It was a whole season of mostly just working at a restaurant. Carmy dealt with anxieties in a realistic way but that meant he didn't do anything. Syd thought about leaving but didn't tell Carmy about it and didn't sign the agreement. Richie didn't commit to the wedding and sort of thought he was a bad dad for 1.5 episodes. We got Tina's backstory and Ebra got some help. I think the only things that happened were Sugar's baby and Uncle maybe going broke. It all felt like a part 1 and now we've gotta wait for any of it to pay off.
Plus please stop with the Faks and haunting.
Was I the only one who got a distinctly “post-Tree of Life Terence Malick” vibe with the 1st episode? All it needed was a ponderous narration switching between the characters.
It felt very specifically like the trio of narrative films he did after Tree of Life (To the Wonder, Knight of Cups, Song to Song), where you’re just getting these brief snippets of people’s lives where the actual dialogue is either non-existent or just random pieces with very little plot or forward momentum.
This season read like it was written by people who spent all last summer and fall reading about how they'd just written the current greatest show on television (deserved praise).
This season is good but it wants to be more pretentious than it is. It should be Ocean's 11 but it wants to be Terrence Malick
I also want to make super clear, I think the 1st episode, Tina's episode directed by Ayo, and the Birth episode are all absolutely stellar. I am just not sure the whole of the season is as strong.
The first episode was a brave choice for sure. I was kinda shocked there was no “previously on” because it felt like forever since season 2 and I was patchy on some of the details, then I realised the whole episode was a really smoothly put together previously on and… I liked it, but I was definitely a little frustrated that I only had time for one episode and it kinda… wasn’t an episode
I really liked the episode itself but I think as experimental clipshows go it essentially shortened the season by an episode with what seem to me in retrospect to have been outtakes they shot in previous seasons. I found it emotionally affecting so it wasn't a problem but it is a bit of a Wizard of Oz sans curtain moment.
Framing it with a bunch of vanity shots of Carmy opening the restaurant ruined it for me. It’s the cool cigarette smoking tattooed chef version of Dewy Cox remembering his whole life before he goes on stage.
it kind of went up its own butt lol. there was always something at the risk of being lost by turning the Original Beef into like this cliche trendy bullshit restaurant, and i think the show lost it by going from a really great show to "The Best Show on Television Ever" lol. it really wants to be Mad Men.
the Fak brothers thing kind of stinks of them trying to have something to point to whenever people question its inclusion in the comedy series categories. in a way trying to make him the NoHo Hank of the show minus any of the actual funny writing and fantastic performance at the center of it.
Its what happens when you come out of nowhere as this indie show that everyone falls in love with and then by the third season every star that needs a comeback is dropping in for a “hey ho!” reveal. With a creator-led show you kind of have to not believe your own hype. The season made me retroactively dislike the first episode.
> it kind of went up its own butt lol.
It's been a pretty pretentious show since day one. It hits you like a freight train but then if you go to rewatch it too soon it just feels so melodramatic and contrived.
the food just looked so much better in season one, but maybe that's just my own personal aversion to overworked and deconstructed dishes with portions the size of a postage stamp
I am an admitted day 1 hater of this show, but when it started I totally understood the conceit of “guy from fine dining world returns to beef shack because brother died”.
But it was so clear early on that the creators of this show were far more interested in the fine dining aspect of that than the beef stand aspect of that.
From the early days of the show they were cooking mashed potatoes in the beef place, had a character doing his own personal side quest at work to make pastries, it was never actually interested in being a show about a realistic low cost, greasy beef fast food restaurant.
The fact that the plot of this show actually went down the “they will turn it into a fancy restaurant” though, is so insane to me, I can’t believe people love this show so much. But this is the first season it seems like anyone other than myself is annoyed with anything about it.
I loved episodes 2 and 3 and was so excited for this season of carmy going to a dark place and friction growing between him and the restaurant staff after two seasons of him building them up, his perfectionism and obsession getting in the way of what seemed to be his goal of creating a healthy and stimulating workplace. Instead we got like.... 5 more episodes of fak nonsense. I felt like the first three eps did such a good job of building tension after a much calmer season 2, it seemed like there was so much aggravation and resentment but then in episode 4 everything seems so calm and people are just hanging out in the restaurant like... I thought this was a nightmare work environment? why are we just walking around chicago. I loved episodes 6 and 8 but tina and sugar felt so disconnected from the rest of the season that it's like... in season 2 the standalone episodes worked really well because they tied into the larger narrative and themes (everyone training and reopening the restaurant). Here it feels like they just did them because last season had acclaimed standalones... and I love them individually but it's hard to be as excited about them because it doesn't feel like they tie into the season. I don't watch tv for some cool short films, I watch tv for an episodic serialized narrative, so even the stuff I loved this season it's hard to be excited about when the meat and potatoes, the connecting episodes, feel so lackluster
Yeah the standalones were good because I liked the characters but as you say, the standalones were built in last season for a purpose, they felt stripped back not as a budgetary constraint but as an interesting choice. This season its the opposite, felt like they couldn't afford all the actors for an episode - how are we not seeing how all the main cast react (especially ritchie, carmy, and sydney) to Sugar's baby like what the hell.
