A lot of parallels can be drawn between the stories and themes The Bear explores in the series in the world of restaurants and how that reflects on the act of creating the series itself. One aspect of the first season was finding new footing, creating a language among the “chefs” at The Beef, and breaking down barriers between what had been done in the restaurant and what could be done. The series itself entered the television landscape providing people with a show they were unprepared to qualify because it prepared its ingredients differently. You’ll witness no greater arguments than between people about whether or not The Bear is a comedy. There are three, well, four, ingredients that the show has that lead people to conclude the show is a comedy. The first is, that in the first season, most episodes were around 30 minutes. People are not very familiar with half-hour dramas so they are predisposed to think of it as a comedy. The show contains some characters that are humorous and have good banter with each other, creating a nice patter. Sometimes episode premises have very sitcom-y elements like when the children pass out from accidentally Xanax spiked punch at a birthday party they are catering. And finally, because it was submitted and decided on by the award-voting bodies as a comedy series. However, just because a show has elements of a comedy the dish it makes need not reflect that, and in my opinion that is now, and has always been the case with The Bear. In its third season, it is still one of the tensest watches on television.
Two of the major plotlines this season were the closing of Ever, a three-starred restaurant that Carmy (played by Jeremy Allen White) in events before the series and seen in flashbacks, and then Richie (played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach) last season in the episode Forks (the series at its best) and the limbo of waiting for the review to drop. We are constantly seeing industries change. Even if Chef Terry (played by Olivia Colman) chose to exit Ever on her own terms, having done what she wanted with it, it still presents a scary mark of change and the end of an era. While that can mean new beginnings and opportunities, as presented to Sydney (played by Ayo Edebiri) in its wake, it makes the uncertainty of the future that much heavier over characters like Carmy, who are still waiting on a review to determine their fate.
I think the way the reviews played out and were showcased as they waited for the actual review to drop, with a bunch of varied and opposing takes, extreme highs and lows, to the eventual review that also used language that was both flattering and biting, providing a perfect distillation for a show that has lived on this knife’s edge of critical darling. However, when you are there, people are also looking for it to fail that is where the show is now. I felt that episodes were, at times, overly long and the cutting was sometimes weird. I’m not sure if the cutting is a reflection of Hulu or the production. However, I loved how the series continues to play with form.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Previous season finales left the audience with more of the storylines wrapped up, but this season still had many of them up in the air. Marcus spent much of the season trying to bring “magic” and while we got a fun episode opening on sleight-of-hand, we never saw a payoff to this. Carmy offered Sydney a partnership but when she gets another offer post-Ever’s closing announcement, a better offer and one that would allow her to be the head chef, we never see her tell Carmy about it, leaving that still up in the air. Carmy had previously been informed that Uncle Jimmy (played by Oliver Platt) can no longer support the restaurant (Uncle Jimmy is facing financial troubles) and that if the review is bad, that is it for the restaurant. Before Carmy looked at the review there were missed messages from Uncle Jimmy, but the fate of the restaurant isn’t revealed.
These storylines and answers are being pushed into next season, making this season feel a little under-fed. Some will say it’s because of the side stories the series embarks on, but its ability to wrap those into the themes of the show has always been a strength. This season felt like there needed to be at least a couple more episodes to wrap up some of these threads rather than leaving this feeling like a half-season.
The Bear is available to watch on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in regions like Canada.
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