The series follows Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, an award-winning New York City chef de cuisine, who returns to his hometown of Chicago to run his late brother Michael's failing Italian beef sandwich shop.
Stuck in the traffic, an agitated Natalie (Abby Elliott) calls Pete, Sydney, Carmy, Marcus and Richie, but no one is able to respond due to the start of service.
As they await for further instructions, Natalie reveals she did not tell Donna about her pregnancy due to fear over spreading the family's dysfunction to her child.
Fak (Matty Matheson) and Theodore (Ricky Staffieri) arrive to console an emotionally drained Donna, who is overjoyed to become a grandmother.
In May 2024, Hulu confirmed that the eighth episode of the season would be titled "Ice Chips", and was to be written by executive producer Joanna Calo, and directed by series creator Christopher Storer.
[2] The episode featured many songs, including "New Noise" by Refused, "13 Ghosts II" by Nine Inch Nails, and "Baby, I Love You" by The Ronettes.
Club gave the episode an "A" grade and wrote, "I expected “Ice Chips” to start out bad and only get worse, like “Fishes.” (I don't know about you, but I was so sure that Donna was lying when she assured Nat that she'd called Pete.)
Jamie Lee Curtis and Abby Elliott look how they look, crying and mussed hair, and there's no over-the-top comedic screaming or wacko water breaking.
And unlike the constant YELLING of those other episodes, “Ice Chips” relies on uncomfortable silences and unspoken trauma to ramp up the anxiety.