Dominic Sessa Summons the Rapscallion Spirit of Anthony Bourdain in the Exhilarating, Tender Tony

This is how Tony, who will eventually become Anthony, falls for the restaurant life: The chaos of the kitchen, the unruly, often drug-addicted personalities, the power to put together meals that people can enjoy with friends, and maybe even remember long after the fact. Sessa is perfect as the swain Bourdain: He’s got that just-fallen-out-of-bed look—perhaps because he literally has just fallen out of bed, or, more accurately, a hammock—but he’s also hungry and inquisitive in a touching way. At first charged with the lowly task of dishwashing, he furtively watches his kitchen colleagues—including Leo Woodall’s Sal, who becomes both a friend and a terrible influence—as they expertly shuck oysters, or slam the lever on a heavy-duty potato slicer as if it were the arm of a slot machine, usually while talking trash about one another. Suddenly, he’s found the place where he belongs. Banderas’ Chef spots Tony’s spark of potential before he does: One of the cardinal rules he’s instituted for his employees is that they must never be even 15 minutes late. To that end, every workday morning he rouses Tony from the snoozy coziness of his hammock with a bucket of water. He doesn’t want this kid to fail, and though Tony has loving, albeit perhaps too permissive, parents (they’re played by Rich Sommer and Dagmara Dominczyk), this is just the kick in the pants he needs.