For viewers who are still watching “The Bear,” it’s worth explaining that this is a very specific production, and one that is particularly demanding in its first season. Since the action takes place in a small Chicago joint serving Italian-style beef sandwiches, staffed by temperamental descendants of Italian immigrants, no one speaks in whispers, and arguments are commonplace. The entire first season is basically one big brawl. And it’s not a funny comedy of errors like in a 90s sitcom, or family banter in a Polish daily series, but a specific one, full of aggression and outbursts of shouting mixed with fists. It’s very difficult for people with sensory hypersensitivity to bear.
Silence zone
When I thought I simply wouldn’t make it through the next episodes, I discovered that beyond the screaming, there’s something more. Namely, the whole story of confused millennials with all their neuroses, narcissism, fears and excessive ambitions. This is how we meet Carmen (Jeremy Allen White), who takes over the restaurant following his deceased brother. The restaurant means the world to him, because perfectionism and the pressure he imposes on himself don’t allow him to do something half-heartedly, or well, but not yet perfectly. Every day at work is like going to war for Carmy. What the hero’s behaviors and decisions result from is revealed over time, as we get to know the rest of the family from the picture.
The sixth episode of the second season is key to the story. It might be a separate film and would also hold up very well. It allows us to understand how much this is a series regarding a coffin, not regarding food. From the Christmas episode, we learn that the Berzattos are a dysfunctional family, where adult children still live in the shadow of a despotic mother. The Christmas meeting is a traditional occasion to pour out grievances and stick needles under the guise of concern. Everything that happens in the episode is far from “they lived long, laughing until they burst into tears”. It is all the more surprising why the series is nominated for Emmy Awards in the comedy category. This year, it received as many as 23 nominations and once more as a comedy production (including “Crime Next Door”), and yet no one is laughing following watching it.
With family only in the photo
“The Bear” nonchalantly invites us into the life of the Berzatto family, but once we sit down at their table, we come across a conversation regarding why someone wants to throw a fork at someone else and why everyone despises each other. The mother (played phenomenally by Jamie Lee Curtis) leads the way, and her appearance silences all other arguments. Innocent anecdotes and conversations regarding the past clash with her temperament and the effects of reaching for a glass too often. The children try to get out of the way, and if someone accidentally appears in their field of vision, they will regret it for a long time. The holiday table bends under the weight of delicious dishes, but what good is that when few people can swallow anything, when complaints and accusations are exchanged between family members more often than napkins at dinner.
Two seasons have built a picture of neurotic millennials who want to do something with their lives but don’t know how. Carmen has chosen the path of workaholism and perfection, his brother Michael the path of drugs, and cousin Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) has discovered at 45 that he doesn’t know what to do yet, but at least he knows what he doesn’t want. Working at a bar, which is changing before our eyes into a fancy place, is their next addiction.
Be like Tony Soprano?
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Knowing the home where the Berzatto siblings grew up, it’s hard to be surprised by the comparison to “The Sopranos”. After all, Livia, Tony Soprano’s mother, was just as charming as Donna, Carmy’s mother. The hero self-sabotages in stressful situations and reinforces the feeling that all the negative comments he’s heard regarding himself at work and in his personal life are facts. His neurotic nature makes itself felt in the most important moments of the series. He always brings trouble to the hero. When Carmie forgets for a moment that he is his own worst enemy, he can even be happy. However, he quickly corrects his mistake and returns to his old patterns. Watching him bring disaster upon himself is just as exciting as the times when we watched Soprano struggling with depression.
Intergenerational trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, passed like a relay baton from family to family, are the building blocks of “The Bear,” a panorama of the problems facing modern-day 30- and 40-somethings. So why has the third season been met with a lukewarm reception?
Third time lucky?
The creator, Christopher Storer, decided to put the brakes on the plot and instead of developing his characters, he focused on an impression regarding discipline and self-improvement. The first episode gives us a taste of what awaits us in the third season. The action takes place the next day, following what we saw in the finale of the second part. Towards is actually an understatement. For most of the time, we accompany Carmy as he creates new rules for work. We watch flashbacks when he apprenticed in the best restaurants, where he was harassed, mobbed and basically had no life outside of work. What is most interesting, Carmy considers workaholism to be the optimal lifestyle and despite the fact that no one gives him orders anymore, he wants to impose a similar discipline on himself, just like the toxic bosses from the past.
Not much happens in the third season, which is disappointing because the creators have accustomed us to emotions boiling between the characters like boiling water under a pot lid. Carmy and Richie are brothers/not-brothers, arguing and five minutes later confessing their love to each other, while the duo of Carmy and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) are partners; theoretically they can count on each other, but Carmy has proven to be a weak link several times. Memorable episodes, such as the first and the finale of the second season, were born from emotions. This time there is also no shortage of arguments, but they do not translate into significant plot development.
Suspending the action in favor of an impressive journey through the best cuisines in the world, where Carmy studied, is not necessarily a good idea. In the first two seasons, despite numerous flashbacks, the creators maintained moderation, but this time they decided to go all out. However, the plot was not to the liking of critics and American viewers, which does not bode well for the assessment of this season.
The fact that Carmy’s cooking can be compared to a ballet dancer’s training (the same effort, commitment, sacrifice of private life and free time, and murderous discipline) is fascinating and at the same time surprising. It turns out that the work of a chef is an extreme sport, literally and figuratively.
While the third season won’t be the subject of lively conversations like its predecessors, “The Bear” is still an engaging, challenging series with the potential to be outstanding. Much of that is due to the excellent cast and the passion of its creator, who knows his way around the kitchen, and not just the haute cuisine.
The Bear series is available on Disney+.
