Before I started The Bear, I had seen clips on social media of people cursing and screaming at each other in a kitchen. Not that enticing, right? Wrong.
Season one is mainly about getting the restaurant (The Beef, later named The Bear in season two) started, while season two dives more into the characters’ personal lives.
A large portion of the plot centers around chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) moving from a world-renowned restaurant to his family’s run-down place in a slummy area of Chicago, Illinois. The reason behind the move was that his brother Mike (Jon Bernthal) took his own life and left the restaurant in his brother’s name/possession.
Carmy is such an intense and highly detailed character. He experiences the hardships of owning, managing, and flipping a dingy excuse of a restaurant into one of the best restaurants in the 872 area. Along the way, Carmy copes with the grief of his brother’s sudden death and struggles with his PTSD and anxiety from working in such a high-demand work environment in previous years.
When I first started watching The Bear, I noticed every camera shot was detailed and focused on Carmy. No matter how stressful it would get in the kitchen, his love and dedication to his food never faltered. Carmy could be screaming for someone to refire a dish, but the meal he was working on would still turn out perfect.
On the outside, he might seem like a solid brick wall of emotionless persona, but as the show progresses, he opens up, and Carmy shows his true colors. In the first season, he and coworker Richard “Richie” Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) are sitting on a bench in the locker rooms of the restaurant, and Richie hands him a letter Mike wrote him before taking his life.
Carmy went outside to read what the letter wrote, and it said, “I love you, dude. Let it rip.”
Flashback clips show Mike saying “Let it rip” to Carmy as his motivation. The extreme emotional weight of the letter and its sentimental value made him break down outside the restaurant.
I remember watching this scene for the first time and crying. Due to my personal life, this whole part tugged at my heart. The scene was so well thought out, and I don’t think the screenwriters could have scripted it any better.
The Bear also shows other characters’ struggles, such as his sous-chef, Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri). She originally had a catering business that ended horribly, which resulted in her working for the United Postal Service (UPS) to put her through culinary school. Sydney and Carmy have their ups and downs throughout the show, causing many fights, but customers are served at the end of the day, and “I’m sorry” is said in American Sign Language (ASL).
One of my favorite things about the show is when Carmy teaches Sydney how to sign “I’m sorry” in ASL. He explains that when he worked in New York and was fighting with one of his chefs, they would sign it to each other, and it was their way of apologizing and talking about the situation later.
I’ve always seen shows where the characters make up and apologize, but I was not expecting this. It gives both characters more depth and personality and allows them to be still angry with one another but get the task done.
Sydney is such a well-developed character. She is sweet, kind, and caring but a leader. Sydney cares about her staff and wants them to know she is there for them, but to still get their work done.
I’m excited about what’s in store for her in season three. Another character relationship throughout The Bear that I enjoyed was Richie and Neil “Fak” (Matty Matheson).
Fak’s a family friend and mechanic who is always fixing something in the restaurant or helping during rush hours.
A scene that made me crack up was when Fak was fixing a busted-up toilet pipe that had flooded the restaurant. Richie was in the bathroom teasing him. Fak asked Richie if an official position at the restaurant was available, and the two went back and forth for a few minutes, trying to see who could get on the other’s nerves more.
Ultimately, it resulted in the two tackling and wrestling one another to the floor and having Carmy break up the fight. So much more happens throughout this fight, but The Bear is on Hulu and Disney Plus if you want to find out what happens. All I will say is that my jaw was on the floor, and I didn’t want to hit pause.
One thing the writers of The Bear are great at is dialogue. I have never watched a show where the comments are so witty and creative. The phrases are unique; only I could imagine what that character was saying.
The directors know how to hook the viewers and keep them watching. I could watch for hours and not realize how long it had been. One thing the show could improve on is the sudden jumps and cuts in the camera scenes.
Sometimes, they’ll have flashbacks, and I have to pause for a minute and think back to remember who is who. The camera zoom-ins and zoom-outs are sudden at times and are supposed to give more of a “dramatic” look to specific scenes, but I disagree. The show is supposed to be fast-paced, but sometimes it feels like it’s traveling at lightning speed.
I have never laughed, cried, or smiled so much while watching a show, and I can’t wait for season three to be released.
