LIFE & CULTURE

‘Sweetbitter’ Season 2 Teases Bad News For Tess And Jake’s Relationship

The kitchen is heating up

Mark your calendars. Sweetbitter – the hit show based on Stephanie Danler’s best-selling book – is returning for season two on Stan come Monday, July 15th. 

Sweetbitter follows 22-year-old Tess (Ella Purnell) who, shortly after arriving in New York City, lands a job at a celebrated downtown restaurant. Enter: Tess’ love interest Jake one of the bartenders with a mysterious past. Naturally, drama ensues but their ‘will they or won’t they’ relationship is fraught with enough twists and turns to keep you hooked until the last episode. 

Season two asks the question, what comes after being new? Tess has the job, and she’s ready to invest in it. She’s all in, but soon realises she won’t survive at the restaurant if she doesn’t play the game. 

Tess finds her appetite awakened. She’s starving for knowledge but investing in this life means more than knowing the difference between wine from Bordeaux and Burgundy. Tess discovers that knowledge alone is not enough: she needs to be able to use it, to move from her head to her body. She needs experience.

Tess’s appetite carries her through a sexual awakening, a discovery of her voice, and, ultimately, a recognition of her own power. However, not everyone shares this hunger. Simone, Jake and Howard are all trapped, by both the restaurant and each other, leaving Tess to question what she wants from the restaurant, and what it wants from her.

In addition to Purnell, “Sweetbitter” stars Caitlin FitzGerald (“Masters of Sex”), Tom Sturridge (“The Hollow Crown”), Paul Sparks (“The Girlfriend Experience”), Evan Jonigkeit (X Men: Days of Future Past), Eden Epstein (“In Between Men”), Jasmine Mathews (“Blue Bloods”), and Daniyar (“Claws”).  Stuart Zicherman (“The Americans”) returns as showrunner and executive producer along with Stephanie Danler, author of the bestselling novel of the same name, as creator and executive producer. Plan B also executive produces the series.

This article originally appeared on InStyle.

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