Season 2 Recap
Attention, Chefs! Your favorite anxiety-inducing comedy (?) The Bear is back! For those who need a quick refresher on what happened last season, Season 2 ended with Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) trapped inside the walk-in fridge, leaving the rest of the kitchen crew to take over the orders. This was after Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) repeatedly reminded him to fix the door handle, to which Carm would say he would take care of it and instantly forget (typical Carm). While it wasn’t the official restaurant opening—it was a preview dinner—failing in front of his friends and family made it all the more personal. Carmy got into a nasty shouting match with Ritchie through the fridge door saying things like “you need me” and “you’re a loser,” (in between other four-letter words). Even more devastating he verbally unleashes his angry thoughts out loud, blaming his recent failure on his new relationship with his girlfriend Claire, unaware that she was listening on the other side of the door. The season ends with Carmy alone with his thoughts, transforming into the restless bear stuck in a metal cage that we’ve seen flashes of since Season 1.
“Tomorrow” Answers ‘What Happened the Next Day?’
Season 3’s debut episode, “Tomorrow,” immediately picks up the day after the friends and family dinner. With Sydney in charge the previous night, things went relatively smoothly, but Carm has taken his absence to heart, assuring Sydney it won’t happen again. Carm’s abusive training, shown in flashbacks, have conditioned him for perfection while also making him “probably, very mentally ill” he admits. But it’s clear from the start that Carm is also motivated by the opportunity to suppress any negative emotions from the breakup by unhealthily putting all of his energy into the restaurant—hiding his emotions through his work, which Syd sees through right away. He does this by quitting smoking—not because of health reasons but because it wastes valuable time (“every second counts”)—and by coming up with a list of “non-negotiables.” The extensive list includes labeling time codes on all of the food and changing the menu every day, promising that those are the steps required in order for them to earn a star, to the dismay of Ritchie and the entire kitchen.
“Tomorrow” boldly slows down the rapid editing the show is known for in favor of contemplative montage backed by a somber piano, allowing Carmy to reflect on the choices he’s made, which led him to own The Bear. We see exactly where he was when his brother Michael died—getting bullied by David Fields (Joel McHale)—and how he wasn’t there for his funeral. Similarly, we get confirmation that Marcus’ mom died while he was working at the friends and family night. The show has grown accustomed to using extreme closeups so we see every bead of sweat coming out of every pore, taking us as close as we can to get inside of the characters heads. “Tomorrow” is all about Carmy’s long and strenuous journey to New York, Copenhagen, and eventually back to Chicago. But it also serves to warn audiences that this season will have a much more subtle tone made up of individual character moments and memories than what we’ve seen before.
Season 3 Review
A new concept introduced in Season 3 is the idea of “haunting,” where someone who has been wronged will intimidate the other person through immature pranks over a period of time. This is demonstrated by the first appearance of yet another Fak, Sammy, played by the always-reliable comedic presence John Cena. He is initially called to buff the floors of The Bear, but that doesn’t get in the way of his haunt of Ted where he pops out randomly, makes loud noises and essentially plays mind games with him until he apologizes or says the password for him to stop. It doesn’t matter that the haunt started with something insignificant like Ted stealing his SD cards, a haunt can last years in the Fak family as its later revealed.
While this is a silly prank played for laughs, the idea of being haunted is the core of what Season 3 is about. Each character is haunted by their past, and almost none of them get any closure for it. Carm is the most haunted this season and floats silently around the kitchen like a ghost. He is haunted by his brother Mike and the fact that he was in New York when he died. He’s haunted by his relationship with Claire and really any meaningful relationship getting in the way of the restaurant. He’s also haunted by his traumatic past from the abusive chef David Fields (Joel McHale) and his own mother and family. Syd is haunted by the idea of failure. Ritchie is haunted by the idea of not living up to his potential for himself and his daughter. The Bear is the haunted house all of our characters reside in as they try to keep it afloat with their sanity intact.
