There were fears that the show would start to feel overcooked or understaffed and maybe the excitably fresh chaos of Season 1 and the emotionally heavy, fine dining magic of 2 wouldn’t live on considering how exceptionally rare they felt as genuinely great, unique works of storytelling and comedy infused drama.
Safe to say that is not the case. Season 3 is clearly a high quality season of television that proves The Bear is not only here to stay but is cultivating itself to be some of television’s finest, with its carefully designed ethos that creatively orchestrates chaos which can be found in the kitchen in anxiety inducing fashion, all while beautifully coalescing the unending mess with the various fluctuating relationships and struggles that encompass the show’s ever-changing state.
Straight away from the first episode we are immersed into Carmy’s (Jeremy Allen White) point of view for the duration of 37 minutes. Minimal dialogue and a strong emphasis on intercutting the past and present with high dosage of striking montages and rapid cutting to bring you up to speed and feel the weight of Carmy’s journey as an upcoming chef burdened with regret due to Mikey and the self doubt constantly weighing on his shoulders, as he forges his own path as one of the finest chefs in the country. The atmosphere is thick and cloudy as we get a glimpse of the mental state of Carmy managing the restaurant and learning to cook and perfect his craft with such high personal and professional stakes.
This season is all about reflection, on the progress the chefs have made, how much they have evolved since the days of the beef and what does it mean for them to reach this point where they have professionally opened their own fine dining restaurant and have to create their own identity that makes them stand out in Chicago. The menu changing every single day as ordered by Carmy is one of The Bear’s newest and biggest challenges yet. It demands a level of ingenuity, commitment and self-improvement to ride the torrents and come out on top of everything, every day. Non-negotiables are also in the works which only builds unnecessary tension for players like Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) who feel that they are being short changed and demand a mutual understanding to make the restaurant function on both ends. It doesn’t help that Richie found Carmy’s earlier apology on the phone to be insufficient and fall on deaf ears after their heated argument at the end of Season 2 when Carmy was trapped in the fridge. Carmy is being unreasonable and unrealistic by throwing everyone into the deep end instead of dipping their toes together and slowly easing themselves into these high standards to follow through with any innovations that are required of mastering the practise of culinary fine arts. It is a recipe for disaster but guaranteed success as an enjoyer of chaos and drama.
While the season is centred on reflections and progress. Trauma and grief are key elements that help to navigate through the uncertainties that come with a fast paced environment but also a cause of conflict as many wounds are left unattended to or don’t get the right aid in time.
Everyone responds to trauma differently and grieve in their own ways. Some choose not to. Others bottle it up and unravel over time. Then there are those who harness those emotions and adopt their own pain into their daily living which translates into their way of conduct. Carmy is tortured by one of his former Chef David (Joel McHale) and ends up transmitting that attitude towards his own peers and fellow newcomers. He doesn’t realise this until much later when he connects the dots between his current actions and how he was the recipient of such actions and words in the past. It causes him to be ridden with guilt and apologise to Syd (Ayo Edebiri), but also once he finally gets to confront the Chef at the funeral dinner for Ever Restaurant (owned by Chef Terry and played by Olivia Colman), he expresses how much trauma and anxiety he is responsible for. Chef David responds coldly and expresses that he turned out a great Chef, excellent even so he should thank him. This does not sit well with Carmy of course but it goes to show how far abuse and manipulation can stay with the victim but immediately leave the abuser’s mind.