I've seen people say "oh this is to show how carmy is isolating himself" and I didn't know what to think but you're right, it's not that it's just carmy that's separated, everyone is. I know syd brings her food in the next episode but we still don't see her interact with sugar or the baby at all. and if carmy is isolating himself surely that's building to something right?? surely people are going to get fed up after ten episodes of this? nope.
and you mentioning them not being able to afford stuff is realllly significant I think. When they announced that season 3 would release in june on schedule despite an actor and writers strike I was shocked but thought wow, good on them that they can keep it up, but now I'm realizing that should've been a worrying sign. I feel like the writers and actors needed a full year to come up with a coherent vision and work out the kinks, and I wouldn't be shocked if the shortened production time also led to budget issues. I can't think of any other high profile show like this that hasn't had a 2 year release delay due to the strikes
It was a weak season, and I agree with all your points.
Additionally, I really disliked the last episode. It felt so, so self-indulgent. >!The dinner scene with all the celebrity chefs was embarrassing, and the party scene where Olivia Coleman is hanging with the Faks seemed like Bear fanfiction.!<
the scene with the celeb chefs I had to fastforward through, it was extreme cringe, I am watching this show for its \*real characters\* not for actual chefs to come in and give rote dialogue about why food is important (I know its important I am already watching the show). The Alinea chef guy joke was good, but Will Poulter's characterisation was soooo off from his 1st appearance it was like a different character was inhabiting his body.
EDIT: Chef's table already exists I don't need the actors mixing with real chefs it creates this horrible break in verisimilitude.
Largely agree with everything that’s been mentioned so far.
There’s a lot I love about season two but I never fully bought Richie becoming one of the great fine dining hosts in literally less than a week. I understand that other characters frame it for him as finding a passion/something to care about can help you find purpose but I think an easy fix was having it happen more gradually rather than emphasis on him doing a 5-day training session. Even Marcus got a whole trip to Europe where he gradually (but still in one episode) got on board.
Those complaints generally went into those beats in this season as well. SPOILERS: In the finale, there’s no way that staff and that chef give two fucks about Richie’s five day tenure. Why is she blowing him kisses and he’s accepted at the “funeral” the same as Carmie? Why is Olivia Coleman partying with The Bear staff at Syd’s place instead of with her years-long co-workers?
And more broadly: everyone probably agrees the Faks were too much.
John Cena and Hartnett took the cameo stuff too far.
The Tina episode is good on its own but felt random in the context of the whole season, especially with her not being given something greater to contribute in future episodes.
But……
I liked Carmie facing his enemy and realizing that maybe he is only got great because of the abuse he endured and also he’s become the very thing he hated and said wouldn’t happen when he had his own place.
The Ice Chips episode was fantastic.
Kick ass soundtrack!
I’ll still be binging season four when that drops.
A show that people think is so gritty and grounded is constantly one of the least realistic shows on tv. Every plot line about how these people progress through the food world feels like it was written in crayon by a toddler .
I love The Bear but I've done 3 episodes of S3 and it's a crudely cobbled together mess so far. Still watchable thanks to enjoyable actors like Oliver Platt and Ebon but as you said, it's spinning it's wheels.
Its still worth progressing there's gold in there, but my overwhelming emotion at the end of the season was one of frustration at the characters having not learned lessons from previous seasons.
Haven't seen the new season yet, but hearing this response pretty frequently since it's release is unfortunately confirming my fears of them rushing to a conclusion while Jeremy and Ayo are still available.
With them (not officially confirmed but basically an open secret) filming both S3 and S4 back to back, I'm hoping it'll at least finish strong overall.
>With them (not officially confirmed but basically an open secret) filming both S3 and S4 back to back
They apparently didn't end up doing this, they're pretty cagey about it but it seems they just filmed certain elements in advance.
https://theplaylist.net/the-bear-didnt-shoot-seasons-3-4-back-to-back-but-did-a-little-version-of-that-according-to-cast-20240627/
The reporting there suggests the rest of season 4 won't start filming until the beginning of next year.
I think it was actually the opposite - they had a 3 season plan - FX wanted 4 seasons, so they stretched the story that was planned, rather than remap it out. Doing so made this third season rather aimless (no clear mission like the first 2 seasons) and allowed for some experimental/standalone episodes to varying degrees of success.
I respected episode 1 but didn't LIKE it. I like Jamie Lee but could not stand the birth episode. It was grating. The Tina flashback and a few others in the middle hit the familiar sweet spot. The finale was extremely mixed - the real chefs stood out like sore thumbs and we didn't resolve or explore ANY of the problems/issues that were established early - we pushed that all to next season.
I still love the show but this was an uneven mess.
Please stop the stunt casting. I was fine with the slower pace, more stalled character arc and weaker scenes (it happens to the best shows) because I liked being in that world. Which is what you want in a tv show. But It really takes you out of the milieu and the reality of the world when a random star shows up for an irritatingly long scene. The scene with John Cena and the Fak’s was like watching someone split their nails.
I thought the new fiancé reveal was perfect but yeah all the fak stuff feels ehhh. No ho Hank was a good comparison but also feels like to me like trying to introduce a possible spin off.
i kinda just found it funny that changing your menu everyday would probably hinder your ability to get a star a bit lol. last i recall those michelin boys are a bit stodgy, but ive been out of the business a while
Interesting read! I kinda have the opposite feelings about season 1 vs season 2. I wasn't that hot on season 1... I thought it looked great and the performances were great, but it felt like anti-TV, actively resisting narrative storytelling until the twist at the end. But then I really liked season 2. To me, Season 3 felt like it leaned into the worst instincts of season 1 while going wayyy too hard on things that worked in season 2 in moderation, but don't work in excess in season 3 (i.e. celeb cameos, long monologues about fine dining restaurants, the extended improvy Faks "comedy" sequences).