The problem with Season 3 is that, minus a few exceptions, showrunner Christopher Storer is content with stewing with the same ghosts that were established in previous seasons without developing them further or giving them any resolution. The show frequently relies on montage and flashes to moments from previous seasons, in case we forgot, but doesn’t show us what happens on the main floor of the restaurant aside from the madness behind the kitchen. It starts to feel like we’re the ones who are locked in the fridge wondering what’s going on outside. And while the show might have made Emmys history for most nominations in the comedy category, the stakes feel like they have gotten too high to joke around as they try to earn a star and positive reviews from critics and customers. Is The Bear a successful restaurant? That, like many threads this season is left unanswered, which leaves a bitter aftertaste.
Season 3 Continues to Add Celebrity Cameos (Spoilers)
For those wondering, Season 3 continues to have different celebrity cameos. I already mentioned John Cena’s appearance as the third Fak brother, Josh Hartnett is revealed to be Ritchie’s ex’s husband in Episode 4 (“Violet”), and Jaime Lee Curtis returns in episode 8 (“Ice Chips) where she is forced to confront her failure as a mother to Sugar, who is on the verge of becoming a mom herself for the first time. While it’s funny to see Cena naturally fit in as another loud and immature Fak, Curtis is the one who has the most screen time and makes the best use of it. “Ice Chips” begins with Sugar rushing to the hospital after her water breaks. And because of Carmy’s new non-negotiables saying that nobody can have their phone during service, she eventually turns to the last person she wants to: her mom.
We don’t get to spend much time with Sugar in the show outside of flashbacks and brief moments because she doesn’t work in the kitchen, but “Ice Chips” shoots her pregnancy with the same chaos that we are familiar with from their food services. It’s also a nice redemption for Donna who skipped out on the opening of The Bear in Season 2 finale but who is the one most qualified to help Sugar as she tries—and fails—to micromanage her pregnancy like she does the restaurant. The two of them have great chemistry together, capturing the sweaty awkwardness and pain that comes with pregnancy; it also ends with a dagger to the heart as Donna recalls how each of her pregnancies went and finally apologizes for her past actions. The episode works as a preview of how Carmy could potentially reconnect with his family if he allows himself to, as well.
As in previous seasons, real-life celebrity chefs continue to appear as themselves, particularly in the finale “Forever.” The best thing I can say about the chef cameos is that they’re not awful or too distracting. But the finale does give them a lot of screen time to recount stories about what they love or hate about cooking or how far they’ve come. I don’t watch Top Chef or keep up with that world, so I was not familiar with any of them or really that interested in these scenes; I mostly found myself wondering when Carmy would finally get a word in. For the main character of the show he seems like a vacant presence who isn’t interested in talking about anything unless it relates to the food or the restaurant, and so as a result it’s easy to zone out during these scenes just like Carmy is.
Which Episode from Season 3 is the Best?
The sixth episode, “Napkins,” directed by Ayo Adebiri (Sydney), is without a doubt, the highlight of the new season. Similar to Season 2’s episode “Forks,” which follows Ritchie’s week of working as a sous, or Marcus’ adventures in Copenhagen in “Honeydew,” the episode follows Tina’s journey before getting to The Bear. We get to appreciate just how difficult it was for her to get a job at her age after getting laid off from a job she had been at for 15 years. From Season 1, Tina’s loyalty and love of The Beef restaurant was clear, and now we see how the restaurant was a lifeline for her as the modern workforce rejected her time and time again.
We also get an extended scene with her and Mikey (Jon Bernthal), which makes me wonder if showrunner Christopher Storer regrets killing him off in Season 1. Bernthal is one of the most arresting actors working today and in his single scene with Tina he brings the most characterization and emotion this season, just like he did in the famous “Fishes” episode in Season 2. While Mikey is mostly kept alive through conversations from the people who worked at The Beef, nothing compares to Bernthal getting to fill in the character himself. Mikey may have had his problems, but when he sees a distraught Tina, he lays out his own unflattering life as the owner of a failing restaurant in an act of tender empathy. He offers her napkins (the title of the episode) to wipe away her tears and eventually a job. Ritchie and Tina were very protective of the restaurant when Carmy and Syd first took over and it’s here where we find out why: Mikey took in people who could thrive in the loud and fast-paced environment and formed his own family at The Beef—The Bear is just an extension of Mikey’s original family with Carmy’s added members. Ultimately, “Napkins” reminded me of why it’s so easy to love The Bear: The show provides us brief glimpses in time, adding rich flavor to these flawed characters in the overall story.
