her mom knows what she’s talking about. How important is it for Natalie to acknowledge her mother’s good advice, especially after shutting her out of sharing in Natalie’s pregnancy journey? 

It is important for her to have that realization. I think the big thing is the shared experience of birth, and as, yes, “he-he-he” works, the ice chips are the best thing she’s ever had in that moment, and mother knows best in this moment, and that’s terrifying and scary for Sugar. And as headstrong as Sugar is going in, I think towards the end of it, it is this sort of softening of, “Okay, you were here, you were in the same place as me,” and Sugar has empathy for her mom, as much as she has shut that part of her herself down. When it comes to Donna, she’s definitely very guarded, and so in that moment, that wall breaks down.

FX’s The Bear, Season 4 Premiere, Wednesday, June 25, Hulu