Spoilers for The Bear to observe
As somebody who has binge-watched all 4 seasons of The Bear instantly upon their launch, I really feel uniquely certified to touch upon all of the issues that piss me off about this present. Nothing brings an annoying propensity to make use of lingering musical montages as an alternative choice to good writing into aid fairly like watching so many episodes without delay. And after bingeing the present’s much-anticipated fourth season, I feel I’ve lastly found out why The Bear is each unimaginable to cease watching — and completely infuriating.
Creator Christopher Storer admittedly selected a wealthy world to mine when he determined to make a present about eating places. However so usually he refuses to dig into the meat of the business’s most advanced points in favor of flashy dishes and chef worship. The Bear positions kitchen work as a noble pursuit, a labor with intrinsic, inventive worth past placing meals on the plate, and it definitely is. However the present by no means actually makes a robust sufficient case for why this work is value placing your self by means of emotional hell, as its protagonist Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) has accomplished for years.
As an alternative of inspecting one thing just like the business’s unbelievable reliance on underpaid, undercredited labor from immigrant cooks who by no means see their names in a restaurant assessment or the phases who present as much as peel potatoes without spending a dime, Storer spends most of those 4 seasons of The Bear caught inside the top of his major character, Carmy. That might be nice if we ever actually acquired to see what Carmy was considering past sheer panic. When he involves his conclusion about what the restaurant truly must survive — his departure — it solely appears sudden and surprising as a result of there’s been no construct as much as that call, and it by no means actually feels earned.
Loads has clearly occurred between Carmy tacking up his checklist of “non-negotiables” in Season 3 to the tip of Season 4, when he decides that it’s time to stroll away from eating places perpetually, however these occasions are by no means examined in any significant method till the very finish. I suppose we’re simply imagined to infer that Carmy has been constructing internally towards a call to depart the business that he loves by means of the various scenes he spends wistfully staring off into area, soundtracked by maudlin dad rock. Or possibly the emotional arc was secretly happening throughout all these lengthy pictures of characters gazing one another blankly earlier than a dialog begins, the prolonged transition pictures viewers slogged by means of, or the various loud arguments between Berzatto members of the family that by no means actually appear to go anyplace.
One thing that actually frustrates me about this present is that many interactions between the characters appear so floor, so shallow, even when the writers are seemingly trying to dig deeper. When Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) tells Carmy about how a lot he disliked culinary faculty and the way he didn’t really feel like he was creating worth for the restaurant, Carmy can muster little greater than “that sucks, man.” I get that we’re supposed to know that these are characters who wrestle to course of and specific their feelings, however typically the portrayal comes throughout as flat — and typically simply straight-up lazy writing — as an alternative of an actual examination of why it may be tough for Carmy to meaningfully hear the issues of Ebraheim and everybody else round him.
I additionally don’t assume that The Bear actually ever makes the case for Carmy because the sort of man you’d go to conflict for. That, too, is irritating, as a result of in case you actually believed that Carmy’s culinary genius was value all of the melodramatic bullshit he causes, it’d on some stage justify that habits. Tortured genius is a trope well-trodden, however The Bear expects us to simply take their phrase for it that Carmy truly is one. He doesn’t seem like an particularly good mentor, and even one of the best prepare dinner within the room. We see diners responding extra enthusiastically to Sydney (Ayo Edebiri)’s cooking, which appears to simplify Carmy’s directionless chaos into truly scrumptious dishes.
Storer and the writers repeatedly inform us that Carmy is likely one of the finest cooks on the earth, however he by no means truly reveals us why that’s true. In failing to look critically at Carmy’s precise ability as a chef, The Bear misses the chance to indicate — not inform — us how he’s altering and rising in a method that makes him wish to depart eating places perpetually.
What makes this all so exasperating is that The Bear is replete with moments of greatness, and that’s why we maintain watching. As a result of we wish to see these moments coalesce into one thing actually distinctive, however that by no means occurs. As an alternative it’s disjointed, chasing infinite rabbits till Season 4’s finish. I perceive that the present is exasperating as a result of Carmy is exasperating and since restaurant work is inherently that method, however there’s solely a lot annoyance a viewer can take. If that is truly the tip, if Season 4 is The Bear’s final, the present went out doing what it does finest: completely infuriating the fuck out of its viewers.