Carmy’s group therapy session was brought back which was a welcome surprise. His character doesn’t seem to have a particular growth spurt in this moment in time but he has developed and learned quite a bit about himself and his friends. As the season progresses and more is revealed about his past, you can see how his way of thinking stems from his trauma and the habits he displays in the kitchen were born from his training and experience under an abusive Chef among the many circumstances that bereaved his life and lead him to a downward spiral of depression and anxiety ridden attacks. How the perfectionism he strives for is something high level Chefs aspire to everyday and that brings its own challenges to himself and to his team. He exhibits his worst characteristics of not letting others keep up with his wavelength, showing selfish interests and being unwilling to compromise enough and that bites him multiple times throughout the show. His relationship with Richie is strained and not exactly resolved by the end of the season but that is why the show works so well. Realistically, as much as grow and change occur, there are many times we don’t do either and often stagnate, regress or delay conflicts by failing to address them or struggling to find the right time to bring closure. Men often struggle with expressing their emotions and are afraid of admitting their feelings were hurt or they are suffering from any kind of mental dissonance. Society shaped us this way and the expectations has only made it harder for people like Carmy or Richie to navigate their struggles as healthily as they could have. When is it ever the right time to speak out on past conflict or inform others of the good news. Syd knows this struggle all too well as she gets a new place to stay while dealing with being presented a new, higher paid job with none other than Ever’s Chef de cuisine Adam Shapiro (played by Adam himself) who plans to open a new restaurant. Grappling with a new job offer on top of being offered a partnership deal with The Bear which Carmy, Sugar (Abby Elliot) and Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) all stress to sign the agreement does not come easy for her. By the end of the season she even suffers a panic attack at the house party for those that came to the Ever funeral dinner which she was reluctant on going in the first place.
Meanwhile, Marcus (Lionel Boyce) is struggling with loneliness and immense grief after the unfortunate passing of his mum. Sugar is preparing for her new-born and doing everything in her power to avoid her child suffering the same fate she and her siblings did growing up with their parents. Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas) is having a difficult time meeting the new demands of Carmy’s kitchen and the constantly changing menu. Richie is trying to ensure he has a relationship with his daughter and be willing to be part of her life while trying to keep things in check on the other half of the restaurant at the front of house. The financial complications that come with operating a high level restaurant aiming for Michelin stars, and Uncle Jimmy and his analyst are forcing the pressure on Carmy, Sugar and his team to make some cuts and get it together to keep things afloat. Not to mention, the constant, agonising wait of the outcome of the restaurant finally being reviewed by top critics only worsens the tensions. Given everything that has happened since the show started, Their lives are so intertwined with one another and with so much shared history it can often feel like a family just waiting to implode at any second. While this sounds like the worst thing possible it can also bring out the best in each other and teach them a lot about themselves as people. It feels like we never left.
Napkins could arguably be considered the best episode of the season. Directed by none other than star Ayo Edibiri who goes behind the camera for the first time, which is proven to be a formidable director’s debut. A distillation of an episode centred on Tina’s past struggles before she encountered The Bear in what used to be known as Beef, back when Mikey (Jon Bernthal) was alive. For many, especially in this day and age, Tina’s backstory would be easy to relate to. Losing your job and struggling to find a new one to pay the expensive rent. No matter how much you try to apply everywhere in your city, no one seems willing to take a chance with you. You show your resume on every store’s doorsteps. Tina fears the impending stresses of rent and bills piling up and constantly worry about not being good enough anymore. She is afraid her husband and child won’t love her because of this. She can’t get by on a day to day basis because she lacks routine and work is what kept her grounded. This is the kind of character work that makes this show thrive and feel so personal. You can resonate with these characters because it’s what we go through everyday. This all culminates to a beautiful chance encounter between Tina and Mikey where Richie generously gave Tina a free sandwich and coffee after she lost out on a job due to a falsely advertised interview (another common problem with modern society’s job infrastructure) which causes her to cry. She struggles to eat her food and is unable to accept the harsh reality.
Mikey intervenes and little do the both of them know, they have a lot more in common than either would initially believe. They fear lacking hunger that the youth have an abundance of. They fear not being exceptional at anything despite being pretty good at everything. They fear not being able to live a life of fulfilment. All of these concerns and insecurities add to the emotional complexities of the show and only makes you appreciate these characters depth even further. They have no idea what they are doing but that is what makes them invincible. And finally, Mikey offers Tina a job, not ideal but it is still a job. Tina at last can taste her own sandwich.