How Does Season 3 Compare to the Other Seasons?
If there is one thing Season 3 lacks that the first two have, it’s the sense of a final destination to work toward. Season 1 worked towards turning The Beef restaurant around after Carmy inherited it and all its problems from his brother; Season 2 counted down the weeks until it would reopen as The Bear; and Season 3—initially planned to be the final season—shows us how the dysfunctional kitchen runs on a daily basis, but sets up a lot of things for Season 4 without resolving any of them. Similar to how movie franchises have started splitting their final entries into Part 1 and Part 2 (Harry Potter, Hunger Games), this season felt like Season 3: Part One and Season 4 will essentially be Season 3: Part Two.
It’s not inherently bad for creators to stretch stories to their limits. I love this world and the characters that live in it. I just don’t like to be surprised when any film or season of TV is revealed to be an incomplete story; this was part of my problem with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. With Dune, I knew there was a ton of story that would be split across the two of movies so I didn’t mind, and the same went for Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part 1 because they told me in the title that this would be one half of a full story arc. It logically makes sense for Carmy to be in his head this season after failing his first night at The Bear and in losing his girlfriend Claire. But it’s still a full season of television that needs to justify its existence beyond “this show has won Emmys now and has a bigger budget to afford more celebrity cameos and seasons.”
Syd gets the email to become Carm’s partner in the first episode of Season 3 and doesn’t even open it until the final episode, Marcus and Syd never get a chance to talk about their friction from last season, Carm doesn’t have a single scene with Claire (aside from flashbacks), and we’re told The Bear is not making any money, but we don’t see any of that real-life tension beyond Unc dropping in once and a while to remind them of that. Everything is a level removed this season. Even the final climax, the publishing of an online review by The Chicago Tribune, is purposefully kept from the audience with Storer only showing us select words and leaving us with a “To Be Continued…” card. Carmy closes the season by belting out a signature “motherfucker!” Motherfucker is right. Would it kill to have some closure?
Season 3 Final Thoughts
Overall, Season 3’s felt like a somber goodbye for the show when there’s still a whole other season left! Maybe it would have worked had we gotten some resolutions between characters—Ritchie and Carm, for example—but it did start to feel like a lot of teasing for the final season instead of a complete season that stands on its own. The ingredients that made The Bear a phenomenon are still there—the inspired music choices, the food-porn cinematography, and the overlapping dialogue—but, like Carmy, they feel like a shell of previous seasons. I’m not going to do what some critics have in overreacting to this season and claim that The Bear has always been a bad show because it hasn’t. It’s done its job in getting us to care about these working men and women as they navigate through a highly stressful environment. But while other seasons raced, this one floats.
Even though the entire season was highly anticipated, the conversation seems to have stopped before it began. Part of that can be blamed on Hulu’s continued baffling release strategy of dumping the entire season out at once, compared to how successful something like House of the Dragon is with their weekly schedule. Not only do we not get time to appreciate each episode on its own, it further amplifies the fact that Season 3 has a noticeable lack of memorable moments or episodes to talk about; “Ice Chips” and “Napkins” are the standouts, but most of it feels like appetizers for the main course.
I’m still excited for what Season 4 has in store, but the undeniable momentum that the show had after Season 2 seems like it has waned a bit. I suspect Season 3 will wet most fans’ appetites, but Season 4 has a lot to add to the menu that was missing here compared to previous seasons. I also predict that Season 4 will begin like Season 3 with the immediate fallout of whatever the food critic had to say about The Bear. Whatever it says, there are a lot of loose threads that need to be tied. Who knows, maybe the reception from the review will force the characters to finally confront the feelings they held onto so tightly in Season 3? Here’s hoping they quit holding out and truly let it rip next season.
Final Rating:
‘The Bear’ is streaming now on Hulu and Disney+.
Rated TV-MA.
(Photos: Hulu)