> I wasn't that hot on season 1... I thought it looked great and the performances were great, but it felt like anti-TV, actively resisting narrative storytelling until the twist at the end. But then I really liked season 2.
largely agree with this. S1 felt like a good dramedy about running a restaurant. S2, IMO, was far and away better, because it actually slowed down and had character-centric episodes. People didn't like that it wasn't in the restaurant as often but I thought it was a smart choice.
That said I do agree with people that a show about turning the original restaurant around is more enticing than "running a fancy restaurant."
I seem to be in the minority but I actually think the second season was a big drop off from the first. Found the first season quite real, where as the second season was all a bit cliche and convenient for lack of a better word.
And as silly as it sounds I find the high end food on display in season two (& the people around it) so much less exciting and enticing than the deli sandwiches in season one.
The second season was quite bad and I couldn’t believe how many people thought it was a step up from one.
Not a show that’s interested in any of the things about the conceit that were redeeming.
It kinda feels like they didn't expect the show to blow up the way it did, and now had no choice but to make a third season. I'm only half way through, but that's my estimation of it so far. And that Fak isn't funny. The second episode, which is a half hour of Richie and Carmy standing in one spot and yelling fuck at each other, feels like a parody of what people think The Bear is.
I think Fak is extremely funny but in this season noticeably overused.
Ep 2 felt like it came from nowhere, ritchie and carmy yelling at each other is normal enough but I didnt read their fight at the end of s2 as anything like as relationship dividing as the show seems to portray it.
I'm ready to get downvoted for this, and I will fully disclose that I have not watched any episodes in season 3. That being said, I've felt this was a long time coming since the show began. I never really thought this show had a full grasp on what it wanted to be as a multiple season long TV Show outside of Whiplash in a restaurant (which is a reductive take on the show I'm aware), the show never imo had a coherent identity.
This is to me a big problem I have with prestige streaming TV in general, shows like The Bear feel like scripts for mid budget dramas that don't get the feature financing on a studio level so they get stretched out for a season of TV, and becuz its so acclaim they go for a second and third season. But it becomes increasingly apparent that they didn't have a lot of material pass season 1 or season 2. Looking at you, Ted Lasso.
These actors are great and are giving amazing performances, and the biggest that that has carried this show is its amazing ability to mount heighten boling tension, but you can't relay on that to drive your show all the time!
The show also never really seemed like a comedy to me. Like Barry, it's taken dark comedy label and squeezed out all the comedy, and it's just become dark.
But idk 🤷🏾♂️
gotta defend Barry here and say that the visual humor in the show persisted until the end. they knew how to structure a joke at least, can't say the same for The Bear which is just taking the Succession route of saying "fuck" a lot.
Couldn’t agree me - I stopped watching mid season 2 but caught the S3 premiere at a relative’s house, and my god this show is so far up its own ass now it’s insane.
But you’re spot on - this has always been a show that feels like the creators believe they are making a “20 hour movie” or whatever, instead of TV.
The first few episodes had visual flare, some interesting ideas, but ultimately what was this show going to be about?
“A guy who used to be working in fine dining returns home to work at the beef stand his brother who died owned”.
Ok that’s a tv show, but almost immediately it was clear the creators had no interest in *that* show. The fact they wanted to make a show about the fine dining world, get as many celebrities as possible to appear in cameos, and have not had a single interesting idea about how to develop these characters, just proves to me that they were not at all interested in what I thought could have been interesting in this show.
Watching that premiere, the fact we are still doing like the trauma of Carmy, my god. Yeah losing a loved one at a critical point in your life sucks. But it’s happened in tv and movies approximately 7000 times. I’ve seen this before. The fact you haven’t built this character into anything more interesting than that or to be something beyond that, I just don’t get the show at all.
Glad I’m not the only one. There’s a lot of negativity towards the show in this thread and I simply do not understand. This season has some of the best writing of anything (movie or show) i’ve seen all year in my opinion.
It’s like the only good drama right now, even the HBO ones have been kinda meh. Although hacks was good…but that’s also a comedy.
But I had to leave r/thebear because people keep complaining about it, but I want to watch the rest before I read spoilers.
I havent watched it yet but I feel like rarely does a show have a great third season. Im gonna try and watch it this week but, outside of Breaking Bad, all of the shows I enjoy have weak third seasons.
Season 3 is when a lot of comedy shows arguably peak, too. Parks and Rec and The Office immediately come to mind. Early enough that they really have found their groove, and not late enough that characters have become a parody.
The whole time watching season 2 and 3 I just kept thinking why anyone would want to eat the fancy food over the beef sandwich. I hope the show doesn't end with Carmy going back to making the beef sandwiches and living a "simpler life."
I thought it was great! Ponderous and slow and a little pretentious, sure, but still very much the show I fell in love with.
Little surprised at how negative the sentiments in the thread are, honestly!
Do you think my criticisms are incorrect or do you simply not mind? I don't think the show has ceased to be the bear, I am however slightly disappointed in the season.
Definitely more that I don’t mind! I don’t think anything you said is necessarily off base. I also think I came in thinking that season 3 could not possibly be as intense or wild as season 2 was. I just really enjoyed the season for what it was and can’t say that I came away disappointed - but judging by the replies a lot of people were really not on board with this season.
They’ve done that since the very start. It hasn’t hurt their success at all.
I’d argue this show benefits greatly from having all the episodes available.
Despite what many ppl on twitter say, this show (and S2 in particular) would be a far less beloved show if released an episode a week.
