Recently renewed for a third season, FX’s The Bear is a rare gem of a show. Carmy (Jeremey Allen White) is presented as an accomplished and recognized top chef who takes over restaurant The Beef after the sudden suicide of his estranged but admired brother. He hires Sydney (Ayo Edibiri), an ambitious chef, and together they seek to improve The Beef, turning the restaurant on its head and at times working against a reluctant and apprehensive staff.
The struggling restaurant seems to always have an issue, whether it be unpaid bills or conflicting goals between characters. Through rapid camera cuts and quick dialogue, tensions are brought to their boiling point, with every episode seeing Carmy and Sydney seemingly go one step forward and two steps back in their plans of turning The Beef into a legitimate, successful restaurant.
Through the first season, every episode can feel slightly different and yet still work as a cohesive piece. The storytelling devices—the artful editing, language, and writing, even the cooking montages—all evolve along with the characters. As the staff come to respect Carmy more, their attitude and witty remarks are slowly replaced with shouts of “Yes Chef!”
But this new order should not be conflated with blind obedience. In the penultimate episode of Season 1, titled “Review,” all the kitchen staff we’ve come to know through the season reach their breaking points as a result of actions built up throughout the season and this episode. This is all done in one impressive single take, a testament to the show’s outstanding technical ability. But the theme underscoring the season as a whole is evolution, both of the restaurant and the characters.
Season 2 takes The Bear in more hopeful directions, and many of the episodes can be seen as individual character studies. The standout episode of this season, “Forks,” sees the prior season’s semi-antagonistic figure, Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), adapt to change and find a new purpose in life. This episode is The Bear at its best: emotional and stylistically beautiful, yet also genuine, hopeful, and human.
As the third season is announced, The Bear is on top of the television world. Moving forward, we can expect to see more of its high-quality cinematography, fast pacing, and expositions into the realities of the culinary world. However, the characters, even those who seem antagonistic or one-sided, reveal deeper lives and truths the further the show dives into their dreams and motivations. Although it can seem as if the series is inconsistent throughout the second season, it is clear that Season 2 of The Bear has conquered the character episode, elevating the season. It uses studies of the side characters in a way that both draws the viewer in, but also makes sense for the character within the episode and propels the overall story. Its ability to humanize difficult moments for the characters and still make the highs of the story feel euphoric is truly one-of-a-kind. The Bear is certainly one to watch as it moves forward, hopefully without losing its edge and ambition.
This article also appears in our December 2023 print edition.