Then we have episodes like Ice Chips where it is solely focused on Sugar and her upcoming childbirth while having to resort to rekindling her strained relationship with her mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) as no one else answers the call, and learning the tumultuous journey of motherhood first hand. You can see a generation of pain felt and how Sugar deeply fears transmitting any of her own pain experienced with her mom and family to her own child, wanting to have the perfect conditions and planning our her baby’s birth as thoroughly as possible. Donna is aware of this and tries her best to reconnect with her daughter by sharing her experiences with birth, taking accountability as a bad mother and showing the support Sugar needed all her life. It leads to a very emotional moment between the two.
I do however feel that the show does have a few minor shortcomings. As much as I enjoy all the celebrity cameos and there are definitely standout appearances like Olivia Colman and Will Poulter (Chef Luca) who are the gifts that keep on giving. Not to mention Jonathan Bernthal who plays Mike beautifully. At times though, it can feel a bit much. I don’t see why John Cena (Sammy Fak) needed to be there and while I like the Faks (Matty Matheson and Ricky Staffieri) in general, I do feel they were laying on the comedy bits a bit too thick too often which felt a tad distracting in an otherwise fantastic and sustained season of television filled with great episodes and many heartfelt moments, hilarious back and forth and powerful sequences.
The responsibility of a chef is unimaginable in many ways but also one of the greatest honours one can receive. You are responsible for the happiness of others. Based on the quality of your food, people could either walk to, drive to or fly to your restaurant just to taste your food and experience your service. But sometimes, you think whether this is all there is. At least that’s what Chef Terry likes to think. Her greatest joy as a chef for many years was seeing different generations grow in her restaurant and being a part of the community. Yet she decides to close the restaurant, conceding that she’s finally looking to live her life. Is this where the show is heading? Will Carmy have a similar realisation?
One thing that makes this show exceptional is the reminder how important the people in your lives are. Is cooking worth it if you have no one to cook for? As Mikey said. We work and serve for the people. Work is often a miserable place for many. So many set backs especially in the food industry where things break all the time and one mistake can lead to another. A poorly run team can ruin everything and a line of customers complaining about terrible customer service and food runs rampant. Yet people still work here around all these people. They are what keeps people going beyond the money.
I wouldn’t exactly consider Season 3 to be as good as 2 and it doesn’t have an episode that reaches the peaks that Fishes and Forks did. But in many ways the show is at the peak of its powers. Directed with such confidence and some of the most sublime filmmaking you’ll find in the television medium from it’s exquisite cinematography, quick fire and seamless transitions with fine tuned editing and the many classic needle drops and contained resolutions or story beats coming full circle like Terry’s restaurant and what it meant for Carmy, Richie and Luca.
The Bear is a tour de force of television and in an era where the medium feels like it’s fading away and prestige drama and comedy is no longer around, this show makes me reconsider that concern. This season is a terrific calm before the storm, effectively setting up Season 4 which may end up being the final of the show. With all things considered, I don’t expect this show to be for everyone and you can already notice that this season partially splits the viewers due to taking interest in what actually matters to the show which is its cast, the familial dynamic in and outside of work and how they deal with the struggles of balancing work life with everything else that goes on in people’s lives and the many relationships that bind us, even checker our pasts. If Season 1 was an introduction to the world of fast paced disorganised cooking and Season 2 was a slow burner in then Season 3 is fine dining taken to its extreme where the impact it has on the lives of Chefs are reckoned with. What does legacy mean to you? Is this all there is? Is there more to life. How do we learn to let go of our past and move forward.
There are a lot of threads left that haven’t been resolved yet like Syd’s choice, Carm and Richie’s relationship, Richie’s family finally visiting the restaurant, Uncle Jimmy’s financial losses, Donna’s place in the family, Claire’s relationship with Carmy and the legacy of a Chef. The impact a restaurant has on these people’s lives going forward and whether it is worth sticking with it. A lot of questions asked and we are left wondering how the show will address each one by the end. Maybe television as an artform isn’t dying after all. At least not in this kitchen. Season 4 can’t come soon enough.
As Chef Terry so poignantly says, people don’t remember the food, they remember the people.