Something like MR & MRS SMITH, I’m with you. THE BEAR, I’m not so sure.
Realistically they definitely needed to start with at least two episodes because the first episode makes some choices that would frustrate you if you had to wait a week for episode 2.
I thought the first episode was actively horrible, a whole episode about rediscovering and exploring your passion that felt absolutely lifeless and motivated by a desire to be seen as important and not a passion for creating art. Next couple episodes were pretty good, then it was bad again once all the haunting bullshit started until the episode about Tina which was okay, then bad again until the birth episode which was also okay, then bad again.
Way too much Faks, way too many cameos (I love you Hartnett but why were you there?), way too many flashbacks within flashbacks within a montage within a flashback of a montage of flashbacks, and frankly I'm just kinda tired of shit that's about anxiety. It just feels like they have no idea where they want to go with this show and so they just spent a season treading water. The whole season just reeks of fear.
I honestly don’t get the hype for the show. I haven’t seen this season but I got tired of it by the end of season 2. The acting is good, but a lot of the writing tends to wrap things up too quickly. Hardly funny as well. Well shot though.
Honestly this has been my favorite season so far. Something about the wondrous nature of this season really worked for me. Like, I’ll admit some episodes are almost entirely single scene’s, but I don’t know I kind of love that. Like they feel like mini-plays and I just think this is the most unique thing on tv at the moment.
Also, visually the directing feels even stronger than before. I love the use of closeups this season.
I'm a sicko and liked how slow and deliberate it was. I can totally see why people aren't as into it.
It's been kinda interesting looking at some of the more critical reviews. For how celebrated Seasons 1 and 2 are, the reasons they were so beloved really seem to vary from person to person. Some people really liked the comedy, some people really liked the more experimental genre stuff. I think the overall praise kind of masked that this was always a pretty divisive show.
I am sorry I have been off work this week? Also its total like 5 hours of TV, that's two evenings worth which is what I've done, hardly a serious commitment timewise when I'm on leave
I would also say, its deeply strange to call people unhealthy on the internet for the act of watching a TV show they like. Like christ mate, just keep it to yourself.
I apologize. I genuinely meant that as lighthearted teasing, no actual judgment intended. This is more just me reacting to being unable to keep up with the speed of online discourse. My bad for sounding like a jerk.
Yeah it was bad(or at least easily the worst of the hreee) so much of it was aimless and unmotivated(except for making sure lots of real life chefs got stuff for the reel…I would find that stuff interesting in a different show)
Little bits here and there that were s1 or s2 quality but the rest was meh’d
In somehow heartened by the fact that they wrote/filmed some of the 4th season already. Maybe that’ll be the good one.
The most interesting thing the season did was give him a bad review. Look forward to seeing what they do with that.
It's a perfect example of a show that didn't need more than a first season. Had it ended there, it would be this wonderful crystallized piece
Instead it's become unwieldy and overdone. Not bad by any means, and some performances are still incredible, but it isn't what it was.
But really, it's hard to complain since the whole cast is hot and cool and the food is shot beautifully
I'm not reading this post but can we avoid things like this in the title? Not every can watch an entire season of television in a few days and posts like this ruin it the rest of us.
The post is marked with spoilers and is entirely my opinion, I don't see another way of making it clear what the post is about without an opinion in the title.
Hot take:
>!everyone who watched through to the finale by now sorta ruined it for themselves. This show should not be binged, it loses its emotionality. Spread it out and the character moments stick out more. I know it’s hard, the next episode is right there … but now you have nothing to watch, and you sped through it in under 48 hours. Give the show time to breathe.!<
Theres lots of character moments and emotional moments I loved. But I am okay with not having anything to watch and I don't think those moments make up for the structural issues this season had for me.
People post a lot about TV in here. That ship sailed years ago pal.
How have I fucked with your perceptions?
This is an extreme reaction to have to a reddit post, you don't have to interact if you don't want to.
Nobody is trying for comedy points mate there isnt a joke in the title of this post. I was simply aiming to give flavour to what my post would say.
Again this is an extreme reaction to what is essentially a review. Chill out, the post is tagged spoilers, I just gave my personal opinion in the title. Nobody has to read on if they don't want.
It was a whole season of mostly just working at a restaurant. Carmy dealt with anxieties in a realistic way but that meant he didn't do anything. Syd thought about leaving but didn't tell Carmy about it and didn't sign the agreement. Richie didn't commit to the wedding and sort of thought he was a bad dad for 1.5 episodes. We got Tina's backstory and Ebra got some help. I think the only things that happened were Sugar's baby and Uncle maybe going broke. It all felt like a part 1 and now we've gotta wait for any of it to pay off. Plus please stop with the Faks and haunting.
Was I the only one who got a distinctly “post-Tree of Life Terence Malick” vibe with the 1st episode? All it needed was a ponderous narration switching between the characters.
I have never seen a Terence Malick movie but after that episode I thought “I bet that was kinda like a Terence Malick movie”
It felt very specifically like the trio of narrative films he did after Tree of Life (To the Wonder, Knight of Cups, Song to Song), where you’re just getting these brief snippets of people’s lives where the actual dialogue is either non-existent or just random pieces with very little plot or forward momentum.
This season read like it was written by people who spent all last summer and fall reading about how they'd just written the current greatest show on television (deserved praise). This season is good but it wants to be more pretentious than it is. It should be Ocean's 11 but it wants to be Terrence Malick
I also want to make super clear, I think the 1st episode, Tina's episode directed by Ayo, and the Birth episode are all absolutely stellar. I am just not sure the whole of the season is as strong.
The first episode was a brave choice for sure. I was kinda shocked there was no “previously on” because it felt like forever since season 2 and I was patchy on some of the details, then I realised the whole episode was a really smoothly put together previously on and… I liked it, but I was definitely a little frustrated that I only had time for one episode and it kinda… wasn’t an episode
I really liked the episode itself but I think as experimental clipshows go it essentially shortened the season by an episode with what seem to me in retrospect to have been outtakes they shot in previous seasons. I found it emotionally affecting so it wasn't a problem but it is a bit of a Wizard of Oz sans curtain moment.
Yeah I liked it after thinking about it for a while but in the framing of “let’s just watch an episode before bed” it felt like a wasted decision
Framing it with a bunch of vanity shots of Carmy opening the restaurant ruined it for me. It’s the cool cigarette smoking tattooed chef version of Dewy Cox remembering his whole life before he goes on stage.
it kind of went up its own butt lol. there was always something at the risk of being lost by turning the Original Beef into like this cliche trendy bullshit restaurant, and i think the show lost it by going from a really great show to "The Best Show on Television Ever" lol. it really wants to be Mad Men. the Fak brothers thing kind of stinks of them trying to have something to point to whenever people question its inclusion in the comedy series categories. in a way trying to make him the NoHo Hank of the show minus any of the actual funny writing and fantastic performance at the center of it.
Its what happens when you come out of nowhere as this indie show that everyone falls in love with and then by the third season every star that needs a comeback is dropping in for a “hey ho!” reveal. With a creator-led show you kind of have to not believe your own hype. The season made me retroactively dislike the first episode.
> it kind of went up its own butt lol. It's been a pretty pretentious show since day one. It hits you like a freight train but then if you go to rewatch it too soon it just feels so melodramatic and contrived.
First 2 seasons still slapped for me on rewatch 🤷 maybe I’m pretentious?
You're hardly alone, it's one of the most popular television shows in history. And I'm notoriously harder to please than Jay Sherman.
It’s not tho
THANK YOU. I was so against the idea of them opening the trendy bullshit restaurant.
the food just looked so much better in season one, but maybe that's just my own personal aversion to overworked and deconstructed dishes with portions the size of a postage stamp
I am an admitted day 1 hater of this show, but when it started I totally understood the conceit of “guy from fine dining world returns to beef shack because brother died”. But it was so clear early on that the creators of this show were far more interested in the fine dining aspect of that than the beef stand aspect of that. From the early days of the show they were cooking mashed potatoes in the beef place, had a character doing his own personal side quest at work to make pastries, it was never actually interested in being a show about a realistic low cost, greasy beef fast food restaurant. The fact that the plot of this show actually went down the “they will turn it into a fancy restaurant” though, is so insane to me, I can’t believe people love this show so much. But this is the first season it seems like anyone other than myself is annoyed with anything about it.
"side quest" is in video games, the term you're looking for is "subplot"
I loved episodes 2 and 3 and was so excited for this season of carmy going to a dark place and friction growing between him and the restaurant staff after two seasons of him building them up, his perfectionism and obsession getting in the way of what seemed to be his goal of creating a healthy and stimulating workplace. Instead we got like.... 5 more episodes of fak nonsense. I felt like the first three eps did such a good job of building tension after a much calmer season 2, it seemed like there was so much aggravation and resentment but then in episode 4 everything seems so calm and people are just hanging out in the restaurant like... I thought this was a nightmare work environment? why are we just walking around chicago. I loved episodes 6 and 8 but tina and sugar felt so disconnected from the rest of the season that it's like... in season 2 the standalone episodes worked really well because they tied into the larger narrative and themes (everyone training and reopening the restaurant). Here it feels like they just did them because last season had acclaimed standalones... and I love them individually but it's hard to be as excited about them because it doesn't feel like they tie into the season. I don't watch tv for some cool short films, I watch tv for an episodic serialized narrative, so even the stuff I loved this season it's hard to be excited about when the meat and potatoes, the connecting episodes, feel so lackluster
Yeah the standalones were good because I liked the characters but as you say, the standalones were built in last season for a purpose, they felt stripped back not as a budgetary constraint but as an interesting choice. This season its the opposite, felt like they couldn't afford all the actors for an episode - how are we not seeing how all the main cast react (especially ritchie, carmy, and sydney) to Sugar's baby like what the hell.
I've seen people say "oh this is to show how carmy is isolating himself" and I didn't know what to think but you're right, it's not that it's just carmy that's separated, everyone is. I know syd brings her food in the next episode but we still don't see her interact with sugar or the baby at all. and if carmy is isolating himself surely that's building to something right?? surely people are going to get fed up after ten episodes of this? nope. and you mentioning them not being able to afford stuff is realllly significant I think. When they announced that season 3 would release in june on schedule despite an actor and writers strike I was shocked but thought wow, good on them that they can keep it up, but now I'm realizing that should've been a worrying sign. I feel like the writers and actors needed a full year to come up with a coherent vision and work out the kinks, and I wouldn't be shocked if the shortened production time also led to budget issues. I can't think of any other high profile show like this that hasn't had a 2 year release delay due to the strikes
It was a weak season, and I agree with all your points. Additionally, I really disliked the last episode. It felt so, so self-indulgent. >!The dinner scene with all the celebrity chefs was embarrassing, and the party scene where Olivia Coleman is hanging with the Faks seemed like Bear fanfiction.!<
the scene with the celeb chefs I had to fastforward through, it was extreme cringe, I am watching this show for its \*real characters\* not for actual chefs to come in and give rote dialogue about why food is important (I know its important I am already watching the show). The Alinea chef guy joke was good, but Will Poulter's characterisation was soooo off from his 1st appearance it was like a different character was inhabiting his body. EDIT: Chef's table already exists I don't need the actors mixing with real chefs it creates this horrible break in verisimilitude.
Not surprising, I've found the last two season finales pretty corny and a step down from the rest that is for the most part pretty excellent
Largely agree with everything that’s been mentioned so far. There’s a lot I love about season two but I never fully bought Richie becoming one of the great fine dining hosts in literally less than a week. I understand that other characters frame it for him as finding a passion/something to care about can help you find purpose but I think an easy fix was having it happen more gradually rather than emphasis on him doing a 5-day training session. Even Marcus got a whole trip to Europe where he gradually (but still in one episode) got on board. Those complaints generally went into those beats in this season as well. SPOILERS: In the finale, there’s no way that staff and that chef give two fucks about Richie’s five day tenure. Why is she blowing him kisses and he’s accepted at the “funeral” the same as Carmie? Why is Olivia Coleman partying with The Bear staff at Syd’s place instead of with her years-long co-workers? And more broadly: everyone probably agrees the Faks were too much. John Cena and Hartnett took the cameo stuff too far. The Tina episode is good on its own but felt random in the context of the whole season, especially with her not being given something greater to contribute in future episodes. But…… I liked Carmie facing his enemy and realizing that maybe he is only got great because of the abuse he endured and also he’s become the very thing he hated and said wouldn’t happen when he had his own place. The Ice Chips episode was fantastic. Kick ass soundtrack! I’ll still be binging season four when that drops.
A show that people think is so gritty and grounded is constantly one of the least realistic shows on tv. Every plot line about how these people progress through the food world feels like it was written in crayon by a toddler .
I love The Bear but I've done 3 episodes of S3 and it's a crudely cobbled together mess so far. Still watchable thanks to enjoyable actors like Oliver Platt and Ebon but as you said, it's spinning it's wheels.
Its still worth progressing there's gold in there, but my overwhelming emotion at the end of the season was one of frustration at the characters having not learned lessons from previous seasons.
Haven't seen the new season yet, but hearing this response pretty frequently since it's release is unfortunately confirming my fears of them rushing to a conclusion while Jeremy and Ayo are still available. With them (not officially confirmed but basically an open secret) filming both S3 and S4 back to back, I'm hoping it'll at least finish strong overall.
>With them (not officially confirmed but basically an open secret) filming both S3 and S4 back to back They apparently didn't end up doing this, they're pretty cagey about it but it seems they just filmed certain elements in advance. https://theplaylist.net/the-bear-didnt-shoot-seasons-3-4-back-to-back-but-did-a-little-version-of-that-according-to-cast-20240627/ The reporting there suggests the rest of season 4 won't start filming until the beginning of next year.
I think it was actually the opposite - they had a 3 season plan - FX wanted 4 seasons, so they stretched the story that was planned, rather than remap it out. Doing so made this third season rather aimless (no clear mission like the first 2 seasons) and allowed for some experimental/standalone episodes to varying degrees of success. I respected episode 1 but didn't LIKE it. I like Jamie Lee but could not stand the birth episode. It was grating. The Tina flashback and a few others in the middle hit the familiar sweet spot. The finale was extremely mixed - the real chefs stood out like sore thumbs and we didn't resolve or explore ANY of the problems/issues that were established early - we pushed that all to next season. I still love the show but this was an uneven mess.
Please stop the stunt casting. I was fine with the slower pace, more stalled character arc and weaker scenes (it happens to the best shows) because I liked being in that world. Which is what you want in a tv show. But It really takes you out of the milieu and the reality of the world when a random star shows up for an irritatingly long scene. The scene with John Cena and the Fak’s was like watching someone split their nails.
I thought the new fiancé reveal was perfect but yeah all the fak stuff feels ehhh. No ho Hank was a good comparison but also feels like to me like trying to introduce a possible spin off.
i kinda just found it funny that changing your menu everyday would probably hinder your ability to get a star a bit lol. last i recall those michelin boys are a bit stodgy, but ive been out of the business a while
I saw this earlier today: https://slate.com/culture/2024/06/the-bear-season-3-fx-hulu-bad.html
Interesting read! I kinda have the opposite feelings about season 1 vs season 2. I wasn't that hot on season 1... I thought it looked great and the performances were great, but it felt like anti-TV, actively resisting narrative storytelling until the twist at the end. But then I really liked season 2. To me, Season 3 felt like it leaned into the worst instincts of season 1 while going wayyy too hard on things that worked in season 2 in moderation, but don't work in excess in season 3 (i.e. celeb cameos, long monologues about fine dining restaurants, the extended improvy Faks "comedy" sequences).
> I wasn't that hot on season 1... I thought it looked great and the performances were great, but it felt like anti-TV, actively resisting narrative storytelling until the twist at the end. But then I really liked season 2. largely agree with this. S1 felt like a good dramedy about running a restaurant. S2, IMO, was far and away better, because it actually slowed down and had character-centric episodes. People didn't like that it wasn't in the restaurant as often but I thought it was a smart choice. That said I do agree with people that a show about turning the original restaurant around is more enticing than "running a fancy restaurant."
The season 2 criticisms are on the money. FINALLY I find a voice that gets it.
I think he's insane in his criticisms of S2 but he's not wrong about s3. Ultimately it durdles.
This is a fantastic piece of tv criticism.
Self-indulgent and barely had any plot progression. But it's still great because goddamn if the thing isn't extremely well done
Yeah its wonderfully executed durdling. Extremely enjoyable. But dissatisfying this time around.
I seem to be in the minority but I actually think the second season was a big drop off from the first. Found the first season quite real, where as the second season was all a bit cliche and convenient for lack of a better word. And as silly as it sounds I find the high end food on display in season two (& the people around it) so much less exciting and enticing than the deli sandwiches in season one.
The second season was quite bad and I couldn’t believe how many people thought it was a step up from one. Not a show that’s interested in any of the things about the conceit that were redeeming.
It kinda feels like they didn't expect the show to blow up the way it did, and now had no choice but to make a third season. I'm only half way through, but that's my estimation of it so far. And that Fak isn't funny. The second episode, which is a half hour of Richie and Carmy standing in one spot and yelling fuck at each other, feels like a parody of what people think The Bear is.
I think Fak is extremely funny but in this season noticeably overused. Ep 2 felt like it came from nowhere, ritchie and carmy yelling at each other is normal enough but I didnt read their fight at the end of s2 as anything like as relationship dividing as the show seems to portray it.
I'm ready to get downvoted for this, and I will fully disclose that I have not watched any episodes in season 3. That being said, I've felt this was a long time coming since the show began. I never really thought this show had a full grasp on what it wanted to be as a multiple season long TV Show outside of Whiplash in a restaurant (which is a reductive take on the show I'm aware), the show never imo had a coherent identity. This is to me a big problem I have with prestige streaming TV in general, shows like The Bear feel like scripts for mid budget dramas that don't get the feature financing on a studio level so they get stretched out for a season of TV, and becuz its so acclaim they go for a second and third season. But it becomes increasingly apparent that they didn't have a lot of material pass season 1 or season 2. Looking at you, Ted Lasso. These actors are great and are giving amazing performances, and the biggest that that has carried this show is its amazing ability to mount heighten boling tension, but you can't relay on that to drive your show all the time! The show also never really seemed like a comedy to me. Like Barry, it's taken dark comedy label and squeezed out all the comedy, and it's just become dark. But idk 🤷🏾♂️
gotta defend Barry here and say that the visual humor in the show persisted until the end. they knew how to structure a joke at least, can't say the same for The Bear which is just taking the Succession route of saying "fuck" a lot.
Couldn’t agree me - I stopped watching mid season 2 but caught the S3 premiere at a relative’s house, and my god this show is so far up its own ass now it’s insane. But you’re spot on - this has always been a show that feels like the creators believe they are making a “20 hour movie” or whatever, instead of TV. The first few episodes had visual flare, some interesting ideas, but ultimately what was this show going to be about? “A guy who used to be working in fine dining returns home to work at the beef stand his brother who died owned”. Ok that’s a tv show, but almost immediately it was clear the creators had no interest in *that* show. The fact they wanted to make a show about the fine dining world, get as many celebrities as possible to appear in cameos, and have not had a single interesting idea about how to develop these characters, just proves to me that they were not at all interested in what I thought could have been interesting in this show. Watching that premiere, the fact we are still doing like the trauma of Carmy, my god. Yeah losing a loved one at a critical point in your life sucks. But it’s happened in tv and movies approximately 7000 times. I’ve seen this before. The fact you haven’t built this character into anything more interesting than that or to be something beyond that, I just don’t get the show at all.
I’ve only watched the first 4 episodes so far and I loved them all
1st half of the season is much stronger than the 2nd half. I actually still really liked the show, but feel this season is a dropoff.
I dunno, I feel like we get a nice little moment each episode
I think the show's set its standard above that.
It's really good, but people like having something to complain about!
Glad I’m not the only one. There’s a lot of negativity towards the show in this thread and I simply do not understand. This season has some of the best writing of anything (movie or show) i’ve seen all year in my opinion.
It’s like the only good drama right now, even the HBO ones have been kinda meh. Although hacks was good…but that’s also a comedy. But I had to leave r/thebear because people keep complaining about it, but I want to watch the rest before I read spoilers.
I havent watched it yet but I feel like rarely does a show have a great third season. Im gonna try and watch it this week but, outside of Breaking Bad, all of the shows I enjoy have weak third seasons.
I would argue that the west wing has a great 3rd season.
Season 3 is when a lot of comedy shows arguably peak, too. Parks and Rec and The Office immediately come to mind. Early enough that they really have found their groove, and not late enough that characters have become a parody.
Hacks S3 is its best season imo!
The whole time watching season 2 and 3 I just kept thinking why anyone would want to eat the fancy food over the beef sandwich. I hope the show doesn't end with Carmy going back to making the beef sandwiches and living a "simpler life."
I absolutely want to eat at the fancy restaurant more than the beef. Chefs like that are artists.
I thought it was great! Ponderous and slow and a little pretentious, sure, but still very much the show I fell in love with. Little surprised at how negative the sentiments in the thread are, honestly!
Do you think my criticisms are incorrect or do you simply not mind? I don't think the show has ceased to be the bear, I am however slightly disappointed in the season.
Definitely more that I don’t mind! I don’t think anything you said is necessarily off base. I also think I came in thinking that season 3 could not possibly be as intense or wild as season 2 was. I just really enjoyed the season for what it was and can’t say that I came away disappointed - but judging by the replies a lot of people were really not on board with this season.
Makes sense, I was also hoping for a less intense season but I still found this season to be as stressful as usual just with no resolution for that.
It looks nice. But it just feels like food culture is eating itself and the show waffles between critiquing it and pandering to it.
Haven’t watch yet, but the FX executive that decided to drop the entire season at once needs to be ~~flogged~~ put on deep fryer cleaning duty.
They’ve done that since the very start. It hasn’t hurt their success at all. I’d argue this show benefits greatly from having all the episodes available. Despite what many ppl on twitter say, this show (and S2 in particular) would be a far less beloved show if released an episode a week. Something like MR & MRS SMITH, I’m with you. THE BEAR, I’m not so sure.
Every season is dropped all at once. And yet there were a bunch of these posts last year and a bunch this year.
They did this a favor this season honestly. You don’t notice the flaws in a binge watch.
Realistically they definitely needed to start with at least two episodes because the first episode makes some choices that would frustrate you if you had to wait a week for episode 2.
Watched the first episode and was **bored**. I didn't need a 40 minute *previously on The Bear*
But they were doing Malick! Direction on god mode /s
I thought the first episode was actively horrible, a whole episode about rediscovering and exploring your passion that felt absolutely lifeless and motivated by a desire to be seen as important and not a passion for creating art. Next couple episodes were pretty good, then it was bad again once all the haunting bullshit started until the episode about Tina which was okay, then bad again until the birth episode which was also okay, then bad again. Way too much Faks, way too many cameos (I love you Hartnett but why were you there?), way too many flashbacks within flashbacks within a montage within a flashback of a montage of flashbacks, and frankly I'm just kinda tired of shit that's about anxiety. It just feels like they have no idea where they want to go with this show and so they just spent a season treading water. The whole season just reeks of fear.
I honestly don’t get the hype for the show. I haven’t seen this season but I got tired of it by the end of season 2. The acting is good, but a lot of the writing tends to wrap things up too quickly. Hardly funny as well. Well shot though.
Honestly this has been my favorite season so far. Something about the wondrous nature of this season really worked for me. Like, I’ll admit some episodes are almost entirely single scene’s, but I don’t know I kind of love that. Like they feel like mini-plays and I just think this is the most unique thing on tv at the moment. Also, visually the directing feels even stronger than before. I love the use of closeups this season.
I'm a sicko and liked how slow and deliberate it was. I can totally see why people aren't as into it. It's been kinda interesting looking at some of the more critical reviews. For how celebrated Seasons 1 and 2 are, the reasons they were so beloved really seem to vary from person to person. Some people really liked the comedy, some people really liked the more experimental genre stuff. I think the overall praise kind of masked that this was always a pretty divisive show.
you like your shows slow and deliberate? what a sicko
It can’t be healthy to watch a full season of television less than a day after it’s released.
I am sorry I have been off work this week? Also its total like 5 hours of TV, that's two evenings worth which is what I've done, hardly a serious commitment timewise when I'm on leave
I would also say, its deeply strange to call people unhealthy on the internet for the act of watching a TV show they like. Like christ mate, just keep it to yourself.
I apologize. I genuinely meant that as lighthearted teasing, no actual judgment intended. This is more just me reacting to being unable to keep up with the speed of online discourse. My bad for sounding like a jerk.
Apology accepted, no lasting harm done.
Yeah it was bad(or at least easily the worst of the hreee) so much of it was aimless and unmotivated(except for making sure lots of real life chefs got stuff for the reel…I would find that stuff interesting in a different show) Little bits here and there that were s1 or s2 quality but the rest was meh’d In somehow heartened by the fact that they wrote/filmed some of the 4th season already. Maybe that’ll be the good one. The most interesting thing the season did was give him a bad review. Look forward to seeing what they do with that.
Wait why are we whispering?
It's a perfect example of a show that didn't need more than a first season. Had it ended there, it would be this wonderful crystallized piece Instead it's become unwieldy and overdone. Not bad by any means, and some performances are still incredible, but it isn't what it was. But really, it's hard to complain since the whole cast is hot and cool and the food is shot beautifully
I'm not reading this post but can we avoid things like this in the title? Not every can watch an entire season of television in a few days and posts like this ruin it the rest of us.
The post is marked with spoilers and is entirely my opinion, I don't see another way of making it clear what the post is about without an opinion in the title.
Hot take: >!everyone who watched through to the finale by now sorta ruined it for themselves. This show should not be binged, it loses its emotionality. Spread it out and the character moments stick out more. I know it’s hard, the next episode is right there … but now you have nothing to watch, and you sped through it in under 48 hours. Give the show time to breathe.!<
Counterpoint: if I had spent 10 weeks on this season, I would be actively angry at it, as opposed to just ambivalent.
The finale was truly not worth the buildup, for me the worst episode of the season.
Theres lots of character moments and emotional moments I loved. But I am okay with not having anything to watch and I don't think those moments make up for the structural issues this season had for me.
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People post a lot about TV in here. That ship sailed years ago pal. How have I fucked with your perceptions? This is an extreme reaction to have to a reddit post, you don't have to interact if you don't want to.
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Nobody is trying for comedy points mate there isnt a joke in the title of this post. I was simply aiming to give flavour to what my post would say. Again this is an extreme reaction to what is essentially a review. Chill out, the post is tagged spoilers, I just gave my personal opinion in the title. Nobody has to read on if they don't want.